Consoles: Ps4,Ps5, Xbox One,XBox series X, Nintendo Switch,Pc
Published:Microids
Developers:Ocellus Studio
Released: September 2024
Smurfs Dreams is an action adventure platformer based on the popular series of Smurfs. This is technically the third game of the series and fifth if we include the party game and the kart game. The game was developed by Ocellus Studio
who re known for their work on plenty of Asterix and Obelix Games such as Asterix and Obelix XXL3, Brawl stars and the most recent Marsupilami Hooba adventure .
The game was published by the french publishers Microids.
The game was released in September 2024 and it's physical release came in two forms:
Standard
Included the game alone
Reverie Edition
Includes the game, DLC skins, Stickers, 3D Lenticular, digital codes for Artbook and Soundtrack.
Who are and what is the Smurfs?
The smurfs or the Smurf's Adventures is a Belgian comic series that first debuted in 1958 and they still publish stories with the latest Comic released in 2021(as of now Feb. 2022). The smurfs popularity expanded in 1981 with the release of Tv show which lasted approximately 9 years and shared over 419 stories. The smurfs nowadays
still have their episodes shown in TV in various channels and also get new episodes and specials in the form of 3D CGi than their typical hand drawn animation. The characters of smurfs expanded in various media and some of them were music. The smurfs have various songs and various of Cds localised in many countries. It was a matter of time
before Holywood bought the licence to make movies based on the franchise and so as early as 2012 the blue creatures hit the big screen in a live action adabtation feauturing the smurfs as CGI characters next to actors like Niel Patrick Harris. The movie's sales were high and so the movie's profit allowed for a sequel and a complete new CGI film
with it's own original story.
Smurfs takes place in a deep forest long long long ago where a tiny mushroom village exist which is inhabitent by small blue creatures known as smurfs. Smurfs are tiny blue creatures that wear white trousers and white beanies and look mainly the same with a few small changes to make each one unique. Smurfs are mainly males, however there are a few female characters
that were introduce as the series progress. Smurfs are gently creatures filled with Joy and love and work everyday to keep the forest and their hometown clean and safe. However in the outskirts of the same forest, there was Gargamel, an evil powerful wizards whose goal is to captured every single smurf and find their village. The goal of Gargamel differs
in various variations, in some media, Gargamel's goal is to capture them to make them into a delicious soup while in others he simply wishes to use them as materials for his spells. Needless to say, no matter how many times Gargamel and his pet cat Nazriel try, the smurfs are always there to help each other and prevent the wizard from achieving his goal.
As the series went on more villains were introduce but the main villain and most popular will always be Gargamel.
Story of the Game
If we assumed that Smurfs Dreams takes place in the same universe as Mission Vileleaf and the Prisoner of the green stone,the first question that comes to mind is,"Do i need to play the past two games"? . The answer is that
this game can can be enjoyed without knowing the events that took place in the prior entries. In fact, this could simply had been a simple episodes of the Smurfs. It has its plot of the day and it is self concluded.
This time around the evil wizard Gargamel creates a new plan in order to find the Smurfs and their village. He creates a magic formula and spreads it randomly in the forest during the night. The next day, Chef Smurf went around
the forest and collect plenty of ingredients for his recipe. Back in the village almost all the smurfs took a bite from Chef's food and immedietly fell sleep. At the same time back in Gargamel's castle a dreamcatcher revealed to Gargamel
a compass that showed the location of everyone fallen under Gargamel's formula. Fortunately for the blue creatures, Papa Smurf did not had a bite and immedietly noticed his smurfs falling asleep everywhere. He rushed to his home and
began research.
Turns out, Gargamels formula put every smurf into a deep sleep staces where they re all trapped within their dreams and nightmares. Papa smurf searches for a solution and he managed to create a formula combined with a pillow would allow
a smurf to have an Astral projection that would allow it to venture into the dreams of the smurfs and release them from within. Two more smurfs(the playable heroes) were spared by the chefs cookings as they were away from the village at
the time of lunch. It's up to the two smurfs to save everyone before Gargamels dreamcatcher compass lead him to the village.
Will they make it?
Will Gargamel reach the Smurf Village, and if he does, is Papasmurf ready for his invasion?
Thoughts on the Story
Unlike the previous two entires, this time around the approach on story telling is completely different. There's zero dialog exchanged among the heroes. The entire story is delivered through the imagery. For those unaware, this form was already tested
in the last two titles in terms of imagery but there was also Poet smurf explainning everything. This time around the quality of images is enough to set the plot clear and straightforward. As a plot it was very good and as mentioned simple, something you
would see in a Saturday morning episode. The dive into dreams idea was very clever for both the narrative and the gameplay. Despite not having dialog there are some clear scenes with Gargamel that you could propably "hear his voice".
Gameplay
The latest entry in the Smurf's universe takes a different approach than the last two and this time around the game is a full on platformer just like Super Mario. The game places the camera on the top of the level and zooms out to showcase the level. It does not
follow the smurf from the back. At the start of the game, the hero is placed in the Smurf Village where all smurfs except Papasmurf fell asleep. At the top of the village theres a big pillow which will leap sent the smurf into the astral universe. There the player will
see the star constelations that represent the sleeping smurf. The player can see the levels available and the collectables found within than level. Selecting the constelation will bring your smurf inside the dream of the sleeping one.
At the start of each level, the sleeping smurf will visually show it's fear and what the player needs to do to help it escape. For example, vanity Smurf is trapped with Ugly Circus mirrors where as Smurfette is struggiling with her past as Gargamels creations. The player will
have to venture through the levels and make it all the way to the end. The basic smurf is capable of jumping and sprinting. The longer the tap of the jump button, the higher the smurf will jump. If the player press it and hold it down will allow the smurf to kick his legs which
will allow him to stay longer on air, jump higher and reach longer distances. The jump works exactly like Sackboi a big adventure. Furthermore, the player smurf can create a dream bubble whilst on air. This will allow the hero to hover on air
as long as the bubble hasnt poped. If the player sprints, jumps and then bubbles up, the smurf will cover distance because of its momentum. The player can also pop its bubble which will push it further on. The ideal combo is sprint, jump(hold down), bubble up and then dive out of the
bubble to cover the longest distance. Last but not least, the playable smurf is capable of magic interaction. Around the world there are these poles that the player can interact with to push it in in order to trigger a lever. Another form of interaction can happen between the player and the smurfs.
The devs placed different smurfs in the dreams that are there to keep the player company. They dont do much aside from being there. Interacting with them might reward them with a berry. If Jokey smurf is found he will reward you with a lot of berries when he opens his gift.
Combat wise, the smurfs plays like Sackboi and Mario. This means that the player can jump ontop of the mobs in order to kill them. Bigger enemies cannot be defeated by jumping ontop of them but they can be tricked into rushing towards you and falling of the cliff. There is no dodge
or block buttons. Simply move away or jump higher than their attack. In some places the player will find these giant giant green/orange berries that the smurf can lift with its magic. The hero can then shoot the berry towards these(unjumpable enemies) and kill them with the projectile. The difference
between the berries is that the green one can reward berries which acts as the games currency. The smurf is two hits away from death. Each checkpoint will restore a lost heart as well as throwing a green berry on an enemy or a smurf(Npc). Instead of it spawning the berries that it usually does it will restore
a heart point.
Certain levels are built around power ups. The player smurf can obtain one of the three weapons:
Gun: A weapon that shoots syrup
Hammer: A heavy hammer that can smash enemies
Candle: A candle capable of hiding and revealing platforms
These threee weapons can only be obtain withing the given levels. All of them can be used in combat and in platforming. The hammer is a weapon that can smash every opponent. When an enemy is near the hero can just smash them like bugs. On the level there are broken mirror squares which the player
can smash and fall inside. Jumping and using the hammer will do a ground pound attack that will cause AoE damage to near by elements and can hit multiple targets. Lastly, the hammer can break rainbow blox to reveal the path behind them or built the broken rainbow blocks to create a platform for them. the gun
allows the smurf to shoot syrup to its enemies. Enemies who received the hit will be glued to the ground as long as they re covered in syrup. If the player continues shooting them the enemy will eventually explode. In terms of level usage, the gun can be used on the tubes. When shooting in the tube it feels a container
that pushes a platform to create a path to the player. Last but not least the Candle is capable of revealing and hiding platforms. Certain levels have light blue and pink glitter walls. A light blue wall will be visible whilst the pink is invisible. The candle will create an aura around the player which upon activating
it will hide the light blue path allowing the player to walk within it or past it. The pink wall on the other hand will only be revealed as long as the smurfs candle is activated.
The extra constelations are smaller levels based on certain gimmicks. During these levels the player is given certain objective or certain power ups to clean in order to procceed. For example, when playing the Tailor 's dream the player is playing prop hunting and is required to find the hero before proceeding. In Brainy's dream
the player is playing different versions of soccer. There's a ball and the player will have to score on the other side's goal. In other worlds the game combines the mirror element from Vanity with the hammer power up where as in others you lost your pants and need to play a stealthy game.
Around the world theres some collectables and berries. Berries act as the currency of the game and the player can spent them in the Tailor smurf house to buy outfits given the criteria are met. The other main colletable is the astral mushrooms. When a player collects a mushroom, a board appears that shows how many mushrooms are left.
Each mushroom represents a location of the mushroom within the level. E.g If a smurf collects a mushroom and its placed on the second slot, it means a player already missed one that was meant to be found prior to the location of the current one. This is an effective way to tell the player where more or less an orb is placed. At the end of
each level, the smurf rescued will wake up in the smurf Village, with a collectable near their area.
Last but not least the game offers Co-op. At the start of the game or through out the player can select whether or not they ll play solo or with a group. In coop two smurfs (default male and female) dive together in the world. The players can drop in the levels and work together to clear the level. In terms of level design and structure nothing
changed. A death of a player will make them appear near the first player. Unlike the last two smurf games and Asterix and Obelix this time around both heroes are the exact same. Noone feels more overpower than the other and noone gets more fun gimmicks than the other. They re both the same, smilar to Mario 3D and Sackboi. The camera will respect both
players but if player two moves too far away then the camera will lose him and teleport him back to P1.
Collectables and Post game Content
Being your typical platformer, it means theres a very limited options for the player to do after completing the story.
Astral Mushrooms
This is the typical collectable of the game. Each level has a finite ammount of astral mushrooms that the player needs to find and collect. Some can be seen in the distance, others are hidden and other are rewarded for solving a puzzle. Certain levels are unlocked when certain ammount of mushrooms is found
Yarn and Skins
Some of the levels have Smurfs that re prop hunting(take the form of objects within the level but shake when you re near them). If you interact with them they ll give you a yarn bobbins. These yarn bobbins will help the Tailor Smurf with creating new skins which you can purchase in the village.
Awaken all Smurfs
Once the story is done, the player can go out of their way to free all the smurfs from their dreams.
Music and Graphics
In terms of soundtracks the game doesn't do anything to distinct itself. First of all there's almost zero voice acting. In fact, the almost voice acting you will hear around the levels is the "Hello/Hi" that your Smurf will say and
receive back. Furthermore, the other voice acting will be Gargamels laugh and Smurfette's screams. The songs that escort the levels on the other hand are very nice cheerfull and calm. They won't be memorable after your time with
the game. There are special sound effects that can be heard each time the player walk through the flowers. Small bell sound effects. Last but not least a great small detail can be heard on the shiny rasberry. Once collected it will
slowly spawn new ones forming a path. Each time a new berry appears a tingling sounds plays, which when combined with the rest, the "La-la-la-la-la-la..." smurf sound will be heard.
Visually the game is very good looking. The game placed the camera in a zoom out top down view instead of the usual behind the smurf approach. As mention before since the game takes place within the smurfs' dreams it allowed the developers
to be free when designing levels. This allowed for the levels to be inspired by various smurfs. For example, Chef's dreams are all inspired by food, cakes and cooking materials. For example, there is syrup on the fround that prevents the hero
from jumping. In Vanity's dream, there are mirrors in the background that reveal the level's path on the location of the playable smurf. In other worlds like Smurfette the players experience a twisted personality where things appear and dissappear.
The reason being that her dream is a mixture of the Smurfette we got to know and her evil past. It was honestly very good experience. The negative thing regarding the visual aspect of the game is the fact that theres limited ammount of enemies
and smurfs. The ammount of enemies is limited and can be counted with your fingers. The smurf characters on the other hand, would ve been alright, as the majority look the same except the few iconic ones. The problem is they miss on some easy to distinct
and added too many female smurfs that were simply copy pasted. The world of smurfs consisted of only Smurfette, and it took them years to add a few more. However, in the game you can see the newer characters but also few more left and right. In the dreams
its acceptable, but in the smurf village it shouldnt be.
Overall Synopsis
Overall Smurfs Dreams is a nice and chill platformer that took a different approach to the Ip in comparison to the last two entries. The game is heavily inspired by the Super Mario 3D world when it comes down to its gameplay. The story is very simple
and straight forward. You would argue that it would make up for a nice small episode on a saturday morning cartoon. It does contain a small plot twist and humor. The gameplay is simple and very starighforward for everyone to enjoy alone or in a coop of
with a friend. Unlike the previous Smurf games or Asterix and Obelix XXL3, this time around the coop is balanced and fair amongs the two players. What a smurf gets the other will also do. The movement is limited but skillfull players can use their arsenal
to create skips and shortcuts. At the same time it offers a few creative ways for the smurf to use objects like guns, hammers and candles. The level design is excellent when it comes to its design and towards it ingame elements. The drawback being, the fact that the
game difficulty is for selected age groups. For example, it took me 7hrs to plat the game. This ammount when comparing the 50 euro price tag is not ideal. For the younger audience it would make sense but for someone who is looking for a coop platformer based on iconic mascots This
aint it, unless its on sale.
