Asura’s Wrath has to be the most one of the most interesting games I’ve ever had the privilege to play. When I first received the game and looked at the front and back of the box to get an idea about it, my first impression was: Wow!
This title certainly grabbed my attention, as one of those games I would love because of the high octane action that I believed would go on.
Once the game started running, I found the graphics to be fascinating, even artful, though on raw pixel count, they could have been a bit better.
The world itself and the art-style are certainly polarizing. Many people I talked with hated it while others loved it. I fall into the latter camp mostly. My only complaint with the graphics was that some of the characters looked too much like comic book characters. But the world, including the townspeople, look real. And the villages are really awesome to behold. When fighting, that realism helped me feel as if I was really there fighting as Asura against his foes, the seven deities.
Secondly I was very impressed with the audio. It was very clear and understandable. Before and after each episode while you play, you get subtitles during the animation movie, but at the same time you have a narrator who would summarize everything that just happened. In between episodes you can view paintings that have subtitles with them that show different conversations between characters. In the game when Asura shouts, it felt as if he was right beside you. The atmospherics were also great. When the aircrafts blow up, you can hear them literally blow apart, which is awesome.
The gameplay was also very good. I enjoyed how good the controls were, especially when you fought the bosses. One example I can remember is when you face Wyzen, the first boss, you have to continue using rapid fire. In most games you would have a super hard time doing that, but not here as it allowed you to lock onto a target. Locking on certainly made it easier to defeat your enemies. At one point you had to face one huge character with a bunch of little ones known as Ghoma in support. Without the lock-on targeting, I think it would be quite difficult to defeat these enemies as you would be shooting at the wrong enemy all the time.
I loved fighting the big bosses because it reminded me of old school games. The bosses were very difficult to beat, especially the last boss Deus, took two characters to beat. I absolutely couldn’t get enough of this game, it certainly made me want to play more and more.
The story really adds to the enjoyment too, as this is certainly a unique one that doesn’t have a Western or Japanese theme, instead drawing on legends from India, which many of us westerners are totally ignorant about.
You play Asura, who is banished for twelve thousand years by a group of gods who in the beginning he served alongside. And your wife was killed and your daughter was kidnapped. Also the very people who you served alongside betrayed you and blamed you for a murder they know you didn’t commit. That adds to the wrath part of Asura, and makes the fighting more intense.
Because of the great story and fine fighting controls, facing and killing five of the seven deities was awesome. The thing that also made the game fun which was the twist when Asura’s brother in law, a member of the seven deities, joined him, but before this you learned his brother in law Yasha was responsible for his own sister’s death. Those ancient legends are really bloody. I also love how in the end you defeat the seven deities’ greatest enemy, and also Asura’s greatest enemy, the monsterviltra.
There aren’t too many action games anymore that I can continually rave about, but I certainly could go on forever about how great this game is. The only thing that hurts this one is the fact that the gameplay is a little too short. It only adds up to about seven hours. I think it would be a lot better if it had a multiplayer mode to go along with it.
Games like this are only designed every once in a while, and should be cherished. It offers a unique storyline drawn from legends many of us have never experienced, has some great hardcore fighting action and good controls to boot. For all that, Asura’s Wrath earns 3.5 out of 5 GiN Gems.