Asura's Wrath Review

Slycne

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Feb 19, 2006
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Asura's Wrath Review

While it often feels strained into too many directions, Asura's Wrath still has some undeniably fun and outrageous moments.

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Thespian

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Sep 11, 2010
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I think this is the sort of thing that begs the question - Does this story work better being told as a game than in any other form? Are we gaining anything by adding button presses to a very impressive visual opera? Would we lose anything by turning it into a TV series?
 

algalon

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Dec 6, 2010
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And here I was hoping for another game like God of War, where all of the big moments were instigated and finished by the player. Ah well.
 

Ignatz_Zwakh

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Sep 3, 2010
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Personally, I adore the game. However, I didn't pay for it, my brother did (Though I'd been interested in it, I wasn't planning on shelling out 59.99 for something that I was guessing would be short-lived).
Also, I think being a fan of anime helps when it comes to digging it. It's quite literally like some obscure and over the top 90's OVA.
 

Gingernerd

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Jan 16, 2010
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Very interesting and good looking. I think a lot of characters are voiced by relatively well known Anime voice actors, it's fun to pick them out.

However, I doubt it will top my personal favourite original sci-fi game with Hindu themes,Digital Devil Saga (DDS is more buddhist than Hindu though, meh.)

Edit: O.k. i swear at about 1:10 just after the massive guy, i can hear a phrase from Dvoraks New World Symphony (or something.) Maybe it's just similar.
 

Rabid Toilet

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Thespian said:
I think this is the sort of thing that begs the question - Does this story work better being told as a game than in any other form? Are we gaining anything by adding button presses to a very impressive visual opera? Would we lose anything by turning it into a TV series?
I would have to say "Yes".

While the game does have a fair amount of QTE's, they are for the most part in places where it adds to the feel of the game, instead of being there arbitrarily. You'll be spamming a button to keep the planet-sized boss from crushing you under his finger or to power your way through the giant space laser. You'll use the joysticks to frantically dodge the thousands of energy beams being shot at you by an entire fleet of warships. There's also a type of QTE where the button is shown beforehand, with a sort of countdown for when the button press needs to happen. This lets you hit the button at the exact same time as Asura punches out a god, which is incredibly satisfying.

They keep all of the button presses to the places where they do actually enhance the experience. If a scene works better without any input from the player, then there are no QTE's. In this way, it is more of an interactive movie than a real "game", but in a way that I feel makes it better than it would be if it were just a TV series.
 

Lunar Templar

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Sep 20, 2009
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Thespian said:
I think this is the sort of thing that begs the question - Does this story work better being told as a game than in any other form? Are we gaining anything by adding button presses to a very impressive visual opera? Would we lose anything by turning it into a TV series?
as some one who watch a full play through of this, i can safely say

no, you'd lose nothing in terms of 'the experience' by making it just a show

ether way it was a fucking blast to watch, second most 'epic' anime ... thing ... i've watched, next to TTGL
 

Thespian

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Rabid Toilet said:
Makes me wonder, does it even qualify as an interactive movie? Can you change all that much? Isn't it just a movie with a single odd, if rewarding addition to it in the form of QTEs?

I dunno, it looks cool, but the demo didn't inspire faith in me.
 

EHKOS

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Feb 28, 2010
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Waiting for a price drop but this does look good. Plus Steve Blum is in it. That's always a plus.
 

ace_of_something

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Sep 19, 2008
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!!! You can't recommend it for a rental. That's tantamount to piracy! The powers that be will come to shut down the website.
 

Rabid Toilet

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Thespian said:
Rabid Toilet said:
Makes me wonder, does it even qualify as an interactive movie? Can you change all that much? Isn't it just a movie with a single odd, if rewarding addition to it in the form of QTEs?

I dunno, it looks cool, but the demo didn't inspire faith in me.
Well, it's an interactive movie in that you're doing things along with the characters. Not much really changes based on the QTE's.

Don't get the game if you're looking for a new God of War or Devil May Cry. Get it if you want another Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
 

gphjr14

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Aug 20, 2010
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I enjoyed playing this and give it a B- overall because they were trying something new here with over the top characters and fights scenes. The biggest problem is what happens in between. For the most part aside from the second character's shooter segments it was pretty dull and really the melee segments were outright boring. Looking back at the trailers they took ALOT out in terms of grabbing enemies and objects and executing enemies. They could've just copy pasted DMC fight mechanics and I would've cared a bit. Just something better than weak/strong attack as if this were the 80s.
 

Ulquiorra4sama

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Feb 2, 2010
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Thespian said:
I think this is the sort of thing that begs the question - Does this story work better being told as a game than in any other form? Are we gaining anything by adding button presses to a very impressive visual opera? Would we lose anything by turning it into a TV series?
Somehow i doubt it. At least the demo didn't make it feel like anything would be lost if they just made it into a full fledged anime. The visual style is certainly something, but that's kind of what makes me want it to be an anime or a movie because it would let you watch it all the time rather than having to pay attention to whether or not you cleared the QTE while the battle is going on. It's kind of like when people complain about subtitles taking away attention except here it's legit.

OT: I'll probably pick it up after a severe price drop just for the effect. If i sat through Heavy Rain and had a decent time i imagine i'll be able to enjoy this too... just not enough for full price.
 

Rad Party God

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Feb 23, 2010
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Already seen it in a Let's Play (if I had a console, I would've rented it) and I was scratching my head while watching it, not because of it's incredibly bizarre and over the top, outrageous scenes and it's incredibly amazing massive scale (at the same level or even bigger than God of War 3), but at it's "episodic" structure, after watching 2 or 3 episodes, I realized how much this game reminded me of an anime, even with it's previews in between episodes without commercials.

And I was wondering, I was enjoying watching how the cheesy story unfolded and I'm certainly a nut of overly long cutscenes (I never complained even once with any Metal Gear game, even finishing each game more than 5 times) and I was wondering if this could've worked better as a full fledged anime with sleek traditional animation instead of realtime 3D rendered.

It's concept art looked way better than the in-game Unreal Engine 3 rendered graphics, also as a PC gamer, I cringed at it's terrible screen tearing issues and don't even get me started with UE3's infamous texture pop-in.

Certainly a novel idea, but I just keep wondering if it just got made in the wrong medium, because I just kept thinking that I wasn't missing out much by just watching it, instead of playing it by myself..
 

Davidm4

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Gingernerd said:
Edit: O.k. i swear at about 1:10 just after the massive guy, i can hear a phrase from Dvoraks New World Symphony (or something.) Maybe it's just similar.
Yep it is that song. Another section is played in the hot springs before they fight.
 

80Maxwell08

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Jul 14, 2010
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Eh I paid full price when it came out and have beaten it twice so far. No regrets here. Though it's so obvious how it could be better in every chapter. Still I like it. Save that ending. I swear if they actually try to have the real ending as DLC.
 

albetia03

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Dec 20, 2010
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It's a shame, I was really looking forward to playing this, partly because even anime-styled, it is based on a culture and religion that has rarely been explored in videogames.
I always thought that due to the epic battles and over the top flamboyant yet testosterone-pumped deities seen in Hindu mythology, Hindu art would be an art style and source that would be more regurarly tapped for inspiration. My point is, even if i have never played the game myself and I might be missing important cutscenes, watching the review's cutscenes gave me none of the awe and ardor I feel when looking at Hindu art. The colors are generally very limited, the characters are more Japanese inspired than Hindu, and the art direction doesn't seem to trespass the mainstream fighting game.
The game might be allright in its own right but I feel it would have been more interesting if it had more affinity with its source of inspitation ( I believe Okami is a good counter example of an animesque original story with a completely vibrant and original art direction inspired by traditional Japanese art).