4/5 ★ – Dima064's review of Asterix & Obelix XXL.

Completed as of writing this review: 100% One of the nostalgic games that I absolutely adore! It's simplistic for it's time, which still reminds me of how back then the most important part was for a game to be fun, just like many other games in the 6th generation. I'm not that familiar with the lore of Asterix (if there even is one), so I don't know how accurate this is. But man, the developers of the original didn't play around. The gameplay is just a beat-em-up and nothing out of the ordinary but the presentation is BADASS!! The music and how serious it presents itself is so cool! I can't describe how much I still love this game for this. The licensed games now choose a safe cartoony aesthetic while this is the 2000's in all it's glory! If being serious it's a simple action-adventure game, that may seem repetitive for a newcomer, but the stages are huge with interesting puzzles and pretty scenery. Punching the Romans always felt satisfying and never unfair. (until the last stage but more on that later) I don't think you can really get bored here because the stages always have something to do in them. There are also moments to spice things up like a crazy slide down the mountain on Obelix's back. There are also occasional collect-a-thon moments that are satisfying to get through when you get the multipliers. The music is by far my favorite part here. It makes it fun to get rid of Romans while, for example, some devilish gibberish sounds are sung in the background (you'll know when you hear it). The puzzles are also interesting to some extent, though annoying at first. The extra things like collecting Laurels can also be fun. Now the problem is probably the cryptic final stage. You'll have almost no trouble until you reach it, due to one requirement: one specific combo. Without it you're going to have a bad time. That's why I didn't beat the game in my childhood because I actually didn't know how to use combos. So keep that in mind! And there is unfortunately one boss for the entire game, just slightly different each time. Don't get your hopes up on that one like we did as kids. Overall, it was actually hard to describe what I like about this game without nostalgia kicking my mind. But I still recommend this game if you need a simple action-adventure with puzzles to enjoy. I don't think it'll disappoint. At the very least listen to the kick-ass soundtrack!