Parent's Guide: The Smurfs 2 - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

Based on the film of the same name, The Smurfs 2 is a 2D platformer in the vein of New Super Mario Bros, that lets up to four people take control of their favourite Smurfs in a quest to rescue Smurfette from the evil Gargamel. Taking in similar locations to the film, from New York to Paris, you'll be collecting smurfberries, tackling the hypnotised forest wildlife, and defeating bosses as you go.

With 30 levels to complete, there's certainly plenty of the Smurfs 2 to go around, although there are a few things that younger children may struggle with. First of all is how your Smurfs can collide with each other when playing with multiplayer. Making simple jumps require a bit more planning so you don't end up all jumping at the same time and bumping into each other, multiplayer sessions can be particularly perilous from time to time!

Perhaps the thing that may catch younger children out the most, though, is the limited number of lives. Much like on the Sonic games, the smurfberries you collect act as a sort of shield - when an enemy hits you, you'll lose all your smurfberries, but as long as you had a single berry, you won't die. Should you get hit again without managing to pick another berry up, though, it'll be game over, and you'll be taken back to the title screen, having lost all your progress in the level (at least when playing in single player). In multiplayer, you'll have to sit and watch the rest of your friends play until they find the special item that can give you back. Less forgiving than you'd likely expect from a kid's film tie-in (the LEGO games, for example, give you unlimited lives), older children will likely have few problems, but parents should be mindful that younger children may have a few hiccups/difficulty hurdles.

As a kid's film tie-in, The Smurfs 2 doesn't contain anything that parents should worry about - no gore, violence, bad language, or sex.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Xbox 360