Asterix the Gaul (and his best friend Obelix) first debuted on 29 October 1959 as a serial in the French/Belgium magazine Pilote. Since then, the plucky Gauls have had many adventures in comic books, videogames, and feature-length productions. This year, I’m spending a few days celebrating this popular and enduring character.

Quick Facts: 
Although his popular books translated to a videogame career spanning over thirty titles, Asterix’s PlayStation 2 debut, Astérix & Obélix XXL, a somewhat divisive 3D beat-‘em-up that was revamped in 2020. Despite that game being as lambasted as the 2005 sequel, the franchise continued with a third, equally questionable entry.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Unlike its predecessors, Asterix & Obelix XXL 3: The Crystal Menhir is a top down, somewhat isometric brawler rather than a third person beat-‘em-up. As ever, players control Asterix and/or Obelix (aided by Dogmatix) and visit some familiar locations across the ancient world, this time to rescue the mystic Avina Gandir and empower her magic Snæfellhelgajökull (the titular Crystal Menhir). The game allows for drop-in/drop-out two-player co-op and lacks a traditional life system, though the generous respawns and checkpoints are waved whenever you’re fighting through heavily fortified Roman camps. Players attack Romans with X, executing simple combos with successive presses, interact with the environment or talk to non-playable characters (NPCs) with A, and perform a “forward jump” with B. This replaces a traditional jump and sees the two half-heartedly roll/charge ahead to cross gaps, with Asterix travelling further than his rotund pal, and also acts as a dodge. This is a finicky system that unnecessarily grounds the two Gauls, forcing you to find alternative paths and ways to reach higher paths rather than just jumping like a normal person. You can switch characters with the Left Trigger and there are differences between the two beyond Obelix just being bigger and heavier. Asterix is small enough to squeeze through gaps, for example, and occasionally grabs torches to burn down ivy and such. Asterix also swigs magic potion with the Right Trigger (if you have some) to temporarily become faster and stronger (but not invincible). Obelix, meanwhile, can sic Dogmatic on enemies with RT and perform various environmental and elemental attacks with the Crystal Menhir.

You do this by acquiring the Crystal Menhir and empowering it with shards, allowing you to open a menu with Y and hit either A, B, X, or Y to select a menhir power. Obelix can smash the menhir onto the ground or weak walls to uncover secrets, shortcuts, and goodies; or set Romans, torches, and branches alight; or freeze enemies into ice cubes; or reflect projectiles, attract enemies and collectible helmets, or move metal blocks and platforms. These abilities are primarily for puzzle solving, burning down ivy to reach levers, for example, or moving metal platforms so Asterix can reach higher ground. The game’s final chapters feature the most complex of these puzzles, with players needing to magnetically produce temporary platforms for Asterix to dash to while dodging hazards, meaning it’s probably better to play with a friend for these sections as it can be tricky switching back and forth when playing alone. Players also build an energy bar by pummelling enemies, allowing them to hold the Left Bumper and hit A, B, X, or Y to land a “special hit”. Sadly, there’s nothing to differentiate these between the characters except their aesthetics (Asterix uppercuts with his fist but Obelix uses the Crystal Menhir) so both will be uppercutting, spinning like a cyclone, charging ahead, or twirling Romans overhead before tossing them at enemies. As before, you must defeat Romans and smash a whole mess of crates to collect helmets. These are spent at various pop-up shops to increase your maximum health, energy, magic potion quota, and to acquire new combos and permanent buffs (though I found there was even less variety than usual). Players replenish health by beating up wild boar or finding roast boar or fruit baskets dotted about, boost their energy with lightning bolts, and can eventually fast travel to other countries using the map from the “View” button menu, which tracks your progress and unlockables.

The Crystal Menhir has only superficial similarities to its predecessors, to the point where I question why it has the XXL title. Players explore a semi-open world, interacting with NPCs for primary and secondary missions (usually time trials or fighting challenges), and are often forced to fight waves of Romans to progress. This is nowhere near as aggravating as the previous games as you don’t fight nearly as many enemies, though combat doesn’t feel as versatile as the previous games. Players follow a largely linear path, travelling around each region until an NPC asks for help, which inevitably sees players storming a fortified Roman camp and receiving a score grade and plot-specific item upon completion. These can be difficult challenges as there are no checkpoints and few health power-ups. Romans can call for back-up and endlessly spawn from various tents, which must be destroyed. Usually, all nearby enemies must be bested to activate levers to lower gates, though players must smash through barricades, take higher and lower paths (avoiding falling into pits or water as both are fatal), use (or avoid) explosive barrels, and occasionally battle against a time limit. You must also protect Forfendrik and Razzledazzleus while they hide in vases, slide down frozen mountains in Thule, hop to waterspout platforms, and drain water from moats to help unsuspecting Roman NPCs in Rome. Icicle spikes, thorny vines, spikes floors and walls, and arrows are commonplace hazards, as are door mazes that have you going in circles looking for the right switch to lower a gate. When in Crete, you must sneak past the Romans stationed on the beach (easier said than done; I just froze them to cheese it in the end!) and then use your newly acquired magnetic shard to escape a labyrinth, dodging spinning barriers (which are often spiked) and flipping spiked panels. While the puzzles are simple and often repeated, I was left checking a guide here and there as it’s not always obvious what you must do, and many would be much easier if playing with a friend.

Presentation:
It’s kind of hilarious to me that The Crystal Menhir got a physical release at it’s a much smaller and far simpler game than its predecessors and is presented very much as a digital-only title with its angled, overhead perspective and simplistic cutscenes. Rather than utilising pre-rendered cutscenes, animatic sequences, or even the in-game models, The Crystal Menhir opts for portrait art and text bubbles when characters are talking, adding to the low-budget feel. The voices seem to be the same as the last game, with Asterix still sounding Welsh for some reason, and characters assume idle poses when left alone; Dogmatix even frantically runs about yapping. The plot isn’t anything that hasn’t been done in hundreds of Asterix videogames but is given some spice with the Crystal Menhir, which Julius Caesar sends his lieutenant, returning villain Marcus Ginantonicus, to acquire, only for Marcus to go mad with power after stealing it and seek to usurp Caesar. Players explore the iconic Gaulish village and surrounding forest, chatting with familiar characters like wise druid Getafix, though most NPCs appear to be brand-new. The new visual style really suits the game; the camera is no longer an issue as it’s locked in place and environments are much more colourful and detailed due to the new perspective. Sadly, the music isn’t much to shout about, and I did encounter some odd glitches. The game crashed during the final boss, for one thing, and there were often times when characters froze, doors prematurely closed, or I became separated from my partner, forcing a reload. There are some fun Easter Eggs and visual touches, though, like Romans running around with their asses on fire or turning into ice cubes, Romans drying their laundry in camp, chickens and birds wandering about, and the landscape being littered with ruins from the Roman conquest.

Players begin in the Gaulish village and wander through the forest to the nearby Roman camps Petibonum and Aquarium. Both will be very familiar to Asterix fans and set the standard for the Roman camp challenges to come, featuring towering log walls, barricades, guard towers, camps, and barracks for the soldiers. Though phalanxes are absent this time, Romans patrol in groups and instantly attack upon sight, being blasted out of their sandals or sent crashing into the dirt from your attacks. You must destroy tents to stop reinforcements spawning and can use binoculars to check for upcoming hazards and must create or move platforms to get about. Soon after, you head to the beach to meet travelling Phoenician merchant Ekonomikrisis, who agrees to ferry you about (in cutscenes) after you help him. This takes you to Thule, a frosty, snowy island full of caves, icicles, waterspouts that blast you about, and slippery ice slides. You must dodge snowballs, avoid the frigid wind when crossing bridges to avoid plummeting to your death, and watch for explosive barrels when storming the Reykjavum camp. The vaguely Egyptian-themed Tyre bookends its missions with Roman camps, with players having to fight through Esohandsum to enter the city and sack Adenufofum to release a giant chain and set sail. When in Tyre, you pass through a narrow, bustling market square, meet the local resistance, take the high ground when opposing the Roman construction site, and help the locals when they’re attacked. Crete largely restricts you to a sprawling, boobytrapped labyrinth where you use magnetic platforms and blocks to reach the elevator. Naturally, your journey ends in Rome, where you bash Romans in Caesar’s prized gardens and courtyard, drain water and burn ivy to reach new areas, and battle past ostentatious statues and other tributes to the nation’s egotistical dictator.

Enemies and Bosses:
Sadly, and somewhat ironically, The Crystal Menhir is the most disappointing of the XXL games I’ve played in terms of its enemy selection. While I decried the barrage of videogame-themed enemies in Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 (Étranges Libellules/OSome Studio, 2005/2018), The Crystal Menhir course corrects too far in the opposite direction and offers only a handful of somewhat boring enemies to wade through. You’ll face bog standard Legionnaires who attack in groups and wield pilums, get hit from afar by annoying archer Legionnaires and spear-throwers, and must target trumpeters to avoid reinforcements being spawned. Soon, these simple enemies are joined by shield-bearers, who must have their shields knocked away with an uppercut, and golden-clad, rotund Centurions who attack with swords. Finally, you battle tougher Legionnaires who carry shields and powerful maces, but that’s it. There are no Romans hiding in tree trunks, no flying enemies, no massive catapults or bizarre videogame homages, no gladiators, no Normans…just this handful of enemies. To make matters worse, there aren’t any true boss battles, either. Marcus Ginantonicus sets a few waves of enemies upon you, but that’s it until the finale, where Marcus steals the Crystal Menhir and attacks the Gauls’ village using a war machine. In this fight, you must ignore the endlessly spawning enemies and snag the Crystal Menhir from the machine’s claw with Obelix. You must then keep the menhir safe and attack the machine’s many claws when they come crashing down, which can be tricky due to the sheer number of enemies swarming the arena (though respawning health and power-ups are also present).

Additional Features:
There are thirty-one Achievements in Asterix & Obelix XXL 3: The Crystal Menhir, with players earning one every time they clear a chapter, another for beating each of the game’s difficulty modes (which are stackable), and another for purchasing one and then all upgrades. You’ll get Achievements for holding 5000 and then 10,000 Roman helmets, defeating 500 and 1500 enemies, and for landing a 200-hit combo. Burn, freeze, stun, throw, and uppercut a bunch of Romans for some more, have an archer hit a target for another, and get a gold medal on every Roman camp challenge for another. As you explore, you’ll find Roman dice and Golden Laurels scattered and hidden about. Finding them all earns you more Achievements, though there are no unlockables beyond being able to freely replay any area with all your upgrades and putting down real-world cash for some skins.

Final Thoughts:
Considering Asterix & Obelix XXL 3: The Crystal Menhir is, technically, a far less polished and complete game than its predecessors, you might be wondering with it’s getting a higher rating than the first two games. After all, there are no real bosses, the combat is quite simple and shallow, the cutscenes are disappointingly cheap, and you’re locked on a linear path rather than engaging in a sprawling, action-packed adventure. While it’s true I’m disappointed by the lack of enemy variety and boss battles, The Crystal Menhir was a very enjoyable game to look at and play. Many of the finicky, tedious aspects of the last two games are gone, replaced with some, arcade-style beat-‘em-up action and some challenging puzzles tied to the titular magic rock. I liked that Asterix and Obelix felt more distinct compared to the last two games (even if this was still lacking) and that I wasn’t forced to fight over a thousand enemies at once just to progress. It was bizarre not having a traditional jump, but I quite enjoyed trying to work out how to reach higher areas, even if it did get annoying. The environments weren’t doing anything new for an Asterix game, but I liked the NPCs and their optional missions and found the elemental abilities of the Crystal Menhir interesting (if underutilised). While the game can get quite challenging thanks to the Roman camps not having checkpoints and it’s annoying that you can’t swim, and some of the mechanics and technical aspects are dodgy at times, I largely enjoyed my time with this one. If you pick it up as a digital title in a sale, like I did, I’d say Asterix & Obelix XXL 3: The Crystal Menhir is well worth your time. While it’s flawed, I found it far less annoying than the last two games, so this is the one I’d be more likely to return to on higher difficulties.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Did you also find Asterix & Obelix XXL 3: The Crystal Menhir an improvement over the last two games or were you unimpressed by the new perspective? Did you like the Crystal Menhir and the new puzzle mechanics? Were you disappointed by the poor enemy variety and lack of bosses? Did you find all the dice and Golden Laurels? Which XXL game is your favourite and how are you celebrating Asterix this October? Share your thoughts on Asterix and his games below and support me on Ko-Fi to fund more Asterix content.

Asterix the Gaul (and his best friend Obelix) first debuted on 29 October 1959 as a serial in the French/Belgium magazine Pilote. Since then, the plucky Gauls have had many adventures in comic books, videogames, and feature-length productions. This year, I’m spending a few days celebrating this popular and enduring character.

Quick Facts: 
Having sold over 400 million books worldwide, Asterix his PlayStation 2 debut with Astérix & Obélix XXL, a somewhat divisive 3D beat-‘em-up that was revamped in 2020. Despite that game being equally lambasted, the 2005 sequel, which parodied many popular videogame franchises, also earned a remaster, though it remained a flawed and tiresome experience.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
In a bid to finally to conquer Gaul, Julius Caesar builds the Las Vegum theme park to house the fearless warriors. When their druid Getafix apparently aids Caesar in kidnapping other druids, Asterix, Obelix, and Dogmatix travel to Las Vegum in Rome on a rescue mission, bashing videogame-themed Roman soldiers across six themed areas. Like its predecessor, Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 is a single-player 3D brawler that sees you attacking with a quick combo with X, jumping with A (pressing it again in mid-air for a double jump), grabbing stunned Romans with Y, and performing a dash attack to break shields with B. The Left Bumper sees Dogmatix bite enemies to disarm and stun them while the Right Bumper switches characters. You’re often prompted to switch mid combo to perform stronger attacks, earning yourself more collectibles or power-ups, and you can twirl Romans after grabbing them, swing them like a whip, and toss them at other enemies or targets. You can restore health by grabbing roast boar from boats, defeated enemies, or the many destructible crates, and temporarily extend it by collecting shields. Players must again smash a bunch of crates to collect Roman helmets, which unlock additional combos and techniques. These are much tricker to pull off than before, generally requiring you to reach or unlock new levels of “Fury Mode”. This builds as you dish out damage as sees your fists (and, later, enemies) burst into flames to deal additional damage. Lives still don’t exist, but the game is full of checkpoints and autosave points, though any defeated enemies and smashed crates and collectibles respawn if you drop down a pit or have your health drained.

Like before, most of your time is spent bashing near endless waves of enemies, which is even more tedious as the combos aren’t as intuitive (simply grabbing and swinging Romans is usually enough to clear the hoards). Occasionally, magic potion spawns to temporarily empower Asterix, through Obelix gets no such power-up. Instead, he mainly bashes down metal doors or pulls Asterix along on wooden platforms. Obelix can jump into special cannons to blast across areas and utilise turrets to shoot enemies from the sky, but he’s generally much slower than Asterix and his basic combos aren’t any different. Asterix can no longer carry torches (you just hit torches to light them), which is a relief, and can slip through gaps too narrow for his rotund friend. Asterix also gets many automated zip-like-esque sections where you must press (or hold) X to swing his platform over or under obstacles. This would be fun, but you must fight to maintain Asterix’s balance to avoid being knocked off and starting over, which is a pain. Springs still blast you higher and you can perform your mid-air ground pound from high up to smash to lower areas. You’ll also roll giant, somewhat fragile bombs to blast through tetromino walls or push large blocks to reach new areas. Although the sliding sections are gone, you’re still often asked to defeat a certain number of enemies to lower barriers blocking doors or to access levers. While these enemy waves can number in the hundreds, they don’t occur as often as before but they’re no less tedious and some areas have you constantly defeating enemies in different rooms each time you pass through just to progress.

Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 ditches the chapter-based narrative for a more open-world feel, with players utilising a stone map to fast travel across Las Vegum. You must often hit levers or pressure pads to lower bridges or access new areas, hopping to floating barges, or dodging rolling barrels as you go. If you’re not bashing enemies, you’re searching for torches to light or flinging Romans at targets. Sometimes you hop into large, familiar pipes and tackle annoying platforming sections on rotating and moving platforms. Other times, you zip around as Asterix to hit a lever and extend a bridge so Obelix can destroy a door to access a pressure pad section. Dogmatix often scurries ahead and barks at points of interest, such as destructible areas or switches that activate springs, and you must pay a helmet toll to enter each section of Las Vegum. Roman Phalanxes now crowd narrow corridors blocking your objectives (though the magic potion makes short work of them), topple obelisks, and spawn stone links between platforms to smash onto broken tiles. You must hit switches to raise columns and transport bombs higher or lower, take stairs and elevators to reach levers, and defeat a wave of Romans in the coliseum before the area floods. This area also sees you gunning down waves of airborne Romans trying to raise torches for their grounded allies to light and includes a wooden reconstruction of the Gaulish village, which is partially destructible. While on Pirate Island, you must drain the water to toss enemies at targets and access the cannon, then refill the water and blast about 250 Romans from the sky, all to push a bomb to a wall and reach a pressure pad puzzle. It’s all very repetitive, with the same gimmicks and puzzles being thrown at you just with different bells and whistles and different combinations of enemies, though the game seems much shorter and easier than its predecessor.

Presentation:
Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 continues the strangely gritty aesthetic of the first game, awkwardly mashing the comic book’s colourful, cartoonish visuals with more realistic elements, but removes the ability to switch to the original graphics and oddly lumbers Asterix with a Welsh accent. Asterix and Obelix have some limited idle poses and make quips during the action, but most cutscenes focus on them interacting with the different druids, abusing Roman spy Sam Sheiffer, or show Caesar interacting with his Getafix lookalike, Larry Craft. When the cutscenes kick in, the game zooms out and applies a border, presenting the story with noticeably downgraded graphics rather than remastering the cutscenes to be in widescreen. Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 leans far heavier into the videogame genre this time around, including references to Space Invaders (Taito, 1978), Donkey Kong (Nintendo R&D1, 1981), Tetris (Mirrorsoft, 1988), and Pikmin (Nintendo EAD, 2001). You’ll see images of Rayman carved into blocks, Super Mario (Various, 1985 to present) pipes appear alongside distinctly Mortal Kombat-esque (Midway, 1992) banners, the bombs are modelled after Bomberman, and I spotted a homage to Lemmings (DMA Design, 1991). This trend extends to the enemies, too, with Larry Craft being an obvious allusion to a certain tomb raider, some Romans carrying shields shaped like Pac-Man, other dressed like Sonic the Hedgehog and running about swinging Golden Rings, martial artists dressing like and throwing fireballs and uppercuts like Ryu, and the most annoying aping Super Mario and shoving you back with water jets. These were kind of fun but quickly lost their allure and I found myself questioning why and even how the ancient Romans can ape these videogame icons. Asterix comics are often filled with fun puns and allusions like this, but I found it oddly distracting, as though it called attention to it being a videogame rather than delivering a more traditional Asterix experience.

Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 is set entirely within Las Vegum, a city-sized amusement park with six areas modelled after Caesar’s conquered lands. Amusingly, Asterix and Obelix travel to Rome during a cutscene transition rather than embarking on an adventure like in the last game. You begin in a recreation of Lutetia, traversing narrow streets and wider areas and fighting around and springing up a recreation of the Eiffel Tower. You pass through a subway between areas and by numerous homes and shops, none of which can be entered. This transitions nicely into Little Venetia, a recreation of Venice full of water and stone paths and also housing a homage to Mortal Kombat fittingly called “Fatalium”. Things got a touch more interesting once I visited LuckScore, an Egyptian themed area that sees you exploring a colourful interior searching for lights to shine on a central door, though things were disappointingly lowkey in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). This is essentially just the coliseum surrounded by traditional Roman architecture. The Fatalium theming would’ve been far more appropriate here, especially as you battle Larry Craft in a volcano-like lair and would’ve added a bit more visual spice to the repetitive sports field aesthetic and simple stone arenas. Pirate Island made up for this, featuring a lighthouse, a large cave, a mine cart section (though without any mine cats), and switch to a 2.5D perspective to dodge barrels like in Donkey Kong. This theme was somewhat lacking, though, especially as Redbeard and his crew are strangely missing. The action culminates in SeizeUs Palace, a casino-themed finale featuring a giant roulette table with multiple paths, opulent gardens, and towering structures leading to gimmicked challenges themed around the game’s repetitive tropes (pulleys, switches, enemy waves, etc).

Enemies and Bosses:
The Roman army is out in full force in Las Vegum, dropping from above, spawning out of nowhere, and attacking in nigh-endless waves. Generally, their attacks are easily telegraphed by onscreen indicators, though even the bog-standard Legionnaires can take quite a beating. These skinny little runts run around and poke at you with spears and generally act as cannon fodder to the larger “Optio” variants, whose shields must be shattered. These brutes mostly carry maces and axes, though their Centurion variants have large broadswords, the Egyptian variants wield large sickles, and the Pac-Man Roman carries a Pac-Man shield that can bite you. Although the pirate enemies are essentially the same as the regular Legionnaires except for carrying a cutlass, Romans also hover overheard using helicopter-like blades and drop time bombs and ghostly Romans will continually respawn unless you ground pound them when they’re down. The Rayman variants are similar, though they fire their disembodied fists like the Centurions toss blades. The Super Mario-esque Romans are strapped to a contraption resembling the Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device (F.L.U.D.D.) that fires a water stream. While this doesn’t do damage, it does annoyingly push you back and semi-stun locks you, which is extremely aggravating when platforming or fighting waves of enemies. The Ryu lookalikes are equally annoying as they launch Hadokens from afar and catch you with a Shoryuken combo if you’re slow on your button presses. The Sonic cosplayers are the fastest enemies but they’re more annoying than a threat while the phalanxes are now thankfully limited to narrow corridors, easily telegraphing their spear attacks and being demolished by the magic potion.

You must regularly clear areas of all enemies to progress, either by simply bashing them or defeating a set number or tossing some at targets. Enemy types are mixed up as you progress to make things trickier and they’ll also respawn if you die or return to previous areas. While the Machines of War from the last game are thankfully gone, I found myself wishing they’d return at least once as Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 substitutes one tedious, repetitive boss for another. All Las Vegum’s areas are guarded by the hulking Dethmach, a titanic, armoured gladiator fought over a bottomless pit and who is completely invulnerable to regular tracks. After completing a short platforming or traversal challenge to reach his area, you must run around on precarious block platforms, largely ignoring any enemies and dodging spikes and other hazards to lure Dethmach into stepping on or striking glowing floor tiles. Dethmach stomps about, leaps across the arena, swipes and hits the ground, charges like a bull, and tosses fireballs, which all defeat nearby enemies or knock you over the edge to restart the fight. Once he hits each glowing panel or you smack a lever at the right time, a weight drops on his head and stuns him. You must hit X as Asterix to yank the device on his back and then smack the iris that opens on his chest as Obelix. Do this three times and he’s defeated, but each fight gets a bit trickier thanks to spiked obstacles, gates blocking your path, and other hazards. These fights are less aggravating that the Machines of War, but it’s still disappointing that the bosses don’t have more variety. You do battle Larry Craft during the story, with him attacking with two blades and getting stuck on the ground and being accompanied by hundreds of disposable Romans, but he’s essentially just a tougher Roman. You face Julius Caesar in the anti-climactic finale, with him calling in 88 clones for a “Burly Man Brawl” reference and attacking with a sword, but these are as easy to defeat as the regular Legionnaire and the Dethmach that follows him was the easiest of them all for me.

Additional Features:
There are thirty Achievements to earn in Astérix & Obélix XXL 2. Three are earned from entering three of Las Vegum’s areas, three more are earned from rescuing the druids, and four more are earned simply from progressing through to a certain area and finishing the game. You’ll get another Achievement for earning a x6 combo multiplier, one for buying one and then all upgrades, another for buying all the figurines, and another for defeating 2500 Romans. Despite all the crazy videogame references, there’s only one Achievement tied to this (simply enter a Mario-like pipe and hit a lever after a short platforming section), which is a shame. There are three difficulty levels, though they don’t impact the Achievements, and you can switch Asterix and Obelix to their classic attire but are stuck with the remastered graphics this time. Various challenges can once again be tackled in each area, tasking you with defeating as many Romans as possible in a time limit for bonus rewards (and Achievements). Each area also hides envelopes and diamond helmets to collect and finding them all nets you additional Achievements. You can freely return to any area at any time and after beating the game to seek out anything you’ve missed, though I can’t say I’m particularly inspired to do this.

The Summary:
I was bitterly disappointed by the first Astérix & Obélix XXL, which was a tedious, repetitive, and frustrating experience that really did the brand a disservice. While many of its annoying elements were thankfully gone, Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 is still the same clunky, mediocre combat that forces you to pummel endless hoards of the same enemies, though these sections seem to be paced out better. The platforming is reduced to bouncing around on springs and navigating narrow corridors, for the most part, or simply hopping to platforms, which is less annoying but not exactly exciting. Zipping and swinging around on Asterix’s platforms was more frustrating than fun, Obelix remains severely underpowered, and the puzzles are almost insultingly easy. There’s slightly less to do this time around as Asterix cannot carry torches and the cannon sections were quite simplistic and dragged on. While I enjoyed seeing all the references to popular videogame franchises and characters, it was a bit overkill and sadly wasn’t translated to the game’s bosses. We don’t fight a Dethmach dressed up as Donkey Kong, for example, or get into a race against a Sonic-themed Roman or encounter any interesting bosses as the same strategies work against each of the brutes every time. The videogame homages also don’t extend to the environment, which stay nicely on brand but don’t deliver much in terms of visuals. Like in the last game, it feels like the developers are holding back from using the Asterix brand to its full potential. It’s undeniable that there have been a few improvements over the last game, but the last game are thankfully gone, I found myself wishing they’d return at least once as Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 I still a tedious and aggravating experience that can’t hope to life up to the mindless simplicity of the arcade-style titles or old-school action/platfomers.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

Do you agree that Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 is slightly better than the last game? Did you like the tweaks made to the gameplay or did you find it as tedious as the last one? Which of the videogame homages was your favourite? Were you also disappointed that the bosses were still lacking? Did you ever complete all the combat challenges and find all the collectibles? Which XXL game is your favourite and how are you celebrating Asterix this month? Leave a comment about Asterix below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Asterix content.

Asterix the Gaul (and his best friend Obelix) first debuted on 29 October 1959 as a serial in the French/Belgium magazine Pilote. Since then, the plucky Gauls have had many adventures in comic books, videogames, and feature-length productions. This year, I’m spending a few days celebrating this popular and enduring character.

Quick Facts: 
With over 400 million books sold worldwide, it’s no wonder Asterix expanded into animation, movies, and videogames. In 2003, Infogrames backed a new Asterix videogame, initially titled Asterix & Obelix: Next Generation, a 3D beat-‘em-up that marked his PlayStation 2 debut. Astérix & Obélix XXL was generally praised for its gameplay but said to be visually uninspiring and tedious. Still, it spawned three sequels and was revamped for modern consoles with this Romastered version. Despite the improvements, Astérix & Obélix XXL continued to frustrate with its barebones gameplay and mediocre combat.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered is a reworked version of the original 3D brawler, offering visual tweaks and additional options. Surprisingly, considering the title and the nature of the game, Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered is a purely single-player experience, with one player primarily controlling the plucky Asterix and switching to the oafish Obelix either when prompted or automatically. Players visit six stages, recognisable to Asterix fans, each with six levels apiece save for the final stage, Rome, which is a two-level affair. After choosing the game’s difficulty and toggling various display and music options, players start in Gaul and immediately begin bashing Romans. Players attack and interact with former Roman spy Sam Shieffer by pressing X, jump with A (executing a double jump with a second press in mid-air), catch stunned Romans with Y, and perform a weak-ass dash with B. The Left Trigger has your partner throw an enemy while the Right Bumper orders Dogmatix to attack, disarming and stunning enemies. The Right Trigger switches between the original graphics and sound and the Romastered visuals, earning you an easy Achievement and allowing you to collect different sestertii coins when challenging one of the many stele time trials. Your health is measured by shields, which are refilled by smacking wild boar and collecting their meat or fully refilled, and extended up the six shields, by finding shields dotted about. Players also smash a shitload of wooden crates and collect even more Roman helmets, multiplying their load by grabbing Centurion helmets floating about. There are no lives in Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered and players must save by approaching or smacking sleepy druids, respawning either at the druid or at autosave points when they fail their mission.

The core gameplay of Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered is combat. Enemies are relentless, nigh-endlessly swarming town squares or enclosed areas, with players forced to defeat up to 1500 Romans and other enemies at a time! Combat starts pretty fun, with Romans flying all over, and quickly becomes tedious as options are so limited. As you dish out beatings, a combo meter builds and, when full, you can press specific button combinations to thin out the hoards. These are purchased from a merchant and are frustratingly limited since you can only perform them when the meter’s full. All you really need is the Twister combos, which see both characters transform into devastating tornados, though you can also pound Romans and dig up menhirs. Very rarely, magic potion empowers Asterix, increasing his speed and strength and making him temporarily invincible. More often, you’ll hop into cannons, rapidly firing cannonballs with X as Obelix pushes you back and forth. Finally, glowing spots or automatic sections switch you to Obelix, who’s slower and bigger but also strong enough to smash metal crates and haul giant stones to clear passages or create bridges. Asterix, meanwhile, can carry and light torches, lighting fires and explosive barrels to clear passageways. Often, players must smack windmills to raise platforms or Obelix must pull Asterix along on elevated platforms, but I was disappointed that Obelix didn’t have more combat options, like a ground pound or menhir slam. Obelix can bounce about on special springs, while slingshots ricochet you across areas and players must hit switches to open doors, lower bridges, or earn a Golden Laurel. Combat quickly becomes repetitive and tiresome, particularly when swarmed or playing without Obelix and Dogmatix as support, with enemies having a long reach and often shielding against your ridiculously limited attacks. Gameplay is mixed up by a handful of sliding and boat riding sections, where players careen down steep slopes grabbing helmets and avoiding boulders or race across water grabbing yet more helmets and avoiding various obstacles.

The rest of Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered is exploration and platforming, with players swimming, hopping to platforms, and searching for switches. Often, you cannot progress until you clear out all enemies or hit switches and you must activate giant springs with X to fly to other sections. Speaking of, stages go on way, way too long, throwing the same gimmicks and obstacles at you no matter where you’re fighting. Sure, some areas have more water than others, Egypt (and Rome) has a lot of insta-death lava, and spike pits become plentiful, but you’re still forced to fight endless swarms of enemies until it’s safe to light an explosive, hit a switch, or push blocks and towers. Occasionally, you step on pressure pads to open trap doors, which is a great way to take out multiple enemies. Other times, you scale towers, explore caves, or go solo to open a door or clear the way. Sometimes, you must use the cannons to take out patrolling phalanxes; other times, Sam tasks you with collecting helmets or (surprise, surprise) clearing out all enemies before he’ll open a door. I wish there was more to say about the gameplay but there really isn’t. All you do is smash crates, bash enemies, collect helmets, and perform the same simple tasks again and again. Sometimes, blasts of wind rush through tunnels and you must hide in alcoves until it (eventually) dies down and to preserve your torch. One time in Greece, you push logs to make platforms for Asterix; and you must frantically eliminate flying Romans in Helvetia to light four torches. You never play as other characters (not even Dogmatix for stealth sections), there’s no upgrades beyond the rubbish combos, and the best the game has to offer in terms of upping the challenge is more insta-death hazards and enemies. Luckily, you won’t have to clear out those hoards if you die afterwards, but my god does this game outstay it’s welcome quickly!

Presentation:
Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered has a very confused visual identity. The titular characters have been given a gritty makeover, ditching their cuddly, comic book aesthetic for a more pugilistic atmosphere, though their supporting characters and enemies oddly don’t reflect this. Both characters have basic idly poses but are strangely quiet in most cutscenes, only really chiming in when they rescue their fellow villagers. There are no pre-rendered cutscenes so you’ll be seeing the in-game models the entire time, though they do look pretty decent. It’s just a shame they don’t have many animations or attacks and, when you bust out a combo, that the game lags. The game performs pretty well, unless there’s loads of enemies and action on the screen, though I did experience moments of stuttering and where I had to reload because the game didn’t register that I’d defeated all enemies. The story is about as predictable as ever, with the two warriors searching for their kidnapped friends and travelling across most of the Roman Empire. However, Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered wastes a lot of its potential by omitting notable characters from these locations, like Cleopatra, Gluteus Maximus, and Justforkix (though Redbeard the Pirate does appear). This extends to the enemies, with you fighting the same Romans over and over; the game doesn’t even include the “Roman in a tree” trope and instances where you fight anyone other than Romans are lacking. Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered also opts for a rock-based soundtrack that feels very out of place. The music is often a bit dodgy as well, cutting off and going silent midway through the action or abruptly ending or kicking in for no reason. It’s neat that you can switch between the old and new visuals, with the original graphics obviously being far blander and more basic compared to the modern makeover, though it’s not as if the new paint job makes things any livelier.

Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered plays things very safe with its locations, having you fight in the forests and through the Gaulish village before visiting the snowy mountains of Normandy, the picturesque cliffsides of Greece, the night-time countryside of Helvetia, the arid deserts of Egypt, and finally the grandiose Colosseum in Rome. I liked seeing the Gaul’s village recreated in 3D, even if it is in flames, and it’s fun spotting recognisable locations like Cacofonix’s treehouse and Unhygienix’s fishmongers, and fighting Romans by the beach. It’s a shame you don’t get to properly storm a Roman garrison, but there are plenty of encampments stationed across their empire. I enjoyed the snowy wastes of Normandy, but this location is largely squandered as you’re mostly fighting up a mountain and your exploration of the frigid, Norse caves is limited to claustrophobic, windswept environments. Civilisation comes to the forefront in Greece, where you fight through Roman baths and bash gladiators, while Helvetia is tackled mostly at night and sees you springing and jumping up a cliffside. This area emphasises elevator platforms, which often crop up, where you must defeat all enemies to reach higher areas. I had high hopes for Egypt but, rather than exploring dark and ominous pyramids and crypts, you’re mostly stuck in the wastelands or fighting through the bustling market and city squares. There’s a lot of lava, boulders, and towering statues here and a pyramid does crop up, but it’s weird that there’s no labyrinthine switch puzzle or anything like that. Rome is the smallest area, restricting you to the ornate city outskirts and then forcing you to fight a gauntlet in the Colosseum, which I suppose makes sense but it’s still a bit disappointing that you don’t explore more of the city. It’s cool fighting before Julius Caesar and hopping on his throne, but there’s little to note here since you’re forced to focus on decimating the thousands of enemies who come at you in waves.

Enemies and Bosses:
Unsurprisingly, many Roman soldiers appear in Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered. The standard Legionnaires carry spears and shields and are easily defeated, eventually donning leaves to pop up from long grass. Taller Legionnaires appear in Greece and sport larger weapons, extremely annoying “pushers” swing gladiator sticks to send you flying, some fly on jetpacks to douse your fires, others fire arrows, and you encounter many instances of multiple Roman formations. These phalanxes wander about erratically, thrusting their spears from the sides or up top, but can be decimated with cannons. A larger “Optio” Legionnaire really got on my nerves since they often appear in fours and attack when you have no support on hand, charging a combo swing that seems to always hit. This is mirrored by the gold-clad Centurions, who come in two forms (though there’s sadly no Voluptuous Arteriosclerosus variant like other Asterix videogames) and can guard against your attacks and drop health-restoring meat. You also bash apart the Romans’ rock-tossing catapults and bash numerous Roman lions and their muscular tamers, and encounter some non-Roman enemies. Namely, cutlass-wielding pirates, their long-suffering captain, and two brutish Normans: a standard barbarian warrior and a more formidable chief. Fighting them is the same as fighting Optios and Centurions, except they swing spiked clubs and have no smaller cannon fodder to ease the battle. Honestly, I was disappointed by the enemy selection as the game sported fewer enemy variants than earlier, 16-bit and even 8-bit Asterix titles, and none of Asterix’s former rivals or enemies reappear here.

This means that, rather than contending with the magic and hypnotic powers of Prolix the Soothsayer, tackling Redbeard’s crew, or pitting Obelix against Gluteus Maximus, you’re left to fight Roman war machines as boss battles. The smaller one is a towering structure with two concrete block arms that it swings and crash to the ground to create shockwaves. When you first fight this towering war machine, it’s in an open area with lots of room to manoeuvre and magic potion on hand, but you’re restricted to a smaller space in Egypt. Regardless, it’s best to use hit and run tactics, dashing in to smack the cogs holding the arms and escaping before you take a hit or are flung away, repeating until both arms are destroyed and the machine is left vulnerable. While most areas pit you against dozens, hundreds, or thousands of Romans, you must defeat numerous spiked bulldozer-like “Machines of War” to rescue your fellow villagers. At first, Asterix must get up high and leap to a big red switch on the machine’s top, extending the grinder-like appendages so Obelix can carefully hop between them and destroy their screws. This is easier said than done as the machine spits explosive bombs, its spikes have a deceptive hit box, and it can even electrify itself, to say nothing of how rotund Obelix is. In the second fight, you must step on three pressure plates to raise its central column, then race to the high ground to fire cannons at this target to attack the appendages as before. The same strategy works in the third encounter, only there are lava pits, levers to hit, and Romans to worry about (just ignore them, though, as the machine dispatches them). Finally, Caesar controls two Machines of War at once in Rome, with lava streams breaking up the ground. This time, you must drag Asterix to the high ground, extend a bridge, and hop to the red button, which is extremely difficult with so many projectiles and the janky camera. Luckily, you only have to destroy two appendages this time, so just focus on one machine at a time.

Additional Features:
There are twenty-eight Achievements in Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered, with six being awarded every time you beat a stage, and an extra one earned every time you clear the game on a different difficulty. There are three to choose from at the start, with a fourth “Extreme” difficulty unlocked after you beat “Hard” mode, though these Achievements stack so maybe tackle the game on at least “Normal” to save time. Each level has up to eight Golden laurels to find for another Achievement, you’ll get another for unlocking every combo, another for getting six health shields, and two more for defeating 5000 enemies and collecting 99999. Find and defeat Redbeard in each location and you get another Achievement, bounce yourself around twenty times in thirty seconds for another, and clear all timed challenges for more. By clearing areas and progressing through the story, you’ll activate steles that task you with switching between the old and new visuals to collect coins or racing to the finish against a time limit. You can replay any level from the main map to seek out any challenges or collectibles you’ve missed. You also unlock some fun skins if you find all the Golden Laurels in each location and can purchase amusing pictures from the Great Map screen. Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered offers a bunch of options, like toggling between the new and old visuals and soundtrack and sound effects, enabling autosave when near a druid, activating a speedrunner time, and revamped animations. Sadly, however, there’s no two-player options or boss rush or anything to collect other than endless helmets and the Golden Laurels, which stunts replayability a bit since stages are such a chore to play through!

Final Thoughts:
I had high hopes for Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered. I’d seen the games floating around the Xbox Store for a while and been tempted by them since I’m a big fan of the franchise and 3D brawlers, but man was this a let-down. The game starts pretty strong, with an interesting visual makeover for the two heroes and recreating their iconic image in 3D, but it quickly outstays its welcome after just the first stage. It makes sense to focus an Asterix game on combat, but fights are so dull and repetitive here. Even if you purchase all the combos, pulling them off is really weird and barely worth the effort beyond decimating foes with the Twister combos. It’s baffling how little you utilise the magic potion, how underwhelming Obelix is, and how restrictive and tedious fights are due to the janky camera and a lack of attacks. Platforming is equally aggravating, with you constantly performing the same tasks no matter what, with only some slides and boat sections to break up the action. Getting Asterix onto platforms for Obelix to pull was annoying half the time, I got sick of searching for switches, pulling rocks is never interesting no matter how big they are, and it was incredibly frustrating to reach an area and be boxed in and forced to fight up to thousands of enemies. To make matters worse, all you do between these tasks is smash crates and collect Roman helmets, which gets old quickly. There’s little point in exploring unless you’re searching for Golden Laurels and Redbeard, Dogmatix is unreliable as a support attack, and the bosses were a major let-down. I’m truly baffled that, with all the Asterix stories told and all the characters available, the developers recycled the same enemies over and over and used the same Machines of War with little variation. While the Romastered do-over improves the visuals and the game pops at times, every area is a slog to get through and a waste of the license, reducing the Asterix brand to a beat-‘em-up platformer so mindless and repetitive it makes the arcade game looks like a sprawling epic!

My Rating:

Terrible

Did you enjoy Astérix & Obélix XXL: Romastered and, if so…why? Were you impressed by this visual revamp or did you prefer the original? Were you also disappointed by the lacklustre combat and repetitive gameplay? Do you agree that areas went on for way too long and that the bosses were a disappointment? Did you ever find all the Golden Laurels and beat the new time trials? Which of the XXL games was your favourite and how are you celebrating Asterix this month? Whatever your thoughts on Asterix, feel free to leave a comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and and check out my other Asterix content.