"50 years B.C. All of Gaule is occupied by the Romans. Except a village of invincible Gaulois (people from Gaule) who were still resisting. These courageous, stubborn, fighting and humerous Gaulois have only one fear, that the sky would fall on their head...The calm of the little invineible Gaulois was troubled by a new disturbance: Obelix, leaving the boar chase in the forest, hadn't returned! The counsil of the village met and Asterix volunteered to go look for his friend. In order to find Obelix, it was necessary to cross Gaule, to travel throughout the Roman empire, to search the pyramids of Egypt... all the time fighting the Roman armies and evading the traps of the spies of Caesar."

A couple of months ago I was given the opportunity to purchase a complete copy of Asterix for NES as well as a cartridge version of Super Mario Bros. 2 on the Famicom. Since I really enjoyed Smurfs on Nintendo, I figured I would also enjoy Infogrames other release, Asterix. I also happen to like Roman history, thanks to Latin class, so controlling a Gaul in a fight against the Romans would tickle my fancy.

The seller had warned me that Asterix would not play on a NTSC Nintendo system even if it was modded. When my copy arrived, I tried it with my Nintendo just to be sure, then I downloaded the rom off of an emulation site.

Asterix's musical score is quite excellent.it is of equal caliber as the music in The Smurfs. The tunes are randomly used, mixed into the game in a good way. The music urges you on yet at the same time it does not get old with you, after losing you feel like starting a new round just to listen to the music.

I truly believe that when Asterix was made, it was aimed at an older audience then that of The Smurfs. Do not be tricked by the bright, colorful backgrounds; the game is very "dark" at times. The first few stages are very easy to play though, following the pattern of jump, slash, duck. When you think you have the pattern down pat, Infogrames throws a monkey wrench at the gamer. I remember the insanely hard Egyptian stage where you are jumping from moving carts while exploring a pyramid. Another time, Asterix has to jump on a variety of ledges while avoiding the arrows of Roman soldiers. It may sound easy but it really isn't.

Another factor which makes Asterix hard is that the number of continues you have is finite. To make matters worse, the game does not have a password system, unlike Smurfs. I had expected Asterix to be very similar to Infogrames' Smurf game.in a way it is. However, the games are also very different. Asterix is a bit challenging but I thought it was a great game overall. If you are live in Europe do not pass this game up.