Obelix

Name:	Obelix
Company:	Atari
Model #:	CX-26117
Programmers:	Suki Lee (Program), Dave Jolly (Graphics), Andy Fuchs & Jeff Gusman (Sound)
Year:	1983
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Based on the French comic book character of the same name.

Like Asterix, Obelix is a rare Atari game based off the famous European comic book characters.  However unlike Asterix, Obelix is an original game and not a hack of a pre-existing title.  Although mostly sold in Europe, Obelix was actually released in NTSC format in limited quantities.  However this rare NTSC version was probably only sold in Canada where the large French-Canadian population would have been familiar with the character.

Even though it's titled Obelix, the game actually features both Obelix and Asterix as they try to defend their village from the evil Roman army.  You control Asterix who runs around the screen bashing into Roman soldiers.  Of course just stunning the soldiers isn't going to get them off your tail for long, that's why you have Obelix pacing around the top of the screen.  Obelix (Asterix's best friend) is a menhir delivery man (a menhir is a large stone), and he intends to but his menhirs to good use.  When Obleix is over a stunned Roman solider, you must press the fire button to drop the menhir on the solider (ouchie!).  If you successfully hit the solider, he disappears and your points will be shown in Roman Numerals (how cute).  However if you miss the solider or don't hit him quickly enough, he will turn red and be deadly to the touch.

The only way to destroy a red solider is to grab the magic potion that your village druid (doesn't YOUR village have a druid?) Getafix occasionally drops from the top of the screen.  Unfortunately he doesn't appear nearly often enough, and if you get a few red soldiers following you your likely to die.  The playfield is separated into five levels; these levels can only be accessed via footbridge (those square blocks on the playfield).  Unfortunately actually climbing these footbridges is rather difficult and often results in your getting killed.  Speaking of being killed, make sure you don't accidentally drop a menhir on poor Asterix or it's lights out!

While it's fun at first, Obelix gets old rather quickly.  The main problem is that the difficulty seems to plateau after a bit and once you've mastered it, the game never gets more challenging.  However the two character team system is interesting, and was pretty unique at the time Obelix was released.  While it may have its faults, Obelix is still a Roman bashing good time and should be played by everyone at least once.

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