Asura's Wrath

Another older game that I've just gotten around to playing, Asura's Wrath is a bit of an odd fish...  in fact, calling it a "game" is really kind of a stretch.  It's more like an episodic anime series, in which you get to participate in select sections through various mechanics... it's still pretty enjoyable, if you like your action anime over-the-top, but it's good to know that going in.

As far as that participation aspect goes, it comes in three main flavors.  Quick-time events (QTE) are the most prevalent, cropping up during basic video playbacks and the other gameplay modes, so if those turn you off, this isn't the game for you.  Otherwise, the playable bits are a mix of beat-'em-up and rail-shooter sections, the goal of each generally being to build up a rage (power) meter until you can pull off a special move to end the segment and move on with the story.  Both are simple, yet well-done... I never found myself bored doing Yet Another Fight, but neither did I find myself restarting a fight for the fifth time because I missed the timing on a dodge, a rarity in this sort of gameplay.

All in all, it's an entertaining way to spend several hours, and, since you can find it for under $20 on Amazon as of this writing, I'd say give it a go if it interests you at all.  However, go into it knowing this:  your first play-through will likely end with a somewhat unsatisfying "false ending" that seems happy enough, but leaves several loose ends untied.  Reaching the "true ending" will likely require a lot of replay of scenes that you've already passed... and that ending is just a teaser for a DLC pack that contains the real ending.  That's something I would consider unforgivable, if I had bought it new for $60... now, well, I got plenty of entertainment out of it for what I paid for it by making it to the false ending, and I can see the rest on YouTube.