I haven’t forgotten about this little featurette here, I’ve just been a bit lax on writing about the latest and not-so-latest free samples hot off the PSN. Brothuh Kyo (whose indie game opus is nearing completion, incidentally) tipped me off that there was a demo of a game that was, and I quote:

“It’s like Bayonetta, Panzer Dragoon, Godhand and Shadow of Colossus decided to have an orgy with Liam O’Brien. Asura’s Wrath is cool.”

So, as a fan of wrath in general, I had to give it a shot. So what did I think of it?

1) THAT WAS AWESOME

2) Also, what the hell was that?

On the one hand, the demo definitely has my attention. So that’s a big mark in its favor as a free hit intended to bring someone into a shady alley itching for a score. On the other- Seriously, what the hell did I just play? It appears to have a mix of a beat ’em up with rail shooter-esque bits, and I think the demo at the least was around 75% quick-time events. Which, while certainly awesome, don’t really give you much of a taste of what the rest of the game is going to be like… unless it really is something along the lines of a massive boss rush and skips level-grinding and henchman-killing.

The snippets of plot that we get seem to make the story out to something of a God of War-ish story involving a pantheon of jerk gods who have Asura’s daughter and are using her powers against him. The featured fights seem to have been grabbed to show off how massive fights can get (the first part) and the second I have a feeling is more typical of what the game is going to be like, a free roaming 3-D brawler that mixes together a variety of button mashing combos, counter techniques, and generally dicking around until you get the prompt to go into BURST mode, sprout extra arms, then let the Dragonball Z style QTE stuff begin. It’s very Bayonetta-ish, though a bit more spectacle and a little less skill. The aformentioned “large-scale” fight in the first part of the demo involves auto-running toward the boss while trying to achieve the max number of target locks, then tap triangle and let ’em fly. There’s a bit in the middle where you have to fight off an airship while smacking down a handful of grunts who close in on you on the ground and just kind of impotently poke at you with spears. It’s all pretty epic scaled, and I should mention that I don’t bust out the word “epic” casually. We’re talking about the kind of action where a bad guy becomes bigger than the earth and tries to crush you under his finger or another can make a sword grow long enough to impale the earth and send magma gushing out of the entry room.

I think I’m pretty set on trying this one depending on if I can afford it when it drops. Course with Devil Survivor 2, Mass Effect 3, and Armored Core V (and I’ll probably cram in FFIV or something just to complete the flush) due out this year, who knows. I would like to try and move once I’m able.

What will come in the next Demo Demo Panic? Eh. Who knows. It probably won’t be as much fun as this.