Asterix

Review by MTLH

"A slightly flawed but still enjoyable little platformer."

During the nineties, French publisher Infogrames, nowadays better known as Atari, released a bunch of games based on several distinctly European comic books like Tintin and the Smurfs. One of the earlier examples was based on Asterix the Gaul, the tale about a small village that single-handedly managed to withstand the might of the Roman Empire. It was originally released on all the Nintendo machines of the day, the NES, SNES and the Game Boy. The version under scrutiny in this review is for the handheld.

GRAPHICS
Asterix looks rather good. The backgrounds are nice enough and also feature something resembling parallax scrolling. Asterix himself and most of his adversaries are quite detailed and the animation also isn't bad. I especially like the little exclamations when Asterix hits someone. Another example worth mentioning in this regard are the snowmen who throw their own heads at our Gaelic hero and subsequently manage to grow a new one back. Nothing spectacular, granted, but it are elements like these that give the visuals some life.

It has to be said that the Game Boy can do better. Simply take a look at Wario Land or the Tiny Toons Adventure games for examples in the platform genre. Especially the latter manage to come close to the standards of what the 16-bit machines could achieve. Indeed, Asterix and his adversaries could perhaps have been animated a little bit smoother and the characters could also have been somewhat larger. Even so, this game's visuals are amongst the Game Boy's better examples and serves as a perfect reminder of the visual quality that this handheld could deliver.

SOUND
When it comes to the musical score, Asterix also delivers. The tunes are catchy enough and complement the theme of the levels nicely. Sound effects aren't that bad either, consisting of the usual blips that accompany the genre. Again, the audio may not be the machine's finest but are decidedly better then average.

GAMEPLAY
Asterix is a rather conventional platformer that is clearly inspired by the likes of Super Mario Land and it's ilk. In his quest to save his kidnapped friend Obelix from the Romans, the titular hero must travel through four areas divided into three stages each. These areas are recognisable Asterix fare like Gaul, Egypt, Helvetia and Rome. During his journey the titular hero must jump and duck his way past obstacles. Enemies like the local wildlife or the patrolling Roman soldiers are punched into submission. It is interesting to note in this regard that the game doesn't feature that many end-of-level guardians, just one in fact, at the very end of the game.

The game does feature the perquisite floating boxes that when destroyed yield items that bestow the usual bonuses like extra lives, health replenishments and stars. Collect enough of these and Asterix gains an extra life. Sometimes a box makes a temporary key appear which, once collected, gives access to a bonus room filled with such collectibles.

Asterix isn't exactly the easiest of games. From the second area on, the game can become incredibly tricky. Asterix is attacked from all sides, all the while trying his best to jump across the numerous gaps and floating platforms or trying to maintain his footing while standing on precarious items like seesaws. It is always good if a game offers a challenge as long as said challenge is fair and reasonable. That isn't always the case with this game.

Controls in general are relatively sharp. Even so, it happens a little too often that Asterix plummets into a chasm or is hit by an adversary because he responds too late or not at all to the player's commands. Adding to the annoyance this causes is a sometimes suspect collision detection. Asterix seems to have an occasional habit of falling through the edges of platforms. It goes without saying that it can be incredibly frustrating when, for example, attempting to jump on a moving platform to see Asterix seemingly fall right besides it, when it is clear he should have made it. Or see the same thing happening when dropping the Gaul to a lower ledge. All this adds up to the curious phenomenon of sometimes being able to breeze through some fairly difficult situations while at the same time losing a dozen lives or so on a fairly straightforward part.

These flaws do temper the enjoyment this game could have provided. At it's best, Asterix is very enjoyable, featuring really challenging stages and at times ingenious level design. The game makes the player work for every completed stage. Not having a save system in this regard isn't really that big a problem, seeing that the game is short enough to cope without one. On the other hand, when the game falters, the degree of annoyance and frustration experienced can be indescribable. Reminiscing over having survived numerous attacks and obstacles, only to disappear in a chasm because that French midget can't land properly and thus having to start from the very beginning of a stage, it simply makes my blood boil all over again. Asterix is that particular brand of game that allows the player to easily accumulate more then a dozen lives in just a few stages and subsequently takes them all away again with a gruesomely tricky jump sequence.

FINAL REMARKS
Asterix features a rather nice presentation with relatively clean and crisp visuals and more then adequate audio. The game may be just another platformer, one that is furthermore a bit too reminiscent of the first Super Mario Land. Even so, Asterix does have a character all of it's own. And what does the similarity actually matter when the game can be so enjoyable and even challenging at times, with a lot of tricky situations and the constant attacks. No, the game's problems have more to do with a few small blemishes that manage to annoy to no end. The sometimes faulty controls and the occasional glitch with the detection collision really spoil what would otherwise have been a tremendous little platformer. As it is, the problems are to an extent outweighed by it's sheer enjoyment and competence.

OVERALL: the game could have been a solid 8,0 but has to make do with a 7,0.