Review: Asura's Wrath - Nirvana True Ending DLC Episodes

I’m officially done with final exams after Monday, but the hardest ones are already out of the way, so I decided to treat myself with something nice today. I went ahead and downloaded all of the Asura’s Wrath DLC episodes today.

For those who don’t know already, Asura’s Wrath is a heavily-inspired anime action game from the joint efforts of Cyber Connect (.hack// and Naruto games) and Capcom. Most reviews for this game have frowned on it having little gameplay at times, but I’m on the other side of the coin. The game plays like an interactive anime, where button prompts onscreen allow you to assist Asura in his rage-filled journey. I’ll warn you now, that if you don’t like over the top action then pass from this game. Think Dragonball Z and God Hand having a threesome born lovechild with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. From the beautiful graphics and animation to create this world, this game weaves a powerful, emotional journey from start to finish.

The DLC episodes come in two favors. Episode 11.5 picks up right after Asura’s battle with Augus and fills in the gaps of the end of Episode 11 and 12. Episode 15.5 picks up after Asura’s battle with Yasha, and it follows Yasha meeting with Deus in the Karma Fortress. The sad part of these episodes are that they both hand-drawn interactive anime movies. There’s NO gameplay other than button prompts to fill the BURST meter as usual. Both of these episodes can be completed in roughly 3-5 mins. They aren’t bad, but they are definitely worth their 160 MS ($2) point price tag. IMO 15.5 is the better of the two, just from its animation style alone. I would kill for a flashback DLC episode of Deus vs. Augus at the end though.

Now the Act IV: Nirvana DLC episode pack contains episodes 19 through 22. This expands the story from the cliffhanger that the “True” ending (get S rank on any 5 episodes) brought about. Episode 19 is exactly what you’d expect after the revelation that the “Creator” left you with, as Asura goes nuts and its a battle against the Creator. IMO treat this like the fight against Deus. Keep your distance and build Unlimited mode. Unleash that and pick your spots carefully until you take him down. Episode 20 has Yasha fending off several Gohmas while pondering how to heal Asura after the beating they got from the Creator. I personally couldn’t stand this level as they have you fight Gohma AND that annoying turtle-like Gohma boss while he’s running around. Again, build Unlimited mode from the surrounding baddies and unload on him while you can. I even suggest ignoring the small fry while you’re in unlimited mode and just focus on the boss.

On a sidenote, you gotta love the Transformers: The Movie moment at the end of this episode. That definitely “shined the light to light up their darkest hour” hahahaha. Seriously, can someone explain what exactly are 8 Deities? Robots or Gods or both? Episode 21 has Asura and Yasha settle things between them for the last time, while treating us with a glimpse of their training and history together. You’ve fought Yasha a ton of times by now, you know what to do. Just be more careful as he’s always in Unlimited mode this time and has a few new attacks. Episode 22 has Asura face off against the Creator in the game’s proper epic finale. I was blown away at this fight, even though I hate the rail shooter segments of this game with a passion. The last boss having his own button prompts for how well he was doing in the fight was hilarious and a nice touch. After beating the game (again) stick around for the tease at the end of the episode, there’s a ton of Street Fighter II references. Chun-Li is the policewoman fussing at Kalrow and Asura knocks out that guy just like during the intro to Street Fighter II from the arcades.

With the game ending like this, it seems like Capcom is keeping the door open for both sides of the coin. Like the door is open for a sequel if there’s demand for it, but at the same time, it seems like Asura’s Wrath is canon to the Street Fighter universe so it’s HIGHLY possible we could see Asura, Yasha, and others in a possible future SF game if they go by their ‘modern’ descendants.

You guys know how I am about paying extra on DLC, especially from Capcom, but this was an unique case. This wasn’t on the disk, wasn’t required and totally optional. From the hand-drawn anime episodes to the proper finale in “Nirvana”, I could tell this project was a labor of love from the folks who made the game and wanted to give more to the fans of their game. Cyber Connect took a HUGE risk to take a shot in the dark and try something different with a game like this, so I can understand why they didn’t put everything on the table upon the initial release. I can’t complain too much either as the pricing was more than fair as well.

Regardless, this was a satisfying addition to Asura’s Wrath’s story that adds roughly 90 minutes to two more additional hours to the total game play time of the game. If you don’t feel like buying all of this separate, Capcom is bundling this and the upcoming Vs. Ryu and Akuma DLCs together at a later date for roughly 800 MS points.