Reviewed: January 29, 2005
Reviewed by: Mike Gonzales
Publisher
THQ
Developer
Heavy Iron Studios
Released: October 27, 2004
Genre: Platform
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
7
8
8
7
7.7
Supported Features
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Did you ever notice that every generation these days seems to have a hit cartoon that no other generation seems to understand? When I was young, we had Ren & Stimpy. After that, came South Park. Nowadays kids, along with some adults, are foaming at the mouth over this Spongebob Squarepants, an innocent yellow sea sponge with an ugly tie and a good heart.
Well this popular sponge has just released a big animated movie, sponsored by famed parent, Nickelodeon. Naturally, this means the doors are wide open for Nick to create a mult-platform title to add more to their immediate success. This time around Nickelodeon has selected Heavy Iron Studios to design the movie-based platformer, the same developer who brought us the last Spongebob title, the Battle for Bikini Bottom.
At first glance, this seems like a great idea. After all, Heavy Iron Studios is responsible for several good cartoon games such as The Incredibles and Scooby Doo’s latest, House of 1000 Frights. And while making a children’s game may sound simple, several previous attempts by other designers have proven these assumptions wrong. The thing that some developers fail to understand is that it isn’t enough just to have the movie license; you have to dissect every character and recreate both their appearance and personality through an interactive media.
Fortunately for Nickelodeon, that’s exactly what Heavy Iron did. Even though Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie plays like most movie games, allowing the player to control Bob and friends through the film’s series of events, it keeps the whole quirky atmosphere of the Spongebob universe piece by piece. The fact that this video game actually feels like an extension of the movie is what makes this title work. Of course, that’s not to say the gameplay or graphics don’t mean anything. But, don’t worry; Heavy Iron Studios has built a game with both easy-to-use controls and pretty visuals. In fact, it’s as if they’ve done this before.
One of the best things about Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie is how close Heavy Iron stuck to the character and his new motion picture. Basically, the game designers have brought to us an interactive version of the movie, meaning the absence of all those silly side plots that usually plague these kinds of games. Just like the movie, Spongebob Squarepants and his sidekick Patrick have set out to stop the evil genius Plankton by thwarting his diabolical “plan Z.” In order to do this Bob and Patrick are forced to endure level after level of spin kicking and cartwheeling over Plankton’s henchmen. Along the way, our two heroes can collect power-ups, in the form of tokens, which can later be used for upgrades.
Heavy Iron Studios did a really good job of making this game accessible to most fans. These levels that take place on foot start off very easy and then progressively get more difficult. The game has such an easy concept (kill the bad and collect the good) that kids could very easily pick up the controller and play, while older fans can search high and low for those more hidden tokens. The only thing that might cause problems for both are some of those oh-so-familiar jumping issues. At times the player might fall to their death by missing a ledge, despite swearing up and down they made it. Even though this is an age old problem with platformers (remember Pitfall?), it can still be incredibly annoying.
While most of the game will take place on foot, there are quite a few levels in Bob’s vehicle, the hilarious Patty Wagon. This is Bob’s convertible car that is shaped like fast food burger and uses pickles for wheels. Not only are these levels extremely amusing, for obvious reasons, they are a welcome change from the standard jump and fight routine that takes up the majority of the game. With zero handling problems or unfair deaths, players can use these missions to relax and simply enjoy the pretty scenery Heavy Irons has provided. It’s just a shame we weren’t given the opportunity to race these silly vehicles in any multiplayer modes.
First off, one of the best features in this game is by far the visual appeal. Heavy Iron has a history of recreating that perfect cartoon look, even when making a 3D game from a 2D program. The same personality I spoke of earlier is also reinforced with the incredible art design of the animated cast. Bob’s innocent stupidity, Patrick’s good-natured outlook, and Plankton’s power hungry lunacy are all represented in full force in terms of facial expressions and movement. Without this attention to detail, this game could’ve suffered the same uninspiring outcome as most movie games, such as Terminator 3 or even the more recent, King Arthur.
Like I mentioned before, the scenery in Spongebob is also done very well. All of the bright, simple colors from the movie are also seen in the game. The missions taking place outside even have that light watercolor look complete with bubbles, keeping the underwater adventure in character. The “architecture” also looks right out of a Flintstones cartoon, with buildings and other structures having that cutesy swollen look, keeping the whole animated vibe throughout. Simply put, the in game visuals show off Heavy Iron’s expertise in this genre, I don’t think Nickelodeon could have chosen anyone better.
One of the biggest and often most overlooked factors that keep movie games fun is the sound. In order for a game to give fans of the film the proper treatment, the voice acting, the music, and the sounds effect must all be identical to the motion picture. Well, being the pros they are, Heavy Iron Studios made sure the have all of the necessary voices and sounds of the Spongebob movie. Now I know that this is a much easier feat for Spongebob than most. A game like Shark Tale means gathering big name actors like Will Smith and Angelina Jolie, while Squarepants uses the same names from the Nickelodeon program, but nevertheless, the acting was indeed solid, giving fans the same quirky Bob they’ve grown to love.
As an extra-added bonus, Heavy Iron has given us some additional subtleties in Spongebob that we shouldn’t overlook. Warner Brothers would be very pleased to hear some of the small, but effective sounds in this game. When Bob sneaks around to remain unseen, stings are plucked to create that classic cartoon tiptoe sound. Naturally, any homage to the genius of Bugs Bunny is greatly appreciated and should be noted. Gamers will also hear that silly cartoon spin sound during Bob’s attack move. Without little touches like these, the game could have lost some of its momentum, but thankfully Heavy Irons Studios does a good job of keeping those cheap grins coming.
I have to say this game is by no means a life-changing experience. We all know that this platformer exists for the purpose of increasing the movie’s financial success, but Nick’s decision to go with this developer has made the game much more rewarding than expected.
On the other hand, I will admit that Heavy Iron has dropped the ball in terms of extras. I was hoping to see some fun multiplayer mini-games similar to Crash Bandicoot’s last release. Nothing satisfies young gamers like a healthy dose of competition and while I we can easily excuse the lack of online capabilities for a kid’s game; I think a change of pace from just the single player campaign would have been a nice addition.
Spongebob Squarepants the Movie is another one of those titles that proves to us not all movie games are crap. Considering the game was released around the same time as the movie, meaning strict deadlines for the developers, Heavy Iron Studios has done a good job recreating this interactive Squarepants adventure. With solid graphics and voice acting identical to the television program, this title should satisfy any fan of the motion picture, especially the little ones.
So if you or your child can’t get enough of Spongebob Squarepants I think this game is for you. However, if you’re looking for a top of the line platformer complete with extras galore, you should just stick to renting this one.