Listen, I realize this doesn't look promising, but...it could be worse. I mean, this was

actually developed by WayForward, one of our favorite developers at CGRundertow. They always

do good stuff. They even do good movie games. They did Thor on the Nintendo DS, and it was

awesome. So there's hope for The Smurfs 2.

Wait, what? Oh, they didn't do the DS version?

Ah, holy sh*t.

So as you'd expect from games based on movies, The Smurfs 2 smurfed its way onto just about

every platform imaginable. We're playing the Nintendo DS version. And yes, they're still

releasing Nintendo DS games in 2013. Movie games, mostly. Games like The Smurfs 2. I

guess the DS is still...smurfin' alive.

Listen, I'm going to use the smurf-as-a-verb joke a lot in this review, because frankly,

there's not much else to talk about. You can either deal with it or go smurf yourself.

Now, I will tell you...this game isn't as bad as you may think. But that's provided

you have a keen understanding of just how hideous and repugnant these games tend to

be. The good news is The Smurfs 2 is neither hideous nor repugnant. But the bad news is,

it's still a game for really little kids who've yet to develop taste and decorum.

If you know enough to bathe regularly, this probably isn't a game for you.

No, what this is...is a minigame collection. Although I use the term "minigame" loosely,

as well as the term "collection." It's more like activities, and there are only nine of

them. Now, that said...I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Again, given the

audience. This is actually a perfectly decent little electronic activity book for kids.

Not great, could be better...could be way worse.

So what are the activities? Well, there's Mario Paint with Smurfs. Freaking Smurf paint, which

is always fun. This would be one of my favorite smurfin' games if it were a bit less restrictive.

It's, like, you can only do the fill, you know? No free coloring or anything like that.

Anyway, there's also a cake decorator; you can dress up Smurfette; and there's some games

here, too. Some racing and matching, very basic stuff.

And you know, the games are obviously short on depth and content, but...they're at least

functional, you know? They play well. There are no crappy controls or anything, so...what

is here is pretty well done. Now, obviously, there could be a lot more minigames, and the

instructions are a bit obtuse for a kids game.

But otherwise, solid stuff for its intended audience.

In fact, there's also a story mode, which is basically just a Smurfs audio book. You

can play the story for your child, or even play it without audio so they can read it

themselves. And the cool thing is that you actually can play the minigames from within

the story, by tapping and interacting with the pictures. That's a nice little touch.

And by the way, any DS game that makes you turn the system sideways like a book gets

some bonus points from me. I wish more would've done that. That's awesome.

You can tell by looking at this if The Smurfs 2 is a game for you. And in general terms,

it's obviously not a great game. But for a movie game for such young players, it's really

not bad. I'm not promising anything, but for what it is, this game smurfs.

Take that as you will.