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| The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie: The Game (2004) |
There's really not much point in going over the plot of this game, since it follows the plot of the 2004 movie pretty accurately, with a couple of allowances for it being a game. Basically, Plankton stole King Neptune's crown and framed Mr. Krabs for it, and now SpongeBob and Patrick have to go and get it back. Each main level has you control either SpongeBob or Patrick, who actually play fairly differently from each other, and platform your way to the end of the level, usually completing sub-objectives along the way. Doing so earns you a Goofy Goober token and access to the next level. Each main platforming level also has several extra Goofy Goober tokens which can be earned in a number of ways. Sometimes you'll be warped to a bonus room, sometimes it's a special task in the level, sometimes you'll have to return later after unlocking a certain new ability. Speaking of which, at the start of each main platforming level, Mindy the Mermaid will provide either SpongeBob or Patrick (depending on whose level it is) with a new attack, provided they have enough Goofy Goober tokens to unlock it. This encourages the player to not only explore new levels for the tokens they'll need in the future, but also to backtrack to previous levels and make sure they've gotten everything they can there. Each level also features a number of hidden treasure chests, which unlock extras in the options menu, which could be movie clips, new costumes, art packs or cosmetic changes for the game. Suffice it to say, there's an awful lot of game here, especially for being a movie tie-in.
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| No Cheese! |
The visuals are... in all honesty, the least impressive thing about this game. It's always hard to translate a 2D environment into a 3D engine, and here it turned out only okay. The models of SpongeBob, Patrick and Mindy look great, but everything else ranges from okay to bad. Mr. Krabs, for example, looks horrible, as do background fish in cutscenes. Fortunately, the in-game models for enemies look fine enough. The environments are honestly great, however. Not only are they bristling with detail but each one is vastly different from any other, which helps the levels stand out with their own identity. Let me put it this way: it's been about 5 years since I last played this, yet the unique environments helped me remember which levels had what patterns, since they were all so distinct from each other. The soundtrack is also a win, and there are some tracks that I'll catch myself humming even now. They were remarkably restrained with using songs from the show or movie, in that I don't think I heard the main SpongeBob theme once. The only exception to this was a great one, however, as hearing Goofy Goober Rock during the final boss fight was genius. The characters are also fully voiced by the returning actors from the show and movie, including Scarlett Johansson and Jeffrey Tambor as Mindy and Neptune, with the exception of Alec Baldwin as Dennis, and the dialogue has that classic SpongeBob wit and humour that you'd expect, even the lines that weren't taken from the movie. The only problem I have with the voice acting is that, usually, the same lines are triggered in the same location every time you pass by, meaning that if you keep dying, you'll likely hear the same line of dialogue over and over and over and over and over again, which can become grating.
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| Uh oh. |
The controls are wonderful. SpongeBob and Patrick did exactly what I wanted them to do when I wanted them to do it, which is a big feat for a movie tie-in game. The two characters even control a little differently. SpongeBob is lighter and faster, while Patrick is slower, but hits harder. Even the one attack they share, the spin attack, functions a little differently, as SpongeBob can use it to hover a little in the air, making his descent a little easier. The enemies are varied enough that they don't all go down with the same attack, and the game actually helps you out with this, since whenever a new enemy type appears, a small cutscene plays that basically shows you their attack patterns and weak spots, which is very helpful, especially for kids. Each different attack has its uses, and even though some are far more situational than others (Cartwheel, Uppercut), you will get your money's worth with each attack by the end of the game. There's even an upgrade system, as if you collect enough Manliness Points, you can spend them to either bump an attack to its maximum power or give SpongeBob or Patrick an extra hit point. These can be spent in whichever order the player chooses. The 4 boss battles are also really great, although the final boss fight against Neptune is the only one I would call fantastic. 2 rely on Patrick, the other 2 SpongeBob, and they mostly utilise whichever attack you most recently learned, although the later ones mix it up a little more.
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| Bubble Blowing Baby Hunt |
Earlier I made a point of saying 'each main platforming level' since there are actually two other level types I haven't mentioned yet. The Patty Wagon driving levels have you driving through a course, either once through or in 3 laps, to the finish, while the Slide levels have you sliding through cliffs or pipes or whatever, with the player only able to move left, right, or jump. The traction on the Patty Wagon isn't all too sensitive, and while at times this can prove bothersome, it controls about as well as it could. The only real problem is in the later driving levels where they throw in needless amounts of slippery terrain on the already stiff turning, making some of the challenges far more difficult than they should be. The slide levels are great fun, and are among my favourite levels in the game. Each of these level types have 3 extra Goofy Goober challenges beyond just beating the level the first time. A time challenge, a ring challenge and a harder time challenge. The later time challenges in later levels can be really difficult, and you have to know exactly where to cut corners and jump for shortcuts and use your Nitro boosts to reach the end in time. Fortunately, this is aided by the presence of the Ring challenges, which have you making your way through each ring before it disappears, though this is a double-edged sword. While it's incredibly helpful when they use this to teach you new shortcuts you wouldn't have noticed otherwise, at times the rings can appear too close to you for you to react in time to head through them, and this holds especially true for the Sonic Wave Guitar Challenges as well. In that sense, the game forces you to play it over and over until you learn the layout, instead of it being a skill-based reaction challenge. Fortunately, apart from these issues, the difficulty curve in the rest of the game is perfect, and the game gives you enough time with a certain hazard or enemy before tweaking them to make it more challenging. Combined with the slick controls, I hardly ever felt like a death was the fault of the game. It also felt really nice, and like a true accomplishment when I conquered some of the harder tasks. Getting all 68 Goofy Goober tokens truly is a trial, and I actually feel some sense of pride now that I've done it. Combine that with a noticeable lack of glitches that usually run rampant in rushed-out movie tie-in games and... yeah. This is just a great game.
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| Sandwich Driving 101 |
The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie: The Game on PlayStation 2 (2004) is a surprisingly solid package and just a fun game. There's a reason I've been coming back to this game over and over again in my life, and I'm sure to revisit it at some point in the future as well. If nautical nonsense be something you wish, try the game for yourself should you get the chance. 8/10.
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