Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle

The Good
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle was one of the first platform, side-scrolling games I played for the ColecoVision. For the early 1980's, it featured some impressive graphics, music and sound effects. Heck, it even had an actual storyline and was based on the friendly, polite and asexual little blue creatures I watched on Saturday mornings as a kid.

The Bad
Their were four things about this game that I always disliked. Firstly, you die if you do not properly jump over specific objects, even a little blade of grass! I can sort of understand this when you are dealing with spikes, but grass? Secondly, the game has an energy bar that slowly declines, similar to what would later be seen with "Adventure Island". This means that you not only have to make perfect jumps, but have to do so fairly quickly. Thirdly, Gargamel does not appear in the game. Heck, even his trusty cat is no where to be seen. Last, but not least, I always found it a bit odd that the Smurf had no offensive weapon, like being able to toss apples or something at the enemies. No self-respecting Smurf would go after the likes of Gargamel without some sort of weapon or magic potion.

The Bottom Line
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle is a fun little side-scrolling, platform game, that shows some respect to the franchise as well as some impressive graphics, music and sound effects. If you grew up watching the Smurfs on television, you may want to try and get a hold of this game.