Smurfs Kart PC Review

Eden Games has a big interest in burning rubber on the virtual roads, and they’ve been doing this since they were founded in 2013. With a passion for all things racing, they set out to continuously improve the Racing genre through various new developments while releasing their own titles and assisting with more notable games like Need For Speed Porsche, Alone In The Dark and Kya: Dark Lineage. So, they have the skills and knowledge to build something great, and while they have released several epic racing titles like Gear.Club Stradale, Gear.Club Unlimited 2 and F1 Mobile Racing, it seems they might have fallen off the beaten track for a new venture.

 

The latest venture for Eden Games might have you seeing blue and developing a particular knack for Smurfing. Yes, you read that right. While incredibly late to the party, it was initially released on 15 November 2022 for the Nintendo Switch, but now we finally have it on PC as well. Unfortunately, it might not be what you expected it to be.

Smurfs Kart has everything your typical Kart Racer game has – A fun, whacky atmosphere, power-ups, interesting tracks, and, let’s not forget, traps and pitfalls. Right from the start, you’ll get to choose between 3 game modes. Time Challenge, this is a solo mode where you’ll be racing against after images of other racers to finish the track under record time. Free Race, because who doesn’t like to explore a little bit and Free Race lets you do just that. Lastly, Grand Prix, where the real chaos takes place.

After picking your game mode, you’ll be given two options – Fun and Hyperspeed. These are basically your Kart speeds, and fun would be more aimed at a relaxed race while Hyperspeed will run at double the original speed. Unfortunately, calling it ‘Hyperspeed’ when it’s only double the original speed doesn’t make it that appealing because it doesn’t feel that fast. However, fun was already pretty slow to begin with.

Now that you’ve picked your speed, it’s time for the more interesting part of Smurfs Kart, choosing your Kart Racer. You’ll get to choose between 12 Smurfs, each bringing their own unique powerup meant to slow down other racers or help you along the way. As an example, Jokey’s unique powerup is an exploding present that gets randomly delivered to nearby racers.

 

Handy’s powerup releases drones that clear away obstacles in front of you, so you can keep pushing forward without having to dodge anything for a short time. Unfortunately, this part of the game desperately needed a quick tutorial to point this out, as it is not at all explained. Regardless, you’d have a hard time actually getting your unique powerup because the powerup rolls seem to favor the mundane things.

You’re almost ready to race, just one last thing to do. You’ll need to choose where you’re racing, and if you’re Free Racing or going for the Time Challenge, you’ll get to choose between all the tracks. Grand Prix plays by slightly different rules, though, but this is also where the magic happens. In the Grand Prix, you’ll get to choose between the 3 Cups to race through their circuits consisting of 4 tracks each. Get ready for a little nostalgia because the Cups take you through the Village, the Forest, and Gargamel’s Lair.

You’re ready to race. You and seven other Smurfs will race around the track to win the Cup. However, one of the more classic Kart Racer features we all know and love is also seen in Smurfs Kart, the boosted start. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really give you the boost you’d expect, and you’d be lucky if it gives you enough of a boost to get ahead of one racer. From there, it’s just a matter of aiming for gold while navigating the tracks. On the off chance that you’re not that skilled with Kart Racers, you’ll be happy to know that Smurfs Kart also has an Auto Accelerate and Auto Steer function. This can come off as a mundane or pointless feature to have, but it can come in handy if you want to see the track play out before taking the wheel.

As with any Kart Racer, Smurfs Kart also has the all too infamous powerups scattered across the tracks. Lucky for you, you have two slots for powerups, but you can’t switch between them… Yes, you’ll have to use the first one before you can use the second one. Then there’s another slight issue, as mentioned before, each Smurf has a unique powerup that you can get during races, but it’s like spinning a rigged slot machine.

 

You have a higher chance of finding a hidden easter egg in Smurfs Kart than you do of landing your own powerup. However, the same can’t be said for your opponents, who seem to constantly get their powerups. Remember the lack of explanation when you pick your racer? Not knowing about that little detail while getting randomly destroyed by other powerups that hit you out of nowhere will literally just leave you more frustrated than anything else.

Grand Prix isn’t just about landing first place in each race, though, you’ll also need to collect Smurfberries. At the end of each race, each Racer’s Smurfberries are tallied, and those can affect your overall position for the cup. However, taking a hit from a negative powerup will also cause you to lose a few Smurfberries. Once again, playing against the game with that missing info and the unfair rolls.

That’s just about it for Smurfs Kart, there’s, unfortunately, no story elements to look forward to or some crazy twist. It looks great at first, but it just seems to be a very generic Kart Racer with very little to offer unless you have kids that are extremely easily entertained. Granted, even then, they’d likely get bored of it too. There are achievements you can aim for as well that will reward you with in-stickers too. Smurfs Kart might have had a little more intrigue if there was some form of online multiplayer instead of Split-Screen multiplayer, this would make the game as a whole a bit more interesting as you can then test your Kart Racing skills against other players.

Smurfs Kart takes a very casual and overly friendly approach to its soundtrack while maintaining a fun and whacky undertone, and this goes quite well with the races and the genre as a whole. However, as with any Kart Racer, it’s sometimes what you hear coming that can make a difference, like an incoming Bee Drone. A nice change of pace that isn’t seen too often is that the music speeds up during your last lap.

 

On the visual side for Smurfs Kart, even though the game is somewhat generic, the visuals for Smurfs Kart show a lot of attention to detail and care that went into it. The details and design that went into each track make them all feel and look unique. The same can said about each Smurf and their Karts. The different designs for each Smurf are a nice touch because their Karts are personalized to them. On a more interesting note, it’s not every day we see a game that’s actually decently optimized on release, but Smurfs Kart fits the bill down to the letter. You’d have a hard time finding visual glitches or even the dreaded lag while racing through the tracks.

Overall, Smurfs Kart had a lot of potential to be great if there was a story or even just a bit more of the usual Kart Racer madness added in. It has a few fun and redeeming qualities, like the unique powerups and unique track designs, but Smurfs Kart comes off as a more generic Kart Racer that would’ve been great during the movie releases. It’ll need a lot more substance to gain good traction on the wild roads of gaming.

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Editor, NoobFeed