Asterix: Megaslap

If there's one thing you learn from a childhood spent in the company of French comic book hero Asterix, it's that Gauls like nothing more than punching Romans in the face.

That's the general premise of BulkyPix's Asterix: Megaslap, a game which tasks you with taking a swig of a magical strength potion and then bopping a centurion to see how far you can get him to fly.

The gameplay is basic - you have to trace your finger in a circular motion to charge up Asterix's punch and then swipe towards the quivering Roman to unleash the attack.

The Roman will then fly skywards, eventually colliding with terra firma and hopefully hitting a few other enemies in the process, earning you valuable coins.

Your overall distance also grants monetary reward, and this cash can be spent on special items or upgrades.

These include a cape to improve aerodynamics, a flock of birds that carry the Roman farther, and a cushion which helps him bounce higher, adding more distance to your total.

All of these special items are unlocked as your level increases, and can be enhanced to improve their effectiveness.

Everything in Asterix: Megaslap therefore revolves around acquiring wealth. To get the best results you need to have all the items and power them up, and this requires gold. Unsurprisingly, gold can be gained via in-app purchases, but spend long enough with the game and you'll get everything eventually.

Because success is so tightly connected to the amount of items you have and their power, it's hard to view Asterix: Megaslap as a genuine highscore-focused title.

You can share your best efforts to Facebook, but there's little point when distances are so dependant on how much you've unlocked rather than actual skill. Once you've mastered the art of getting your punch power up to 100 per cent, everything else in determined by the item load-out you have.

Even so, Asterix: Megaslap remains enjoyable: the process of unlocking all the items provides incentive to keep playing, and the presentation is downright gorgeous - the characters are detailed and well-animated, looking like they've hopped straight out of one of the many animated Asterix outings.

Although it may offer little scope for real skill, Asterix: Megaslap is nevertheless an entertaining release and does an excellent job of exploiting the characters and vibrant world created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.