Asura’s Wrath Preview: Insanity At Its Finest

I was recently invited by Milestone Interactive, the official distributors of Capcom games in India, to get my hands on CyberConnect2’s hack ‘n’ slash game Asura’s Wrath. First off, I am really pleased about how the game has developed in these past few months. I had earlier previewed the game (which you can check here) and it’s good to see that the game is shaping up to be a strong contender against the likes of Devil May Cry. If the developers are able to maintain the intensity, fire and the wrath of Asura in the final version, I have no doubts that this game may be the biggest surprise of 2012.

I am pretty sure that many of you are under the impression that Asura’s Wrath is a pure and a mindless hack-n-slash game, something which I have also mentioned before, but much to my surprise, the game has a pretty solid plot backed up by the over-the-top dialogues- something which is to be expected in a game like this.

Asura was a part of a group of generals who once defeated the Gohma. While returning from the ambush, Asura finds that the Emperor of the generals has been killed and he is now accused of the act. In the process, his wife Durga gets killed and his daughter Mitra gets kidnapped. When Asura goes to save Mitra, he is ambushed by Deus, who is actually the murderer of the Emperor.

After several centuries, Asura is found stuck in some mountain, only to be awakened by the prayers of a little girl. This is where Asura’s revenge against his former allies, the seven generals and Deus begins. The build I got to play featured several boss fights with Olga and Kalrow, two of the seven generals I mentioned before. Later on he also faces against Augus, who looks like an elder version of Asura. Augus was a former mentor of Asura, as well as Yasha, his brother in law. So, as the name of the game indicates, the story is all about revenge, and the developers have done an admirable job in representing it via a number of comic style slides and cutscenes.

Much of the gameplay that I had mentioned in my previous hands on impressions has not changed. This is still a true hack ‘n’ slash game. Combat is based on mindlessly approaching an enemy and beating the hell out of it. And when you reach a particular number of blows, the game switches to quick time event mode. Even though the quick time events are simple, CyberConnect2 have made sure that they at atleast look good. In every boss battle you face, you will have to build up your burst meter, which will result in a QTE. I think the developers have done a good job in maintaining balance between the difficulty of the game and the fun factor. Asura’s Wrath isn’t exactly hard, but it is no pushover either.

So I conclude this hands-on article with this- if you are a fan of epic boss battles and mindless hack-n-slash combat backed up by a touching story, then Asura’s Wrath is worth your time. Some hardcore players may get turned off by the constant quick time events, but others may enjoy the brutality they always result in.

Pick your side.

Asura’s Wrath is due out this month for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.