Growing up in the 80’s, The Smurfs was a staple in many homes offering up wholesome messaging while being bright, colourful, and cheery. The fact that The Smurfs is still around, is a testament to the franchise, and we’ve seen some big-screen movies, toys, and of course video games. I’ve always been a little trepidatious of video game tie-ins, with only a select handful being worthy of both the franchise they are based on, and of course, your time. The Smurf Dreams, by Ocellus Studio, was pitched to me as having “Mario vibes” which admittedly, made me even more cautious in investing time in a review. What’s It Like? Grab your blanket, fluff your pillow, and get cosy as we review The Smurfs Dreams on Nintendo Switch.
I’m going to get this out of the way early in the review, The Smurfs Dreams is such a pleasant surprise and I would have missed out on had I not been approached by the Publisher due to Octobers jam packed release schedule. The premise of the game is Gargamel, the big bad wizard who has created a spell to magically put the Smurfs to sleep and use a dream catcher to finally find The Smurfs village. The story is told via animated storyboard-style cutscenes and despite no dialogue being spoken, it does a great job of pushing the narrative forward.
The gameplay revolves around you playing as a nameless Smurf, tasked by Papa Smurf to enter the Astral Plane and wake your fellow Smurfs from their deep slumber. Each Constellation (the levels revolving around a particular Smurf) has a range of levels or chapters to get through before you can wake them up and return them to the village. The levels are themed and offer a lot of variety as each one usually introduces its own fun mechanic like using a fruit shooting gun, playing Smurfball, or wielding a giant hammer to knock your opponents out. This introduction of new mechanics really kept me engaged, especially when coupled with the tight platforming and wonderfully responsive controls that made The Smurf Dreams a delight to play. Between each level, there’s a neat transition where your Smurf will grind along a rail into the next area. I’m not sure if this is to disguise load times or just a design choice, but it looks really cool and also served as a bit of a mental checkpoint for me, letting me feel a sense of accomplishment.
Speaking of checkpoints, the game has them littered throughout the levels, meaning failure is usually only a minor setback, as well as keeping your progression on items from when you die meaning you don’t have to recollect the item you died trying to obtain. Die often you might, as I found the difficulty to be challenging, but not frustrating, and you will have to make use of the hover, dive, and float jump moves to get you out of harm’s way. There are some great set pieces and boss fights to complement the level design, and it honestly feels like it pays homage to Super Mario 3D Land with some of its gameplay mechanics, without shamelessly copying it. There are plenty of things to collect in each level, and collecting Blue Mushrooms will act as a currency to unlock secret levels and add more to the game. These can usually be found off the hidden path, or locked away behind a small puzzle involving stepping on smaller mushrooms within a certain timeframe to reveal a hidden pathway. There are sections requiring tricky timing and utilising a chain of moves and it makes it feel rather rewarding.
Another strength of The Smurfs Dreams is just how great it looks on the Nintendo Switch. It’s bright and colourful and has plenty of visual flair. Levels are interesting and littered with detail, and everything is fantastically animated, especially the Smurfs, giving them so much personality and charm despite having zero dialogue. Performance is locked at 30 frames and runs well in both handheld and docked. The art style is backed by a delightful soundtrack ranging from woodwinds to a full orchestral score and keeps in the theme of the whimsical nature of the game.
For my Smurfs looking into accessibility options, I’m pleased to report there is a colour-blind mode for vision-impaired gamers, and there is usually a bright contrast that helps make the player character easier to discern. That being said, your Smurf is quite small on-screen at times so caution is advised. As always, I recommend further research into finding out if The Smurfs Dreams suits your needs.
At just under $60 AUD, The Smurfs Dream is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure that will take you about 8 hours to complete. Dedicated Smurfs will be able to pad that time out by collecting everything and completing the hidden levels as well. It’s a visually stunning platformer with tight controls, great level design, and fantastic gameplay mechanics that engage players by keeping content fresh and exciting. There are plenty of collectables to find, bosses to fight, and time to get lost in this enjoyable world. I didn’t have The Smurfs Dreams being a contender for one of the best platformers released on my 2024 bingo card… yet here we are.
So, What’s It Like? The Smurfs Dreams is Like Crash Bandicoot crossed with Super Mario 3D Land.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by the publisher, but this doesn’t influence my score.
