Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2 is a fun and simple beat ’em up, dripping with charm and nostalgia.
Gaming as a whole has surely come a long way. We went from the likes of Pong and Tetris to full interactive cinematic set pieces, with hours and hours of gameplay and games packed to the brim with mechanics and systems. As exciting as these have been, they have all become stale; games take more of your time to finish and even more time to master and fully understand. What if you want something simple, something you can just sit and play and have one hell of a time? Look no further than Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2!
As you can tell from the name, Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2 is the sequel to the first Asterix and Obelix: Slap Em’ All, which was released back in 2021, and follows our Gaulish heroes Asterix and Obelix, doing what they do best, beating the sandals off Romans and the hides of wild boars, and that’s pretty much it. The beat ’em up’s story follows the same plot as most of the comics’ storyline, and that’s about it. The game is less meant to be a completely new adventure, but rather, it is intended to pay homage to the original comics. The sequel, on the other hand… Does exactly the same thing.
For those of you who didn’t grow up with the translated versions of the Asterix and Obelix comics or just had very dull childhoods, here’s an incredibly brief history about them. The series was created by French comic book writer and editor René Gosciny in 1959 and continues to this day. The story is set in 50 BC and follows the adventures of the Gauls, a group of Celtic people who lived in mainland Europe, fighting against the Romans who wanted to take over their land.
However, the main focus is on the pint-sized Asterix, the lumbering Obelix, and his tiny pooch Dogmatix. Both characters, excluding Dogmatix, act as perfect foils for one another. While Asterix is small, fast, and cunning, Obelix is big, slow, and blunt, and because of this dynamic, these characters are so memorable.
Now, back to Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2, as mentioned earlier, the story is pretty much the same as the first. There are Romans, and you slap them, hence the name. But there is a reason for the slapping: you need to prove that the Gaulish chief’s nephew, Justforkix, is innocent and find out who is responsible for stealing the Roman’s Vexillum.
If you think that’s a weak plot, that’s because it is and is intentional. Much like the first game, its story isn’t meant to be original. It’s intended to be the envelope in which the game’s developers, Mr. Nutz Studio, can send their love letter, and what a fun love letter it is.
As for the studio themselves, Mr. Nutz Studio doesn’t have much under their belt aside from both Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2 and its predecessor, and a remake of the colorful 1991 platformer Joe & Max: Caveman Ninja, which is full of sick 90’s slang and absolutely radical modern graphics. Though their roster is incredibly limited, it shows incredible promise as Mr. Nutz Studio seems to have a knack for making games that play as interactive cartoons full of charm and style. However, the studio still needs a bit more practice.
As for Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2’s gameplay is a 2D side-scroller beat ’em up, which means it’s both incredibly simple and incredibly fun. Both Asterix and Obelix have vastly different playstyles. Asterix is incredibly fast, snappy, and mobile, but he doesn’t pack that much of a punch. On the flip side, Obelix is a heavy hitter and does insane amounts of combos and damage, but he is quite slow and tends to become a sitting duck. Despite not having many characters to choose from, Asterix and Obelix still provide some decent playstyle variety.
As for Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2’s combat is your usual beat ’em up variety, with the only major difference being the speed of the characters and the amount of damage said attacks deal. As for these attacks, you have your Regular Attack, Heavy Attack, Charged Heavy Attack, and Heavy Jump Attack. Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2 does have a few unique tricks, such as a dash attack, which you activate by tapping your directional analog stick twice.
This attack is incredibly overpowered, as it will both knockdown and stun any enemies caught in its path. Another interesting mechanic is the ability to pick up enemies and turn them into makeshift weapons, such as clubs or, if you’re creative, a boomerang. Though limited, these attacks actually allow for a lot of player creativity in terms of knocking Romans and bandits out.
When you first enter Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2, you can choose to play as either titular Gauls, and depending on who you didn’t pick, you will quickly switch to the other character when you die, which is surprisingly frequent when playing single player. In fact, if you are playing solo, there is quite a significant difficulty spike, to the point you might just find yourself being unable to beat the first level. It should be noted that the second there are two players, the difficulty spike is absolutely gone, and now the game becomes an absolute cakewalk. Eventually, you will find yourself at the last level of the game.
Indeed Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2 is a relatively short experience, being roughly 2 hours long, 2.5 hours on hard mode, mainly because of the enemies’ larger health pool. Now, to most people, that would be a huge turn-off point, but in the case of Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2, it actually makes quite a lot of sense, considering that the game is just a massive love letter to an iconic comic book series. In fact, many of the “cons” of the game seem to be intentional, and as much as the story pays “homage” to the comics, the gameplay pays homage to a bygone era of gaming.
Everything about Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2 feels nostalgically retro but with a more modern touch. As mentioned earlier, the game features multiplayer but not in the form of online or local-network multiplayer but with good old-fashioned couch co-op – meaning two people only need two controllers to enjoy one game. Couch co-op has become increasingly rare in modern gaming, but it is always a feature that is greatly appreciated.
Even the game’s difficulty is intentional. The game is either back-breaking hard or dead easy, not because the developers don’t know how to balance a game, but because they want the game to be played by either two friends or two siblings who just want a fun and simple game without the tacked gimmicks seen in every modern game. The co-op is also meant to tie in with the game’s title, Asterix AND Obelix, not Asterix OR Obelix.
That’s not to say the game is without its flaws. Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2 has an art style meant to emulate the animated Asterix and Obelix movies. While this is greatly appreciated, and the attention to detail is phenomenal, there are some issues with the sprite layering.
Which makes it hard to tell if something is sitting in the background, middle-ground, or foreground. There is also an issue where the foreground details obscure enemies’ position, meaning they’ll take potshots at you until you can scare them out. Another gripe is that food drops are incredibly scarce, with only 1 to 3 barrels containing food that you use for healing.
Quickly hopping back to the art style of Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2, the amount of detail put in cannot be overstated. The game features a ton of little gags and callbacks to both the comics and the movies, from boars running away from Obelix to our heroes speaking of past events we haven’t seen yet. Despite the frequency of these callbacks, you never feel lost or confused about what they’re talking about if you’ve never read the comics or watched the movies and instead become curious about the characters’ other adventures.
The animated movies’ art is the only thing that the game references in terms of its art, as it also pays homage to the comics. The character’s sprites during dialogue scenes look closer to the style in the original comics, with more solid and saturated colors. Even the text boxes look to be inspired by comic books, making these scenes feel like comic book frames rather than cut scenes.
Overall, Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2, like the game before, is just a massive love letter to the series. The game is packed full of meta-humor and references and stays loyal to the franchise the game is about. The gameplay is incredibly solid and fun, and the game never overstays its welcome. Despite all this, the game is not for everyone.
If you are unfamiliar with the Asterix and Obelix franchise, all the small details and references and all the intentional “cons” present in the game will go over your head. If you are a fan of Asterix and Obelix, you will enjoy every second of this 2-hour-long beat ’em’ up; if not, you might be sorely disappointed.
