In case you haven't noticed the numerous posters, TV adverts, and magazine covers (and even more surprisingly, if you haven't been pestered by your kids to go and see it), everyone's favourite little blue Belgians, the Smurfs are back in a brand new animated film. As is usually the case, along with the big kids film of the summer, comes the officially licensed tie-in game - but rather than being a 3D platforming adventure, The Smufs: Dance Party's a little bit different. Instead, for all intents and purposes, this is Just Dance: Smurfs Edition, with a variety of Smurftastic songs for your little ones (and you) to dance along to.
One of the neater touches in The Smurfs: Dance Party is how it tries to tie itself in with the events of the firm in a rather novel way. As you play through the game's story mode, each level begins with Papa Smurf talking over a scene from the film, with a few clips thrown in for good measure, before giving you the chance to strut your stuff in a suitably themed dance.
As an example, the story mode starts off with Papa Smurf talking about their preparations for the upcoming Blue Moon Festival, including the gathering of Smurfberries for the feast - with the game then getting you to dance to the song Smurfberry-tastic, a song all about said berries, that has a routine made out of hungry belly-rubbing. Then you hear the tale of how Gargamel stalks Clumsy, finds the Smurf village and manages to create a mysterious vortex - and you get the song Gargamel, complete with crazy stalking dance moves - then, the Smurfs fall into the vortex, they get transported to New York, and you get the gansta Smurf anthem of Welcome To New York. The game carries on this alternating between narration and dancing for the duration of the eight-song strong story mode - which, while it doesn't sound very long, is probably something the kid's will play over and over.
Grace didn't seem very impressed with the Smurfs' efforts at cleaning her windows...
But it would be a bit of a rubbish game if there were only eight songs, so luckily, there's more to The Smurfs: Dance Party than that. With another fifteen or so tracks waiting in the wings, some of which have been Smurf-ified, and had their words changed to make them more Smurfy, you'll be dancing to tunes like Shaggy's Mr. Bombastic, which is now Mr. Smurftastic, the Baha Men's Who Let The Dogs Out, renamed Who Let The Smurfs Out and King Julian's favourite We Like To Move It, which has Smurfed into We Like To Smurf It. Better still, they're all songs the game's target audience are likely to be familiar with - with an added bonus of 'One Of The Boys' by Katy Perry (the voice of Smurfette in the film) finishing the soundtrack off.
For each of the twenty-five songs on the disc, there's three different variations you can play - Regular, Team Mode and Freeze and Shake. Regular is just the bog-standard Just Dance-style Wii Remote wanging, which sees you following the on-screen prompts to gain points; Team Mode is basically the same as regular, except you're all working together to get the best score you can; while Freeze and Shake is a bit like a game of Simon Says, where you dance as you normally would until it pops up saying either Freeze, when you stop, and stay as still as you can until it disappears, or Shake, where you need to shake the Wii Remote like your life depends on it. If you're not entirely sure what you need to do for any of these different modes, though, Papa Smurf is on hand to talk you through it, with a handy set of easy to follow, fully narrated tutorial videos, which are great for breaking little ones in. You also have the option of playing songs from a selection of set playlists - each Smurf gets their own Collection, which has all the songs they feature in - as well as the ability to put together up to four of your own, with a maximum of ten songs in each. And if ten songs isn't enough, there's a non-stop shuffle mode which will play all the songs off the disc over and over in a random order forever. Or at least until you go crazy, and make your kids turn it off for the night.
Booooooooo
While adults may get some fun out The Smurfs: Dance Party, there's little doubt it's been aimed at kids, though. To that extent, there's even a Parents section in the menus, which has a Play Tracker that lets you see how long you children have played for, how many songs they've played, and, impressively, how many calories they've burnt, as well as letting you check your kid's progress through the game. Somewhat strangely, they stuck the Awards section under here too, which may make it a bit tricky for kids to find. Needless to say, here, you'll find a little statue of one of the key Smurfs for each of the objectives you've complete - such as completing the story mode, getting 15,000 points on any song, or missing 1000 moves.
In fact, The Smurfs: Dance Party is an incredibly polished game - so much so, we only came across a couple of minor problems while we were playing. Although it almost goes without saying, it's worth keeping in mind The Smurfs: Dance Party is a Just Dance clone, and as such it might be a bit hard for younger kids to follow the on screen prompts, as all the same Just Dance foibles carry over to this. Sometimes, the icons that show you what to do aren't all that clear, and as always, they don't warn you when you're expected to repeat a move, instead just appearing once, and disappearing - but kids will soon get used to it. The only other, tiny niggle, is that it seems a little bit off at detecting the odd move, giving you just one star (out of a maximum of three) for a move that you're sure was pretty much spot on. What seems strange is that Just Dance 2 improved on this no end compared to the first game, so this step backwards is a bit bemusing.
The Smurfs: Dance Party has definitely been well thought through for it's intended target audience, though - from the song choices, to the entertaining story mode, to the narrated tutorials that mean even kids that can't read are catered for. And while it might not have the same broad appeal as the Just Dance series due to the addition of the Smurfs, it doesn't mean it's not a worthwhile addition to your Wii library - and seeing as you can find it online for about £18 from GAME, it's a bargain for keeping them (and maybe even you!) entertained over the long summer holidays.
Format Reviewed: Nintendo Wii
