Asterix, Obelix, and a whole lot of copyright gray area

M A D N E S S !

So here’s a quick look at Asterix & Obelix XXL2: Mission Las Vegum. But first, an even quicker primer. The pair of ancient Gaulish heroes were originally created and serialized in the French magazine, Pilote, in 1959. Their escapades revolved around their small band of Gauls holding out against the invading Roman Empire. Sort of like Hogan’s Heroes only all the good guys are French and the bad guys are Romans. It’s apparently really popular throughout Europe and has spawned 34 comic book collections, 14 films — both animated and live action — and over 20 games going back as far as the Atari 2600. Asterix & Obelix even had their own Euro-specific “At the Olympics” title in 2008 that hit every major platform.

But none of those other 20 games are XXL2: Mission Las Vegum which is what this post is about. In traditional A&O fashion, the game sees the pair once again up in arms against the Romans only this time the historical and social parodies of the comics are transposed onto our gaming culture. I don’t know a lot more about the game; I originally saw a small preview in PLAY magazine back in 2004 and was just completely intrigued. Having no way to play an imported PlayStation 2 game (and unaware of the PC version until more recently) I kinda forgot about it until my last post here.

I’ve got a line on the PC version but if that doesn’t work out it looks like a PSP port may still be available. In the meantime check out some imagery below of green warp pipes, Splinter Cell goggles, F.L.U.D.D. ripoffs, and Tetris walls. And check out the developer video over at Etranges Bibellules to see this madness in motion!