Asterix & Obelix XXL 2 Review

Asterix and Obelix 2: XXL: A "GAUL"ing excuse of a platformer in this day and age, and one that should not have been remastered... that's if it even WAS remastered.

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XXL 2:

I have always been a fan of old school platform games. Mario was the side I stuck with as I thought the Sonic games were a little too boring at the time. I know that this may be a bit of controversy, but hear me out. Sonic always looked like it was a straight forward shift from left to right and doing it at a rate of knots. Mario had loads of secrets that not only opened other worlds, but in some cases, it would produce alternate versions of them.

This brings me to the point I’m trying to get across. As time has moved on, the quality and demand for the old school platformers that kept evolving has always been in demand. So, it begs the question… Who the heck asked for this?

Story:

There is not really a big story to speak of here. It is literally Asterix and Obelix beating up Romans, as usual, through an old-fashioned version of Las Vegas, but this is all you really need to know. The rest you won’t care about and I know I didn’t. DO yourself a favour and just don’t ask, trust me on this.

Gameplay:

I have no idea why this came out. I mean, nobody really asked for it, but I can also see WHY this came to fruition on the current gen machines. There has been a lot of rehashed platform games from years ago getting the facelift treatment, such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. This hasn’t had the same level of sheen though.

The video elements are ripped directly from the original source and look awful in their little borders, although you can make it full screen. You do feel when you’re playing that that things are unchanged in here as well. This is fine for fans of THAT GAME, but in terms of improving what has happened before, it isn’t doing it. Camera angles are awkward at times, controls are a little fiddly and it just feels like it does just enough to make it playable and little else.

Like most of this game, the difficulty of Asterix & Obelix 2: XXL is all over the place. The easy to normal settings are just too easy and there is no challenge at all, so it makes you feel like you’re just going through the motions to get things done and progress through the main game. Even with the nods towards other gaming franchises to try and take your mind off it and keep you smiling, it just doesn’t keep you gripped and it just feels all too easy.

Shove it towards hard though and it goes in the other direction entirely. I personally think there is too much of a jump between these two settings. I got no enjoyment out of either of them and because of that, my love for the game diminished rather quickly. If this is what happens for me, I can only imagine what would happen for those who were really excited for this landing.

Presentation:

The graphics on Asterix and Obelix 2 are not exactly anything special. It feels more like XBox 360 and PS3 (in some cases even FURTHER back) and it doesn’t give me that WOW factor. I just feel it should be when you consider how much is being asked for it. It isn’t even like the enemies are huge in variety, because they’re not. There are only so many Roman guards you can bash. Now, as much as there are some moments it does look like the comic books, there are times where the written prose looks better than the game and that shouldn’t be the case, seeing as how some of those are over 40 years old.

If there is one department where things are let down, here is the main place. The music is churned out of a crappy keyboard and has no soul in it whatsoever. The voice acting is pretty pants and I’m just not having a Welsh Asterix. That’s just wrong. I say that as I used to look at the old cartoon movies from before. It all leaves me flat and I just don’t feel anything towards what this does. You’re never going to get an award-winning score, so because of that, this score will reflect that. It is not a high enough standard to cut it now.

 

 

Conclusion:

This game is just not worth the money for buying right now. You would be better waiting until this is filling the digital bundle bin, which won’t be long, I can assure you. It isn’t that this game doesn’t play well enough, but the fact that everything is as sub-standard as it is just means the simplest of things. It just doesn’t give you ANY enjoyment. No matter what way you look at it, there are other platform games out there that are a whole lot better than this and they are also a lot cheaper than this.

It would be like buying a cheap car at double the price when you can buy a Ferrari for less. This really doesn’t do as much as the Crash or Spyro trilogy titles and there is also the fact that you could buy both sets for just a little more than this game and end up with SIX platform games.

Why would you bother?
I wouldn’t, but if you really need to play as the Gaul superhero, then you can just about pass through this game. Just don’t expect anything special.

Good

  • The game is complete and is good for kids

Bad

  • The whole game reeks of average
  • The sound and music is woeful
6.1

Fair

Story - 6
Graphics - 6.5
Sound - 6
Gameplay - 6
Value - 6

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