The story of a very angry man, with lots of screaming and explosions.
Story:
Asura is a very angry demigod. He has a wife and a daughter. An assassination plot against the emperor causes him to be framed, his wife murdered and his daughter kidnapped. Those responsible attempt to kill him as well, but his thirst for vengeance will not allow him to die. Now he uses his all his rage to take revenge on those who betrayed him and save his daughter.
In general this is a very basic story with a few deeper points like why Asura is so angry, a slight sense of good in Asura as he watches the actions of his peers, and the betrayal and redemption of his best friend and brother in law. It's nothing new, but it's presented very well and you sympathize with both Asura's anger and Yasha's doubt.
Game Play:
This is where Asura's Wrath stumbles in my opinion. Let me put this out there, I don't think Asura's Wrath is intended to be a video game. It's an interactive piece of multimedia, more like if you took an anime and put video game elements into it. Game play is broken down into episodes, with opening credits, commercial break splash screens and even a too be continued at the end of each stage. It's like watching an anime. The game play is broken down into one of 3 sequences, an on rails shooter much like Panzer Dragoon, a beat-em up like God of War, and then a quick time event sequence. In each of these you're trying to build up the meter so you can unleash your burst move and progress the story. You're ranked on how well you do battle and how well your time your button presses with the quick time events. It's unique and it's not something most gamers expect. As a video game Asura's Wrath is lacking, it could be fleshed out much more in terms of the beat-em up stages, more enemies, the ability to explore and find power ups or upgrade your moves. It all feels very short, and if that was intended I am not entirely too sure.
Sound:
The sound in Asura's Wrath is great. The voice acting is top-notch, none of the lines sound cheesy and the rage in Asura's voice is believable. You are also given the option for the Japanese voices but I never used it because the English voice acting never got to the level where I couldn't stand it anymore. The music is just as strong, with each piece giving a sense of epicness to the story, as well as a feeling of mystery and wonder. Very fitting for a game about a battle between gods, revenge, and a giant galactic sized Buddha. Overall it sounded like a very well done anime production.
Bottom Line:
Angry demi-god punches galactic-sized Buddha in the face.
No comments:
Post a Comment