Super SpongeBob!

Oh Cute!

That's the phrase that's uttered by my wife whenever she sees Spongebob. A few months ago my wife made a valiant attempt to adopt a shared interest in video games. I'll tell you now that this fell flat. However, she did love Spongebob and the game is a fixture in our video game library. The game challenges her. Despite being a veteran of Nintendo games such as Super Mario Brothers, Jurassic Park and Castlevania III; she is not drawn to video games and only played the ones I listed above because it was a bonding experience with her dad.

Spongebob is a game that I am proud to have, not only as a gamer, but also as a parent. The game is a cross between Super Mario Brothers, and Sonic the Hedgehog. The object is to help Spongebob get a birthday present for his best friend Patrick all the while helping other characters out. In order to accomplish this you must go through several levels to get items. On each level there are enemy sea creatures like snails. These creatures can be stomped on by jumping on them (similar to Super Mario Brothers). There are also golden spatulas that allow you to take a hit from an enemy (similar to the rings in Sonic). However, if you get hit, you drop all your spatulas and you have to quickly snatch them up again before they disappear. At the end of a series of levels you must defeat a boss character like a giant Jellyfish. During your mission, you can obtain different items like a net to catch smaller jellyfish, and a coral reef blower to remove walls obstructing your path.


Technical Standings

Before I go into my opinions of the game in general, let me discuss technical attributes like graphics, sound, and replay value.

The graphics are very good, but not perfect. The graphics are made up of sprites (that is, Spongebob is 2 dimensional instead of 3), but it's done very well. The background is very detailed and layered very deep. Even though this is all in sprites, it actually is pleasing to look at. Although this game can be played on a Playstation 2, it was intended for the original Playstation, so the graphics might seem dated. But for the original Playstation system, it does very well.

The sound is pretty good, but not outstanding. The voices are done very well and you can hear them clearly. If by chance you can't, there are subtitles to help you out. The game sounds lack a little bit and the background sounds (like the sea) sound muffled. The music is pretty good, but can sound monotonous after a while. Although for the intended audience, I don't see this as a big deal.

The game play is pretty good. The controls respond nicely, but not as precise as other games on this platform. Some items are hard to control like the coral reef blower, but if you read the manual, you should be able to figure it out with some practice ... even if you're 6 years old.

The replay value is rather limited. Once you finish the game, it can get really repetitive unless you try and find secrets or attempt to grab more spatulas on a particular level. The difficulty is rather easy for many people and this might be a renter unless you have a small child.


Other Thoughts

So when we played this game, I quickly got bored with it as my wife was challenged, but not frustrated. Unfortunately it didn't turn into the type of bonding activity we had thought it would be. I would play through the game and complete the levels one after another very quickly. Then she would take over and go through them slower, but consistently. One thing this game lacks is a second player option. It would be nice to play on a split screen at the same time, or in turns like in the Super Mario Brothers games. If your child has a brother or sister who would be interested in playing, they might have to sit and watch for a while. This might help them learn how to share and be patient, but it will probably lead to many fights and arguments on the road to that. Overall I was very impressed with the game. Now that we have a baby, we don't play it all that often. I play my games just because after work I like to unwind by "gaming out". My wife has her way of unwinding by going on ebay and looking at cute stuff.

Oh well, I think this will be a keeper and perhaps on a snowy or rainy day a few years from now, we can introduce this game to our daughter.


Who This is Intended For

This game is really meant for children and the rare adult who likes watching Spongebob. It's also a good game for people who haven't played many video games. However, if you give this as a present to your kid whose now a teenager or has gone off to college, they might commit you to a home or something. As far as kids go, there's not much you have to worry about here. There really isn't any violence, unless you consider stomping (jumping and sitting) on a giant snail to be violent. There's always a positive tone to the game as with the Spongebob character and central theme goes as well.