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ASTERIX & OBELIX: SLAP THEM ALL! (PS4)
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Publisher: Microids.
Developer: Mr. Nutz Studio. Released: December 2021. Genre: Roaming beat 'em up. Other versions: PS5; XSX; XONE; SWI; PC. Posted 17th February 2025. By Tom Clare © 2025 |
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As gaming has leant more into corporate habits, issues have arisen over the cynical and often overly literal interpretation applied to creating longevity. To some, it’s nothing more complicated than hours provided versus money spent. In reality, lifespan should be tailored to the concentration (and quality) of the gameplay. Providing dozens of hours to completion makes sense in certain open-world games and RPGs, as a generally slower pace is necessary to create the immersion and investment players seek. There are, however, many genres where even 10 or 15 hours would seem like a stretch. Scrolling shoot ‘em ups, roguelikes, puzzle games and roaming beat ‘em ups are examples of games that work best in short bursts. It doesn’t matter if you can finish a game in an hour or two, provided there’s an incentive to return for more runs. I say all this because Asterix and Obelix: Slap Them All! somehow squanders its gorgeous presentation and strong gameplay through the folly of its content structuring.
The game consists of six chapters, five of which are based existing Asterix & Obelix volumes from the sixties and seventies. These see the duo visit Great Britain, Spain and Corsica, whilst the final chapter, ‘The Revenge of Julius Caesar’, was devised especially for the game. The action follows the series’ familiar trope of the legendary Gauls Asterix and Obelix fighting Romans, with the story articulated through a sequence of super-attractive static screens.
A&O:SLA's animation and general artwork is gorgeous. You can even spot Dogmatix doing his own thing in most of the screenshots!
Most immediately noticeable is the game’s visual design, which is sublime. Asterix, Obelix and the cast of Romans, pirates and bosses are beautifully drawn, whilst the animation is of an incredibly high standard. So smooth, sharp and expressive are all of the characters’ movements, the game could at times pass for an animated film. Scenes are frequently populated with a dozen or more fighters getting stuck into trademark Asterix & Obelix brawls, with onomatopoeic effect bubbles further enhancing the authentic comic-book feel. Little touches, such as canine Dogmatix accompanying the heroes throughout the game with his own collection of little mannerisms, add to the artistic finery. So too does the catalogue of amusingly drawn bosses. Pugnatius, with his hearts-adorned underwear, is the funniest of the bunch.
Slap Them All! plays well, too. Despite lacking interactivity (busting barrels and the occasional button-mashing running race are as adventurous as the game ever gets), the combat is frantic and fun. Asterix and Obelix sport appreciably different move sets, possessing the usual punch, kick, jump, special attack and dash functions, alongside the slightly less common (at least in roaming beat ‘em ups) block and throw manoeuvres. Players can use enemies as human bowling balls, skittling huge swathes of foes by hurling them across the screen, which is especially satisfying.
Slap Them All! plays well, too. Despite lacking interactivity (busting barrels and the occasional button-mashing running race are as adventurous as the game ever gets), the combat is frantic and fun. Asterix and Obelix sport appreciably different move sets, possessing the usual punch, kick, jump, special attack and dash functions, alongside the slightly less common (at least in roaming beat ‘em ups) block and throw manoeuvres. Players can use enemies as human bowling balls, skittling huge swathes of foes by hurling them across the screen, which is especially satisfying.
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Roaming beat ‘em ups typically aim to provide one-to-two hours for a playthrough. This allows for maximum impact gameplay in quick bursts, whilst creativity and variety helps delay repetition. However, instead of creating a tight collection of great stages, Mr. Nutz Studio unfathomably choose to spread Slap Them All! over 50 levels. No, your eyes haven’t malfunctioned: there are FIFTY levels. The formula is almost the same throughout: Romans enter the fray, a mad brawl ensues, the players move forward a bit and instigating another, very similar fight a few seconds later, often with the same enemies. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Inevitably, there isn’t the variety amongst the enemy types to sustain this kind of approach and there’s almost no change in the cadence of the gameplay. Forgive the ridiculous analogy, but a three-course meal is surely more palatable than 20 loaves of bread. Standing between players and completion is some of the most thinly spread, aggressively recycled and repetitive beat ‘em up action you’ll ever encounter. It’s all the worse that a game so well-crafted is reduced to a trudge, seemingly so someone could print ‘hours and hours of fun’ on the cover.
Hours and hours of mounting repetition would have made for a more accurate description. Levels become quickly samey, with pretty though somewhat featureless locations (typically sandy surrounds or countryside) offering little interactivity. There are no weapons, no power-ups, no pitfalls and very few hazards (aside some tame bull stampedes and chariot rushes), meaning it soon feels like Groundhog Day. Both protagonists suffer from massive repetition in terms of voicing: you’ll have likely heard “one free go on the carousel!” more than a thousand times by the end. The platforming side is utterly routine and the backgrounds little more than a scrolling gallery for the endless combat. Towards the end of the adventure, you’ll not only find yourself visiting the same locations for a fourth or fifth time (the pirate ship being a notable offender), but also fighting the same bosses over and over as well. As the game should have been gearing towards an exciting finale, it instead feels like SLA’s assets have been utterly exhausted. The last fight is merely two earlier bosses, and this rather sums things up.
Hours and hours of mounting repetition would have made for a more accurate description. Levels become quickly samey, with pretty though somewhat featureless locations (typically sandy surrounds or countryside) offering little interactivity. There are no weapons, no power-ups, no pitfalls and very few hazards (aside some tame bull stampedes and chariot rushes), meaning it soon feels like Groundhog Day. Both protagonists suffer from massive repetition in terms of voicing: you’ll have likely heard “one free go on the carousel!” more than a thousand times by the end. The platforming side is utterly routine and the backgrounds little more than a scrolling gallery for the endless combat. Towards the end of the adventure, you’ll not only find yourself visiting the same locations for a fourth or fifth time (the pirate ship being a notable offender), but also fighting the same bosses over and over as well. As the game should have been gearing towards an exciting finale, it instead feels like SLA’s assets have been utterly exhausted. The last fight is merely two earlier bosses, and this rather sums things up.
Stampedes provide one of the very rare instances of a non-combat based gameplay hazard
Completing the Adventure mode unlocks Freeplay, though given how much energy you’ll have expended simply completing the game, it’s questionable whether you’d want to invest the countless additional hours required to beat the game’s four difficulty settings. If they’d focused all the gorgeous artwork and boss fights into a few memorable and distinctive levels (and not fifty mind-numbingly repetitive ones), this might have been a really good game. As it is, Slap Them All! is a beautiful but ultimately boring beat ‘em up, where even the lure of two-player co-op can’t prevent the tedium from winning out.
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VERDICT"An extreme case of too much, spread too thinly. Solid gameplay and excellent presentation are undone by a crushing lack of variety. Slap Them All! is a beautiful but ultimately boring beat 'em up." OVERALL: 5/10 |
OTHER ROAMING BEAT 'EM UP REVIEWS
TMNT (2007, Game Boy Advance)
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Final Vendetta (2022, PlayStation 4)
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