5 Slaps out of 10
The iconic duo Asterix & Obelix return with a gorgeous new hand-drawn beat ’em up from developers Mr. Nutz Studio. Now, I am ashamed to admit it but I am not versed in these characters at all. While I know that I have seen their faces on the cover of multiple games; I have never been curious enough to try any of them. So, when I was given Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All, my curiosity was peaked.
Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All! is a hand-drawn, bright and simply beautiful side scrolling beat-em up. Each character and level are lovingly rendered and based on what I have seen is a fantastic homage to these comic characters original creators that’s sure to fill fans with lots of nostalgia and may even garner some new fans along the way. Slap them All’s story is told over various acts throughout Europe; cutscenes are fully voiced which add some depth to the game. Oddly enough, characters aren’t voiced during gameplay, which is a shame because the few voices players will be treated to get old and frankly annoying very quickly.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
Each act is split into levels in which the titular characters will proceed to beat-up hordes of Roman foes. Gameplay is easy and sadly just plain simple, players will be repetitively pushing the same few buttons and sadly hearing the same vocal lines. While this degree of annoyance won’t set in immediately, it was very quickly apparent that this game was going to be best played with no vocals. Now, as I said in the outset, I am not a fan of Asterix & Obelix; and maybe the lines that were being repeated are some iconic phrases from the duo’s history, I don’t know but it got old quickly. Now, even though the combat is quite simple it is a blast to play. The various moves are all painfully, beautiful in execution and display. The animations in Slap Them All look as good as, if not better than Cuphead. Obelix was my favorite of the gauls to play as, when this large man who has super-human strength grabs a Roman soldier, he proceeds to slap him silly and then hit the soldier with an upper-cut that’s so vicious it knocks the soldier out of his sandals. Its always funny to see the scattered pairs of sandals dotting the battlefield after one of my fights.
Combat begins to lose its steam beyond just the voice lines, simply due to the fact that the duo won’t learn any new moves over the course of their adventure. Not only that but players aren’t able to improve, what is their only moves for the duration of the game. It’s really quite a shame as it makes the combat get repetitive extremely quickly.
The story isn’t really doing much either; other than being crafted solely for the purpose of slapping some Romans. From what I can tell is each act is based on a scenario from the comic, and while I did chuckle at some of the antics and the names of characters (Vitalstatistix or Getafix are just a few) it’s the true fans of the comic series who is going to truly appreciate this game. But even the best of fans may have issue with the long levels and their lack of checkpoints. Adding to the frustration, once either of the Gauls dies its game over; despite the fact that they do not share a health bar.
Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All ends up being a game full of wonderfully hand-drawn visuals and extremely repetitive combat. It makes it hard to really recommend this game to anyone other than those that are fans of the duo. While yes, some young kids may enjoy the overly simplistic nature of the game; anyone who is an older gamer will become quickly bored with the easy combat, and lack of new moves or attacks.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
