Producer: Melbourne House
Retail Price: £8.95
Author: William Tang, Andrew Pierson, Frank Oldham

Back in 50 BC much of Gaul is under Roman rule except one village where Asterix and Obelix live. Asterix, made famous in cartoon strips and books, is the cunning tighter always confronting impossible situations, helped by his eternally hungry and rotund friend, Obelix.

The people of Asterix's village are not fighters but they do have magic on their side. Getafix, the wise village Druid, developed a mystical herbal recipe which, when drunk, gives the drinker powerful super-human strengths.

When Obelix was a baby he fell into Getafix's cauldron and virtually overdosed on the elixir. The effects never worked off and sometimes he forgets his mighty strength. Naughty Obelix tries to get a top up during a brewing session, but Getafix sternly turns him away. Obelix is not amused and aims a gentle kick at the cauldron - it shatters into seven pieces that scatter throughout Gaul. Vitalstatistix, the chief of the tribe, is not amused. Asterix and Obelix offer to hunt for the pieces so the elixir can be brewed again to save the village from the marauding Romans.

There are fifty screens in the game depicting scenes from the village, the surrounding countryside, and the Roman encampments. Obelix will follow Asterix anywhere but there are limits and he has to be bribed with his favourite food: wild boar hams. Asterix starts his journey with five of these hams and one disappears each time Asterix and Obelix feel a little peckish. If the stock gets too low then Asterix has to fight a boar - the fight sequences in the game take place in windows that zoom out of the main playscreen. Stamina bars for each combatant appear on the side of the window and the winner is the one who biff the other into submission first. Defeating the boar turns it into a baked ham that is added to the scoff chart. If Asterix loses a fight, the boar kicks him out of the window and he loses a life. The window system is also used when fighting with the Roman soldiers and when Asterix picks up useful objects along the way.

Asterix starts with five lives and a phial of the elixir which was salvaged from the broken cauldron. This can only be used once in the game in time of extreme trouble. The pieces of the cauldron are shown at the top of the screen when they have been pocketed. Keys can also be picked up to get Asterix and Obelix into previously unexplored areas of the game.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q up, Z down, I left, P right, SPACE fire
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: very bold and pretty, without clashes
Graphics: nice and large, attractive scenery
Sound: none
Skill levels: one
Screens: fifty

When I was small I used to read the books, and they still raise a few laughs. So does the game, but in an entirely different sense: probably in that I looked forward to reading the books, but I certainly would avoid playing the game if I possibly could. The graphics and the loading screen are very pretty, but the game, as far as playability is concerned, is just amazingly bug ridden in the course of playing Asterix had to reload it no less than six times. If I had been unfortunate enough to buy this, I would be well cheesed off by now, but thank heaven I'll probably never have to play it again. Very pretty, but not much fun!

Asterix is a strange sort of game that contains its good bits and its fair share of bad bits. The game consists of some excellent graphics that are very big and extremely well drawn. Colour is well used and the game avoids clashes with the use of big black outlines on all of the buildings - basic but effective. The sound in the game is practically non-existent, but the game doesn't suffer too much without it. All the characters are very recognisable and fun to walk around with - which adds to the whole image of the game. I like the way the windows open when Asterix gets into trouble. Even though all these good bits may attract you to the game, I must warn you that the game contains little for the game player to do bar wander round and have the odd scrap.

Come on guys I've been waiting for this game for ages and when it finally arrives it's awful. I expected better of MELBOURNE HOUSE. I was very surprised at the unprofessional way this game had been presented and at the general 'unfinishedness' of it - it seems that Asterix has just been thrown together to meet a deadline. The graphics are about the only thing that Asterix can boast about - the characters are well detailed and nicely animated and the playing area is colourful and full of detail. The sound is a little on the poor side: there are no tunes and the effects are minimal. The most annoying bit is the way you can get stuck in a tree, or wedged between Obelix and a building, fortunately there is a game abort option but it does get very frustrating if you have to abort a game when you have five pieces.

Melbourne House
£8.95

At last a game featuring our own beloved Ed. (What - as a loveable, wiry, little hero called Asterix? Ed) No, as a big, blundering, blob called Obelix.

Seems like Ed... Obelix, sorry, has kicked the cauldron which houses the first century equivalent of 6X, and if he doesn't Superglue it back together the villagers will very likely kick the can. So it's more roamin' among the Romans as Astie and Obbo go walkabout.

Let's start with the obvious, Asterix And The MC looks good. Big, bright, colourful graphics, just like the cartoon itself. And it's all suitably ancient, if not positively prehistoric.

For starters, there's a long pause as each element of the picture appears. It's rather like watching a haunted copy of that venerable graphics package. Melbourne Draw, at work.

Then there's the question of attributes. Like I said, ancient Gaul is poster-coloured to the point of psychedelia. Asterix and Obelix, on the other hand, haven't been eating their Weetabix. You can see right through them.

But the game's crowning glory has to be its plot. Wander from screen to screen, picking up shards of pottery and biffing boars. The action takes place in a frame within a frame, and adds a Fist element, though it looks like the martial arts weren't so well developed in 50BC. There are lots of neat little sound effect bubbles. But, in the words of the bard, all that FX and fury signifies nowt.

Eventually you may stumble upon the occupying Eye-ties, sip a potion, sock a centurion, spend the night in jail and emerge into the arena... and the forty locations will last forever as they laboriously draw themselves.

Somewhere in here is a potentially good game. If only they could have put all those groovy graphics on a solid framework it might have been worth playing. As it is, it's a classic case of licensing a character then merely producing a load of old Gauls.

Label: Melbourne House
Price: £8.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Brenda Gore

Asterix is, internationally, one of the most popular comic strips ever. Never quite as popular over here as overseas, the cartoon stars the little Gaul, his fat friend Obelix and the druid Getafix.

It's 50BC and Gaul has been invaded by Roman legions, save that is, save for one small village which refuses to succumb to the might of Caesar's empire.

Melbourne House, which has made something of a speciality of translating fictional characters into computer games - The Hobbit, Sherlock and Lord of the Rings - has now released Asterix and the Magic Cauldron. Only six months later than intended, but as with Fist II, release schedules have never been Melbourne's strong point.

Asterix is a mix of graphic advenure and arcade action. The graphics themselves are beautifully done - particularly the backgrounds.

Asterix and Obelix are looking for seven pieces of Getafix's magic cauldron, which was shattered in a moment of stupidity by a mighty kick from Obelix.

Vitalstatistix, the tribal chief, who is only afraid of one thing - the sky falling on his head - orders Asterix and Obelix to recover the missing pieces so the village blacksmith, Fullyautomatix, can reforge the whole thing.

What you find in game terms are 50 different screens of action, covering the Gaulish village, the forest, Roman camps and Rome (or Roma, if you prefer). These screens are peopled by wild boars and Roman guards.

The action - fighting soldiers and so on is shown using a curious window zoom effect. For example, bump into a wild boar and a zoom facility brings the arcade action into close up. A box containing Asterix and the boar is projected on screen. Each character's stamina is displayed at the side of the box and you must kick, punch and pummel the boar into submission.

Fail and Asterix loses a life, shown graphically by Asterix lying backwards out of the box in a sitting position (known in skiing circles as the English or flying toilet position).

Succeed and the boar's stamina rating will decrese to zero, whereupon it will keel over.

Roman guards are armed with spears, but otherwise the fight scenes are similar, However, if you don't attempt to bash the guard, he may ask you if you want to surrender and you'll end up in a cell in Rome The only exit from the cell opens on to the arena. Here you do battle with a hyped-up gladiator.

You'll have to fight and win - he's carrying a cauldron section.

Knock him dead and he'll drop it - it's easily identifiable as it pulses as if with a magix force.

C64/Spectrum
Melbourne House
Arcade/Adventure
£9.95

Defeating odds approaching one million to one always appeals to the public and, consequently, tales of Asterix and Obelix have always been among the most-loved children's books. In the latest release from Melbourne House, Asterix and the Magic Cauldron, you take the role of the veritable Gaul and it is your task to rescue the seven pieces of the Magic Cauldron.

Together with your inseparable friend Obelix, you set out to scour the Roman empire. searching for the smashed cauldron so that Fullyautomatix can put it back together. In more computerised language, it is an arcade adventure with a heavy dose of combat included for good measure.

Without a real hit since Way of the Exploding Fist, Melbourne House hopes that Asterix could prove to be a winner. Graphically, the game is excellent. Both the main characters are easily identified, and the Romans look suitably uncivilised. All the backgrounds include various Gaulic dwellings, Roman camps and Rome.

Getting used to the various joystick movements requires more than a little practice, especially in the change-over between movement and fighting. As with the original books, Asterix does not have an unlimited supply of super potion; in fact, the potion can be used only once, even if it is to devastating effect.

Any dedicated fans of the books will undoubtedly be able to find fault with the game. I could but it is still entertaining and should appeal to anyone from eight to 80. One final criticism, where is Dogmatix?