Smurfs: Mission VILEAF (REVIEW) - Falala, Sing the Happy Song

A new Smurfs game? What kind of timeline is this?!?!?

Title: Smurfs: Mission Vileaf
Release date: October 26th, 2021, (November 16th, 2021 Console, 2022 PS5 and Xbox Series X)
Publisher: Microids
Developers: OSome Studios
Platforms: PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam and GOG)
Price: $29.99, $39.99 USD (Physical)
Review Copy Provided: Yes
Date Reviewed: 11/13/2021
Platform Reviewed: PC (Steam)

The franchise of Smurfs originally was this  Comic Book series created in Belgium by a man named Pierre "Peyo" Culliford in 1958. Since then, the series has become very popular overseas, like the United States.
The series is being expanded into other media, including a TV Show made in 1981 - 1989 produced by Hanna-Barbera. Even with 2 Live-Action movies made by Sony, which were released between 2011 and 2013 with an animated film called Smurfs: The Lost Village, and recently a new TV Show produced in Belgium broadcasted on Nickelodeon in September with a new Movie made at Paramount based on the recent series. It later expanded into Video Games over time, and that's what we see now with a new game published by Microids (oh, brother.).

Let's stop Smurfing around this villain discussion and continue onward.

Introduction (Summary)

​"It's a whole smurfin world out there!"
In a dusty grimoire, the wizard Gargamel just put his hands on the formula of an evil plant known as the VILEAF.
This plant produces "VILE-TRAP" seeds, which can attract and imprison Smurfs; the VILE-TRAP plants are also a great danger for the forest, as they are TOXIC, especially for the sarsaparilla fields!
PAPA SMURF decides to ask some of his fellow Smurfs to help him find the ingredients for a super-powerful antidote for all the plants sick from the VILEAF.
Thanks to the SMURFIZER, an invention from HANDY SMURF, go on an adventure to find the ingredients and free the smurfs (I guess, why not burn them alive with the vileaf-patron-I MEAN SAVE).
​So let's get down to business and stop Gargamel!

​Gameplay/Controls, etc.

"It's about smurfin time."
For starters, the story itself is pretty good with this exciting idea of evil plants taking over the village and kidnapping Smurfs. I think it's a decent take at making the story dark but charming as it reminds me of the Hanna-Barbera series or the original Comics.
 Although it may not top the writing of the Lost Village movie, in my opinion. Speaking of the script, I had a problem with the word "Smurfs" being used a lot with repetitiveness. Now I know the series have used the term before, but this game was repetitive, and I wish they could've toned that bit but still used the word with the characters. Another red flag is that (while this isn't any disrespect to the people) the Voice Acting is not good; characters like Papa Smurf and Smurfette don't sound right as I expected them to say as they did in the TV Show or any of the movies. However, some excellent voices precisely fit characters like Hefty, Brainy, Chef, Grouchy, Dimwitty, ex. In the Cutscenes, while the characters are talking, some of the nature renders displayed in the text look terrible and very unfinished, like Papa Smurf and Smurfette
Now in gameplay-wise, it's a basic platformer with some good platforming like Wild's Campsite or the Cooking Pot Castle levels, even jumping on the bouncy mushrooms, the Controls themselves are pretty good as the characters move fluidly, and the Jumping seems decent. You have your primary weapon, and that's the Smurfizer which you spray around on enemies to kill them (sometimes big ones which you have the jump on them or stomp) plus, there is some brown grass which to restore them press the right trigger. It released the antidote to convert the grass into green, and there are also some upgrades you get later on like Gliding, Dashing, and Sucking some of the leaves that locked certain collectables and locations, which speaking of that. 
Each world has several collectables hidden around to find; some of them you'll collect over the natural course of the game, but others need hunting down by venturing off-course. You'll use these collectables to buy upgrades for your Smurfizer. 
Most of them aren't necessary to complete the game, but will help make things a little easier for you but are a Completionist and would like to 100% the game, I recommend not even trying as I have attempted to restore the grass on getting the collectables, but personally I didn't find them worth it as you can beat the game without getting the upgrades and overall becomes frustrating plus sort of boring of 100%’ing some levels despite that it had not terrible levels designs and explorable destinations. 
The game only has five lands to go around, with each Character being playable; these characters are Hefty, Brainy, Chef, and Smurfette to select these characters after finishing the story. 
The graphics are pretty decent with beautiful lighting and a fair art style that resembles the comics initially introduced (not much).
The soundtrack was not the best, but it isn't the best either since they quickly get old.
 
The Difficulties in this game are pretty terrible, with only 3 to choose from arranging Easy to Hard and Hard being too easy with enemies that do not give any advantage or challenge or the platforms being hard to reach as it feels like the Easy mode of the game through, and beyond.
A massive red flag in Mission Vileaf is that the game started up in French since the game was developed in France. It isn't an issue for me personally since I can speak and understand the language as a Lebanese. Still, the problem is that most people, especially in the United States that wouldn't understand (for some).Just me talking about the language is silly. Still, I recommend going to the options and changing the texting and voicing to English or any other language people prefer to play on.That is a big issue that should've to get resolved in a future update. Even if you change it, you still need to restart the game. Even then, it's still displayed in French in the title screen unless it was in English in the menu and gameplay like mine.

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Verdict

Overall, the game is concise and takes you only about 4 hours to finish, and considering this is a children's/kids game',s worth picking up for a new audience and maybe some of the hardcore fans of the Smurfs (probably not all hardcore fans).
Mostly, good timing to release with the new TV Show currently being aired on Nickelodeon and other TV networks in other countries like France and Belgium.
 I will recommend it on sale since the game doesn't have that much content, and the gameplay gets pretty repetitive later; however, this is an enjoyable game to sit down and relax for, and I ended up enjoying the game overall. 
I will admit that it is the best game that the franchise put out in a long time with a lot of care and effort, unlike the Video Game based on The Smurfs Live-Action films, which was a platform shovelware game developed by Wayforward.
 Not the best but, it's a good game overall, and I recommend this title when it's on sale.
 OSome Studios did an alright job on this title, plus Asterix and Obelix XXL 2. I'm hoping in the future, more Smurfs games to improve better than this. They just compared to some of my negativity for this title.

Quote: "Mission Vileaf is an enjoyable adventure for any Smurfs fan to enjoy."
Rating: 7/10
Positive:
Decent Level designs and platforming
Great Graphics and Character designs and art style
Decent soundtrack with songs that get a bit repetitive a while
The story is not slow-paced and somewhat like the shows/comics

Negative:
Alarming Hard mode difficulty that made it easy
Bad Voice Acting on some characters that don't fit, like Papa Smurfs and Smurfette
Boring 100% completion with some levels to backtrack with the upgrades and heal the grass and grab the collectables
Awful Character Renders in the cutscenes.
The repetitiveness of the word "Smurf" too many times in the dialogue
And Language problems with the game being booted up to French unless you changed the language and restart

As, Tim always says...
Till then.. GAME ON! :)

-Alexandre Elkhoury (Alex/Alexandre)