ASTERIX AND THE MAGIC CAULDRON Melbourne House 1986 CONTROLS : Keyboard, Kempston --------------------------------------------------------------------- AIM : Gaul is divided into three parts... No, four, for one small Gaulish village in Armorica still holds out against the invaders. Fortified by their magic potion, they still successfully resist the Romans. However, the magic cauldron the potion is brewed in has been accidentally shattered into seven pieces which our heroes Asterix and Obelix must recover... GAMEPLAY : Basically a matter of exploring thoroughly in order to find the cauldron pieces. Obelix will follow Asterix anywhere, but he must be kept nourished with his favourite food: wild boar. Asterix has five roast boars with him (how does he carry them??) and one disappears each time Asterix and Obelix get hungry. When they are all gone, Asterix has to find and fight a boar - the fight sequences take place in windows that zoom out of the main screen. Stamina bars for each combatant appear on the side of the window. Defeating the boar adds it to the food tally. If Asterix loses the fight he is kicked out of the window and he loses a life. The same system is used when fighting the Roman soldiers and when Asterix picks up useful objects along the way. Asterix starts with five lives and a single phial of magic potion, which can only be used once when you are in extreme trouble. The pieces of the cauldron are shown at the top of the screen when they have been collected. Keys can also be picked up to get you into previously unexplored areas. COMMENTS : "A great disappointment." RATING : 61% (CRASH #34, November 1984) NOW : A prettily presented but buggy and frustrating game. --------------------------------------------------------------------- KEYS : Up - Q Down - Z Left - I Right - P Fire - SPACE