It was in 2005 that Asterix & Obelix XXL 2 Mission Las Vegum appeared for the first time. The game tells how Getafix lost the trust of the druid order and his village after some unexpected actions on his part. He is indeed accused of having made a pact with the Romans and helped them to strengthen their army thanks to this knowledge. Only Asterix remains convinced that the scientist is not a traitor and goes to meet Julius Caesar in order to clarify this story. He is obviously not alone since his lifelong friend Obélix and the faithful Idéfix accompany him on this adventure. The story, signed Nicolas Pothier, wants to be as faithful as possible to the spirit initiated by Goscinny and Uderzo, with voluntary anachronisms and references galore, here largely inspired by the world of video games. If these winks seem all the same a little gratuitous, and not always in the best taste, the enemies with the looks of Super Mario, Sonic, Rayman or even Ryu from Street Fighter, fighting techniques and sound effects included, should always amuse the gallery. But we especially remember here the voices of Roger Carel and Pierre Tornade who resume here their emblematic roles of Gallic heroes for the greatest pleasure of connoisseurs. And, as at the time, hearing them bicker gently between two fights easily manages to make the nostalgic chord vibrate.
IT'S NOT ONLY THE ROMANS WHO ARE CRAZY...
However, this nostalgic aspect seems to be the main, if not the only, argument of this port, apart from the new episode announced and the film to come in theaters. Indeed, this Mission Las Vegum was not necessarily impressive when it was first released on PS2 and the time that has elapsed since has certainly not helped matters. Even if it is necessary to underline an animation which remains relatively fluid and the rather correct modeling of the two protagonists, the questionable design of the enemies and the environments has more difficulty to pass today. Especially since the game returns practically as it is, simply with an enhanced image definition. Unfortunately, the visual aspect is not the only one to have aged. The combat system, which was intended to be a little more elaborate than what other licensed games offered at the time, is marred by rather imprecise collisions or a camera that has trouble following, especially since no key does not allow you to place it directly behind your character's back; manually adjusting the angle of view is therefore quite annoying in the long run. Only players who had enjoyed the game when it was first released should be able to overcome these few pitfalls and find the game entertaining. Because, even if the action may seem repetitive, which is not abnormal given its Beat'em Up orientation, waltzing the Roman soldiers by the dozens to something relaxing and platform phases as well as many breaks -head occasionally break the monotony. But someone trying out Asterix & Obelix XXL 2 for the first time more than 10 years after its initial release might find it hard to be satisfied with such rough handling and dated graphics.
