Smurfs Kart – Review

We have reviewed our fair share of Mario Kart clones over the last few weeks. We first took a look at the third installment of Nickelodeon Kart Racers to then see the racing abilities of the cute puppies in Paw Patrol: Grand Prix. Both games had fairly solid mechanics but often fell short in terms of content and polish. Now, a new contender has appeared on the horizon, namely Smurfs Kart. This Mario Kart clone has been on our horizon for quite some time, as the early footage looked quite good. Sadly, it somewhat suffers the same fate as the other clones, as it hardly has any content and it lacks overall polish.

Story

Smurfs Kart does not contain any story whatsoever. You just pick if you’re playing solo or with friends (locally) and you’re good to go. It would have perhaps been fun to have a bit more information about the different Smurfs, but we didn’t find the lack of a story bothersome.

Graphics

We were quite impressed with Smurfs Kart’s graphical prowess. The game looks very good on the Switch, even on the big screen. Of course, the game looks best in handheld mode. You’ll be treated to very colorful backdrops, fun karts, well-designed characters, and overall decent-looking tracks. The different vehicles have a lot of smaller details, but we regret the game lacks customization options. Nonetheless, as far as Mario Kart clones go, this one might be one of the best-looking ones out there.

Sound

As a whole, the game’s sound design isn’t too bad. The title has a fairly good soundtrack, which doesn’t grow stale too quickly. The only annoying part of the sound design is the irritating sound effect you hear when you pick up a power-up block. This SFX is truly grating, and you’ll want to mute the experience simply because of this. Sadly, the game has no options menu in which you can adjust sound settings.

Gameplay

Smurfs Kart is a fairly typical arcade racing game in which you can either play through single-player modes or play with friends locally. Right off the bat, you’ll see that the game offers barely any content, which is a shame. You have some run-of-the-mill modes where you either try to break track records or take on other opponents. Sadly, the game is completely offline, so there is no online multiplayer mode present. On top of that, the game features no vehicles or characters to unlock, and the vehicles do not have any visible stats. All characters feel the same because of this, safe for their unique skills. These range from shooting every single opponent to having an army of drones surround your character to protect it.

We find the lack of options and features in the game to be utterly disappointing because the game has extremely tight controls and an overall fun track design. It’s been a while since we were this much in control when playing a Mario Kart clone, and if the game had more content, we would see this become a fairly competitive title. Sadly, the lack of an online multiplayer mode, unlockable items, or simply more content does make this another simplistic clone. As it currently stands, all you’re getting for playing the game are ‘stickers’ for your sticker album, which is basically a snazzy version of a trophy list.

The game’s AI can be relentless at times, as you’re constantly getting bombarded by unique skills and normal power-ups. The power-ups range from standard projectiles to speed boosts and shields. When getting hit yourself, you don’t suffer a huge delay, but the AI is always hot on your heels. After a while, you’ll also learn the finer intricacies of drifting, which will give you additional speed boosts. That’s also why it’s a shame that the game isn’t properly fleshed out, as the overall driving mechanics are simply superb.

Conclusion

Smurfs Kart could have been a superb Mario Kart clone, but it feels as if the developers gave up halfway through. The game has a solid foundation but lacks customization options, it sorely misses an online mode, and there’s hardly any content and no goal(s) to work towards. We had a blast playing through the different stages, but we were disappointed that the game didn’t offer anything to come back to, as there is no additional unlockable content and you can only play against friends locally. If a sequel would ever be released, we hope it includes all the aforementioned items. If that were to happen, we would smurf the hell out of it.

Ibuki

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Aspiring ninja.

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