Asterix & Obélix Bash Them All

Bit Managers had been successful creating above average titles based on various European entertainment franchises, some of which included Astérix. Based on the Astérix et Cléopâtre story, Bit Managers also decided to go back in their catalog and include one more adventure for good measure. For the budget price of one game you got two full Astérix adventures, Astérix & Cleopatra and a port of Astérix & Obélix which was released on the SNES in 1995.

Following the events of the comic and cartoon closely, Astérix & Cleopatra features six levels of mayhem in a beat-em-up game similar to the one released in arcades in the early ’90s. The levels range from the pirate ship in a stormy sea, a chase through Egypt to recover the sack Amonbofis has stolen from Panoramix, taking on the crocodiles in the Nile, exploring the pyramids, fighting your way out of an Egyptian jail and the final showdown defending Numéobis’s palace from the terrorizing Romans. Each level holds a large number of enemies for Astérix to swing around and bash into oblivion. There are also coins to collect for eventual extra lives as well as magic potions and wild boar to help the heroes along the way. The game makes use of the usual beat-em-up conventions like elevators and surfing, although in this case the surfing is done on the sand dunes of Egypt. After each level the section is concluded with an animated cut scene and a mini game.

These mini games aren’t exactly groundbreaking, nor do they offer too much to add between levels. There are seven in total, “Barrel Crisis”, “Mummy Ball”, “Slip Em All”, “Shoot The Romans”, “Stone Em All” and “Sculptoris”. For the most part these are just the same, pressing a three button sequence as it flashes on screen as fast as possible. There are exceptions like throwing a mummy ball into a hole or breaking barrels, but they hardly make things more interesting. Probably the most interesting the secret mini game, a rhythm mini game called the Culture Club, taking place on the banquet table.

The graphics are very detailed with a lot of attention to detail on the backgrounds as well as the different characters to look as authentic as possible, despite the smaller screen of the Game Boy Advance. Many of the bosses as well as Astérix and Obélix move and look properly and feel responsive to the control input. However, the hit detection is very unresponsive, with the hit boxes being quite frustrating and loose. Similar to games like The Simpsons on arcade, the punches seem to simply float through the opponents without much of a reaction animation and the attacks feel light. In some of the timing based mini games, this becomes a bit of an issue.

The music is pretty damn good, which is not entirely surprising when you look at the credits. Making his return is Alberto González who always manages to provide a rich sound experience on any platform he works with, and this is no exception. It’s still not as captivating as his works on the Game Boy with the likes of Astérix and The Smurfs’ Nightmare, but yet it manages to be one of the highlights of the entire game, and the game itself is by no means a bad one, it just follows the rulebook too closely and does nothing new to keep the player too interested.

Astérix & Obélix is a straight port of the SNES game and features the same music, graphics and controls as the SNES counterpart. While that game also failed to shake things up, it’s hard to argue a free game even when it’s a bit bland and to its credit, the game actually works a bit better as a handheld title. On the large TV screen it came off as a rather slow and uneventful game, but on the GBA the pacing is more fitting due to the smaller screen and portable platform. Both the games support 2 player modes by using the GBA link cable if 2 friends connect their carts together.

If 2 games weren’t enough, it would become an even better deal for those who waited. With the release of XXL in 2004, Infogrames jumped in on the 2 in 1 series that saw launch on the GBA late in its lifespan by combining 2 titles into one cartridge under a budget price. This resulted in there being three Astérix games on a single cartridge along with the newly released XXL game, but in order to go along with the naming scheme, it still presents itself as a 2-in-1 deal.

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