Game Review: Spongebob Squarepants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom
What can be said about Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom that couldn’t be said about any other past Spongebob game? This title, recently released under THQ’s new casual gaming label Play THQ, is more of a Nicktoons game in general than a flat out Spongebobber. With 10 characters to choose from, two from Spongebob Squarepants, two from Danny Phantom, two from Tak’s world, Jimmy Neutron, and Invader Zim, each world takes one good guy and one bad guy and teams them up in bizzaro cartoon fashion. And it’s not like Spongebob and Plankton team up, oh no, you get all sorts of wacky combinations like Spongebob and Beautiful, or Dib and Traloc. If these names don’t mean much to you, perhaps this isn’t the game you should be playing this holiday season.
The story begins with Spongebob and Squidworth walking down the street, orange goo falls on Bikini Bottom and lands on Squidworth, turning him into a zombie. Before you can say holy tahitos, Jimmy Neutron comes out of nowhere grabs Spongebob and takes him into a portal leading to Jimmy’s secret lab where all heroes and villains from Nickleodon are already waiting and apparently know each other. You are then given a special Mawgu gadget specific to each character (bubble blower for spongebob, Plunger of Doom for Zim, etc) and sent to go stop this orange goo invasion, known as the globs of doom.
The game plays easily as a button mashing romp down familiar paths, walk a bit, beat up orange things, break boxes, repeat. Simple for the little kids and mind-numbingly repetitive for the older folks playing along. You do have the option of changing between characters if your health gets low however (in single player mode). I was surprised with the control layout for this game though, and mostly in a good way. With most games that are available both on Wii and other systems, the developers think it to be a good idea to toss in some random wiimote actions to make it worth buying on the Wii instead of another system, looking through the manual and playing the game it turns out you don’t need to point, shake or swoop the wiimote or nunchuck to play this game as its all controlled by buttons. While some fans might think this to be a lazy cop-out, I found it refreshing to not be frustrated by pointless movement that breaks up the flow of a game… that is until I came across the special moves known as gadget combos. In these gadget combos you must move your wiimote in the shape and direction shown on the screen whether it be a simple up and down or an upside down four shape, before the time runs out. And if you are playing in two player mode, two different shapes must be achieved. I would be fine with this if it wasn’t for the fact that the game could not pick up a simple up down movement let alone anything else, and most times I try to do a combo it takes four or five attempts. Now, I’m a 24 year old university graduate, and if it frustrated me, how is it going to be handled by the kids that this game was developed for? (I hope they can’t get it on their first try for the sake of my ego).
Now, we all know how hard it is to improve the graphics if they’re attached to simple drawn cartoons, however, with the technology we have today, one would hope that the ability to replicate cartoon animation in a playable game was an option. That being said, the cutscenes look great, 3D smooth animations of familiar characters are well done and feel like improvements for some (such as Spongebob) and what they should be for others (such as Tak and Jimmy Neutron). The gameplay graphics are nice for a gamecube or PS2 game, but otherwise I feel the graphics engine could use a revamp, after all, this game is new for 2009 (so says the sticker on the box), not a rehash of 2002. Soundwise the game is what we could all expect, voices used in the shows (they’re on contract after all), music used from the shows, and sound effects common to all cartoons around the globe. It would have been nice to have more one-liners to avoid repetition, but the amount given is more than I expected in the first place, so I’m happy with it, it’s just extra annoying when your at a part that kills you if you jump into the water and at that part, one character makes a specific quip. So if you die 4 times, you hear the same comment 4 times… Otherwise, sounds pretty good for a game that falls flat on other aspects.
In terms of lasting appeal, you can go one player and switch characters or have a second player jump in or out at their discretion. As well, players can collect coins (red, blue or gold) to save up and upgrade their weapons, strength, speeds, life and so on. While this doesn’t physically make anything look cooler, it will help players in future levels. A final aspect to keep the game going are hidden trophies strewn throughout the cartoon worlds that allow players to go back and find them to get that 100% completion feeling in the pit of their prepubescent tummies.
All in all, if you’re a Nicktoon fan and have a Wii, pick up this title, if you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift for a child between the ages of 6- 12 (or higher) that has a Wii, PS2, or DS, this might be the best bet you have going. Or if you enjoy a simple colourful mash-em-up casual title with screechy voices, hey, why not pick up Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom?
Gameplay: 3.5/5
Graphics: 3.0/5
Sound: 2.5/5
Replay Value: 3.0/5
