HISTORY
Since i’ve given a basic description/primer for Asterix & Obelix as a whole for the Platformation review of the fist XXL game, i won’t be repeating that, so i will simply refer you back to that if you are not too familiar (or at all) with the series.
What i will do is talk about the context of the platforming genre as the time XXL 2 originally released, because in just 3 years after the first Asterix & Obelix XXL came out, a lot happened.
As i said, even the first game felt kinda old fashioned compared to other platformers on offer at the time, heck, not even going back to the original Conker’s Bad Fur Day, in 2003 alone Jak II kickstarted the whole “teenage edgelord “phase of the genre, influenced to be “more mature” thanks to the rise in popularity of games like the 3D Grand Theft Auto games, and this was made even more clear when Sonic Team clearly saw Naughty Dog’s sequel “dark” turnabout and made the Shadow The Hedgehog game.
Even the then recently rebooted Prince Of Persia series (which are technically platformers but i would consider more adventure-action titles, personally) did the same after Sands Of Time, but nothing exemplifies the trend more than Vexx, there’s enought stuff to make a whole editorial/essay about this weird phase of the 3D platformer genre.
Older series like the Rayman were doing also some peculiar stuff, again, in 2003 Rayman 3 also released, coming with a satirical, parody heavy, meta sense of humour that wasn’t really found in either the original or Rayman 2, and on this specifically is worth remembering that – after doing very badly with the first 3 seasons – Family Guy was also getting very popular worlwide at the time (remember, XXL 2: Mission Las Vegum originally released in 2006) worlwide, and that alone certainly contributed to create a game like this, which is in retrospect feels extra weirder, especially due to the license used, which didn’t really fit the tone and humour that was popular at the time, sure Asterix & Obelix did the occasional topical (and deliberately anachronistical, in this case) joke and cheeky references, but NOT this way.
It’s a weird seeing Asterix & Obelix going for a Duke Nukem/Family Guy style of parody-humour, with a cover spoofing the GTA ones (down to having the same font in some early versions) and some really on the nose knock-offs parody versions of other videogames.
PLOT & GRAPHICS
I would like to talk about the plot first, but there’s simply no way around this, as its entirely submerged by a glut of shameless and overly abudant references, as in knock-offs versions/parodies/ripped off material from other popular and well known intellectual properties, more specifically games.
What’s even more unbelievable is that these actually survived the remaster intact, i really wouldn’t have expected it since some are so blatant, i guessed they could get away with it originally because Atari (again, not the old one, the one that eventually became Infogrames and then renamed itself as Atari during the 2000s) released it back in the day, which would also explain them also parodying other French based or developed Ips like Rayman or Splinter Cell, which one would believe they would change them for this rerelease, but nope, still there, like the Pac-Man shields.
Some didn’t even have that excuse even back in the day, like the fat centurion/officer of Ceasar, Larry Croft, going around in Lara’s distinctive get up.
To properly explain how very “random” the references could be, there are Tetrominoes walls but also the sword from Maximo, the PS2 era Ghost N Goblins spiritual successor Capcom made.
I’d ask if you remember Maximo, but let’s be honest, most of you simply won’t.
Or just literal Bomberman heads as bombs, if nothing else they did capture the “i do not give an absolute shit” attitude of the era.
Once you peel all this shit away, you’d be surprised that the plot of Asterix & Obelix XXL 2 Mission Las Vegum isn’t actually half-bad.
The story is about the village druid and friends of the gallic dynamic duo, Assurancetorix/Getafix, going missing and lastly been seen at Caesar’s latest creation, Las Vegum, a kitchy big ass casino with themed areas built in the middle of Rome, so despite implications that the good druid betrayed his fellows and is in cohoots with the Romans in order to concoct magic that can create an army of supersoldier, his betrayal sounds sketchy to our Gaul heroes, even if they manage to see him wandering around the various locations that make up Las Vegum.
And of course the final confrontation is just Ceasar making a Matrix reference that honestly feels insanely out of place and random, then the final reharshed boss fight, and he folds like a chump, not even trying at the last minute to spring a surprise warmachine on you like he did in the first game.
Figures, given how the already so n so plot is completely sabotaged by these excesses of parroting stuff that honestly, actually devalue the writing, which is otherwise fairly recognizable and fitting of an Asterix & Obelix story. it’s a shame because despite how gauche the referencing (or the Duke Nukem-ing) is in hindsight, there is still some of the classic Asterix & Obelix humour, which did use its eternal anachrostical past to lampoon or poke fun at recent trends and such, so it’s not even that weird… or it wouldn’t be if they didn’t get completely carried away with the lampooning. They did.
Even for the era, it was NOTABLY shameless, i mean, you can tell how old it is because there’s a joke about the internet existing, and its made to basically make you play a semi-optional Mario knock-off level which you access via a green pipe.
This is some pre-Retro City Rampage “open parody, license to steal affair” shit indeed.
Oddly, this is the one that in terms of looks got the short end of the stick, kinda, since they eventually did a proper remaster of the original Asterix and Obelix XXL game (after XXL 3), here it’s clearly a “D4C/Love Train” affair, the cutscenes are pratically intact and untouched from the PS2, which is fine but a bit jarring to go from the upgraded HD models and textures to the cutscenes with the 20 yo renders and the obvious compression.
I mean, the animated CG cutsceness are okayish still, despite the low resolution, it’s not as bad as when this version occasionely still uses the in-game engine cutscenes that highlight some barrier being now broken or stuff, those really look like ass and i’m glad they did give the graphics a “lift”, though there’s no option to switch on the fly between the remade/HD graphics & music and the original PS2 ones like they later did for XXL Romastered.
I guess it was too much work to post-humously add the feature after Romastered came out.
GAMEPLAY & LEVEL DESIGN
One thing i’ve kinda hoped to see in this sequel is a better combat system, as i lamented before the first one was maybe made a bit too early to get onto the Devil May Cry wandbagon, or to take cues from other PS2 beat em ups that often looked upon the PS2 Shinobi reboot (which was quite intriguing and i’ll have to review alongside its sequel, Nightshade), i mean, XXL 2 came out in 2005, there’s no “excuse” in this regard that holds any water.
This not so much to please me (which it would have) but because this sequel leans more into the combat aspect than the first XXL game, down to having recurring bouts with “DMC magical walls” block doors until you clear the room of the target number of enemies, while still fundamentally not changing or improving in a notable fashion the combat: there’s still no guard mechanic, characters with shields can have the shield destroyed by the secondary attack, the kick/slide, but centurions will still stay guarding and keep blocking any attack, there’s no chip damage, there’s no actual guard break system, and even using Idefix to sic on enemies isn’t gonna solve that issue,
To be fair, the emphasis is still mostly on exploring and puzzle platforming, and since there’s still the potion item drops to help you thin out, i don’t mind the combat being identical, i guess after all not every game had to become DMC just because the first one was a breakout success and hence every company had to try and insert a more refined combat system to ape Capcom’s Dante bout.
But still, since now the combat is more pronounced and basically is half the game, to the point you can explore some areas and see stuff like blocks of stone and platforms, wondering if they will be used later, only for them to be kinda elaborate windowdressing as entering a new sub-area will mostly mean having to clear it from enemies in order to remove the “magical door barrier” before you can actually explore it.
One thing they did change but didn’t/couldn’t notice early on, is that the super moves are now usable only as a “potion move”, which i guess was an attempt of balance, you know, to avoid you spamming them, but since they can’t be done while in Fury mode (that builds up by keep attacking and building the icon, which gives some offensive boost but depletes fast), it means only Asterix can use these now, since if you control Obelix the magic potion pick ups don’t even spawn (which IS canonically correct)… well, they ARE combo moves, so you use both characters but you need to play as Asterix in order to get the potion and start off the combination special attack move.
Just wish the game told you that, since half the game is fighting, but don’t expect much in terms of combo strings, you can buy upgrades from the occasional shops, but it just incremental upgrades of the Fury system damage you can land while in that mode, and the aforementioned special combination attacks, confusingly referred to as “combos”.
Now there’s an occasional bonuses that either give you items like hams or shields or multipliers for the collected helms (the in-game currency) if you performs the sequence of attacks/moves shown, but it’s a cute thingie on top that kinda reminds me of how the One Piece Unlimited games tried to encourage using the moves at your disposal, but again, very arcadey.
At least the shameless spoofs translate to more varied enemy types, including the fuckin “Mario Sunshine” unit using a bootleg Splash-O-Mat to hurl water, the “Ryu from SF” guys launching hadoukens and using uppercuts, and it does help even in terms of variety, as there’s one section where you must move about bombs looking like Bomberman heads with a frown, it’s kinda amazing how they didn’t even try to mask it by having it look “kinda like but not quite”, but nope, there are straight up Bomberman heads with a frown. XD
Even so, XXL 2 does add one thing sorely missed in the first game, as in the ability to control both Asterix and Obelix by simply swapping between them at will with a button, a bit disappointing the two characters don’t play that much differently in terms of combat, i would have glossed over it easier if it was made to accomodate local co-op… but i guess my point is moot as there’s no co-op, or any multiplayer, not even in this remake/port, i guess isn’t as easy as it sounds to make local co-op work, even if this one looked more easy to insert the feature in, with the character swap and all.
Again, “looked”, i’m no developer, wouldn’t know.
That aside, even in terms of platforming and exploration, they could have done more, i mean, Idefix could have had some specific use for puzzle and retrieving stuff or sneaking through small passageways in small sections where you control him directly, instead of being an indirect ranged attack that can usually make enemies drop their guard.
most of the puzzle or traversal systems from the original game are back, often with some little twist, like the manual “cable way” sections without Obelix letting you “flip” the cabin like a skating game, there are new devices only Obelix or Asterix (or a combination of both) can activate or work, alongside areas only Asterix can pass through, the torch mechanic is gone now entirely, and technically the heavy crates only Obelix could destroy are in the game… as in, crate, singular, i found only ONE of those in the entire game, in the very last area.
Speaking of, the biggest change from the first game is that now, instead of a more traditional levels connected on a world/level map where you simply go through them in linear fashion, there are hubs connecting the various locations/areas/levels in a more organic fashion, even if it’s not great, and at the beginning it might be a little confusing, causing some accidental backtracking, but you quickly get used to it, since the entire Las Vegum is not THAT big, Idefix will give you visual clues just in case, so it’s fine, and the remaster adds fast travel at the slabs that were originally save points.
I like the casino/amusement park kitsch tone, as every place is a Disneyland/themed casino replicas of various locations (there are slot machines everywhere that you can bet on/give a spin to for more money/helms, hams or shields), but also i’m kinda ambivalent on the faux open ended structure, i would have been fine with straightforward contained levels, but it’s ok, the backtracking is something new that XXL 1 did not have (for obvious reasons), but is more than tolerable for the time. Even though they could as well added a very simple map of the area.
It’s a literally 20 years old game as of now, some of the old design philosophies were bound to not age as gracefully as others, and remember, at the time open worlds were a luxury and complicated to build, and even if GTA did it, not so many others could replicate them easily, so we often had games attempt a more open flow to the levels via solutions like interconnected areas, hubs, etc.
DIFFICULTY & LENGHT
in terms of difficulty, the normal setting it’s not piss easy, you’ll die sometimes, but it’s perfectly doable and rarely cheap, it does offer some challenge but it’s not so easy it’s pointless, so overall, it’s about on par with the first game in this regard too, and since not much has changed fundamentally, the way it balances itself are about the same. Not much else to say without repeating myself again.
One thing it was advisable to change from the first game but didn’t is how you still basically fight the same boss for most of the game, in the first one it was a roman war machine, here is a super gladiator you find in arenas with different gimmicks and/or traps each time, but come on…
Especially as these boss fights (unlike the first game) after the mid point get confusingly easier and less inventive, you can tell by the final boss tight they recycled a gimmick from before cheaply because they just wanted/needed to get it done.
And confusingly, despite the Las Vegum super casino/amusement park set up, it’s slightly shorter to finish than the first one, taking about 8 hours to finish, and i’d figure about 11/12 hours max to complete it, which is what took to just finish the first XXL game, so yeah, it’s not that big of a game, after all. There’s also trophies, but they mostly relate to game progression and completition.
On the flipside, the remaster/port added multiple difficulty settings, the additional fight challenges and the various collectable figurine on top of the new collectibles of the original release, so there is a bit more replay factor to it. Not that being 2 hours would have necessarily made the game better.
OVERALL EVALUATION
Asterix & Obelix XXL 2 is one hell of a mixed bag, if nothing else.
For once, the usual Asterix & Obelix style plot and sense is humour is not so much gone, but completely buried into a Family Guy-Duke Nukem style of… you know what, references often make some sense, so “parroted stuff” is more appropriated, as they went bazongas insane on the amount of parodied videogame characters and shameless “involuntary cameos” of everything, in hindsight embodying the slogan of Retro City Rampage almost a decade earlier.
But on the flipside, this also means more varied types of enemies unit, which the game needs as it could have used to have a more fleshed out, modern beat em up style of combat, with more depth and style, inspired by the popularity of the original Devil May Cry or Shinobi’s PS2 reboot..but it doesn’t really do that, so combat it’s still mindless and there’s more emphasis on battling hordes of enemies even more than the first game, to the point the platforming and exploration-puzzle side of things – while still important to the experience – have been scaled down, even with new gimmicks, new contraptions and now the ability to simply swap on the fly between Asterix and Obelix in order to even manouver your way through some sections.
Sadly this doesn’t translate to a local co-op mode, even in this remaster-port, though the HD job is quite decent, it’s not a straight up more in depth visual remake like the one they did for the first XXL game, but it looks nice enough, as are the rebalancing and the new stuff added to the original game, like extra battle challenges, new costumes, extra difficulties and collectables.
Then there’s the change from a linear and fairly old fashioned progression through various levels to having various intertwined hubs and mini-hubs leading to the more proper stages, presented as themed areas like it’s an amusement park, which must have felt kinda fresh for the time (even though still old fashioned, as by 2005 the 3D GTA games changed the industry), but nowadays the faux open world-ish approach feels… not particularly bad, just dated, it’s not an issue to navigate the Las Vegum casino, as it’s not that huge, after the first half hour you get used to it, and thankfully the remaster adds fast travel to make backtracking a lot more tolerable.
Mind you, it’s still a decent game for its time, but even with the expected dating of a now 20 yo old game, i can’t shake quite the feel they kind half-assed this sequel, that they didn’t really put much effort into it, as it lacks any ambition to really expand upon the foundations of the first, some new mechanics actually devalue or remove others that were in the first game and are now either gone or neutered, with some exceptions and new stuff that still don’t properly improve or evolve the formula, making for a fairly conservative sequel that’s actually more disappointing than bad, casting aside the peculiar and… not so much fitting style of videogame humour-comedy it goes for, one very in vogue after Family Guy really started becoming popolar in the early-to-mid 2000s and that really doesn’t quite gel with the Asterix series own brand of comedy.
It’s a very weird and “of its time” concoction that we’ll most likely never see, not done in this fashion… maybe for the better, but in hindsight it has almost a “charm” in how utterly shameless the “parody bonanza” went, and i can’t be too mad when i see a Maximo reference.
It’s also from an era where sequels could actually be just more of the same without having to completely reinvent itself or throw out everything from the first game in a senseless quest for “innovation” over quality, though that would become an issue more in the 7th console gen…
LEGACY
While the XXL games were still the more well known Asterix & Obelix videogames for a while, it took a while to see Microids resurrect them, starting from XXL 2 (i guess because the original PS2 release never made it to US markets, this remake port did, though undetr the title “Roman Rumble in Las Vegum: Asterix & Obelix XXL 2 “), then the already covered “romastered” of the first XXL game, and nostalgia and brand awareness must have brought upon enough sesterces in the French publisher coffers to warrant actually making a new entry in this decade old series of licensed games, with Asterix & Obelix 3: The Chrystal Menhir eventually releasing in 2019 for all platforms, developed by the team behind the XXL remasters/ports, Osome Studio.
You know, between the Smurfs titles, the Blacksad game and… the first Ufo Robot Grendizer/Goldrake videogames in decades.
OTHER VERSIONS
Alongside the PS2 and Windows releases of the original XXL 2 Las Vegum version, there were handheld versions for PSP and DS, both having the same plot as the console versions, using assets and cutscenes from those, alongside the new subtitle “Mission Wifix” due to having multiplayer modes,despite the DS version being a “completely” different game by a different developer, Mystic Software in this case, and it’s actually a 2D sidescrolling platformer.
A 2.5 D platformer, one that does nothing with the gimmick, it’s completely linear now while still mostly replicates the console game, though since its on DS now some sections are so n so touch screen minigames you can’t skip (i hate the cableway ones, even if they confusingly become less difficult over time), combat is more annoying since the enemies can cheap shot you more easily now, and honestly while it looks okay it’s pretty much a subpar 2D demake of the console game (which wasn’t even great to begin with) and a boring, overly padded slog in its own right.
The multiplayer mode is you competing (via the Download DS function) with others in minigames and challenges… i think, i tried but had connection issues all the time (dunno why, it’s not internet reliant), so i relented, and honestly i would suggest just skipping this DS version all together,
The PSP version, developed by Tate Interactive (yes, the Kao The Kangaroo guys) is – as expected by then – pretty much a technically scaled down port of the PS2 game, with pretty much everything in the original game left intact, the only notable difference is that it’s a bit harder to control the character while airborne, and the multiplayer mode here is a team squad affair where up to 4 people work in arenas to accomplish different objectives as either Asterix and Obelix or Caesar and Larry Croft; i was actually able to try out, since it les you play a warm up match with bots, not too shabby.
So it not a bad port, at all, quite the opposite, i’d take this over the DS version anyday, but with the remaster now it’s just a small curiosity, just for avid collectors and Asterix & Obelix fans.
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