Asura's Wrath Review

If you’re not pummeling buttons, you’re doing Asura’s Wrath wrong. Reviews have been throwing around ‘button basher!’ as a derogatory label for years when the most skill demanded was finding the power button on your PS3 or making sure you don’t choke on your pause break Pot Noodle and now, suddenly, here’s a game that not only revels in button bashing but actually demands it.

You’ll fight everything from planet-sized buddhas to gigantic turtles but it doesn’t matter what stands before you. Everything will fall to repeated stabs of the Circle button.

There’s no skill to be learnt and no attack patterns to be studied. If you know where to find the Circle button on your pad (all of you) and your thumb isn’t made of sausages (all of you again, we hope), then this is the easiest game you’ll ever play.

It’s actually harder to follow the story than it is to play the game. Asura’s Wrath is to do with Asura’s daughter, who is needed by the Seven Deities to defeat the Gohma and… well, it doesn’t matter.

What’s important is that it’s a convenient vehicle for eccentric design, taking in volcanoes, spaceships and pervy hot springs (unlock View of the Valley Trophy by staring at boobs!) as Asura smashes his way through the six-odd hours of gameplay.

It’s mostly boss fights, which are mostly QTEs, which are mostly impossible to fail. You might be fighting a giant elephant whose veins pulse with red, evil anger but it will still politely wait for you to push down on the left analogue stick before taking its turn to attack.

Visuals are very reminiscent of Bayonetta. Not quite as good, of course.

If Bayonetta, God of War and its ilk were about leaning forward in fierce concentration as you try to slice and weave your way through a small army while racking up stylish combos, Asura’s Wrath is about leaning back and letting the art style, imagination and ridiculous scale wow you. That’s both what’s great and what’s wrong with it.

If we were going to be arty-farty and delve into ‘what is a game?’ chin-stroking debates, then Asura’s Wrath would be Exhibit A for games that just… happen in front of you, regardless of player input.

It’s not a game you’ll ever improve at. If you fail, then mash harder. As entertainment, Asura’s Wrath is an anime-infused explosion of moon-fighting, planet-stabbing, spaceship-crushing, monkey-chasing fun.

Do you want a game or do you want entertainment? If it’s the latter, then at the very least, Asura’s Wrath will slap a grin on your face.