NES Game Reviews #11 – Asterix (Infogrames)
Growing up I loved both Tintin and Asterix. However I never played any games based on either franchise, to be honest I don’t think I was even aware of any of them. I didn’t have particularly high expectations for the game before playing, not aided by having played the Super Nintendo version of Asterix recently and been fairly unimpressed. I found the controls slippy, the hit box and attack were flawed and it felt like they’d sacrificed game play for graphical enhancement. Seeing as the two games came out at the same time, I figured the NES port would just been a graphically less impressive version of the SNES game.
To a degree my assumptions were correct. However I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many of my criticisms were significantly improved over the more technically superior Super Nintendo version. The control of Asterix is far less slippy, and the hit box is tighter. Asterix still only has a punch and no projectiles for his attack, which while staying true to the source material, makes for a more delicate approach to attack than I would have preferred. However that too is improved over the SNES version, meaning you don’t need to be as careful when attacking as you need to be in 16 bit.
Overall the game is pretty easy. Any moderate gamer shouldn’t have too much difficulty finishing the game in one sitting, though there are limited lives, many more can be earned through collection of stars and once you get the hang of the jumping which, while not perfect, is a step above a lot of the dross in the NES library, it’s a pleasantly chilled platformer.
There are three difficulty levels each simply taking away one of your overall hit points. I completed this on normal with my first attempt. While not drinking a potion worthy of Getafix myself, I did have a few bottles of TsingTao beer to keep me company. Perhaps these Romans aren’t all their cut out to be after all!
