Asura’s Wrath is part Hinduism, part Star Wars, part Panzer Dragoon, part Dragon’s Lair and part Streets of Rage. Let that sink in for a second. That concept, by itself, should be given some kind of award. Maybe the “Most Awesome Idea of Forever.” So yes, in concept, Asura’s Wrath is amazing, but the full game sadly doesn’t quite live up to that prospect.

Asura was one of the eight demigods protecting both Earth and the emperor of Earth, Emperor Strada. The planet has been entangled in war with a being known as Vlitra and it’s minions, the Ghoma, who have infected the very core of the planet.. Asura’s daughter has the ability to turn the prayers of humanity into a power known as Mantra, which they use to push back the Ghoma and Vlitra. However, Deus, the leader of the demigods, feels that Strada is being too weak in his war effort. He kills the emperor and frames Asura for it. After kidnapping Asura’s daughter and murdering his wife, he kills Asura himself. Asura spends twelve thousand years in the underworld before being awoke and, like many, he’s pretty cranky when he wakes up.

While the core story is a fairly basic and generic revenge plot, it’s everything surrounding it that makes Asura’s Wrath stand out. The story takes heavy influences from Hinduism, including enemies that are designed to look like Buddha and the concept of Mantra. This is heavily mixed with sci-fi elements, such as space ships and a massive “Death Star”-like creation designed to kill the Ghoma, to create a legitimately stand-out game. There really is nothing like this on the market today, in terms of story.

The game can be broken into three gameplay types. The first type is fairly similar to something like Dragon’s Lair or Heavy Rain where most of your actions are quick-time events. These are some of the most stylish and just plain awesome sequences that have ever been in a video game. At various points, you throw demonic elephants over mountains, get stabbed by a sword that cuts through Earth itself and destroy a being a million times larger than yourself by punching his giant finger. On top of that, even if you fail most of these sequences, the game will continue. If you can’t press the B-button fast enough, your score will be lower at the end of the level, but that’s it.

The second gameplay type plays much like Child of Eden, Rez or Panzer Dragoon. Asura will fly or run through an area, while you use a targeting reticule to “paint” enemies. These sequences are fast and difficult, but also a blast to play. Sometimes you will find yourself up against a fleet of ships and you will rain pure chaos on them. It looks fantastic, as well, lending heavily to the general feeling that you’re a badass.

Then, there are the third-person brawler sequences. These are extremely disappointing, all things considered. You will generally be thrown into an arena with a bunch of enemies. As you kill more and more of them, the “Burst” meter will fill up. When full, you press the right trigger and this will activate a QTE to transition you into the next part of the level. Until you have this meter filled up, enemies will continue to respawn, which becomes extremely frustrating for a number of reasons.

The combat itself isn’t that compelling. Tapping the B-button will perform a weaker attack and holding it will perform a running attack which can knock down enemies. Hitting the Y-button performs a strong attack or it will perform a finishing move on an enemy. There are no real button combos to learn. Eventually, you’ll learn to just hold the B-button to knock down an enemy in a group and hit the Y-button to perform a finishing move, which does splash damage to the enemies around them.

The camera isn’t ideal in these situations either. Though you can lock onto an enemy, much of the time the camera will lock onto an enemy who’s extremely far away, as opposed to a close enemy. On top of that, the camera can easily clip through enemies who may be behind you, causing you to not be able to see anything. It’s frustrating to say the least.

Everything surrounding the game is amazing, however. Designed to be extremely similar to an anime, the game is broken into eighteen episodes, each with their own quick credits at the beginning. Going even further, there are brief bumpers that appear in the middle of the episode where commercials would go. The only thing that could have made it more authentic is if there actually were commercial breaks. The art style is heavily cell-shaded and looks fantastic. Many times, characters look as though they were hand painted. The soundtrack feels epic, as well.

That said, there is one major problem that has to be addressed. The game’s ending is, for all intents and purposes, designed to be a tease for DLC. After you finish the game one time, you are informed that if you get a high enough score on a certain amount of levels, you can see the “true” ending. While the first ending is fairly well wrapped up, this “true” ending introduces plot points that are specifically concluded in the game;s DLC. It’s a real disappointment, as well, because you now have to pay an additional $7 to see the game’s real ending.

Asura’s Wrath is an amazing two-thirds of a game. The Panzer Dragoon-like sequences are wonderful and fun, while the quick-time events are hilarious and awesome to watch. It’s too bad that the combat is so broken and not fun. On top of that, forcing players to pay money to see what should have been included in the final release is just plain shady. Asura’s Wrath is an awesome rental, but not much more.

Final Score: B-

Comparisons:

Child of Eden: Several sections of Asura’s Wrath have “painting” targets, very similar to Child of Eden and Rez. In both, you can target multiple enemies and fire upon releasing the button. Like Child of Eden, Asura’s Wrath keeps these sections visually compelling. Unlike Child of Eden, however, Asura’s Wrath has sections where you may be running across a landscape or you may be standing in a small area while targeting these enemies.

Heavy Rain: Both games have compelling quick-time event sections. However, Asura’s Wrath doesn’t feel like it relies on these sections too heavily. Almost all of Heavy Rain is played with quick-time events, while a third of Asura’s Wrath is played with QTE’s. Also, no gods are killed in Heavy Rain…so that’s one point that Asura’s Wrath wins.