I like a good beat-em-up as much as the next person. I grew up on games like Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, and the old TMNT arcade-style games. I wasn’t familiar with the Asterix and Obelix IP though, so I decided to give Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram from Hibernia a try. Sadly, like a lot of tie-in games for lesser-known IP, The Ram from Hibernia is…well, half-baked at best.

You play as the titular Asterix and Obelix, either switching between them or playing cooperatively for up to 4 players (Asterix and Obelix twins pop in for player 3 and player 4) as they aim to save Hibernia (Ireland) from the encroaching Roman occupation. How are two Gaul warriors to do that you ask? Well, that’s simple, beating the snot out of them with anything they can get their hands on.

The controls are simple. You have a light attack, a heavy attack, a roll (which can be used to leap), and an ultimate attack that builds as you attack enemies. There is also the option to pick up and throw items, in case you need to hit enemies from a distance. If you stun enemies, you can pick them up and use them as a weapon, which gives you more variance in how you approach combat situations.

Well, I say that, but combat is a simple button-mashing affair. There isn’t much strategy or complexity to it, other than having massive amounts of enemies thrown at you since the game is meant for co-op. Luckily if you are playing solo, the AI takes over your other character, and you can switch between them at will. However, the AI isn’t very smart, so you’ll be doing most of the work yourself.

The bigger issue is that Asterix & Obelix: The Ram from Hibernia is an absolutely buggy game. I had a variety of issues during the time I played, including the second level bugging out on me repeatedly and preventing me from progressing. There are certain areas where you have to clear out all the enemies in order to progress. However, in several places, I would defeat the enemies only to discover that the game still thought there were enemies left, thus preventing my progress.

Upon doing some investigating, I discovered that other people have had all manner of bugs and issues preventing them from progressing. That doesn’t even include the people who have had crashing issues, visual bugs, and other problems. I didn’t have any issues with crashing, but I did have enemies clip through the environment. I suspect that is why I couldn’t progress, an enemy getting stuck behind the environmental boundary or something.

Overall, while I think Microids (and OSome Studio) had good intentions of further adapting the Asterix & Obelix IP, Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram from Hibernia really needed more love and attention. It feels like a cash grab based on an IP that most westerners aren’t even really aware of. I could see it being a great party game if more time was put into it though.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram from Hibernia was provided by Microids for this review.

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Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram From Hibernia

$29.99 USD

2

Score

2.0/10

Pros

• Cute Characters
• Colorful Environments

Cons

• Lots of Bugs
• Not Much Variety
• Very Repetitive
• No Character Variety for Player 3 and 4