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Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
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Graphics & Sound:
Spongebob is back, once again. As if we ever thought he’d stay gone for very long. This time, we’re treated to his dreams, along with the dreams of Patrick and Plankton. And trust me, very little is normal about their dreams!
In Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab, you actually get a few different “art styles” to see. Each of the different dreamers has a different view of the world, so their dreams (or nightmares) reflect this.
The background sounds are also different for the various areas. Of course, the normal Spongebob theme music is there, but depending on where you are, you could be hearing race cars, airplanes, screaming citizens, or even cries for help. In the way of unlockables, Spongebob provides additional cutscene videos, still shots, and even music for you to enjoy. |
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Gameplay:
Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab gives you several different options of play. To start out, you play Story mode to unlock everything else. You’ll begin in Spongebob’s dream, a very familiar dream for fans of the show. As usual, Spongebob is trying to earn his driver’s license. To do so, you must win a race, but your car is broken. Your driving instructor, Mrs. Puff, guides you through searching out the various parts to your car and in doing so, teaches you the controls of the game. Once you get your license, you race against several other characters including Gary, Patrick, and Plankton.
Eventually, you end Spongebob’s dream and start in Patrick’s. And then eventually you’re in Plankton’s dream. And then back to Spongebob, Patrick, etc. You’ll go through 9 different dream locations. At the end of each level, you’ll finish the level off with a mini-game. If you miss items in the level or just want to go back and play a particular area again, exit out of Story mode and choose Free Play. In Free Play, you can select any of the previous levels to replay. If you want to play any of the mini-games again, after you’ve beaten the level, they’re selectable under Bonus Games. You’ll also notice that you start collecting a lot of Z coins and have nothing to do with them. Select Extras and then Shop to spend those Z’s buying bonus videos, art, etc.
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Difficulty:
My one complaint with this Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab game is that it’s just a little too easy. I think I only died one time throughout the entire game. Every save point refills your health completely, and there’s a save point around just about every corner. The enemies, mostly crabs that look like a mini Mr. Krabs, and lobsters that look like Larry, take no skill at all to beat. Some of "Dreaded Patrick's" henchmen are a little harder, but not much. Unlocking Patrick and Plankton to race with in the last stage requires finding "hidden" seeds. They’re not exactly hard to find though, especially considering there’s an icon that flashes every time you're near one.
The other thing you can unlock are bonus images, sound clips, alternate costumes, and automobile skins. To unlock these, you simply collect coins and buy them. Unlike some platformers, where there's a set amount of coins for each level, so you have to find them all (or at least most of them), the coins in Spongebob are all back each time you replay a level, so there are as many available as you might want to collect. |
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Game Mechanics:
The controls in Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab are very easy to learn and use. The left analog stick controls all your motions. Square, X, Circle, and Triangle control different actions depending on which character you’re playing at the time and which level you're on. The right analog stick controls the camera angle. For almost all of the game, the camera angles were on spot. On one level in particular though, I had trouble turning the camera, as it kept getting stuck on the scenery. But since the movement controls were always easy to use, I didn't have any real trouble playing the game.
Even though Spongebob is a relatively short game and easy to complete, it's still quite a lot of fun to play. Spongebob provides so many different styles of play that it's like you’ve got more than 4 different games in one, so I can easily see playing it over and over again. |
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-Cyn, GameVortex Communications AKA Sara Earl |
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