Smurfs’ Village review

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Small, blue, lives in a mushroom? Must be the Smurfs! Freemium game Smurfs’ Village has rocketed to the top of the app charts in just a few short days, baffling folks who are wondering what all the fuss is about.

I wish I could say that it’s just that fantastic of a game, but honestly, I suspect that the huge spike in popularity is the result of well-intentioned parents handing their phones over to their kids, not realizing that Junior easily can rack up a huge bill for Smurfberries in just a few moments.

Here’s the breakdown, folks. Although Smurfs’ Village is modeled on the friendly blue creatures we all know and love, the actual gameplay is a variation on the Farmville freemium model you can find all over Facebook and the App Store. You’re responsible for creating your own little Smurf village, but buildings can take hours or even days to complete, or you can speed things along with the use of magical Smurfberries.

Here is where you should pay attention, especially if you’re going to let your kids play unsupervised. Although the game is free to download, Smurfberries can be acquired through in-app purchases using real money, and we’re not talking pennies here. A wheelbarrow of Smurfberries will cost you $59.99, which could buy you a real wheelbarrow at the hardware store. You can lock the ability to make in-app purchases through your device settings, but consider yourself warned!

Aside from the highway robbery of the Smurfberries, Smurfs’ Village can be a pleasant, if lightweight, diversion. Naturally, for such high profile characters, the production values are sky high, and a lot of care has gone into making Papa Smurf and the rest of the gang all look perfect. The graphics are gorgeous, animations are smooth, and the overall effect is very smooth, polished, and professional.

As your village grows, you’re treated to brief cutscenes describing how the Smurfs will once again triumph over the wicked Gargamel. You’ll also unlock new minigames that let you do things like make potions with Papa Smurf or bake cookies with Greedy Smurf.

But, when all is said and done, it’s really just another Farmville clone, and it comes with some irritating downsides. One, building a social network requires the use of Facebook, so you either have to friend a bunch of strangers or hope your friends and family are as Smurf-obsessed as you are to play with others. Two, it uses the annoying crop withering mechanism to keep you constantly checking in with the game. Three, all data is saved locally, so don’t ever delete the game or your village is toast. This also means you’re stuck playing the game on whatever device you start with. And finally, back to the Smurfberries. Although they’re not technically required to play, it’s really difficult to progress without them.

Bottom line, the game feels like one long, beautifully illustrated attempt to squeeze every last dollar out of you. It’s clear they had some really quality effort going into the game, but the end results feel overwhelmingly bland and greedy. If I really need a freemium fix, I’d rather stick with Pocket Frogs.

Here is a video demo of the Smurfs’ Village app on the iPhone

AppSafari Rating: 2.5/5

This 3rd Party App is available at the Apple iTunes AppStore. Browse the full list of all AppStore apps filed under the AppStore category.

Download Smurfs’ Village at iTunes App Store

Price: Free

Developer: Website

AppSafari review of Smurfs’ Village was written by Tracy Yonemoto on November 23rd, 2010 and categorized under App Store, Free, Games, iPad apps, Mini Games, Resource Management, Strategy, Universal. Page viewed 11188 times, 2 so far today. Need help on using these apps? Please read the Help Page.

15 Comments to “Smurfs’ Village”

1. I love the game however I was at a level 18 when my game decided to reset. About 2 days later my game went back to normal now once again the game reset itself once again. My question is why does it keep bouncing back and forth. It would be helpful if i can just play my game without the interuptions.

   Posted on January 5th, 2011 at 11:01 am by Chris

2. I’ve had the exact, same problem as Chris. My game has now reset about 7 times, including twice in the same day.

   Posted on January 31st, 2011 at 4:58 pm by Ben

3. I have been having a lot of trouble since smurfette visited. I moved some things around and the smurfs keep watering empty spots, sometimes the game wont open and other problems.

   Posted on February 17th, 2011 at 1:59 pm by kizzyann

4. After level 18 game started to reset continously. Actually, i can not enter the game. All these started especially i purchased sevelar buildings by real money.

   Posted on February 22nd, 2011 at 10:33 pm by Baris

5. Oh I hate this game, my game have the same problem, but mine problems starts at level 13 (this time not a lucky number), when I went to the main menu to see the help page. When I went back to play the game he restarts itselfs. Lovely…… more than 5500 coins and 65 smurfberries lost in one time. This joke costs me more then EUR 28,00 Where can I go to get my money back? I found this theft unacceptable.
   So play this game only when you have decided not to put some money in it, only than its acceptable when its restarted all by himself. But my advise is: don’t play it at all!!!!!

   Posted on February 24th, 2011 at 11:48 am by Lia

6. I absolutly LOVE this game!!!!!!!!! but exactly what seems to happen to you guys… I went to a big level then it just restarted… It’s getting anoying cause I keep trying so hard to get back to where I was at first. I need an answer!!!

   Posted on February 25th, 2011 at 2:19 pm by Paige

7. i was on lvl 17 and it reset by itself but apparently if you email them and say that your smurfberries are all gone (say how many) then they’ll give them back to you. i dont know if it works because i havent tried it yet:)

   Posted on February 26th, 2011 at 2:18 pm by emily

8. Make sure your near a wifi spot. As long as you open there, it won’t restate.

   Posted on March 2nd, 2011 at 6:20 pm by Mandi Lynn

9. MY SMURF GAME RESTARTEDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Posted on March 10th, 2011 at 7:08 pm by nad

10. my smurf village started..sh**. this sucks and it wont go back to normal. i spent days making it cool

    Posted on March 13th, 2011 at 11:30 am by frank

11. Already level 24, then the game restarted after updating Game Center. Boooo!

    Posted on March 17th, 2011 at 10:58 am by C

12. I’ve got the same problem… 4 time … sometime a few level after beginning, sometime after level 15 … I never see smurfette, i never build a second bridge (left of the map) … Anyway, is there any issue ?
    I run my apps on iPhone 3G, when I’ll receive my iPhone 4 (or next) is the problem may be not existed anymore ?

    Posted on April 9th, 2011 at 10:21 am by Odissine

13. I was already at level 30 and it stop generating xp and all of a sudden the whole game reset itself. This is so cheating. Pls advice how I can get back the game.

    Posted on May 4th, 2011 at 7:17 pm by Veronica

14. Absolutely greedy freeware. It is absolutely a con in order to get children to on purpose or inadvertently purchase Smurf Berries at extraordinary costs. This game is terrible, the marketing is terrible and the back door con that the publishers are trying to initiate on people is disgusting. I am so incensed over this insult of an offering I’d advocate not purchasing any product with a Smurf or CapCom name attached to it again.

    Posted on May 18th, 2011 at 4:42 am by David Firlotte

15. What started as fun has become a real pain. At least three times my game has been temporarily lost and I’ve started from scratch. Later, my lost game would mysteriously come back again with all the crops withered, after I’d progressed 2-3 levels on another. I eventually worked out … never exit the game! However, at level 19, suddenly my entire game is unaccessible. I cannot open it on my ipad. The blue screen pops up, then disappears and I’m back to the apps pages. I’ve done everything from switching of the wifi, turning off the power and restarting, as well as deleting files to create more memory. Now I don’t even know how to delete it!
    I rank the reliability of this game’s software as dodgy indeed. I thought it died because I wasn’t buying anything. My motto is, “if I can’t buy Smurf things with smurf gold, I’m not buying it at all”.

    As for the playability (when it works) that is fine and easy to follow. Grow crops, make money, get more smurfs to do more work, make even more money, sends a clear message that growth = profit! The capitalistic need to expand the village, to mass-produce and make profit in order to gain experience points and move to higher levels is becoming nauseating. Where’s Socialist Smurf, Greeny Smurf, and Environmentalist Smurf when you really need them? I’m sure Papa Smurf’s potions are toxic, I’m surprised there are any trees left in the forest after all the chopping that Timber Smurf does, and I don’t even want to talk about the environmental damage from the mine!! What message are we giving people here?

    Posted on October 23rd, 2011 at 8:03 pm by CK

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