Asterix & Obelix XXL3 : The Crystal Menhir is an action beat'em up game based on the popular french series of Asterix and Obelix. The game was developed by a new studio Osome Studio which was formed in 2013, released their first title in 2015 and then released the two Asterix and Obelix Games. Their most recent
job is the 2021 title Smurfs and the lost village. The game was published by two french publishers Microids and Anuman. The game was released in October 2019 and it's physical release came in three forms:
Standard
Included the game alone
Limited Edition
Included the game,two figures of Aterix and Obelix.
Collector's Edition
Included the game, two figures of Asterix and Obilx, and a resin Statue of Obelix and Dogmatix .
It is worth mentionning that there were different poses of the heroes depending on the country of purchase.
What is Asterix and Obelix ?
Asterix and Obelix are iconic french characters who debuted in the comic industry in 1959. Both of the heroes are from a small village known as Gaul. In their adventure both the warriors adventure around the world and fight off the Roman Republic who re being lead by Julius Caesar. It goes without saying but although the location
and some of the faces exist in the history books, all of the tales and adventured of the heroes are simply done in comics. The Roman republic rules most of the world but they never ruled the land of Gaul. The reason behind them is the fact that a powerful wizard (druid) known as Panoramix (or Getafix/Magigamix) created a magic potion
which allows whoever receives the potion super powers such as superhuman strength, speed and stamina. The two main heroes of Asterix and Obelix are always with their friend and Asterix specifically stores magic potion within his little bottle. Obelix on the other hand never receives the potion because when he was but a little kid he fell
in the Druid's kettle and drank the entire potion. Because of that incident Obelix is always in the state of the super potions effect and he is not allowed to drink any more of that potion.
As mentioned the series are extremely popular and because of that there have been plenty of other media involving the Gauls. Not only did Asterix and Obelix sold plenty of Comics but they found success as Cartoon series. The Tv series helped the gauls expand outside of France and the because of that there have been a couple of Cartoon
movies that were created during their inception. From hand drawn animations to cgi films. Furthermore, the Gauls also tackle the live action films with 5 films and an upcomming one without a specified release date. Last but not least Asterix and Obelix had plenty of video games that were released from 1983, when Atari was the main console
and still have games out for as recent as 2021 for the last gen consoles.(Ps4,XBox One, Switch). The majority of the latest games consisted of remasters of older Ps2 games.
Story of the Game (spoilers of the first ten minutes)
Before proceeding with the story mode it is important to answer one simple Question. Since this is XXL3 Do I have to play the other 2? The answer is No. The game does not expect you to know any of the prior entries, However, the game does pretend that the players are atleast aware of the relatiosnhip between the 2 Gauls, Ceasar,
the world (under the Roman Empire) and his minions with dialogue like " We meet again Gauls", "Oh, i see you change your Haircut since the last time we met." Other than these small interactions the game proceeds for 0, as if the player is reading or watching a tale of the adventures of Asterix and Obelix. With that , the game begins
with a normal sunny day in the village of Gauls. Postaldistrix, rushes to the heroes and explains how the romans attacked him in the forest and stole his bag containing all of the Gauls mails. The heroes decide to help him and they retrieve Postaldistrix Bag back. With that achieved, the heroes are rewarded with a letter for Getafix (Panoramix).
The letter was sent by Avina, Getafix's old friend who was in danger Getafix suggests that the heroes should use the power of The Snaefellhelgajokull a sacred rock which cannot only show the way to Avina, but also a powerfull rock that can control various elemets. Getafix provides the heroes with the Rock, in which they refered to as Crystal menhir
and tells them to embark on a quest to collect the missing shards, place them back on the rock and then save Avina. The heroes save Ekonomicrisix from his Roman troubles and then to thank them he offers them 4 free trips with his boat.
Thus the adventure begins.
Thoughts on the Story
The story of the game is short,simple and yet very effective. As mentioned is a normal tale that involves the heroes Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix travelling around the world (in this case 5 different locations) phasing off Romans and collecting crystal Shards for their sacred world. In terms of how the tale proceeds it does a decent job at it,
as it allows the heroes to move around and have different interactions with different inhabitants of the world. The in dialogues between Obelix and Asterix are really good as it allows the player to enjoy the humor of the two Gauls. The simplicity of the story is part of its good story telling. If someone ever read a comic of Asterix or watched some
of the classic cartoons, then they know that this is how their tales are. The only minor critisism is that at the end of the tale, where Heroes usually celebrate or discuss their adventures Cacofonix is always tied with clothing around his mouth next or up a tree, this game didn't follow that tradition. On the other hand, one of the storymodes
best strengths is that the story can be enjoyed in Solo mode or full on Co-Op with one local friend. One Controls Asterix and the other one Obelix.
Gameplay
Asterix and Obelix can be Enjoyed in both Single player and in Local Co-op, there is no online multiplayer. If the game is proceed in multiplayer, the two players share the same screen, however, the camera will focus on player 1 if the two players where to go on their own way(1 left the other right). It is important to mention that once again in Co-op
the first player will be instantly locked on Asterix while player B will be locked on Obelix, the only way to switch between the two is by swapping controllers in real life. The game is an action adventure beat em up game which means that the players can constantly hit the enemies in a satisfying way. The enemy variety consist only of the Roman Empire. The more
the heroes venture around the more enemies become available. The Roman empire minions begin with normal spear holder and archers and eventually gain allies with shields, heavy hitters and Romans with red who re able to stunt the heroes. In terms of enemies, the variety is good and bring their own difficulty to the players, however their models and animations
are literally the same with the exception of the coloring being red than the usual green. Romans with a trupet are not able to hit the gauls but instead blowing their trumpet will allow nearby Romans to come to their aid and even summon new enemies from the Romans Camps. The Camps themselves simply summon more Romans to the field as long as a trumpet was blown
or someone of the gauls attacks the tent. If the tent goes down, then no more Romans will be spawn despite the warning signal. The Romans with the shield, can block any attack as long as they re phasing their opponents, they cannot only be targeted from the back but can also be targeted after the heroes remove the shield by uppercutting it or using the Snaefellhelgajokull
abilities. Buffed enemies attack slower in comparisson to others but the damage they deal is greater.
The Gauls on the other hand, are very powerful and can defeat the Romans with ease. In terms of abilities, the two heroes share the same abilities. Both of them can mellee and deal the same damage with the same number of combo attacks. Both of them are equiped with four specials abilities.
Dodge: The hero rolls ahead to avoid beeing damaged
Spin Attack: The hero spins and deal damage to their surrounding
Uppercut: The hero uppercuts the Romans and sent them flying. Romans landing back down can still hit enemies. Great attack to remove shields
Grab & Spin The hero graps a Roman (not the heavies) spin them arround and hit nearby enemies before throwing the enemy. Enemy thrown from 1 gaul to another can combo
Rush: The hero rushes forward and damages the enemies on his way
The abilities above re shared among the heroes, however there are a few diffferences. When using Asterix, the player is capable of using the infamous Magic Potion of the druid. In the maps there are a few bottles of potion that the players can collect. Next to Asterix's player icon there's a bar of potions that indicates the ammount of potions Aterix's gathered. Using a potion
will make Asterix move faster and deal more damage while also tanking more Incomming damage. While under the effect of the potion Asterix will radomly perform the Uppercut attack that will sent Romans flying.
On the other hand, Obelix seems to be the MVP of the game. Despite both the heroes having a Dodge button, Obelix's dodge is also capable of Damaging opponents which is something Asterix's is not capable of doing. As for the key that corresponds to Asterix's potion, Obelix is allowed to use his best friend Dogmatix(Indefix) aka his pet Dog. When Dogmatix is called in battle
he will radomly choose a Roman warrior and begin to chase him arround in order to bite them . Dogmatix won't deal a great ammount of damage but it will force the Romans to run away in panic. Unlike the potions, Dogmatix has a cooldown that can be seen next to the profile of Obelix. Since Obelix is the carrier of the Snaefellhelgajokull/ Crystal menhir it allows Obelix to use it for both
combat and Puzzle solving because simply forcing player 2 to carry a rock and not be able to use it would ve made for a boring gameplay. As mentioned in the story part of the game, the crystal menhir is a powerful rock that can control enemies, and so each time the heroes visit a new land they gain a new shard with an elemental power. Obelix is capable of slapping his Menhir on the ground
and based on the elemental power, it deals the corresponding attack. The longer the player holds down the slam button the bigger the AoE(Area of Effect) attack will be.
Stone
The stone menhir, pushes enemies away but can also stunt enemies when charged.
Ice
The ice menhir, freezes enemies (The move very slow) but can also make them into ice cubs when charged
Fire
The fire menhir, burns the back of the romans forcing them to run away in panic .
Magnet
The magnet menhir, pulls enemies towards Obelix, is capable of removing the enemies shields and also creates a magnetic barrier when charged
It is important to note that the crystal menhir can swap between elements with a tap of a button. Each element currently on use is indicated based on the color of the menir, White, Blue, Orange and purple.
As mentioned the menir can also be used to sove puzzles. The fire menhir can burn thorns that block paths, can light up torces and can light up the ovens. The stone menhir can break down tress that block the path, throw trees down in order to form a path and break down walls to open other paths. The magnet on the other hand is capable of pulling rocks towards a direction, turn the spiky rocks arround and use
leves from a certain distance.
Upgrades
The game has a store in each area the players can visit and each store has it's own purchasable items. Both the heroes can upgrade the 4 skills they have in common (not dodge) in order to deal more damage and last a bit longer. The stores also offer an increase of both the healthbar and the stamina bar. On their own, Obelix gets a buff for Dogmatix and Asterix increases the amount of potion bottles he can carry.
The currency of the game is the Roman helmets. Bronze, Silver and Gold reemble the ammount of coins earned from each Gold being the highest. A main issue among the two heroes balanced is the fact that the game does not offer as many potion bottles to the players so Asterix players cannot use their potion freely. Obviously abusing the potion will remove the fun of the game but also have a bare minimun
amount when Obelix players keep getting new toys to play with remove the fun for them.
Collectables and items found on the map
Atlthough the game is bit short, it offers it's own variety of collectables. These are items that the player can collect and keep track in the map. When visiting a new village the player's will get the synopsis, the ammount of main quest done, the ammount of side quest done or a clue on where to find them and the number of collectables gathered for each type.
The game only has three types of collectables:
Dogmatix Bones
When moving around, Dogmatix will sniff a bone that is near the area and his nose will try to sniff it out. The Obelix player will have to Slam his Menir in order to pop the bone out. Note: The gameplay to find the bone is not polished as the player can spent minutes slamming the menhir around in order to find it. There are no clear indication as to where the bone is, not a single vibration to controller nor
something to help the player find it.
Dice
This is a weird dice that can be found around the map. They re placed in obvious locations and its up to the player to discover the path it.
Golden Halo
Similar to the dice the golden halos of leaves are placed around the map and its up to the players to discover the path to it.
Despite the collectables mentioned above, the maps have a few things that boosts the characters status, these are:
Boars, fruit baskets
These are simply health restore items, that the player consumes to increase their health. The fruit baskets are lying in a location and the player consumes them, the boars if alived, they ll have to hunt them and kill them
Thunder
Thunder restores the stamina of the one who collected it.
Side Quests.
Each village or country that the player visits has three set of side quests for the player to complete. The side quest are represented with a ligh blue exclanation mark. Upon interacting with the Npc, a side quest will be triggered. Althouogh the quests are slightly similar they have a few differences. Some Quests are:
Help the person find their pet by leading their pet back to them
Parkour around to reach a place within a certain time
Parkour around collecting items within a time limit
Defeat waves of enemies within the time limit
Move something from point A to B while avoiding enemies and natural dissasters
Solve certain puzzles with the menhir's abilities
Overall Synopsis
Overall Asterix and Obelix XXL3 The Crystal Menhir is a mediocre game. The story of the game is simple but effective keeping it close to how story events are told in the Comic books and in the old cartoons. The character of Asterix and Obelix are fun and voiced in a good way. Unfortunately the same cannot be told with any of the other as the majority of the Gauls do not appear as much on screen or simply dont have enough dialogue
to show their character through. The plot is simple to follow and enough to allow the heroes to venture around. The gameplay is simply 'okay' for single player but unfair for Co-op as Asterix remains the same from mission 1 all the way to the last where as Obelix gains a new ability with every single country that the two visit. Not to mention the two heroes are simply reskin of the other when it comes down to abilities so yet again
Asterix being in the game does nothing to differ from Obelix, Same abilities with the exception of Potion which cannot be found often and when does, doesnt last as long. The Upgrades that the heroes can obtain changes nothing to the heroes which is simply not rewarding what so ever. The ammount of collectables found in the game is really good for the game, however collecting them does not offer anything as there are no unlockable
rewards such as costumes or anything and furthermore they do not even reward the player with a Trophy for a given console. The music of the game is not memorable as honestly there wasn't any OST that stuck with the me nor my Player 2. It is also worth mentionning that there are little to none cutscenes that escort story mode. The combat of the game is mediocre as certain enemies can constantly loop the player in a stunt place where
spears and arrows constantly stunt the heroes. Running out of stamina (which happens alot) prevents the heroes from using their abilities and when dealing with shielded enemies takes away the fun. There are solutions such as Obelix's menhir but the gameplay could have been improved. Small improvement would be to add a Jumb button. When comparing the two games Asterix & Obleix XXL2 (For the ps2 or its remaster) with this ps4
game iit's clear that the old game had much more to offer.
