Asura's Wrath

Originally posted on CustodianFilmCritic.com

“Asura’s Wrath” is a pretty tough sell. The game shows well, with incredibly overdone action set pieces and an extremely vivid art style, which makes it hard not to get excited watching a trailer for this game. Structurally, however, it’s a six hour campaign comprised of limited combat sequences and an abundance of QTE’s (quick time events, think execution moves in God of War if you aren’t familiar with the vernacular). You might be thinking of this as a merger of God of War and Heavy Rain, but in a lot of ways that’s giving the game too much credit. Where as a game like God of War has a much deeper combat system and gigantic navigation segments, this game has four to five minute room clearing stints with absolutely no character progression to be seen. Or a game like Heavy Rain that has a dynamic story structure where every failed QTE leads to a different path in a winding story, this game has only a few repeated button prompts that only lead to a game over screen if entered improperly. So why is it even worth discussing? If one were to look at this game’s design document, they would be hard pressed to find any redeeming qualities, but after getting my hands on the game, I can’t help but love it. Before going any further, however, this game is heavily influenced by its country of origin; if the story arcs’ of Japanese Manga or Final Fantasy games do nothing but annoy you, you’ll probably hate this game.

The story has you controlling the titular character on his quest to save his daughter after his cohorts, the Eight Guardian Generals, frame him for the murder of the emperor. After being completely decimated by his group’s leader, Deus, he is left for dead only to be resurrected centuries later with the aid of a talking golden spider. The game’s story is a bit…ridiculous to say the least, but it works incredibly well given the scope and subject matter. The game is structured like a television series, with each level being an episode in a season, accompanied by episode recaps, opening credits, and even customize-able “commercial” breaks. With the game’s center-piece being the story, the narrative has some interesting beats that will keep you excited to press on through the campaign, so much so that I was compelled to finish the entire game in one sitting. I don’t want to ruin any of the particulars, but the tone of the game is much more dramatic than how it initially appears. The characters are compelling and there is a surprising amount of depth in the writing. I only really have a few problems with the plot: Asura as a character is a little flat (with his anger being the only defining characteristic) and Sergei. Sergei is relentlessly obnoxious and is essentially a flamboyant art snob with all the power in the universe; he’s sort of a black mark on this game and I found myself cringing every time he danced his pretentious frame on to the screen. All in all though, the story is excellent, with all the depth you might expect from a Japanese science fiction/mythology based anime (which is surprisingly not that uncommon).

It’s a little difficult to criticize this game for its lack of combat. The designers at CyberConnect 2 clearly made the game they wanted to and didn’t feel the need to fit any sort of mold to increase sales in the western marketplace. The game’s combat systems are built into the story exactly as they needed to be in order to accomplish the narrative. Considering every actual hands on combat sequence is prefaced by a cinematic, if any more were added to increase the depth of this game, it would just become needlessly redundant, and (most importantly) detrimental to the story. The combat that is here is appropriately shallow, comprised of a heavy and light attack, some dash attacks and evasive maneuvers. To even add an upgrade system would destroy the constant immersion of the narrative and that trade off wouldn’t have been worth it. Combat is essentially broken down into boss battles and room clearing sequences, both of which you’re just working towards filling the burst meter so that you can switch back to the interactive cinema sequences. There is a little depth with the inclusion of an unlimited meter, which temporarily eliminates the cool down from using your heavy attacks. The combat is just enough to keep the player involved and to add interaction in-between the more focused story sequences.

Aside from the actual fighting you’ll be taking part in quick time events. They are almost always related to a fight sequence happening on screen. There isn’t much to say about this system other than a little more responsiveness would have been nice. If ever you find yourself failing a QTE input, the game either moves right along, or takes a small section of health away. There aren’t very many unique animations to accompany a screw-up. There are also a few flight sequences that play like a very shallow Panzar Dragoon, where you’ll rely heavily on the lock-on system. These become much more pervasive in the latter half of the game, but only to break up the pace of the fighting sequences. Aside from the brief fights and the frequent quick time events…that’s it for interactivity, and to be honest that’s pretty remarkable. “Asura’s Wrath” never tries to do something it can’t; there are no failed attempts or misappropriated doppelganger moments. The designers wanted to make an interactive story telling experience and have accomplished just that. Although it may be expensive at sixty dollars retail, it is incredibly commendable for a company to create something this refreshing in 2012. This game has a very specific audience that will appreciate it, but those who do will love every second of it. “Asura’s Wrath" is infectiously defiant of gaming tropes, and it doesn’t seem like anyone, either publisher or developer, did anything to widen this game’s appeal.

The artistic style of this game is cinematic in scope. It’s fusion of science fiction with Asian mythology (Hinduism being the source of a lot of inspiration) is excellent. All of the character models are expertly designed and have a beautiful hand-drawn aesthetic that is uncommon in major releases. Everything plays out exactly like a film, and it’s a sight to behold. The size of the game is also incredible, with some fights spanning the entirety of a solar system. A lot of the sequences have you navigating planet size structures in real time and you’ll occasionally go wide eyed at the sight of some the environment design. The game is not without it’s share of flaws, as a few times the frame rate dropped to a snails pace during some of the flight sequences (which isn’t that surprising as I was fighting countless creatures the size of an aircraft carrier while exploding through space). The art direction, both in style and execution, is excellent; easily one of the high points of this game. Also, the music compliments the absurdity of the action surprisingly well. The classically inspired melodies work in stark contrast to the science fiction sensibilities of the narrative with both the visuals and the music having some obvious Asian influences. The voice acting, though outrageous, carries the same tone as the on-screen conflicts: overblown and ludicrous. The VO is nothing if not appropriate.

Like I said before, Asura’s Wrath is a tough sell. If you were to look at this package in a dollar to entertainment ratio, retail is asking for sixty dollars for six hours of entertainment. Even if you were willing to cough up that much money, I’m not sure I could recommend this game to anyone; only a very specific audience has the capacity to appreciate this game, both aesthetically and mechanically. That being said, however, “Asura’s Wrath” is an extremely unique experience, one that I’m not sure could ever be replicated successfully. Cyberconnect 2 managed to craft a fantastic game that by any stretch of the imagination sounds completely idiotic. They took a series of underdeveloped systems, an overused gaming mechanic, and added to it a remarkably compelling story and somehow that fusion worked. Not only that, but the balance is so delicate that had any one part been taken out (or another repeated) the entire game might have fallen apart. With design parody being so ubiquitous in today’s market, “Asura’s Wrath” manages to bring a completely original idea to the crowded console space.

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