Asura's Wrath

This is only my second time reviewing a video game. So look kindly upon it! Especially as this game is so weird and has so much in it!!

Combining religious figures, science-fiction and all different kinds of game play Asura's Wrath is difficult to explain. With half of the game being made of interactive cut scenes and being set in with episode structures I would almost call this an 'interactive anime' rather than a video game. The story is based in a strange past world where space travel is much more advanced, the earth-like planet Gaea has been over-populated and polluted and is now attacking the humans (yes, the earth started to attack the humans) in the form of relentless numbers of Gohmas, impure beasts. The only beings strong enough to  destroy the Gohma are the demigods, mainly the eight Guardian Generals. One of the eight Generals, Asura, is framed to have killed the emperor. His wife is killed, his daughter (the priestess) is captured for her power and Asura is sent to Naraka, a barren realm for the afterlife. With some coaxing from the 'Golden Spider', Asura climbs back to the realm of mortals with vengeance in mind.
When he returns to Gaea, 1,200 years have passed and Asura soon finds that the remaining Generals have taken to calling themselves the seven deities and taking human souls to harness the power to defeat the Gohma. His rage empowers him and he sets to destroying all the Gohma and the seven deities and saving his daughter. But since demigods are near invincible the fights can get pretty extreme, like becoming larger than Gaea and trying to squash Asura with their finger or using a sword that becomes so long that it goes through the core and pokes out the other side of the earth. It's so ridiculous it's just comical yet so entertaining! Each 'episode' has: credits, a mid-episode break, 'beat 'em up' style mass fights, interactive cut-scenes, an image-based extra story line and a preview of the next episode. So it really is half way between anime and video game. A perfect collaboration in my opinion.
I played the whole game on easy and man was it easy! Not once did I die!! The cut-scenes seemed to work even if I did miss the button (it just lowered my score), though during fights I might have to retry the sequence when I missed. But even during the real fight scenes, no indication was made towards my health bar, in fact, I didn't even know I had a health bar until half way through! Asura has this thing called a 'burst gauge', when full Asura can reach his full potential with special moves and extra fire. A fight is basically smashing the O button (on PS3) until you've filled the rage bar. Not the most strategic game, but there is a lot of different things to do! In various circumstances Asura's form changes, extra limbs, loss of limbs, fire-ness. It gets quite hectic around parts, but it's just funny in the end.
The general animation of the game is nice and consistent. Both the anime scenes and the fight scenes blend into one. The eight Generals all have their own unique style to go with their unique personalities and their unique fighting styles, even the Gohmas have lots of different forms. The fight scenes are so epic and unique and well animated! With all the fire and flailing fists, I couldn't say they were lacking much! There is also the picture story at the end of each episode I mentioned! Each on is done by a different artitst, not that I could really tell, but  I could tell it was pretty! Wispy lines and flowery patterns on a papyrus effect; they all looked very oriental.
Having read this, you may be a bit sceptical, but trust me: it is really good! It's all very ridiculous but it all fits together perfectally! And maybe 'Interactive anime' sounds a bit stupid to you, but is really rather genius! I know of nothing like this so it's really difficult to explain. So just trust me, OK?