Quick Review: Asterix and Obelix: Slap Them All!

Goody goody goody, let’s beat up some Romans! Gotta slap them all!

Those are only the first Romans of... oh, a couple thousands.

Developed by Mr. Nutz Studio, published by Microids and released on December 7th, 2021, today’s title is my first Asterix game! It’s taken me so long to play one. Shame, too, I love that franchise! Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All! is a great homage in three ways. One, it’s completely hand-drawn, with an art style very close to the original comics and animated films. Two, it’s a beat’em-up, the best genre you could  adapt an Asterix story into, since it’s the perfect way to have the titular Gauls punch and brawl their way through hordes of enemies. And three, its levels retell six stories from the comics.

"One free go on the carousel!" "Go see if I'm in Lutecia!"
"Let's clear the air!" Over and over.

Study Asterix and Obelix's vast movesets, and you’ll recognize many of their signature attacks. Both punching enemies upwards, Asterix doing a tornado of punches, Obelix slapping a Roman he's holding or wiping the floor with him... You can swap between Asterix and Obelix by pressing 1, can block by pressing 2. Standard attacks are done with Z, special moves with X. Grab enemies with C. Each Gaul has a meter of 5 thunders, which are spent on special moves. When they’re all gone, you must wait for them to refill before you can use special moves again. Combos are done by a combination of a direction arrow and an attack button. You can dash forward by pressing left or right twice. Every combat options comes with its little comments from each Gaul. Those comments tend to get repetitive.

Look at how diligent he is at slapping the sh*t out of any
enemy in his way. Roman, pirate, brigand, doesn't matter.

Oh, and if the health of the Gaul you’re playing as hits 0, you lose. No switching to the other. All you can do is start the level over. Did I mention levels in this game are long? Because they are. Asterix and Obelix play somewhat differently, as well. Obelix has more variety, but he’s slower and a larger target, so enemies hit him easily. Asterix is shorter and faster, so he’s easier to use in many situations. Bored with single-player? This game can also be played with a friend.

More of these would have been nice, for variety.

New enemies are frequently introduced, but aside from bosses, few have any interesting gimmicks aside from new attacks. In the end, it’s a beat’em-up where most stages are “go right, beat bunch of enemies, go right, beat bunch of enemies”. There’s a few minigames involving button-mash racing or breaking several barrels in a time limit. It’s fine for the first half, chapters 1 to 3... but by the fourth, and all the way to the end of the sixth, the repetitiveness is a sore point.

If that looks like complete and utter chaos... that's because it is.

There’s a lot of barrels to be found around stages, containing health-restoring items or extra coins for score. There’s a scoring system, with points earned when doing attacks, breaking obstacles, and picking up the coins dropped by enemies. A scoring system feels very unnecessary. After beating the game once, you unlock a Free Play mode allowing you to replay any stage you want.

Should you get it? If you want to see another awesome example of a hand-drawn game (as it does look great), or if you are a huge fan of the Asterix series, or a fan of beat’em-ups in general, then maybe. Just maybe. I enjoyed my time at first, but while it was fun to see some classic stories unravel, ultimately by the end it just felt long and repetitive. The sequel released last year promises more variety and content, as well as an original story, but I don't know if I'll ever get it.

If you are interested, Asterix and Obelix – Slap Them All! Is available on Steam for 24.99$ USD.