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  • Ah, holy sh*t.

  • Listen, I realize this doesn't look promising, but...it could be worse. I mean, this was

  • actually developed by WayForward, one of our favorite developers at CGRundertow. They always

  • do good stuff. They even do good movie games. They did Thor on the Nintendo DS, and it was

  • awesome. So there's hope for The Smurfs 2.

  • Wait, what? Oh, they didn't do the DS version?

  • Ah, holy sh*t.

  • So as you'd expect from games based on movies, The Smurfs 2 smurfed its way onto just about

  • every platform imaginable. We're playing the Nintendo DS version. And yes, they're still

  • releasing Nintendo DS games in 2013. Movie games, mostly. Games like The Smurfs 2. I

  • guess the DS is still...smurfin' alive.

  • Listen, I'm going to use the smurf-as-a-verb joke a lot in this review, because frankly,

  • there's not much else to talk about. You can either deal with it or go smurf yourself.

  • Now, I will tell you...this game isn't as bad as you may think. But that's provided

  • you have a keen understanding of just how hideous and repugnant these games tend to

  • be. The good news is The Smurfs 2 is neither hideous nor repugnant. But the bad news is,

  • it's still a game for really little kids who've yet to develop taste and decorum.

  • If you know enough to bathe regularly, this probably isn't a game for you.

  • No, what this is...is a minigame collection. Although I use the term "minigame" loosely,

  • as well as the term "collection." It's more like activities, and there are only nine of

  • them. Now, that said...I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Again, given the

  • audience. This is actually a perfectly decent little electronic activity book for kids.

  • Not great, could be better...could be way worse.

  • So what are the activities? Well, there's Mario Paint with Smurfs. Freaking Smurf paint, which

  • is always fun. This would be one of my favorite smurfin' games if it were a bit less restrictive.

  • It's, like, you can only do the fill, you know? No free coloring or anything like that.

  • Anyway, there's also a cake decorator; you can dress up Smurfette; and there's some games

  • here, too. Some racing and matching, very basic stuff.

  • And you know, the games are obviously short on depth and content, but...they're at least

  • functional, you know? They play well. There are no crappy controls or anything, so...what

  • is here is pretty well done. Now, obviously, there could be a lot more minigames, and the

  • instructions are a bit obtuse for a kids game.

  • But otherwise, solid stuff for its intended audience.

  • In fact, there's also a story mode, which is basically just a Smurfs audio book. You

  • can play the story for your child, or even play it without audio so they can read it

  • themselves. And the cool thing is that you actually can play the minigames from within

  • the story, by tapping and interacting with the pictures. That's a nice little touch.

  • And by the way, any DS game that makes you turn the system sideways like a book gets

  • some bonus points from me. I wish more would've done that. That's awesome.

  • You can tell by looking at this if The Smurfs 2 is a game for you. And in general terms,

  • it's obviously not a great game. But for a movie game for such young players, it's really

  • not bad. I'm not promising anything, but for what it is, this game smurfs.

  • Take that as you will.

Ah, holy sh*t.

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