For several years now, a French publisher has devoted itself to adapting the great classics of Franco-Belgian comics that accompanied us during our childhood. It is about Microids which, at the end of the year, does not adapt one work, but three: The Marsupilami, Asterix and Obelix, and The Smurfs, with The Smurfs: Mission Malfeuille , the famous little blue beings imagined by Peyo living in a mushroom village in the middle of a big forest.
In this game, the Smurfs are confronted with the threat of Malfeuille, an evil plant that plagues the beautiful forest of small creatures and causes the appearance of nasty little monsters called Malbètes. This plant sows seeds of Maltrappes which are capable of capturing them. You understood, Evil is everywhere in the forest, and Gargamel is obviously not innocent in this story. The Smurfs will have to embark on a real mission to fight against this plant, hence the title The Smurfs: Mission Malfeuille. The game offers colorful 3D adventure and exploration to save their village.
Ingenious Smurf?
To accompany and help our little blue friends in their great adventure, the Handyman Smurf has designed the . It is the basis of all the gameplay, the Smurfs having no special abilities. We find the Gros plash to propel yourself towards the ground after a jump, the Smurfo-glider to let yourself be carried in the air, Smurfo-sprint to rush into obstacles and enemies and, finally, the possibility of inhaling and exhaling certain objects and creatures. Moreover, throughout the exploration and unlocking of the different areas of the game, the player can embody up to four of the most famous Smurfs: the beefy Smurf, the Smurf with glasses, the cook Smurf and the Smurfette. The Handyman Smurf also plays an important role since he will be able to improve the f in order to facilitate the exploration of the various areas. Here, it’s not an open world, we risk getting lost! But these are different spaces that the player unlocks with each new chapter starting from the village of the Smurfs, passing through the Marais to the lair of Gar game.
Vaporisachtroumpf upgrades can be exchanged for many collectables specific to each zone, such as mushrooms in the swamp, for example. Besides, if you think you’ll get the collectables easily, think again. You will need to use ingenuity to be able to complete your collection. Among the improvements, you will be able to increase your health points, the capacity of your aircraft’s tank or even maneuverability in flight, which can be very useful in certain phases of gameplay.
The gameplay is accessible even for the youngest. However, it is not simplistic and you have to use ingenuity and improve your to be able to progress well and beat all the enemies that Malfeuille can put in your way. Even if it’s a gameplay that we already know, and which is not innovative, it is nonetheless fun. Besides, it may not be the element of the game that will cause you harm, but rather the 3D and the camera which goes crazy during the jumping and flying phases and which taints the handling.
Smurf inspired?
With the , a few mechanics can remind us of the Electro blast device that Luigi uses in Luigi’s Mansion to fight against all the ghosts. If Luigi has the ability to suck up ghosts, in The Smurfs we can suck up the creeper curtains blocking our way, but the gameplay comparison ends there. Indeed, the main function of the is to spray a remedy against Mal Feuillet in the forest. Thanks to the improvements, The Smurfs will be able to propel themselves in the air to move from platform to platform.
The president of Microids spoke on the subject by confirming that the adaptation did not reinvent hot water, but that it offers a solid base of gameplay which has already been able to prove itself. Risk-taking is not really considered in this kind of adaptation.
Linear smurfing?
We feel all the goodwill of the developers behind this title. Nevertheless, there are still a few points that could have been easily improved. First of all, we regret the almost useless cooperation mode since the second player only embodies a small robot who does not master much and who cannot afford to stray too far from the main player. However, you can use the coop mode to share a good time with your child, for example.
The life of the game is also quite limited, less than ten hours of play to finish the main adventure, the fault of a linear adventure. Indeed, there is no end of chapter boss. So, yes, we can still count on Gargamel who tries to catch us during the last levels in his mansion plunged into darkness – which is quite awkward since it’s a completely different gameplay mixing platforms seen from the side and the ‘infiltration. This change is not completely mastered with in particular obvious problems of rhythm which will make more than one rage. Moreover, still in the mansion of Gargamel, we regret not seeing the cat Azraël only in a piece of scenery, when he could have offered an interesting gameplay sequence.
This is also one of the points that we regretted the most: the lack of bosses. Indeed, even to free the Smurfs from the Maltrappes, you just have to take care of the hearts. There are no big monsters to face. It’s unfortunate, because it could have been a good way to energize the adventure by bringing challenge and a way to expand the bestiary.
