Asura's Wrath is content to play itself most of the way through. It's quite a spectacle, to be sure, but it's mostly a hands-off kind of spectacle.
The ground combat system is barebones. There are light, heavy, and projectile attacks, but there's no method to using them. You don't have to time any of it; all you need to do is make sure you can get out of the way of your enemies' attacks before closing in again to start another barrage of blows. Heavy attacks feature cooldown periods -- that is, unless you've powered up and activated Unlimited Mode.
The goal of most combat situations is to simply build your Burst Meter (seriously, what is up with the Japanese and that word?) by landing successful attacks. When the meter is full, you can trigger a cutscene featuring a number of very simple quick time events. These quick time events invariably result in something spectacularly insant happening on the screen. Though the actions don't match up well enough to feel like your input is worth anything, they are still worth seeing. Performing well in the quick times results in a better ranking at the end of each episode.
Sometimes, you'll take to the air or start running very quickly. When this happens, the gameplay style shifts to that of an on-rails shooter like Panzer Dragoon. Like the rest of the game, these parts are fun to look at, but not much fun to play. This can be blamed on the fact that the shooting simply lacks impact.
Asura's Wrath is an interesting experiment that ultimately fails as a game. I consider it a must-play and can easily recommend it as a rental, but I can't imagine that anyone would want to pay full price for it. It has zero replay value and simply isn't much fun to play. It sure is fun to watch, though.
