Genre:Action Platform Adventure,3rd person Shooter
Consoles: Ps4,Ps5, Xbox One,XBox series X, Nintendo Switch,Pc
Published:Microids
Developers:Osome Studio
Released: October 2021
Smurfs Mission Vileaf is an action adventure game based on the popular series of Smurfs. The game was developed by a new studio Osome Studio which was formed in 201 and its very popular with publishing Asterix and Obelix Games such as Asterix and Obelix XXL3.
Smurfs as of 2021 is their latest game with an upcomming game mid 2022. The game was published by the french publishers Microids. The game was released in October 2021 and it's physical release came in three forms:
Standard
Included the game alone
Smurftastic Edition
Included the game,three art cards and Papasmurf keychain.
Collector's Edition(limited Countries)
Included the game,three art cards, Audio CD, Papasmurf Keychain and Hefty's figure.
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 (spoilers of the first ten minutes)
Smurfs Mission Vileaf follows the tale of yet another Gargamel's attempt to capture the smurfs. This time Gargamel, while he was in his evil laboratory he came across an old and 'dangerous' book. While reading the book, Gargamel came across a magic formula, which allowed him to create an Evil plant called the Vileleaf. The spell it self is very dangerous as
the Vileleaf is capable of producing small plants called the Viletraps. These traps are capable of attracting smurfs and then imprison them inside of them. Once a Smurf is captured the viltrap is capable of sending a signal to Gargamel in order for him to go and captured the imprisoned smurf. To make the matters worst, the Vileleaf and it's viletraps also
threaten the forest itself, as they contain and release a high amount of toxic gas that it itself spreads fast. Papa smurf and his smurfs became aware of the danger the new spell is causing and try to find out a solution. With the collaboration of Papasmurf's brain and Handy's inventions the smurfs were able to create a powerful weapon known as the Smurfizer .
This revolutionary invention, allows the smurfs to get rid of all the foes that the vileleaf creates and heal all the plants resulting to the clearance of the forest. With the smurfizer set, the Smurfs set on their adventure to deal with the threat of Gargamels latest discovery. Their main objective is to go around in search of three key ingredients that Papasmurf requires
to create the magic formula in order to take down the main Vileleaf.
Thoughts on the Story
The story of the game is short,simple and yet very effective. As mentioned is a normal tale that involves the beloved smurfs. The game is fully voice acted as every piece of dialogue is escorted with the appropriate voice actor. However, very similar to the Asterix & Obelix XXL3 game, there are not many in game cutscenes. The narration of the story's plot is given through
a smurf known as Poet writting and narrating the story. The game uses a book and hand drawn pictures made by the smurf as he narrates the event prior to the gameplay. To elaborate, the prologue and epilogue are mainly the book, and each time the players finish off a chapter or are about to enter a new, the Poet will set the stage. While playing the game, it never
felt as if it was missing the animated action as a fairytale was proven an effective way to tell it's story. It is also worth mentioning how the Poet is rhyming every phrase of his. Once the game jumps into the ingame graphicks, the playable smurf will exchange dialogue with any of the smurfs like Papasmurf and Handy however, the scene will show the two smurfs next to each
other and at the bottom, the frame of the talking smurf will appear with the text being spoken. These scenes are also fully voice acted in every scene.
The story or plot dont have any issue, however, keep in mind the word smurf will most likely be heard in every third dialogue.
Gameplay
Smurfs mission Vileleaf can be enjoyed in both Single player and in Local Co-op, there is no online multiplayer. If the game is proceed in multiplayer, the two players share the same screen, however, the camera will focus on player 1. It is important to mention that once again in Co-op the first player will be instantly locked on the Smurf
Character who is currently on it's mission while player 2 will be locked on S.A.M(Smurftronic Aerial Machine). S.A.M is a machine capable of flying and it's capable of healing the forest and use explosive healing seeds to aid the player. The dissadvantage of S.A.M is the fact that he cannot move away from the smurf (player 1) as the further it goes, a
beeping sound will occur and it will return on the back of the given smurf. The game is an action adventure platformer that also uses third person shooter elements with the addition of the Smurfizer. Player A gets control of 4 smurfs:
Hefty: Who is the most courageous Smurf
Brainy: Who wishes to make Papasmurf proud of him
Chef: A smurf who loves cooking and eating
Smurfette: The only Female Smurf with a big heart
NOTE: Each Smurf is playable on their own level/Chapter however the player can swap between them by accessing the menu when revisiting an older area or other locations given that the level was cleared prior during the main story. The Smurfs game, unlike the Asterix one, is a 3D platformer that offers a great experience but does not do something new to the Genre.
The player as mentioned controls a smurf which on it's own is capable of walking, jumping and stomping. Each smurf is given the same smurfizer, which acts as a weapon that shoots a healing gas which can cure the forest and also defeat the enemies. The smurfizer has it's own upgrades that transfer over to who ever is carrying it. The smurfizer gameplay additions are:
Hover and glide
Rocket boost(Sprint)
Suction (absorbs small enemies or bullets and shoot them)
Furthermore, the game also offers more upgrades such as increase of gliding time, better control when sprinting/gliding, absorb more than one enemy and increase the heart points of each smurf. The smurf's heartpoints are lotcated on top left and loses points when receivng a hit from an enemy or being hit by the environment (Explosive seeds, falling off the cliff or dropping into water.)
In order to regain health back, the smurf will have to stomp on certain crates that can be found around the map which consist of smurfberries. In multiplayer, S.A.M is not targeted by the enemies, it cannot be hit and is capable of breaking the crates to heal Player 1. The players goal is to travel in the forest, heal as much as they can while on their way to collect the key ingredient
that were sent to collect. Corrupted areas are represented in dark purple 'gloowy' area with purple smoke above them. When walking in a corrupted are the smurfs speed will be reduce. In order to cure it the players will have to simply shoot them with the smurfizer however, unless the players spray the entire block of grass, they will turn corrupted yet again. Certain vines block the path
or a given collectable and the player will have to heal the entire block surrounding the wall of corruption. Healing the entire area is not mandatory but doing so will reward the players with achievements. Each smurf will come across certain areas that includes viletraps with a trapped smurf. In order to release the smurf from the viletrap, the player will have to follow the roots of the
trap to locate it's 'heart'. When the player succesfully destroys all of the viletraps hearts the smurf will be freed.
The game has A decent ammount of Enemy variety and some of them require their own way to be dealt with. Most of them are required to be dealt with the Smurfizer. The smurfizer as mentioned does not shoot bullets, but instead releases a steam cloud. When the cloud is on an enemy the enemy will slowly die. It is important to state that the smurfizer when overused will fall into a halt
state while it's cooling down. For this reason the player will have to not constantly hold the button down but tap it or hold it down for a small ammount of time. Enemies of higher mass require the player to use more of their smurfizer on them to be defeated. Another type of enemies look like normal mushrooms that shoot projectiles on the player. There are two type of mushrooms, the ones with
red and the ones with purple flowers. In order to deal with the red ones, the player will simply have to jump on their head to take away their protection. The ones with the flowers hide their face underground and the player will have to jump above them and then stomp the ground on top of them. Moreover there are enemies that look like snails and roll towards the player. The player can only fight
againts them by using the absorb function of the smurfizer. The machine will absorb the head of the enemy and the player will have to walk towards the opposite side and then release it back to it's shell. Furthermore, there are new mushrooms with spikes that sit on top of spikey wooden logs and shoot down the smurf. The player will have to wait for the spikes on the logs to go back inside in order
to break the log by either shooting it by absorbing the enemy bullets and shooting them or by sprinting onto them. Once all the logs are gone the mushroom will be vonurable for attacks. The game does have two types of invincible enemies. Lime Vines and explosive plants. The explosive plants selfdetonate when the smurf is nearby stunning the smurf before it regrows. The lime vines are there to
push the smurf backwards and dealing it damage to it's health. Last but not least the final enemy of the game is none other than Gargamel. However, Gargamels addition to the game is quite weird. Gargamel appears in the last two chapters of the game. During Chapter 4, an avatar of Cargamel can be seen moving aorund the land searching for his magical ingredients and his viletrap which notified
him of a trapped smurf. The whole scenery takes place in a swamp with high wild plants and a thick fog that prevents him from noticing Smurfette. The final chapter of the game finds the smurf visiting Gargamel's castle's which once again has Gargamels avatar walking around however, his avatar does not threat the Smurfs. However, the majority of the sections has a 2D side scroller gameplay where the
smurf has to stay hidden from the lattern and it's light. The first part requires the Smurf to stay hidden behind books,pots and hole in the walls until the light of the lattern goes away otherwise it will one shot the smurf. The second part of Gargamels castle does not allowed the smurf to find hidden areas and the smurf will have to constantly run away from Gargamels light otherwise it will be game
over.
Maps
Each of the five chapters takes place into a completely different setup. All of the maps are connected through passages that the player can choose to follow while being into the smurf village. The first chapter takes place into a forest right outside of the village. The players dont have the smurfizer when the game begins and they spent most of the time walking around. The second chapter once
again takes place into mountain in the beggining where the player is in search of a certian smurf. The specific mountain leads Brainy into an area with high trees where Wild smurf lives. The entire level is ontop of giant trees and the player has to use the Hover ability (which gains from chapter 1) to manuver around. The wild smurf hidden an item in an area that requires alot of jumping and
platforming in order to reach it as it believed, the harder it is to obtain the less ammount of efforts to steal it will occur. The third Chapter finds Chef yet again manuver in a different part of the forest in order to reach a human castle where Chef learned his cooking recipes. The Castle in enormous and there are alot of small passages made specifically for Chef smurf. The level also consist of
plenty of 2D side platformer that requires the usage of the smurfosprint (which is the ability gained from chapter 2). Chapter 4 takes place in a swamp with thick fog and Gargamel walking around. The swamps consist of water lillies that float ontop of water. Some will sunk once the smurf steps on them while others will continue to float, their color indicates which is which. Finally Gargamels Castle
in chapter 5 has plenty areas that reuire the players to use the entire arsenal the smurfizer has. Strumfosprint, Hover and stomp are all essential to avoid being caught by Gargamel. Last but not least the strumf village consist of alot of of mushroom homes,smurfs walking around and plenty of collectables. The smurf village also has a path leading to the beach which is required in order to collect all
of Jokey's missing gifts, Cleanning the entire village and also finding the third location of Lazy smurf. The three mentioned above are necessary for a plethera of achievments. Each map hide their collectables in various locations that require the player to use certain abilities such as absorbtion and smurf sprint. Another great detail is the fact that Butterflies are used to constantly show the path to
the smurf. If the players follow it, they ll find their destination. A great detail is that in both Gargamel's castle and the Human's castle (Chapter 3) where certain areas take place inside of the building, the butterfly is being replaced by a spider adding a more realistic feeling to it. Last but not least most of the maps have small doorsteps hidden that can lead the player into a collectable or into
an area that will give them a better advantage. Last but not least the maps also have 'vine bridges' that upon receiving the Smurfizer's/SAM's potion it will grow creating natural bridges, similar to the ones visibly seeing above in the picture depictioning Smurfette and gargamel.
Collectables and Currency
The game has a decent ammount of collectables that the player will have to collect on their adventure. Each of the five main areas have their own type of collectable which represents their location (e.g Smurf village , evil lab etc). Collecting them is completely optional, but the players will have to collect atleast afew in order to upgrade their Smurfizer. Furthermore, collecting all of
them, will reward the player with trophies, one trophy for each complete set. The items have their own shape and most of them appear in a flying bubble while others require the player to complete a Seed Challenge. Most maps have giant seeds that the player will have to use the Smurfosprint in order to go through them all. Hitting one will spawn a new one nearby and the player has a time
limit to chain combo on to them otherwise they reset and the player will have to start from 0. Finally some collectable require the player to hit certain mushrooms in a row or at the same time with the use of the stomp. Hitting them all at the same time will cure the shrooms and release the item.
These collectables are:
Jokey's Presents
Jokey smurf left alot of yellow presents for the player to collect in the forest and in the Smurf village. There is a total of 70 Presents
Piece of Bark
This collectable looks like a pieces of Scratch Wood and they become available in Chapter 2 while controlling Brainy. There is a total of 64 pieces of Bark
Vial Bottle
This collectable looks like a blue potion Bottle and they become available in Chapter 3 while controlling the Chef. There is a total of 44 Vial bottles
Mushrooms
This collectble looks like a blue mushroom and they become available in chapter 4 while controlling Smurfette. There is a total of 39 mushrooms
Mandrakes
This is the final item that becomes available and it's only available during the final chapter in Gargamels castle while controlling Hefty. There is a total of 37 mandrakes
The 'Currency' of the game is something that resembles a Sunflower's seed and can be acquired very easy. All the player has to do to obtain them is by defeating enemy monsters, clearing part of the forest and re visiting maps and use the smurfosprint on the same seeds that rewarded the player with any of the collectables mentioned above. Replaying the seed chase will reward the player with a
certain ammount of seeds. Cleanning the forest once again is optional but when clearing away the infection of each part might free new parts of the map and reward plenty of seeds. Cleanning the all of the maps from the infection to 100% will reward the player with the trophy of making Papasmurf proud. The currecny can only be used in the Smurfizer upgrade menu along side the appropriate number of
collectables needed.
Overall Synopsis
Overall Smurfs Mission Vileaf is a fun game. The story of the game is simple but effective keeping it close to how story events are told in the Comic books and in the old cartoons. Each of the smurf's characters are fun and voiced in a good way. Maybe the word 'smurf' is being overused but it is what it is. It is also worth mentioning how smurfs who re not playable and barely are on the game still have their personality shown
one way or another. Smurfs like Grumpy, Wild, Jokey Lazy and farmer all are in the game, they will interact with the player but won't offer much to the narrative of the story. The plot is simple to follow and enough to allow the smurfs to venture around. The gameplay is good for single player but unfair for Co-op as SAM is uneffected by the enemies, it does not matter if Gargamel spots it and overall his abilities become useless as the
player's smurf character will soon receive upgrades that are superior to SAM, nevertheless Co-op is still Co-op. The Upgrades that the Smurfizer can obtain make the gameplay significally better as the more the obtions and manuver ablities the better the fun. The ammount of collectables found in the game is really good and alot. Collecting them is fun and as mentioned they are needed in order to fully upgrade the player's Smurfizer.
The music of the game is simple adding to a relaxing soundtrack and action when enemies are nearby. A small issue are audio effects used from the spider's steps and Gargamels that are extremely loud and annoying, which is something the player can avoid by downgrading the effects during their section. It is also worth mentionning that the game doesn't have alot of cutscenes and the one it has are in the form of the book and Poet smurf
narrating. The combat of the game is mediocre, not because of the enemy variety but because when there are sections with alot of enemies, the instalock function might create a few problems, nevertheless, the game's highest difficulty is pretty easy to begin with and has little to none challenge. The game's length is really good as it is not short but also not very long and completing the game to 100% is easy to achieve.
