Reviewed: March 15, 2007
Reviewed by: Justin Nixon

Publisher
THQ

Developer
Blitz Games

Released: November 19, 2006
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone

6
6
5
5
5.7

Supported Features:

SpongeBob SquarePants has become a huge success not only with young children but also with older audiences. SpongeBob has become a household name today. Even after nearly eight years, it still continues to be one the most popular cartoons in existence. No one could have guessed that a little talking sponge would become so popular.

Of course following any popular cartoon series is an array of video games, and SpongeBob SquarePants is no exception. As soon as developers realized the popularity of this cartoon game production began. Every year each major console receives their fair share of SpongeBob “greatness.” The Wii is not spared of any of that “greatness” in SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab. This game is essentially a port that has the Wii controls tacked on like many others. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. In this case the controls are the least of the game's problems.

When you first start this game up you may be surprised by all the different options and extras. Don’t get too excited because most of the extras have to be unlocked or purchased using the games monetary system. This may take a while though. Through about the first two or three hours I was only able to collect about 600 coins. Each unlockable is 100 so that’s six unlockables that I was able to buy. Unfortunately about five of those unlockables were different forms of game art. This is slightly annoying because you can’t actually pick what you purchase. It’s completely random.

The main story of the game will obviously be the most played due to none of the extras being available at the beginning. The main story starts off with a kart race, giving the impression that this may be just another bad racing game, but don’t worry, it’s not. The controls during the races are absolutely terrible, though. You turn the remote sideways and use the A button to accelerate like many other Wii racers. Your kart isn’t exactly the most responsive thing on four wheels. In fact sometimes you may question whether or not your Wii remote is working correctly. You’ll run into walls, bombs, boxes, and basically anything else on, or around the track. Thankfully, this is just a portion of the game. It’s not a good start though, and many may call it quits right then.

After you get out of the kart, if you decide to continue, the action gets a little better. The game becomes a basic platformer. You jump across columns, slap around some baddies, and collect coins. Does it sound familiar? That’s because it is. You won’t see any new innovations in gameplay, which isn’t necessarily a problem. It works well and feels like quite a relief after the kart racing.

Controlling SpongeBob, outside of the kart, is a breeze. Most of the controls hold up very well for a Wii game. You use the nunchuk to move around, A button to jump, Z button to slap, and in air flick the remote down to pound. You can use the B button to rotate the camera too. It’s pretty simple.

Of course story mode isn’t without its problems. The entire mode feels like an elongated tutorial. Each new area has Mrs. Puff explaining exactly what to do even if you’ve done the same thing ten times before. This is due to the audience that this game is directed at, but again I’m not here to cut it slack.

The action is constantly being interrupted by small cutscenes too. Say, for example, a new door opens in an area. The action will stop, and the camera will pan to the door pointing out that it is opening. When more baddies come into an area the same thing happens. The action will stop and the camera pans to them coming into the area. This happens a lot too. You’ll be lucky to have five minutes of uninterrupted gameplay. It can get very aggravating after a while.

My biggest complaint about the gameplay is after you complete the given task, its back to the race track. That’s right. The game is broken up between the platforming, which isn’t too bad, and the awful racing. This aspect really brings the game down. If it would have just stuck with the platforming part it would have been an above average game, but it didn’t. Instead it is a below average game that can be downright frustrating at times.

The last complaint I have about the gameplay is the lack of multiplayer. There is absolutely no multiplayer to be found, and even the racing isn’t multiplayer. This was a big surprise and just another reason this game is below average.

Ok, with my major complaints out of the way let’s get back to the story mode. After you finally collect enough coins you can purchase some of the extras. Like I said earlier, the extras are randomly picked so you may not get what you want. The extras aren’t anything special. There’s some game art, an interesting band option, and an option to play different parts of story mode over again.

The game art is just that, game art. You can view it from the main menu. It’s really nothing special, but since you can’t pick what you want to buy, you’ll end up purchasing a lot of it.

SpongeBob does not exactly look like himself. SpongeBob has a reputation for being a happy little absorbent square but he does show some emotion every now and then. Not in this game though. Even when he is upset about something like losing his driver’s license, he still has a big smile on his face. He may sound like he’s upset but he still looks like it’s his birthday. I don’t know what kind of antidepressants he’s taking, but they sure are working. The rest of the characters look different than their TV counterparts too. No one looks normal.

The environments look fun…………NOT! The racetracks look bland. Too its credit, the little that I will give it, it could look worse. I can see where they tried to make the game look good. Sure, they failed, but isn’t it the thought that counts. When you get a lousy present, isn’t that what you think? Didn’t think so.

Beyond that, the tunes are recycled through the entire game. You will be sick of hearing the same thing over and over again. The voice-overs aren’t bad but they are few and far between. The sound effects are what you would expect, over-the-top and quirky. Overall the sound is a little sub-par.

There are better Wii games out there. There is no reason to waste $50 on this cartoon-inspired game. Take my word for it and stay away.