Steam Deck Verified!Welcome to my review of The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf on the PC. The game is developed by OSome Studio and published by Microids.
It originally launched in October 2021 on the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
The Smurfs Are At It Again!
I absolutely loved this game, continue reading to find out why. You can also read our previous reviews when you’re done here.
The Game
The game starts us off with some terrible doings and The Smurfs discover their beautiful little land has been corrupted by an evil presence known as “The Vileaf”. Of course it doesn’t take Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Hefty, Brainy, and Chef to realise that the dastardly Gargamel is up to his usual tricks and is the root cause of this.
It is down to the Smurfs to save their land and restore normality to their humble little village. The game is a 3D platformer that reminds me of games such as Mario 64, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, Spyro, and Banjo Kazooie.
The Smurfs all share a fantastic invention known as the Smurfizer, which allows you to cure the Vileaf that infects the land. The Smurfizer can be upgraded as you progress through the game to allow different functions of it such as a mechanism that allows it to suck up objects and shoot them out, another that allows your Smurf to smash down through wooden planks, and more.
You can also upgrade other things in the game such as how long the Smurfizer will last before the tank is empty, how many hearts (health points) you have, you get the idea. These upgrades are unlocked by finding items throughout each level as you cure the Vileaf and collect the objects.
Cure that blasted Vileaf
One thing I will note is that this game is completely family-friendly. It’s not that difficult a game, but it sure is a lot of fun. I won’t spoil the story but I will add that I was a little disappointed that there is no final boss in the game. However, I think that’s a good thing when you think of the family-friendly aspect as it means a younger player won’t be stuck on the end boss. I will add that I will not score the game down on this as the rest of the game certainly makes up for it.
Personally, I loved wandering around the different levels as different Smurfs. Each has its own dialogue that has been recorded to a high standard of voice acting. Not only that, I made it my mission to cure all the Vileaf I could see without spending hours on each level trying to find it all.
All in all, The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf is a terrific game that fans of 3D platform games should play.
Look & Sound
Ok, so, I wasn’t ready for this. The graphics on The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf are absolutely brilliant. I totally didn’t expect to be blown away by a platform game from 2021 when it comes to graphics. Especially from a development studio, I had not heard of prior to playing this game.
It also runs beautifully on my RTX 3070 at 4K. I didn’t experience any game crashes at all, no bugs, no graphical glitches or sound issues. It all went smoothly from start to finish, even on my Steam Deck.
The sound effects in the game have been created with a lot of passion, which you can definitely tell. The musical score in the game is also a great pleasure to your ears when travelling around the world.
Length & Replayability
I beat the main game in around ten hours. Of course, the end isn’t the end as you can fast travel around to achieve that 100% in areas that you didn’t do so on the first time around.
The game also has 28 unlockable achievements on Steam.
Conclusions
The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf is an absolutely fantastic game. Fans of the classics such as Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, and Spyro must play this game. The graphics are astounding, the sound effects and music are incredible, and the voice acting matches.
The game is friendly for family members of all ages to play and I highly recommend you do.
I score The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf a solid 10/10.
