Asterix and the Great Rescue

Asterix and the Great Rescue

One of the most notable examples of a company that does great licensed games on a franchise but ends up making an awful game out of it.

Genre(s):	Platform
Platform(s):	Sega Genesis Game Gear Master System
Release Date:	Mega Drive/Genesis EU: November 1993 NA: 1994 JP: 1995 Game Gear EU: September 1994 NA: 1995 Master System EU: September 1994 BRA: 1994
Developer(s):	Core Design
Publisher(s):	Sega
Series:	Asterix
Predecessor:	Asterix and the Secret Mission
Successor:	Asterix and the Power of Gods

Asterix and the Great Rescue is a video game released by Sega for the Genesis/Mega Drive in 1993 and for the Game Gear and Master System in 1994.

Plot

This game is based on the long-running, French comic book series Asterix the Gaul. The characters Asterix and Obelix must rescue Getafix (Panoramix) and Dogmatix (Idéfix) from the Romans, who are in the process of taking over Gaul.

Gameplay

It is a side-scrolling platform game. The startup screen offers a choice of difficulty level, as well as the ability to turn off the music and/or sound effects. The Master System and Game Gear versions allow changing characters during a level, whereas the Mega Drive/Genesis version removes this feature in favor of allowing choosing characters at the start of a level.

Why It Isn't Great

First of all, the game contains one of the most broken difficulties in any of the Asterix games, with it being extremely hard for absolutely no reason. The challenge here isn't even a real challenge since the game difficulty is fake and you can screw up not due to your fault but because of how badly the game is designed. This is especially one of the reasons why this game is terrible.
- This is mostly because of the badly placed traps that can cause you a massive waste of time for completing a stage; it's so bad that even Bubsy isn't as terrible as placing traps, and no, this is not a joke.
- This might also be due to the terrible level design and the horrible timer system.
Terrible level design. That is one of the worst level designs of the entire Asterix game franchise, since it's had a huge amount of artificial difficulty with its horrible traps, and you can easily get bored or even worse, get frustrated by it.
- This is especially true with falling platforms, as there's not any indication that the platform will fall off, so you would probably fall into a pit because you didn't know that it was a falling platform.
- The level design is also way too tight and can result in a lot of cheap deaths to the point of making the game almost unplayable at times, considering the awful controls, much like the Home Alone game on the PlayStation 2, but somehow even worse than that game.
- The timer is also not adapted to the horrible level design since it is so tight that you have to speedrun the game for most parts; in fact, the timer is so bad that you will have a hard time with the game (see WIIG #6).
- The awful controls also play on how bad the level design is, as due to how poor and unresponsive they are, it's had some of the worst platforming that you would ever find in an Asterix game, especially compared to the excellent Master System games, which Sega also published.
The graphics, while not terrible, are rather ugly for a 1993 game on the Sega Genesis since the color palette is very washed out, the sprite work is also pretty poor, especially Obelix, along with the Asterix sprite being quite mediocre, and the enemies design is also pretty hideous with very poor sprite work that makes some of them look like rejected enemies in a Bomberman game.
- Not to mention that it's looked like a Master System game sometime, or even an early Sega Genesis game at best since even Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle looks better than this, and that game was released in 1989.
- To make matters worse, even the Master System Asterix games (except for the 8-bit port of this game that we talk about) look better than this, and it was on an 8-bit console, and these games almost looked like they could be on the SNES.
- Games like Doraemon: Yume Dorobou to 7 Nin no Gozans, a game released the same year, look much better than this despite looking a bit like an 8-bit game rather than 16-bit.
Unlike the first Asterix Master System game, the level design is the same whether you choose Asterix or Obelix.
Sometimes on some level, some places are impossible to avoid taking damage, much like Osomatsu-Kun on the Sega Genesis.
The timer is absolutely horrible, unbalanced, abysmal, and extremely tight at the same time, which is also one of the main reasons why this game is so bad and hard for no reason, with some barely beatable levels, if not almost impossible; in fact, it's so bad that there are even some levels that aren't as adapted to this horrible system; this is even worse in the hardest difficulty.
- The easy mode makes most of the stages beatable, but the problem is that it is still extremely bad to the point of being very boring and making you want to play something else that is much better instead.
- The medium difficulty is where it starts to be terrible, as some levels are barely beatable and are almost impossible to the point of making you hurry to get to the goal of a level. It's so bad that it's made the game extremely unbalanced, and one of the most notable examples of how bad a game can be due to how unbalanced it is. That being said, the hard mode is even worse.
- The hard mode timer is incredibly terrible, horrendous, tight, horrible, strict, and annoying at the same time since it is tight and you don't even have the right to make mistakes in a level, making the game abysmal, not fun, frustrating, and extremely tedious. It's even worse when you consider how bad the level design is, and due to the awful controls, you will easily mess up a lot. It was so bad that even Woisthisgit when he made the video, said that you should not play on hard at all for not getting mental issues. Yes, this mode is that awful.
Poor sound effects at best and atrocious sound effects at worst, especially the jump sound effect, as it is so bad that it's comparable to the horrible jump sound effect from Tom and Jerry: Frantics Antics on Sega Genesis, which was also a mediocre game but not as bad as this game in general.
The controls are extremely awful, stiff, and clunky at the same time, and they are even a massive downgrade from the Master System games, as they are barely responsive and clunky, which makes the game a huge chore to play since they're so unresponsive that some of the platforming is hard to do. This is also made much worse with the jump being quite short.
- This, combined with the horrible level design and the horribly tight timer, makes the game even more of a nightmare to play since the controls are so bad that even if you are an absolute master of the game, you will still have trouble for some levels, especially if your controller is a bit broken and not so responsive, which makes the game almost unplayable at worst.
- Even the moving is very stiff, almost being like a janky 1987 NES game, with the turning being the worst offender, as it takes half a second to move because of how bad and slow the controls are. It's even comparable to Spirou on the SNES and the Sega Genesis, which suffered from the same problem but not as bad since the movements aren't as stiff as this game does.
Due to how bad the time given on all the levels is, you can't stay longer in a level just to listen to the soundtrack or even hear the entire music of a world, as some of the songs from this game last 6 minutes, making the music seem long and pointless. Fortunately, the soundtrack was ripped and released on the internet, so you can listen to an entire track that lasts 6 minutes.
Poor logic. For example, in level 1 of World 6, you had to break a wall, but the problem is that due to how poor the graphics are, there are no indications that you can break the walls. How can you know that you had to break the wall if there's no indication? Is the game supposed to be unbeatable?
Speaking of the soundtrack, it can be very loud in the Sega Genesis version.
The title is misleading, as despite the plot being about saving Dogmatix and Getafix, the problem is that it doesn't feel like you are on a rescue since there are no cutscenes after you beat a world and you straight go to the next world.
The PAL box art is also misleading since you can see Dogmatix and Getafix, but they aren't seen in-game at all; Getafix is only seen in the ending, and Dogmatix is never seen in the entire game, making the plot even more confusing.
It's very hard to get extra lives in this game, as they are extremely rare, despite how hard this game is.
Sometimes the game even will have a poor drawn distance, as some platforms look like they are longer but are tight, making them extremely bad, and considering how awful the controls are, it's making this situation even worse than it already is.
Sometimes, the power-ups are unreachable, as there's one level with a moving platform where you can get a power-up, but the mobile platform doesn't give you enough time to get it, and you have to die to restart the level after that.
Another horrible problem of the game is the abysmal hit detection that is so bad that it's the brother of Tintin in Tibet. but even worse, since here when the enemies walk in the same direction, you can be assured that you can get hit extremely easily by them, and it's even possible to force you to wait until they walk towards you and punch them, but the problem is that due to how tight the timer is, you will sometimes need to get hit by them just to save some of your time. It's so bad that it's on par with Fantasia on the Sega Genesis.
- This is made even more of a problem in the boss battles since they are so bad and are sometimes so hard that if it's some that you need to punch to beat them, it's going to be a horrible problem, and considering how bad the hit detection is in this game, you will possibly have huge trouble with them.
Even though you can play either as Asterix or Obelix, they mostly play the same, except that Obelix is taller and has to crawl to pass some places, unlike Asterix, who can pass these places without having to crawl, making playing as Obelix useless.
Some of the levels are out of place, especially the sewer level in World 6.
The gameplay is very slow.
The password system isn't great since it's almost pointless unless you have lost all of your continues.
The boss fights are terrible, with some of the worst bosses in any of the Asterix games, since they are way too hard and have a lot of fake difficulties, and some of them are only hard due to the horrible hit detection.
- The first boss, Assurancetourix, is really unnecessary, long, and very tedious due to his singing notes falling at you, and the person whom you lust jump on is tedious, and you need to throw fish at him. The problem is that it's long and makes the boss's fights extremely awful and boring.
- The second boss is kind of fun, but if you don't have the rhythm, you will have a hard time beating it.
- The third boss fight is the absolute worst of the game, as you had to press A, C, and B the fastest to beat him, which is horrible and can hurt you so much that after that you will likely have a hard time using your hands, or even worse, you can break them at worst, and if you had weak hands, then this boss might be even impossible, despite already being almost impossible to beat. This boss is so bad that it might be the worst, you can break them at worst, and if you had weak hands, then this boss might be even impossible, despite already being almost impossible to beat this boss is so bad that it's might be the worst boss fights out of all the Asterix games, and this is not even a joke.
- The fourth boss is not even a noss fight; you had to run before the lava caught you, but you will probably have a hard time dealing with that race, especially if you don't know about the bomb that you can use to be faster.
- The fifth boss, while not as bad as the third one, is still really terrible, since your hit detection is so bad, as said before, that you will have a hard time dealing with it, not to mention that you had to do a series of jumps before with the falling platform. Did it remain you of something?
- The sixth boss is the easiest one, but you can still have a hard time hitting the lions. Overall, it's not the worst boss fight of the game, but it's a pretty bland boss fight.
The game is quite unfaithful to the books, especially with the level environments, especially the Lego one or even the Snow Levels, which have nothing to do with the Asterix franchise and look like they could have been in a Mario game or even another obscure game.
The ending is horrible, despite being faithful to the books and Asterix animated movie, and you never actually see Asterix rescue Getafix and Dogmatix, making the plot extremely pointless.
The game is brutally difficult and frustrating due to the awful control and terrible time limits, as said before.
Weird power-up choice, which is mostly the bombs as being invincible and the potion that is explosives, making the game even more unfaithful to the books and cartoons.
The game was so bad that it could kill any future Asterix': games from Sega, with the only one made by Sega after this game being Power of God, which was an improvement over this game but still wasn't as great as their Master System Asterix games.
- This might also indicate that this game was so awful that they didn't want to do other Asterix games with the only one that they made after the said game.
Extremely short length, as every version takes a bit more than 1 hour to finish, and the Sega Genesis is the shortest version of the game, lasting only 50 minutes to some people. Even for a Sega Genesis and Master System/Game Gear game, this is way too short, even though the fake difficulty might make the game last 1 hour and 30 minutes due to how hard the game is.

Redeeming Qualities

Despite the instruments being loud and ear bleeding, the soundtrack is awesome, while it sounds nothing like Asterix. Pity the instruments are mostly terrible.
Some of the levels are visually appealing, such as most of the levels in the second world.
The game can be good for speedruns since the timer is so tight.
The cover art looks really good, especially the PAL one, as it looks like it came straight from the books and even the animated movies.
Despite still being not that great, the 8-bit versions of the game are better since they have better gameplay, better level design, better hit detection, and no time limits, although it's not good enough to be as good as the other Asterix games on the Master System.
Its sequel, Asterix and the Power of Gods, is a massive improvement over this game, with better controls, better graphics and music, and overall a decent game, although sadly it was not released in the USA this time.
The North America version has a bit more times for the time limits, which makes the game slightly easier than the PAL version, although it's still not enough to make the game good.

Reception

Asterix and the Great Rescue received very negative reviews from critics and players, especially with the Joueur du Grenier review, where he criticized the poor controls, the fact that the game isn't faithful to the source material, the awful soundtrack and terrible level design.

The game also received a score of 2.64 (Playable) on Gamefaq by 92 users for the Sega Genesis, 2.65 (Playable) for the Game Gear version by 20 users, and 3.10 (Fair) for the Master System version by 41 users.

The game was also criticized for its level design, the graphics, the poor controls from not only Joueur du Grenier, but most reviews such as GamePro criticized the steep difficulty slope and poor controls, elaborating that "it's annoyingly easy to mix up the button for swapping special weapons with the button for using the special weapons. Even worse, the hard-to-control jumps become ... a big frustration when you need to jump precisely, but can't."[emphases in original] They nonetheless recommended the game to players who like tough puzzles.

Mean Machines gave a positive review of the Master System version which was described as "particularly entertaining" and "compulsive". The graphics were praised including the characters' resemblance to the original comic versions. The game was found to be lacking originality as it was so similar to previous titles featuring Disney characters and sometimes frustrating but was judged to be "a great game.

The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Game Gear version a 5 out of 10, remarking that the graphics are well done the sounds are "a nuisance", and that the controls make the game excessively frustrating. GamePro similarly wrote that the Game Gear version's graphics and animation are good but that controlling the character is extremely difficult.

The game is so badly received that it's considered to be one of, if not the worst Asterix game ever made.

Trivia

It's one of the few Asterix games to come to North America.
If the address at C197 is changed to 01, the game will load up a secret level, known only as Level 0-0. The level is wildly different from the rest of the game and does not fit in with the Asterix theme at all. It includes flashing lights and carnival rides in the background, with Asterix running across a rollercoaster track. The entire level is filled with various items such as hearts and coins, and can be completed simply by moving straight ahead and turning around when the coaster track dumps Asterix on the track below. The song that plays throughout the level is the Amphitheatre song. Note that the password shown will not work, since it's shared with Level 1. If you leap right across the second highest point of the level, the word "core" can be seen (a reference to Core Design).
It was one of the first games on the Sega Genesis where Sega allowed a unique animation on the Sega logo.

Videos

Reference

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Asterix and the Great Rescue

Contents

Plot

Gameplay

Why It Isn't Great

Redeeming Qualities

Reception

Trivia

Videos

Reference

Comments

Navigation menu

Asterix and the Great Rescue

Plot

Gameplay

Why It Isn't Great

Redeeming Qualities

Reception

Trivia

Videos

Reference

Comments

Navigation menu

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