With the UK’s Eurogamer Expo taking place in September, many of the impending titles over the coming months have been previewed and discussed at length. However, there are always a few which slip through, and this is where MCM Expo comes in. Located in the London docklands, this twice-yearly event gives us a chance to bury ourselves in piles of Japanese paraphernalia, witness some truly impressive cosplay and get our hands on some upcoming games. At the show, Capcom’s booth was packed into the entertainingly incongruous sight of a boxing ring, and it’s easy to see why; all of their games involved fighting in some form, from Street Fighter X Tekken to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom, there seemed to be a strong theme to their showing at this year’s Expo. Of particular interest, however, was Asura’s Wrath.

Developed in conjunction with CyberConnect 2, this title adopts a somewhat larger scale than the comparatively modest scraps between Ryu and Ken; here, mythical deities fight in battles of mind-boggling scale as yet another rage-filled god seeks revenge. Claims that this is another take on the God of War template are not reactionary; they are obligatory.

Indeed, there’s a long list of people who have some answering to do to Kratos. From the shameless copy and paste that was Dante’s Inferno to the horrific Werehog stages in 2008’s Sonic Unleashed, we dread to think what God of War’s angry protagonist would do to his swath of imitators if he got his hands on them. He seems to have single-handely created his own genre, the hallmarks of which – a loose take on mythology, giant bosses and angry protagonists stripped of their status – are distributed like-for-like in each imitative title. Consequently, Asura’s Wrath is perhaps best known for ‘that bit with the giant finger’ in much the same way that the first God of War was known for its impressive hydra battle. For those unfamiliar with the scene it involves the titular protagonist – Asura – engaged in combat with a boss of godlike proportions. Dwarfing the Earth, this rotund figure - named Gongen Wyzen - attempts to dispose of his adversary in the most practical way a god can - by squishing him under a giant finger.

It was the action leading up to this scene which served as one of two demos available at MCM Expo, with Wyzen serving as a protracted boss battle that was high on spectacle and relatively low on interactivity. Opening – somewhat jarringly – halfway through a dialogue-heavy scene, we will readily admit to being somewhat baffled by the proceedings. Asura – seemingly a fusion of Street Fighter’s Akuma and Ryu characters in appearance - and Wyzen exchanged typically exposition-heavy chunks of dialogue tinged with the usual whiff of Engrish which pervades Capcom games, before diving into battle. A strange Space Harrier-esque shooting section opened the fight, wherein Asura charged towards Wyzen, dodging projectiles and giving us the chance to return fire through either a lock-on system that can hit multiple targets, or by simply holding the fire button. The fight then slipped back into another cutscene, giving us a brief smattering of interactive interludes, such as pressing a button to leap between platforms or dishing out a seemingly endless supply of QTEs.

Shenmue invented them, God of War popularised them and now they are – for better or worse – a mainstay of the action genre. At the game’s Q&A session we were informed that the QTEs were introduced to keep the swath of cutscenes engaging, and thus failing them would not result in overall failure for the player. In all honesty it would be hard to fail them anyway; with lenient timing and a lack of other interactive stimuli to keep you occupied, we found ourselves almost wishing that some kind of punishment would be dished out.

As the boss battle continued, however, we saw some consistent gameplay mechanics emerging between gaps in the Dragon Ball Z-esque flailing and shouting. A ‘Burst Gauge’ at the top of the screen continually fills as you fight, acting as a kind of inverted health bar for the boss. Once it fills you can execute a Burst attack, which progresses the battle to its next stage and, in this instance, made Asura sprout four additional arms. After some more exchanging of blows, Asura blasted Wyzen into space with another Burst Attack, finally prompting the giant finger-squishing sequence. The strain of battle takes its toll on Asura, and the arms he sprouted earlier in the battle fall off. We were informed that this plot-point returns throughout the game, serving as a kind of scripted upgrade system as Asura’s powers change depending on the number of arms he has at any one time.

This demo left us entertained and a little flabbergasted, but we were still a little hazy on how the game actually played outside of such heavily scripted boss battles. Things were cleared up a little by the second demo, although this too also featured a boss fight – on the moon no less. This time it was against a more reasonably-sized opponent; Asura’s white-haired master, Augus, who gave us a chance to better try out the melee combat. The usual heavy and light attacks are in place, along with a projectile attack and the ability to go into ‘unlimited mode’ once the respective gauge has filled (as with God of War’s ‘Rage of the Gods’). The combat is fast and frantic, as one would expect, with a particular focus on offensive, rather than defensive, play. There appears to be no dodge or block mechanic, which means that avoiding Augus’s barrage of laser attacks and sword blows involved a mix of dextrous jumping and a keen eye for mid-battle QTE prompts. Once we had unleashed a few Burst Attacks and moved the battle through its paces, the demo concluded with a cutscene. Just as ludicrous and over the top as the last boss’ conclusion, Augus’s sword suddenly began to extend in a manner that would make even Freud blush, striking Asura and sending him hurtling away from the moon and towards Earth.

We get the feeling that what we’ve seen of Asura’s Wrath is the exception rather than the rule. By showing two impressive boss battles at MCM Expo, Capcom and CyberConnect2 have gone for spectacle over any deep mechanical demonstration. Despite experiencing these two demos, we still aren’t certain on how Asura’s Wrath will actually play during the bulk of its proposed ten to fifteen hour length. But as long as the game can strike a healthy balance between its semi-interactive spectacle-laden sections and its main action there is no reason it shouldn’t prove to be an entertaining and engaging riff on the God of War template. Just don’t tell Kratos.