This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on March 21st, 2020.
Welcome back to the PlayStation Basement, a weekly review of games for the original PlayStation that are somewhat obscure, unusual, or unknown. Games are rated Good, Bad, or Neutral to emphasize the review itself. Now, let’s go!
Earlier this week was the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. This starts the beginning of spring, a time of new beginnings and warmer weather. This year, the threat of the coronavirus has put a damper on spring celebrations and activities around the world. There won’t be a lot of people going outside together with the pandemic lurking in the shadows.
Despite these problems in reality, I thought it would still be fun to review a game for the arrival of spring, so today’s game is Smurf Racer! Interestingly, though I planned to review this game for the spring equinox even before the coronavirus situation became a global pandemic, there was actually a Smurf festival in France two weeks ago that generated some controversy amidst the fear of the virus. Released in 2001 by Infogrames in both North America and Europe, Smurf Racer! was developed by Artificial Mind and Movement who worked on many other licensed games such as Bugs & Taz: Time Busters, Scooby Doo! Unmasked, and Transformers Animated: The Game. The game was known as 3, 2, 1 Smurf! My First Racing Game in Europe. Smurf Racer! is another kart racing game in the wake of Mario Kart 64, this one based on the popular blue, Belgian comic characters. Are the pre-industrial Smurfs a good fit for a game about racing in tiny cars? There’s only one smurfing way to find out.
The cover art has a colorful cartoon image of various Smurfs zooming around in their cars. I really like the blue toadstool car. The Smurfs have some pretty good expressions on their faces too. It’s interesting to see the slight differences in the American and European art. The European art specifies that this is a game intended for younger children, while the American art makes no such claim. Also, the European art is weirdly bright. I prefer the bright colors myself.
The actual game is full of bright, smurfy colors, though the graphics aren’t particularly well smurfed really. Characters, karts, and levels all use simple polygons with textures. The graphics look enough like the cartoon and comics that it’s fine. Some levels have some cool scenes that utilize the Smurfs small size well, such as racing on a dining table or through a mushroom, but overall there is not a lot of animation or cool details to make things really pop. The camera also hiccups a bit when you go down hills, aiming towards the ground and making it hard to see what is ahead. The HUD and menus are really basic. They aren’t hard to use or anything, but they do seriously lack polish. Of anything, the little cutscenes look the best, as they resemble the classic Smurfs cartoon.
The sounds of Smurf Racer! resemble what you probably think of with the Smurfs cartoon too. The musick has a cartoon/carnival sound with some elements of musick you might here in an 80s fantasy film or classic RPG. Some of it is pretty good, though many of the tracks did not stand out to me The sound effects include traditional cartoon sounds like rockets, springs, crashes, and skids. None of this will really surprise you if you are familiar with The Smurfs.
Smurf Racer! really is a “my first racing game” kind of thing. It’s a very basic kart racer. Each race has three laps with powerups to collect and different routes to take. Though there are twelve different racers in this game, they are all mechanically the same. Each smurf has their own special weapon, such as Smurfette’s hearts or Handy Smurf’s nails, but they are all just little obstacles that can be placed on the track. In addition to these droppable specials, of which only one may be carried at a time, there are also mushroom-shaped missiles to fire at your three, smurfing opponents. You can hold 10 missiles at once. Neither weapon stuns an opposing racer as long as a turtle shell in Mario Kart, so there is perhaps a bit more reliance on racing skill here. The only other powerups are little rockets that boost your kart and potions that make you invincible for a time. There is no random chance to get different items like in Mario’s racing game either; everything is just on the track in certain, smurfy places. The responsive controls and great vibration function support the game well.
Unfortunately, Smurf Racer! doesn’t have a ton to offer. There is the Championship Mode, a series of 10 races and three unlockable characters. Though the game defaults to the easy difficulty, I found that the expert difficulty was much more fun. Expert is faster, has more competent opponents, and has the OutRun mechanic that only gives so much time between checkpoints. There is the Single Race Mode, which is just the ability to race on a single track of your choice. It feels a bit unnecessary considering this can already be done in the Championship Mode. There is one very odd catch to the Championship Mode that the Single Race Mode does avoid: in Championship Mode you pick a Smurf and remain as that Smurf throughout. Finally there is also the Flag Capture Mode. This is a battle mode where you try to collect more flags than your opponent within the time limit. It is not a race but takes place in a smurfy arena. Hitting an opponent with a weapon makes them drop a number of flags. Every mode can be played alone or with another player.
Overall Smurf Racer! is an alright game but nothing particularly outstanding. It’s kart racing with a limited number of powerups, less randomness, and low difficulty. The game lacks the polish of other kart racers like Crash Team Racing as the characters all play the same and look pretty similar too. The camera creates some annoyance, and the courses are a bit more stationary than I like. Smurf Racer! is not a bad hour or so spent smurfing a game, but it’s nothing you can’t smurf anywhere else.
Smurf Racer! receives a Neutral.
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