Now that it has been over six weeks since the wonderful Astro Bot made its arrival, you might be clamouring and searching for a new easy and charming platformer to fill your time. If that's the case, a sweet solution is Ocellus Studio's The Smurfs: Dreams, a simplistic and delightful effort that revolves around everyone's favourite blue woodland creatures.
For those curious, The Smurfs: Dreams tells the story of how the evil Gargamel uses a sleeping potion to knock out the colony of Smurfs and then thus launch an attack on their home village. As one of the only Smurfs to avoid said sleep trick, you (as a nameless Smurf) venture into the dreams of the afflicted in an attempt to wake them from their nightmares and return them to the village. This concept allows the developers to get very creative with level design and environment choice as the levels are not limited by reality, and this too stretches into gameplay mechanisms, art direction, boss design, all to culminate in a rather diverse yet tight overall product.
Each of the dream locations are tied to the Smurf whose dream it is in the first place. For example, Baker Smurf presents a world with plenty of cakes and sweet treats, almost like Super Mario Odyssey's Luncheon Kingdom. Smurfette, on the other hand, offers a realm that plays on her alter-ego element, and therefore we get a level that transitions from colourful, vibrant and light to dark, twisted, and dangerous. With each themed world in mind, several niche gameplay elements are also served up, be it a goo-firing blaster to attack enemies and impact the environment, or a lantern to reveal hidden platforms and make platforming itself even more complex. The themed worlds and the unique gameplay systems are usually highlights in The Smurfs: Dreams, as you become fascinated with discovering what comes next, but just because it has its highs doesn't mean it lacks its lows.
Some of the levels and gameplay mechanics are just not fun. Vanity Smurf's level for starters has a section that introduces and plays on stealth, with the idea revolving around hiding from prying eyes due to your Smurfs' clothes running away. The fittingly-named Operation Pants is one of the most tiresome and frankly frustrating levels in the entire game, and the fact there's a double-dosage of it only adds to the misery. Adding to this is a few overused mechanics, including one where you are tasked with acquiring multiple golden leaves in order to progress. It's not badly implemented or frustrating, it's simply overused to the point where you grow bored and fatigued whenever it pops back up. Fortunately, the bad is outweighed by the good in the major design elements, and the whole collectables theme isn't overdone, with most levels at most offering five Astral Mushrooms to discover and one coloured Yarn too - with the latter being the primary way you unlock cosmetics from Tailor Smurf by spending collected Smurfberries found in each level at his house in the Smurf Village.
Speaking about the Smurf Village, there is a very minor upgrading system to be found here, which revolves around interacting with limited parts of the environment to spawn shortcuts. It basically has zero effect on the gameplay but it's a fun addition that makes exploring the Smurf Village hub area a little more enjoyable.
Between the colourful art direction and the general varied gameplay offering for a title that takes around six hours to complete in its entirety, one of the other parts of The Smurfs: Dreams that stood out to me was the cooperative design. You can experience this whole game with a friend (or a youngster - it is a family game at the end of the day) cooperatively, and this works like a dream since it plays typically from an isometric angle and therefore doesn't require a split-screen. It's a delightful cooperative experience that doesn't overwhelm or frustrate, and is a great way to spend a few hours for anyone that enjoys the challenges of platforming.
However, I will say that the camera angle of choice can have its vices. Due to The Smurfs: Dreams being a 3D platformer with an angle that often presents the gameplay from a distant view, it can be challenging to master and deal with some of the platforming tasks simply because the perspective effectively plays tricks on you. It can be annoying to fall off the map or take damage from an enemy, all because you misplaced a landing from a jump as you can't exactly tell where you're going to end up. Strangely enough, this isn't often a problem in the boss encounters, although this could be because the bosses tend to be rather basic in design and lacking in challenge.
Yet despite a few elements that rubbed me the wrong way, there's not much else you can say about The Smurfs: Dreams other than the fact that this game is a pleasant, sweet, easy, and good cooperative platforming experience. It won't eat up much of your time, it generally will keep you interested with unique level design and gameplay iteration, and the difficulty and degree of challenge means it's an accessible and fitting offering for all ages. What more could you want from a platformer?