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Astérix
Review by Raziel

Produced in 1993 by Infogrames, the game follows the adventures of Astérix the Gaul. It has quite an 'impossible' story though...Obelix is captured by the Romans and Astérix has to rescue him. I say impossible, because if you have read the comic book, you know that Obelix fell into the pot with the magic potion that gives strength when he was a baby and now the results of it are permanent on him. No Roman can approach him in 10 metres distance without being in trouble! Anyway, If we accept the hilarious story line what remains is a pretty enjoyable platform game.

   

GRAPHICS:
Without being perfect, the graphics are nice. Small but pretty and detailed sprites represent Astérix and the Romans. Their animation is nice as well. The backgrounds are well-drawn and vary between them. All in all, the game is fun to watch.

   

SOUND:
There are some cute tunes that fit with the theme of the game. The SFX do their job fine.

GAMEPLAY:
As I said, it is a simple platform game. There is no 2 player simultaneous mode (Obelix is kidnapped) so you get to control just Asterix. The 2-player mode is with turns. Player 1 starts and when he loses player 2 starts over. Astérix can jump, run and punch his enemies. The control system is sometimes a bit unresponsive and that makes the game harder. Add to this the fact that when you lose you go at the beginning of the stage. There are about 5 levels, divided into several stages each. You will travel in various places of Europe (and not only) like Gaul, Helvetia, Greece, Egypt and finally Rome, in order to rescue Obelix. Unfortunatelly there are no passwords and that makes the game even harder.

   

OVERALL:
Certainly not the greatest licensed game I have seen, but has its moments. It looks and sound nice, and plays decent. There are a lot better games of this genre (including the sequel, Asterix & Obelix), but you won't lose anything if you try it. If you are a fan of the comic you might want to add it in your collection.

GRAPHICS:81
SOUND :79
CONTROL :75
FUN :74
OVERALL :78