This game scared me and I don’t know why.
Chill AF
This review contains spoilers
This is a very good SpongeBob game, but it's not the best.
The Story is that Gary finds a treasure chest with The Flying Dutchman inside, who decides to kidnap Gary, and the rest of SpongeBob's friends for his own pirate crew, and It's up to SpongeBob to find the Dutchman's treasure to free them from their spell, and also find and rescue them too. This is an interesting idea for a SpongeBob game, and it helps with giving this game feel like what you would do in a game, while still sticking true to what SpongeBob Squarepants is.
The Characters are the same as in the cartoon, they also have good moments and lines that really make them feel like they are the same ones.
The Graphics are not bad, but not great either. They are very colorful, and everything looks how it should be for a tie-in game. But the Animations look non-existant outside of cutscenes, and it will be very distracting.
The Gameplay has you going around different areas of the cartoon to find all the letters to SpongeBob's name each part, so that they will reveal where one of the seven treasures of The Flying Dutchman are, and make them appear. This is a great mixture of gaming, and feeling like the show, and the missions have you go around, doing stuff you could see SpongeBob do in the show, instead of random stuff that doesn't feel like stuff the character would ever need to come across. Collecting money also help out for some later missions to happen, exploring the cartoon world "although limited" is still enjoyable for fans to playthrough, and the controls feel free, but not to the point where they become slippery, they have a decent balance. Also getting SpongeBob to move faster by rolling is more fun than simply walking around. But for the praise I have been giving this game, there are a number of problems I have noticed. Like how can you catch bees and wasps with a net? How can you use your to glide across areas? How do you take out big enemies with you net? Why do random lifeguards and clowns attack you? Why are some of the delivery homes in places no normal delivery guy could get to? How are the cracks covered in Sandy's dome when the acorns are not identical to the holes? Why did I launch myself into a anchor, but SpongeBob still went through to the other side of it? Also you can play certain missions in random order, yet the dialogue doesn't always compensate for that, causing SpongeBob to be ready to give his gift to Sandy, but only after talking to her later, does he finally question what to get her in the first place. Also fighting challenges in this game "minus the final boss" resort to who is the fastest at hitting enough junk first. You can only change in certain areas, meaning you would have to backtrack if you don't have the right costume for the next scenario. The throwing ball past the anchor carnival game is broken because you can simply place the balls in there instead of aiming. Finally, why is there a beach under the ocean with it's own ocean of water that is under the water? All these problems prevent this game from being any higher than where I am placing it.
The Music is great, the tunes give of an atmosphere of the cartoon. But the one dumb thing about it is that, the music depends on what clothes you are wearing instead of the environment. So you will have to put up with the music not fitting in to the current background, depending on where you are, and what you are doing.
Revenge of the Flying Dutchman will have SpongeBob happy that they can enjoy playing a game as their favourite Sponge.
The Story is that Gary finds a treasure chest with The Flying Dutchman inside, who decides to kidnap Gary, and the rest of SpongeBob's friends for his own pirate crew, and It's up to SpongeBob to find the Dutchman's treasure to free them from their spell, and also find and rescue them too. This is an interesting idea for a SpongeBob game, and it helps with giving this game feel like what you would do in a game, while still sticking true to what SpongeBob Squarepants is.
The Characters are the same as in the cartoon, they also have good moments and lines that really make them feel like they are the same ones.
The Graphics are not bad, but not great either. They are very colorful, and everything looks how it should be for a tie-in game. But the Animations look non-existant outside of cutscenes, and it will be very distracting.
The Gameplay has you going around different areas of the cartoon to find all the letters to SpongeBob's name each part, so that they will reveal where one of the seven treasures of The Flying Dutchman are, and make them appear. This is a great mixture of gaming, and feeling like the show, and the missions have you go around, doing stuff you could see SpongeBob do in the show, instead of random stuff that doesn't feel like stuff the character would ever need to come across. Collecting money also help out for some later missions to happen, exploring the cartoon world "although limited" is still enjoyable for fans to playthrough, and the controls feel free, but not to the point where they become slippery, they have a decent balance. Also getting SpongeBob to move faster by rolling is more fun than simply walking around. But for the praise I have been giving this game, there are a number of problems I have noticed. Like how can you catch bees and wasps with a net? How can you use your to glide across areas? How do you take out big enemies with you net? Why do random lifeguards and clowns attack you? Why are some of the delivery homes in places no normal delivery guy could get to? How are the cracks covered in Sandy's dome when the acorns are not identical to the holes? Why did I launch myself into a anchor, but SpongeBob still went through to the other side of it? Also you can play certain missions in random order, yet the dialogue doesn't always compensate for that, causing SpongeBob to be ready to give his gift to Sandy, but only after talking to her later, does he finally question what to get her in the first place. Also fighting challenges in this game "minus the final boss" resort to who is the fastest at hitting enough junk first. You can only change in certain areas, meaning you would have to backtrack if you don't have the right costume for the next scenario. The throwing ball past the anchor carnival game is broken because you can simply place the balls in there instead of aiming. Finally, why is there a beach under the ocean with it's own ocean of water that is under the water? All these problems prevent this game from being any higher than where I am placing it.
The Music is great, the tunes give of an atmosphere of the cartoon. But the one dumb thing about it is that, the music depends on what clothes you are wearing instead of the environment. So you will have to put up with the music not fitting in to the current background, depending on where you are, and what you are doing.
Revenge of the Flying Dutchman will have SpongeBob happy that they can enjoy playing a game as their favourite Sponge.
Finally played a version that doesn't crash around Sandy's dome. It's really boring tho. Having the actual voice actors for all the characters is nice but it's all just so vanilla.
worst sbsp game this shit is abhorrent
The first three SpongeBob games I ever played were SuperSponge for the Game Boy Advance, followed by Battle for Bikini Bottom and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie for GameCube, the latter for the Game Boy Advance as well.
I had a paltry amount of Nickelodeon games, and one of them included Rugrats Royal Ransom, but what does that have to do with anything? Well, it was through that game that I was introduced to Revenge of the Flying Dutchman via a trailer Royal Ransom included. I had worn out my options on SpongeBob games to that point, so I figured, why not give Revenge a shot?
By the way, I am aware of the PS2 version being glitched, though I hear it depends on the model you use. I had the GameCube version.
I played the game and needless to say... kid me did not pick up on the bad elements, like, at all. I was a SpongeBob fan, and I just took the game at face value. I liked Battle for Bikini Bottom more, but I didn't hate Revenge, and I needed to stress Battle was my first SpongeBob game because a lot of people played Revenge first.
I was unable to progress once I got to Larry the Lobster, and that was because I was uncertain about the jellyfish counters and which one Larry would be referring to. Overtime I got other games and this was among many games I owned that would disappear, and I moved on.
People give this game shit, but I honestly find it hard to hate, once again I played Battle and even the movie game before this one. When you realize the developers basically went through hell when making this game it's hard to be mad at it, save that energy for more conscious efforts.
I noticed people also got salty over elements that were not consistent with the show's, and to that I have to say... touch grass. Maybe they ran out of time, but you wanna know what this game included that Battle didn't? Minor details like the bird cage in SpongeBob's room, the salad bar from the Culture Shock episode, hell, Jellyfish Fields is essentially taking elements from the park in Karate Choppers. And you call yourselves fans if you can't even put two and two together on that?
Or TL;DR, apparently the devs based their iteration on the show's first season, which when you take into account environments and set pieces being those found in season 1 episodes it paints a picture.
I will agree the music choices wear thin considerably, the narrator, just the narrator, and that this is far from an exceptional game, but there're far worse out there, and I don't think a foghorn has anything to do with it. It's hard for me to hate this game because:
A: The GameCube version exists so you don't have to take a risk with the broken PS2 version, especially if you happen to not own the console model that works better with it.
B: The aforementioned set-pieces fitting with what was present in season 1 thus even if it's empty you can kinda imagine them being in the show.
C: The fact that the developers went through hell and thus were not able to give it as much polish as they could've.
D: It's better than Plankton's Robotic Revenge and the Sponge Out of Water game.
I had a paltry amount of Nickelodeon games, and one of them included Rugrats Royal Ransom, but what does that have to do with anything? Well, it was through that game that I was introduced to Revenge of the Flying Dutchman via a trailer Royal Ransom included. I had worn out my options on SpongeBob games to that point, so I figured, why not give Revenge a shot?
By the way, I am aware of the PS2 version being glitched, though I hear it depends on the model you use. I had the GameCube version.
I played the game and needless to say... kid me did not pick up on the bad elements, like, at all. I was a SpongeBob fan, and I just took the game at face value. I liked Battle for Bikini Bottom more, but I didn't hate Revenge, and I needed to stress Battle was my first SpongeBob game because a lot of people played Revenge first.
I was unable to progress once I got to Larry the Lobster, and that was because I was uncertain about the jellyfish counters and which one Larry would be referring to. Overtime I got other games and this was among many games I owned that would disappear, and I moved on.
People give this game shit, but I honestly find it hard to hate, once again I played Battle and even the movie game before this one. When you realize the developers basically went through hell when making this game it's hard to be mad at it, save that energy for more conscious efforts.
I noticed people also got salty over elements that were not consistent with the show's, and to that I have to say... touch grass. Maybe they ran out of time, but you wanna know what this game included that Battle didn't? Minor details like the bird cage in SpongeBob's room, the salad bar from the Culture Shock episode, hell, Jellyfish Fields is essentially taking elements from the park in Karate Choppers. And you call yourselves fans if you can't even put two and two together on that?
Or TL;DR, apparently the devs based their iteration on the show's first season, which when you take into account environments and set pieces being those found in season 1 episodes it paints a picture.
I will agree the music choices wear thin considerably, the narrator, just the narrator, and that this is far from an exceptional game, but there're far worse out there, and I don't think a foghorn has anything to do with it. It's hard for me to hate this game because:
A: The GameCube version exists so you don't have to take a risk with the broken PS2 version, especially if you happen to not own the console model that works better with it.
B: The aforementioned set-pieces fitting with what was present in season 1 thus even if it's empty you can kinda imagine them being in the show.
C: The fact that the developers went through hell and thus were not able to give it as much polish as they could've.
D: It's better than Plankton's Robotic Revenge and the Sponge Out of Water game.
You know that feeling when you're wiping your arse with cheap bog roll and your finger pokes through the paper so you end up fingering yourself? Unless you are into that sort of thing, it's an awful experience. That's what playing this game is like. Now, the game isn't a glitchy, broken, unplayable mess like Enter the Dragonfly was, but a part of me wishes it was that way I could get some form of entertainment or enjoyment from watching it fall apart. The game is just...really bad. The models are ugly and their animations are unusual-looking and weird. Looking at the script, it feels like they made Spongebob a bit dumber and Patrick is weirdly dickish sometimes? Thinking about it, many characters just seem to be really annoyed at Spongebob's presence at all times. I don't know. It just feels off. They actually did manage to get all of the VAs. At least, the ones they need for the core characters that aren't the weird throwaway ones that do not exist outside of the game.
I'm going to discuss the voices a bit more, and there is one aspect of these voices that makes me so unbelievably angry. It irritates me to no goddamn end. I NEED an explanation to how they could fuck this up so badly. First, I'm going to ask that all who are unfamiliar with how the French Narrator in the Spongebob series sounds listens to the voice. Then, I need everyone to hear what the French Narrator sounds like in this game. You'll notice that they sound nothing alike. Remember that I said they have all of the VAs here. In case you cannot tell, the French Narrator in the show is voiced by Tom Kenny, who voices Spongebob, Gary, and assorted secondary characters and unnamed fish. It is quite clear that Tom Kenny is not voicing the French Narrator in the game, but remember that they have all of the VAs in the game, meaning they got Tom Kenny to voice Spongebob and Gary. WHY. THE. FUCK. ISN'T HE THE FUCKING VOICE OF THE GODDAMN FRENCH NARRATOR? THERE IS NO GODDAMN EXCUSE FOR THAT UNLESS IT IS A LEVEL OF INCOMPETENCY TO RIVAL THAT OF SONIC TEAM. Maybe I'm too worked up over it, but it just pisses me off at an ungodly level. No excuse. Tom Kenny is RIGHT. FUCKING. THERE. FUCKING USE HIM. YOU ALREADY PAID FOR HIM. Maybe there is the off chance I am wrong and it is Tom Kenny, but it does not sound like him, nor is he credited as the voice of the French Narrator, at least in the manual. I don't remember if anyone is. Alright, rant over. Let's get back to the review now that that little tirade is over.
The gameplay is somewhere between meh and bad. It does work and there are interesting ideas, but a lot of it is just unenjoyable and not fun. It has a lot of platforming but also other weird gameplay things as well. None of it fun. Here's a thing: there are tiles you have to collect and when you find them all in a level, they form a picture that reveals the location of a hidden treasure, but that's not all. They take the form of everyone's favourite puzzle type: those goddamn sliding puzzles that are the bane of everyone's existence. Granted, there are only 9 tiles (technically 8 with the blank space) and the puzzles are piss easy, but still. They're slide puzzles.
The story is kind of typical and also a bit stupid. Spongebob finds a chest that held the Flying Dutchman's treasure and a bottle that had The Dutchman imprisoned within it, 'cos he's a jinn now, I guess. As punishment, he enslaves Spongebob's friends as part of his crew. You have to collect The Dutchman's hidden treasures to defeat him, kinda like collecting Dracula's body parts in Simon's Quest or some of the Igavanias, but unlike in those games it is not explained how these things are used to defeat The Dutchman from what I recall, but that may be incorrect.
The music is alright, if you're okay with only 4 songs, 6 with the two situational costumes. They change with the costumes, which is kinda cool, but they are all that you hear when you use them. From what I recall, none of them change with the levels except maybe the default Squarepants costume. MAYBE. I'd rather not play this game if it can be avoided, so I'm not going to double check. Take it with a grain of salt, I guess. The game can be beaten in a day, which is all the more better as it is less time that you have to spend with this horseshit. I'd say play it and decide for yourself, but it is best to avoid it like the plague.
I'm going to discuss the voices a bit more, and there is one aspect of these voices that makes me so unbelievably angry. It irritates me to no goddamn end. I NEED an explanation to how they could fuck this up so badly. First, I'm going to ask that all who are unfamiliar with how the French Narrator in the Spongebob series sounds listens to the voice. Then, I need everyone to hear what the French Narrator sounds like in this game. You'll notice that they sound nothing alike. Remember that I said they have all of the VAs here. In case you cannot tell, the French Narrator in the show is voiced by Tom Kenny, who voices Spongebob, Gary, and assorted secondary characters and unnamed fish. It is quite clear that Tom Kenny is not voicing the French Narrator in the game, but remember that they have all of the VAs in the game, meaning they got Tom Kenny to voice Spongebob and Gary. WHY. THE. FUCK. ISN'T HE THE FUCKING VOICE OF THE GODDAMN FRENCH NARRATOR? THERE IS NO GODDAMN EXCUSE FOR THAT UNLESS IT IS A LEVEL OF INCOMPETENCY TO RIVAL THAT OF SONIC TEAM. Maybe I'm too worked up over it, but it just pisses me off at an ungodly level. No excuse. Tom Kenny is RIGHT. FUCKING. THERE. FUCKING USE HIM. YOU ALREADY PAID FOR HIM. Maybe there is the off chance I am wrong and it is Tom Kenny, but it does not sound like him, nor is he credited as the voice of the French Narrator, at least in the manual. I don't remember if anyone is. Alright, rant over. Let's get back to the review now that that little tirade is over.
The gameplay is somewhere between meh and bad. It does work and there are interesting ideas, but a lot of it is just unenjoyable and not fun. It has a lot of platforming but also other weird gameplay things as well. None of it fun. Here's a thing: there are tiles you have to collect and when you find them all in a level, they form a picture that reveals the location of a hidden treasure, but that's not all. They take the form of everyone's favourite puzzle type: those goddamn sliding puzzles that are the bane of everyone's existence. Granted, there are only 9 tiles (technically 8 with the blank space) and the puzzles are piss easy, but still. They're slide puzzles.
The story is kind of typical and also a bit stupid. Spongebob finds a chest that held the Flying Dutchman's treasure and a bottle that had The Dutchman imprisoned within it, 'cos he's a jinn now, I guess. As punishment, he enslaves Spongebob's friends as part of his crew. You have to collect The Dutchman's hidden treasures to defeat him, kinda like collecting Dracula's body parts in Simon's Quest or some of the Igavanias, but unlike in those games it is not explained how these things are used to defeat The Dutchman from what I recall, but that may be incorrect.
The music is alright, if you're okay with only 4 songs, 6 with the two situational costumes. They change with the costumes, which is kinda cool, but they are all that you hear when you use them. From what I recall, none of them change with the levels except maybe the default Squarepants costume. MAYBE. I'd rather not play this game if it can be avoided, so I'm not going to double check. Take it with a grain of salt, I guess. The game can be beaten in a day, which is all the more better as it is less time that you have to spend with this horseshit. I'd say play it and decide for yourself, but it is best to avoid it like the plague.
Mr Crabs didn't spawn in at the end so I got softlocked 😔
My opinion on the game has changed throughout the years. The voice actors and the looks of Bikini Bottom, Tree dome, Chum World and the Graveyard are the best bits but everything else is innaccurate and worthless
I like that it’s from the early era of SpongeBob when it hadn’t taken over tv and was still a pretty standard Nickelodeon show at the time. It feels like a really cool glimpse into the past. With that said, it’s so wonky and the atmosphere is so unsettling and empty. It feels like so many things are missing, regardless I enjoyed it for what it was. A mess of a game with quirky charm.
Wow, the first game in my SpongeBob Marathon on twitch that isn’t terrible.
This would be a really fun platformer if the game didn't literally ship broken.
This game takes me back to a more peaceful time. A time of innocence and ignorance. Those were good days. Unfortunately, I played some of the trashiest games back then. Including this one. Wellll, that's an exaggeration. The game plays fine and has some nice tracks (all 9 of them ig). I'm just glad I can finally put my nostalgia to rest on this title and never return to it again.
From what I played of it, this game was okay. A decent 3D platformer that had promise but needed polish. I was excited about playing this game at first and was actually having fun until I was hardlocked out of the game and literally unable to progress without starting the game over from scratch.
Much like Garfield for the PlayStation 2, a game I reviewed earlier, there's no autosave feature, something that almost every PS2 game should have.
This issue hardlocked me out of the game, unable to progress from a reasonable starting point.
One level's objective in order to get a letter tile you need to collect all of the treasure chests needed to complete the game, is to put rocks onto a pressure plate.
The pressure plate is a circle surrounded by 4 metal squares, each metal square having a rock next to it.
Naturally I'd assumed the squares with the rocks next to them were the plates and put a rock on each one.
Nothing.
It wasn't until I read a guide online that I learned the pressure plate was actually the circle in the middle, and moved all of the rocks off the plates and into the circles.
Once a rock goes on the pressure plate you can't take it off, and one of the rocks on the plates had somehow clipped through the plate that had risen up (you have to put the rocks down to make the plates rise up in order to climb up and get a tile) rendering it unusable.
I couldn't take off the rocks from the middle as they were too heavy to throw out and as you add rocks you get further into the hole where the pressure plate was.
The rock I needed to progress was unobtainable as it was trapped inside an object I couldn't move. The only way I'd be able to get it was to restart the game from the last save, which for me would've been the beginning because I'm used to autosaves.
At least with Garfield for the PlayStation 2 I could actually have fun replaying it from the start again. This is just sad.
So is the tale of BigSky Interactive.
Much like Garfield for the PlayStation 2, a game I reviewed earlier, there's no autosave feature, something that almost every PS2 game should have.
This issue hardlocked me out of the game, unable to progress from a reasonable starting point.
One level's objective in order to get a letter tile you need to collect all of the treasure chests needed to complete the game, is to put rocks onto a pressure plate.
The pressure plate is a circle surrounded by 4 metal squares, each metal square having a rock next to it.
Naturally I'd assumed the squares with the rocks next to them were the plates and put a rock on each one.
Nothing.
It wasn't until I read a guide online that I learned the pressure plate was actually the circle in the middle, and moved all of the rocks off the plates and into the circles.
Once a rock goes on the pressure plate you can't take it off, and one of the rocks on the plates had somehow clipped through the plate that had risen up (you have to put the rocks down to make the plates rise up in order to climb up and get a tile) rendering it unusable.
I couldn't take off the rocks from the middle as they were too heavy to throw out and as you add rocks you get further into the hole where the pressure plate was.
The rock I needed to progress was unobtainable as it was trapped inside an object I couldn't move. The only way I'd be able to get it was to restart the game from the last save, which for me would've been the beginning because I'm used to autosaves.
At least with Garfield for the PlayStation 2 I could actually have fun replaying it from the start again. This is just sad.
So is the tale of BigSky Interactive.
Thank god I played Battle for Bikini Bottom before I played this game, or else Spongebob/licensed games would've disillusioned me. As a kid, I played anything that came my way because I didn't have any money to buy my games, and I was impressionable and wide-eyed as any other kid. Spongebob was the prime cartoon character of my generation, and the yellow sponge getting his own console video game was exciting back in the early 2000s. As big as Spongebob was back then, you'd think they'd put some effort into his first major video game outing. Man, I would've been disappointed if I bought this game the year it came out.
The game begins with Spongebob waking up from a bad dream. He then plays fetch with Gary as Gary picks up a treasure chest instead of the stick that Spongebob threw. There are already two significant issues present here in this cutscene. For one, Spongebob's facial animation clips out of his head when he plays fetch with Gary. Even for 2002 PS2 graphics, it looks hilariously lazy. Another problem is the pacing of the story in this game. Have you ever gotten tired while writing a paper that you try to get to the end of your points while the flow and ebb of your essay are compromised because you want to get it done? That's what the story of this game feels like, and I'm convinced the writers in this game didn't give a shit. The story just kind of...happens. How does Gary find the Flying Dutchman's treasure chest right outside? Why is The Flying Dutchman angry that Spongebob released him and will ruin his life by taking all of his friends away? Who knows, and who cares because the writers didn't. Spongebob spends the game rescuing his friends, finding puzzles pieces doing different objectives in different levels to find Flying Dutchman-related items to get access to his ship eventually. I'm okay with item-collecting in games like Banjo Kazooie, but I'm convinced the developers of this game went with this type of platformer to pad out the game because they didn't give a shit.
Speaking of not giving a shit, there are only four music tracks throughout the game; each way coincides with Spongebob's costumes you unlock throughout the game. Each of these tracks fit the world of Spongebob just fine, but they get tiring REALLY fast. The levels in this game are "familiar" places from the TV show, and I use the word familiar loosely. Downtown Bikini Bottom is a dark, dingy alleyway filled with tough greaser fish. Remember Downtown Bikini Bottom being like this in the show? Because I don't. Sandy's Treedome is fine, albeit a bit too large, probably to appropriately fit the scale of the rest of the levels, but the problem is that Spongebob doesn't even have his water helmet on, and he doesn't get dehydrated. Come on, guys, it's from the first episode of the fucking show!
Goo Lagoon looks like a desert and has the least thrilling boat chase in gaming history. At least that part is funny. Jellyfish Fields is the reason why I quit this game. The level looks better than all familiar areas from the show, but its level design is worse. . The point when I gave up was the Jellyfish challenge because this objective signifies that this game is so lazy to the point where it's broken. You have to catch 100 jellyfish to get the reef blower, and you naturally assume that this objective is within the confines of the level, but there are only about 75-80 jellyfish in Jellyfish Fields. The game doesn't tell you that the total considers jellyfish you can catch in the areas outside of Jellyfish Fields, but how the fuck are you supposed to figure that out as a kid? It also doesn't help that the only way to progress in this game is to 100% every level, so I said fuck it and gave up.
So yeah, I never finished this game when I was a kid, but neither did the developers in my defense. I imagine them putting the least amount of effort possible into the game, hoping that it would sell like hotcakes because Spongebob was such a hot item. Battle for Bikini Bottom was a licensed game made with a love for platformers and the Spongebob source it was built on, but this game falls under the standard category of "kids are dumb, so they'll buy anything." breed of licensed game.
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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com/
The game begins with Spongebob waking up from a bad dream. He then plays fetch with Gary as Gary picks up a treasure chest instead of the stick that Spongebob threw. There are already two significant issues present here in this cutscene. For one, Spongebob's facial animation clips out of his head when he plays fetch with Gary. Even for 2002 PS2 graphics, it looks hilariously lazy. Another problem is the pacing of the story in this game. Have you ever gotten tired while writing a paper that you try to get to the end of your points while the flow and ebb of your essay are compromised because you want to get it done? That's what the story of this game feels like, and I'm convinced the writers in this game didn't give a shit. The story just kind of...happens. How does Gary find the Flying Dutchman's treasure chest right outside? Why is The Flying Dutchman angry that Spongebob released him and will ruin his life by taking all of his friends away? Who knows, and who cares because the writers didn't. Spongebob spends the game rescuing his friends, finding puzzles pieces doing different objectives in different levels to find Flying Dutchman-related items to get access to his ship eventually. I'm okay with item-collecting in games like Banjo Kazooie, but I'm convinced the developers of this game went with this type of platformer to pad out the game because they didn't give a shit.
Speaking of not giving a shit, there are only four music tracks throughout the game; each way coincides with Spongebob's costumes you unlock throughout the game. Each of these tracks fit the world of Spongebob just fine, but they get tiring REALLY fast. The levels in this game are "familiar" places from the TV show, and I use the word familiar loosely. Downtown Bikini Bottom is a dark, dingy alleyway filled with tough greaser fish. Remember Downtown Bikini Bottom being like this in the show? Because I don't. Sandy's Treedome is fine, albeit a bit too large, probably to appropriately fit the scale of the rest of the levels, but the problem is that Spongebob doesn't even have his water helmet on, and he doesn't get dehydrated. Come on, guys, it's from the first episode of the fucking show!
Goo Lagoon looks like a desert and has the least thrilling boat chase in gaming history. At least that part is funny. Jellyfish Fields is the reason why I quit this game. The level looks better than all familiar areas from the show, but its level design is worse. . The point when I gave up was the Jellyfish challenge because this objective signifies that this game is so lazy to the point where it's broken. You have to catch 100 jellyfish to get the reef blower, and you naturally assume that this objective is within the confines of the level, but there are only about 75-80 jellyfish in Jellyfish Fields. The game doesn't tell you that the total considers jellyfish you can catch in the areas outside of Jellyfish Fields, but how the fuck are you supposed to figure that out as a kid? It also doesn't help that the only way to progress in this game is to 100% every level, so I said fuck it and gave up.
So yeah, I never finished this game when I was a kid, but neither did the developers in my defense. I imagine them putting the least amount of effort possible into the game, hoping that it would sell like hotcakes because Spongebob was such a hot item. Battle for Bikini Bottom was a licensed game made with a love for platformers and the Spongebob source it was built on, but this game falls under the standard category of "kids are dumb, so they'll buy anything." breed of licensed game.
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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com/
To be honest I can't hate this game, knowing how challenging it was for the development team and how little content the cartoon had to offer at the time, it's really amazing that they delivered anything to begin with. And, if you're not that “HardCore Gamer”, you can have some fun with it.
I feel like this game should be worked on a lot more. And I mean A LOT MORE. There were issues I have with the game more so than good.
Pros: All the voice actors are accounted for. Most Spongebob games don't have all the voice actors back. I enjoy that the costumes are from the show. Which is a great reference. I did like the original worlds in the game. Which are Chum World and the Dutchman's Graveyard. Very neat worlds. Very fun too. The music is very good during the game. I enjoy the soundtrack, but....
Cons: There is barely any music in this game. Music is tied to the costumes you get throughout the game. But only two areas have different music. Which is Chum World and the Dutchman's Graveyard. This ties into another big issue when it comes with the game. Which is the costumes. Some of them have their use, but the Mermaid Man costume is barely useful. It's only used for like 1 or 2 sections. Not world areas, just little sections... in only one world area. The Jellyfish outfit is so overused. You basically have to wear it most of the game just to get the 100 jellyfish in game total and 50 jellyfish game total. What's also worse is that you get to hear one track most of the game which is basically the theme for the jellyfish outfit. The jellyfish and doubloon collecting can be so tedious throughout the game. Especially during Jellyfish Fields, the worst world of the game. The crouching mechanic is so delayed. I was confused and wondered if it was my controller. I played another game with it and figured out it wasn't my controller, it's the game. It caused me to get upset throughout sections where I have to do platforming.
Overall, this game is average. Has some charm to it, but has flaws. It does have a fair amount of potential.
Pros: All the voice actors are accounted for. Most Spongebob games don't have all the voice actors back. I enjoy that the costumes are from the show. Which is a great reference. I did like the original worlds in the game. Which are Chum World and the Dutchman's Graveyard. Very neat worlds. Very fun too. The music is very good during the game. I enjoy the soundtrack, but....
Cons: There is barely any music in this game. Music is tied to the costumes you get throughout the game. But only two areas have different music. Which is Chum World and the Dutchman's Graveyard. This ties into another big issue when it comes with the game. Which is the costumes. Some of them have their use, but the Mermaid Man costume is barely useful. It's only used for like 1 or 2 sections. Not world areas, just little sections... in only one world area. The Jellyfish outfit is so overused. You basically have to wear it most of the game just to get the 100 jellyfish in game total and 50 jellyfish game total. What's also worse is that you get to hear one track most of the game which is basically the theme for the jellyfish outfit. The jellyfish and doubloon collecting can be so tedious throughout the game. Especially during Jellyfish Fields, the worst world of the game. The crouching mechanic is so delayed. I was confused and wondered if it was my controller. I played another game with it and figured out it wasn't my controller, it's the game. It caused me to get upset throughout sections where I have to do platforming.
Overall, this game is average. Has some charm to it, but has flaws. It does have a fair amount of potential.
an insult to da bob
ive fallen asleep trying to play this More than once.
There's something so oldschool and uncanny about this game's atmosphere that I kinda love. This was one of the first games I ever owned, and I got lots of good hours out of it.
meh
A relic that is dangerous to uncover
Only rented it as a lad; mediocre as hell game but the eerie soundtrack has stayed with me for 20+ years (so I give it points for that)
Rented this game once as a kid, and by the time I came to the video store again it'd been replaced with Battle for Bikini Bottom.
Considering that's an actual video game and not a vaguely playable fever dream, I didn't much miss this one
Considering that's an actual video game and not a vaguely playable fever dream, I didn't much miss this one
Well I can definitely say that it has aged like rotten milk.
As much I like Spongebob Squarepants growing up, this was such a terrible and janky attempt to bring the franchise to life for gaming.
Just play Battle Of The Bikini Bottom or the Movie Game instead and don't bother with this one.
As much I like Spongebob Squarepants growing up, this was such a terrible and janky attempt to bring the franchise to life for gaming.
Just play Battle Of The Bikini Bottom or the Movie Game instead and don't bother with this one.
Outside of the really glaring issues like the requirements for catching jellyfish, the game-breaking glitch the ps2 version shipped with, and the lack of music variety, this wasn't really that bad. In terms of being a light Banjo-Kazooie style collect-a-thon, it does everything just fine, not amazingly, but enough to keep me playing. The thing is, the weirdly floaty jump this game has activates my 3D platformer brain so much more than the generic double jump that Battle for Bikini Bottom has. It's the kind of jump that makes it fun just to see what you can and can't reach with it, it opens up the levels in this game in a way that Battle for Bikini Bottom doesn't. The level design in this game is fucking bizarre, it's a mix of trying to make locations accurate to the show but also randomly sticking in other shit. The cutscenes and animation are also strange to behold, clearly made before Nickelodeon fully went all in on Spongebob and had standards for what could be made for it. "Purgatorial" is a word people have passed around about this game, and I can't explain exactly how it applies but it simply does. That's good to me, though, I had a good time exploring this mess of a game, it's the exact 3D platformer I love turning my brain off to while also constantly serving me something new to gawk at. The way Spongebob fucking spins wildly when you collect all the letters, Larry the Lobster being surrounded by dark clouds and giant foreboding jellyfish just to get away from Spongebob, the Flying Dutchman ramming a boat into a pier, killing hundreds, while unfitting music plays, the CLOWNS, it's all a joy to marvel at.
Much of an awkward, bizarre, uncanny fever dream as this game is, I actually kinda enjoyed myself with it.
I'd maybe even add an extra point to the score if the PlayStation 2 version didn't have a godawful loading glitch.
I'd maybe even add an extra point to the score if the PlayStation 2 version didn't have a godawful loading glitch.
true liminal gaming - LSD Simulator eat your heart out
It’s the little things: the way the music completely cuts off into eerie silence when you open up the pause menu before restarting completely when you return to the game, the game's surprisingly lonely, empty atmosphere, how the game constantly freezes and jump-cuts to the black loading screen every 10 seconds, how the character models distort and bend in increasingly uncanny, horrifying ways whenever they speak, and how the game’s objectives are never properly explained, instead relying on a literal checklist to even comprehend what you have to do to.
Now don’t get me wrong, this game sucks ass - BUT there is legitimate fun to be had in experiencing how all of the pieces of this shit-pile coalesce into such a fever dream of a “finished” product. Guilty pleasure gaming at its finest
It’s the little things: the way the music completely cuts off into eerie silence when you open up the pause menu before restarting completely when you return to the game, the game's surprisingly lonely, empty atmosphere, how the game constantly freezes and jump-cuts to the black loading screen every 10 seconds, how the character models distort and bend in increasingly uncanny, horrifying ways whenever they speak, and how the game’s objectives are never properly explained, instead relying on a literal checklist to even comprehend what you have to do to.
Now don’t get me wrong, this game sucks ass - BUT there is legitimate fun to be had in experiencing how all of the pieces of this shit-pile coalesce into such a fever dream of a “finished” product. Guilty pleasure gaming at its finest
SHiFT said it best,
"I refuse to believe this game was made by a group of people. This feels like it was made by an AI."
Or something like that
"I refuse to believe this game was made by a group of people. This feels like it was made by an AI."
Or something like that
I played this as a kid