Asterix 2008

Everyone’s favourite comic-book Gaul, Asterix is making a familiar return to the mobile scene in Asterix 2008 – also known as Asterix: The Official Mobile Game of the Movie.

For those of you who missed the movie, in this release, you join Asterix, Obelix and Lovestorix in their quest to join the Olympic Games to win the heart of Princess Irina. As with most other games that complement movies it has quite a few good points but also shares some disappointments too.

The graphics are true to the original animated style of the comics (and movie). The game itself plays out a mixture of a story and mini-games. Asterix must defeat the Romans who’ve scattered your registration stone for your three heroes around the village. It’s up to you to try and locate these pieces – which is done by helping local villagers with their tasks and by doing them well, you’ll be rewarded by a piece of the stone.

These tasks involve chores such as fishing, which consists of raising and lowering the line so the fish will bite, then reeling the fish in by pressing the appropriate number on the keypad. Next you’re bounding around the village beating up soldiers and collecting items along the way. Running through the streets and along the rooftops is quite a repetitive stretch of the game which you must go through between doing all the chores. Fortunately, should you not be deterred by this, the Games await!

The Olympic Games consists of alternating between Asterix and Obelix by participating at the events. These competitions consists of javelin, discus, long jump and sprint. Basically all of the games (except the sprint) rely on your sense of timing by pressing 5 at the right time and stopping at the right moment (before you cross the white line). You then get to use your timing again to select the angle of your throw or jump.

The sprinting event sees you running automatically and simply letting you move from left to right to control your run. You have a limited reserve of boost so you must use it wisely. However, there’s power-ups, in the shape of lightning symbols, which give you more boost but will cost you time as you veer around the course to collect them.

In truth these games offer some entertainment and will certainly kill some time but lack any real stiff competition. This means that getting through the stages and indeed winning is pretty easy.

Last but not least is the final event – the chariot race! This is largely the same as the sprint, but provides you with a little more of a challenge due to the obstacles and power-ups available around the course.

In total then, this game offers quite a few minutes of fun but doesn’t provide the more experienced player much in the way of a challenge and can be completed within an hour. So, if you’re looking for some light entertainment just to kill a few minutes then download this now.

Rating 80%

Positives

Good graphics

Quite a few games to master

Negatives

Too easy and with no option to change difficulty setting

Not very addictive