N-Philes

SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab

Posted December 3rd 2006 by Curtis Brunet.

From now on, when a new console is announced from Nintendo, fans everywhere will need to ask, "What new experience is Nintendo going to give us now?" It happened with the DS, and now it's happened with the Wii. With its touch screen, the Nintendo DS gave us new ways to control old games: FPS were changed to a keyboard/mouse style, rhythm games changed to tapping the screen versus using buttons, puzzle games even let you manipulate blocks directly, something radically different. But what about platformers? Well, the latest SpongeBob SquarePants DS title attempts to do just that, mixing platforming elements with touch screen controls. Drag the stylus to the right to make SpongeBob go right, drag it to the left to go left, and swipe upwards to jump. Works in theory right?

In theory, communism works. In theory.

And like the crumbling wall of communism, Creature from the Krusty Crab is torn apart from the gameplay out, deteriorating every other experience present on the thin flash cart. Whoever thought that this control scheme would work in a video game needs to be taken to a dark alley and taught a thorough lesson. Can you tell I'm frustrated?

The title itself wouldn't have been that bad either, had the game used a more standard control scheme. With a few different ways to play the game, there was potential. Most levels are played in the fashion I mentioned above, swipe from left to right over Spongebob (or another character) and he will begin to walk in that direction until encountering an object that will stop him in his path. Go the opposite direction to walk the other way, and swipe directly downwards to stop the character altogether. Swiping in an upwards motion over the on screen character will force them to jump, and doing this in tandem with walking and running can help the character climb obstacles and leap over great distances.

Unfortunately, this control scheme just does not work. Most of the time, you need to control the character with precise movements, and this gameplay mechanic fails miserably on the DS' small screen. When running at full throttle down a hill and having to jump at the end of it to make it over a cliff, you most of the time will miss on the on screen character with your upwards swipe and thus fall to the pits of death. Platforming across certain ledges, forcing quick backwards and forwards movements with the character, also causes death, as your character just either seems to not respond to the actions, or engages them at a later time then when you want it to happen. The result is utter annoyance and a lost stylus when you throw it across the room in frustration.

Every level has multiple layers to it, forcing the player to collect different parts of different things: Want to fly somewhere? Collect the pieces of a plane. Want to race your car? Collect the car parts. Bad guys kidnap people? Collect the people... and so on. Though each level has a slightly different story and level design, the style always seems familiar: start at point x, heading towards point y, and collect any number of something, every single time. The title does switch it up, with racing levels and flying levels, but the control scheme of the main game is so frustrating that these short breaks in gameplay don't compensate for the exasperating time spent with the bulk of the title. Even said racing levels lack actual racing, only giving the player the option of clearing roadblocks as opposed to actually racing.

But it isn't all tuna casserole and moustachioed aunt's kisses, there are some highlighting points. Although the story in the game seems slightly slapped together, with SpongeBob simply drifting off to sleep and fulfilling an adventure in his dream, the title does offer some great humour in the character dialogue and pre-level animations. While the graphics and sound in the game might be pretty straight forward, they succeed in their minimalism. The graphics are a standard 2D affair with some great effects, along with fluid speed and animations. Another nice addition to the title would be that the game even features clips from the show. The sound effects throughout the title are also perfectly replicated from the show, be it sounds coming from the different characters in the title, to the ambient music and effects. A complaint could be made in the fact that there are no actual voiceovers from characters, only sound effects. Even if they would have been in low quantity, the added mix of SpongeBob's voice could have been that extra little something for fans of the property.

There's also a good play mechanic making use of the microphone on the DS, something I haven't utilized since my Nintendog was still alive. As SpongeBob is dreaming during the game, when a jellyfish in his dream grabs a hold of his head, you see SpongeBob sleeping on the top screen, and the jellyfish will try to transport itself into the real world. You then need to blow into the microphone to expel the Jellyfish from the real world, killing it in SpongeBob's dream world. This is actually quite an inventive and fun concept. If only the rest of the title wasn't so broken, it might have been a great addition to a solid title, but in the end, it's just not enough to save this game from dying on the operating table.

Flatline - Spongebob has crusty crabs. Get yourself tested.

There's really not much to say on this front. With clips from the show, good sound bites, funny cutscenes and a thoroughly long game, the title had potential. Then, you actually play the game, and find yourself unable to stop cursing from the lunacy of the control scheme. This is beyond being not fun; it's a straight out agonizing gaming experience.

Posted in: Reviews

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