Gorgeous but dull comic-book adventure
There's no real lack of cartoon-style platformers on the market, with everything from Mario and Sonic, to Lion King and Jazz Jackrabbit on the market. While Asterix and Obelix is a decent enough addition to the genre and scores a few points for being quite faithful to its source material, making it a must-play for fans of the comic books, but which lacks anything special to make it stand out. The game takes the classic French characters and tasks them with travelling around Roman-occupied Europe, gathering souvenirs from each country they visit, but unfortunately that's about all there is to the story. This is a bit of shame as there is such a wealth of material available that could have been used instead to create a more interesting experience and which makes the game feel like a bit of a wasted opportunity. In gameplay terms, Asterix and Obelix is a pretty basic platformer and provides the same kind of simple run 'n' jump action as we have seen many times before, but there are also a few bonus levels to mix things up a bit. While the gameplay might be unoriginal, the game does as least perk up in the visual department. The graphics are lovely and vibrant, with accurate renditions of the characters and gorgeous and varied environments which provide a lot of eye candy, while the animation is smooth and appropriately cartoon-like. Unfortunately, this isn't enough to save the game from being strictly average and while it is enjoyable for a while, the lack of challenge and variety soon becomes apparent and the fun quickly runs out.
