Impressions on Asura's Wrath

The demo for the upcoming Capcom "beat-'em-up" Asura's Wrath came out this week.  Developer CyberConnect2 is responsible for the Naruto games, and the anime pedigree shows strongly.  This game is nuts in the same way Dragon Ball Z is nuts.  Lots of growling to power up, lot's of flying energy and people getting punched really hard in the face.  After putting the demo through it's paces, I can say that this looks like a fun ride.

What I Liked

The Quick Time Events during the battles are well done.  There are a few of the "mash the set button furiously" that aren't fun, but the rest are pretty cool.  My personal favorite is using the Left and Right sticks to set Asura's feet and then open his arms wide in a classic "Come at me, bro" pose.

Yep, come at me, bro!

The visuals are awesome and well done.  There is a real "cartoon" vibe to everything and it fits so well.  I also loved the scale of things.  Whether it's a giant space-Buddha jabbing his finger across most of a continent to crush Asura, or being stabbed by a sword that pops out the other side of the planet, nothing in this game seems small.  There is something awesome about seeing the Earth from the moon, seeing the beauty of it all, and then being violently rammed from the moon into Earth on the tip of a sword.

To go along with that last point, I loved how everything is over-the-top insane.  The demo has you punch a fat guy the size of building into orbit, you punch the crap out of a gigantic space-Buddha and you fight on the moon against your mentor (I think, the story wasn't really the focus of the demo).  All of this is nuts, and it's only a glimpse of what's in store.  That makes me excited to see how out of control this game gets!

This space-Buddha is gonna get beat down.  Hard.

What I Was Mixed On

The fighting was so-so.  I loved the up-close-and-personal beatings.  The one-on-one fights where you must dodge and counter were well done.  It really felt like a solid beat-'em-up.  Where I struggled was with the ranged combat.  The targeting system cannot be inverted (so, I spent a good few minutes trying to adjust), which is a bummer.  The issues arose when you use the same stick to move about as you do select targets.  So, while dodging giant fireballs, you are trying to manipulate your reticle with the same stick.  This just felt needlessly awkward to me.

The amount of the QTEs got a tad overwhelming, too.  It's great to have them in games, and I love them most of the time.  But, since the entire game is based around them, that might wear thin after awhile of playing.  This is by no means a deal-breaker, but it is something to consider.  If you hate QTEs, stay away.

What I Didn't Like

Honestly, not much.  Some of the button-mashing QTEs seemed unforgiving (but I am not very good at those anyhow, so it probably was me).  And the targeting issue mentioned above was annoying.  Otherwise, consider me a convert.  I don't know if everything will hold up for an entire game, but what was there was so absurd and so much fun that I don't know if I'd care.  This is a classic case where the fun will probably outweigh the design flaws.  

Super awesome face-punching action!

My advice?  Get the demo and see if it floats your boat.  Fans of Bayonetta and Vanquish will certainly feel at home with this game.  Asura's Wrath is definitely one to watch for when it comes out 21 February in the US, and 24 February in Europe.