Buy Asura's Wrath - Xbox 360

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $16.13
Today's Bonus: 68% Off

The game looks great. REALLY great. But you already know that, and you already know it's a essentially an interactive movie. I don't see any reviews on here yet though pointing out that the game is only 75% here. To get the final act you HAVE to buy DLC. Disappointing tactic on Capcom's part, double dipping is never cool. Treat it as a $75 dollar game, not a $60 dollar game.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

People are either gonna love or hate this game, simple as that. Play the demo, it is definitely an accurate representation of what you are in store for. If you love anime like I do, well this is basically an anime, episodes and all, that involves the viewer, and makes the epic moments feel that much more epic, because you are instructed to press certain buttons. For instance, when Asura is punching rapidly, you may be instructed to press b rapidly. It really makes you feel the energy and emotions of the character. There's a little energy shooting and free-fighting too, that you could compare to any hack and slash, but this barely ever happens. The graphics are sweet and everything from the story to the visuals are over-the-top. Is it worth full price? No, you should wait a bit for a drop in price. I'm rating it 5, b/c Asura's Wrath accomplishes everything it sets out to do and then some. Definitely not a game for gamers, if that makes any sense, although maybe a gamer would find the unique approach refreshing.

Best Deals for Asura's Wrath - Xbox 360

There are good games, and there are bad games. And typically you can make a recommendation to someone based off your primary complaints about the game itself. Asura's Wrath on the other hand is a little bit different.

If you're looking for something to play and are considering "Buying This Game" you may want to give this a miss. However if you are considering "Purchasing This Title" then you may want to read on. It's really the difference between a "game" (which you play) and a title (that you watch). The reality is that Asura's Wrath is only about 40% actual gameplay. The vast majority of the experience is spent watching the story unfold, and occasionally pressing a button or two (a'la God of War), which makes it hard to call this a "game" in the truest definition of the word.

Now the good news is that the both the story and gameplay (what little there is) are actually pretty good.

The story is your typical over-the-top anime. If you've ever read Masamune Shirow's "Orion" you're going to be right at home, as the story has that whole Buddhist/Shinto style of sci-fi as it's foundation. Outside of that it's your run of the mill protagonist curling his arms and yelling at the sky while he gets all powered up/glowing/on fire... while everybody wonders how he got all super powerful, right before he punches them through a mountain, etc. You know the drill. As much as it's not the most original kind of anime based story...it's not all that bad to be honest. They also break up each "stage" into more appropriately titled "Episodes". Each has a intro credit screen (even though it's the same info each time) to give it the feeling like you're watching a series of custom made animations. Which isn't too clever and can get annoying, but at the same time you can see why they did it that way.

The other bit of good news is that when you do actually get the opportunity to actually play the game it's fun. It's not deep, complex or really all that challenging. There's basically two types of gameplay = you're either going to be running around in a small arena/area punching enemies in a 3rd person style beat-em up, and/or playing a rail shooter. And while neither of these are mind-blowing per-se, it's that mindless kind of fun that is a great way to pass a Sunday afternoon. The only real downside is that when you do actually play the game...it makes you wish that they had done more with it, and that there was more of it. The gameplay really doesn't effect the way the experience unfolds that much either which can also be a bit of a bummer.

So if you like anime/manga like Orion or Naruto and enjoy the occasional mindless-easy-play-through kind of experience then Asura's Wrath is def worth checking out. If you've got any sort of expectations of paying money for a deep gameplay experience then this would officially be something to pass on.

Honest reviews on Asura's Wrath - Xbox 360

Let me start of by saying that with all of the reviews that I had read/watched I was expecting something along the lines of Heavy Rain, or TellTale's The Walking dead in terms of gameplay. However that is not the case, while this isn't an action game such as Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, or even God of War (as in you do not unlock, and master long difficult combos) it is still quite the action game. The action is quick, fast flashy, and fun. I honestly have no idea how you could not have fun with the gameplay as it is exactly how I described, and I find it sad to see some other supposed "action" games get less trash whilst having simpler combos, and slower gameplay.

I'll next talk about the style, which I will briefly say was absolutely fantastic. The amount of detail in each, and every character model is just stunning, it truly captures a manga look like I've never seen done before. The diverseness of the models is also quite impressive when you see how much detail is put into each, and every inch of the character. While the environment can be a little low res sometimes in the ship parts, the far off shots, explosions, lights, and the entirety of the scenery more than makes up for it in my opinion.

I'll quickly interject before I get to the story that the soundtrack was also top of the notch. Each, and every tune really felt like it had meaning behind it, and the over all epicness, and grandness of the sound is just a joy to absorb.

Lastly the story (Don't worry no spoilers) was absolutely fantastic. It really gives you the feel of the more modern action anime such as Naruto, and Bleach. While that may be a problem to some as it falls into some tropes that those anime also fall into, I never got a negative vibe from it, I felt sad when I was supposed to, happy when I was supposed to, laughing when I was supposed to, and most importantly angry when I was supposed to be (Which as the name implies you will be for a majority of the game).

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Asura's Wrath - Xbox 360

Does it worth the 25$ (with the final episode) I paid for it?

Yes, every peny. Rarelly I've felt the level of satisfaction I had after playing Asura's Wrath (Prince of Persia trilogy comes to my mind)

But... What is it Asura's Wrath? (AW from now on)

Well, as you might have read already, AW is more like an Interactive Anime. What does this mean? You can't change the course of the story, you rarelly die and the story develops even if you do nothing (most of the time)

STORY AND OTHER ELEMENTS:

The story is plain awesome. If you like anime then you're going to love AW, if you hate anime then stay away from it. I highly recommend to download the final chapter because it contains the real end. I was very satisfied with the story and the voie acting. Being it a japanese product highly influenced by anime, you can expect lots of screams and dramatic camera angles. The face gestures were perfect for every situation and they were rendered with extreme care. It almost appears as if they were trying to make a movie instead of a game.

The game is separated in episodes (a la tv show) and each episode even has its "middle part" with an intermission between parts that show you some art of the game (like japanese anime) It was a nice touch and does not interrupt the fight. They use it between scenes and never in the middle of dialogues or combat.

THE GAMEPLAY:

The gameplay was (as I said) limited. You do not do that much in the game, most of the time you're watching the dialogues and how the story develops and all of a sudden, QTE!!! (Quick time events) The game also has some parts where you can fight enemies (a la hack and slash but only with your fists, there are no weapons in the game... you need no weapons) and other times you have to press the inputs asked in the screen, might be a button or a button mashing or stick(s) movement. All the boss fights feel solid and this ones are a mix of the 3 things aforementioned: Free style combat, QTE, ButtonMash (at least most of them). No boss fight left me asking for more.

I would give the game a 4.5 stars because I have to be honest, I kinda hoped for a little more free style combat but even if it lacked a little in this field, I don't think the game deserves 4 stars so I rounded it to 5.

REPLAY VALUE

Kinda low. It comes from beating the game on a higher difficulty (only 3 levels of diff) and from the archievements. I hoped that after beating the game you would have the opportunity to watch the whole story in a single sit (like a movie) but there is no such option (makes sense in a way because the fighting parts) The REAL replay value, in my humble opinion, comes from the desire to watch the story again.

FINAL WORDS

I must admit it is hard to describe this game because I've never played something like this. Not because the gameplay is an innovation but because it is something highly focused on telling a story and it engages you. Look at it like this. It's a nice show that you can have for 20$ and that allows you to be part of it (even if it's only a little)

I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes a good story and does not mind the anime style. Do not expect a lot of gameplay like in any hack and slash but expect a satisfying experience with a game that is like nothing you've played before.

If, after reading my review, you're interested in the game; there is only one way to really know what is it about and how does it play: Download the demo, play it and WYSIWYG. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.