SpongeBob's first foray into 3D platforming territory is still up there as one of his worst endeavours to date.

It just feels so much like a fever dreamy game, though the bad kind which ends with you accidentally wetting the bed.

It just isn't pleasant to come back to nowadays and the dreadful levels, non existent plot that might as well not be there, rubbish writing (why is Larry acting like such a dick to SpongeBob for no reason for a start?), piss ugly graphics and incredibly irritating music (all locked to one costume so be prepared to have the stupid Jellyfishing music locked into your brain) certainly make sure of that.

Thank god for the next game Battle for Bikini Bottom because otherwise Spongey boy would have been locked in the confinements of "Typical Rushed Out Licensed Video Game Hell".

Played both versions; the console version is full of missed potential but that's ultimately a result of the troubled development that had happened behind the scenes. My least favorite aspect of this game is the way the soundtrack was handled; the songs are great, but the fact that they're dependent on the costume Spongebob is wearing rather than the level he's in means you're listening to the jellyfish gear theme the entire game--except for Chum World and the Dutchman's Graveyard because for some reason those stages have their own music? Consistency!

The gameplay leaves a lot to be desired and I wish this game turned out to be better than it is. The story has no direction whatsoever and seems to meander off to all of these other irrelevant side plots that do nothing to advance the story. The loading glitch on the PS2 version is also inexcusable.

Now as for the GBA version, I actually quite enjoyed it! Sure it's a typical 2D platformer but aside from the fact that you can only keep one bubble soap equipped at a time, I still found the game pretty fun. It got a little challenging at points, but never unreasonably difficult. I enjoy the different power-ups Spongebob gets throughout the game, and the boss fights can be pretty good too!

I kinda wish I could separate the GBA rating from the Gamecube rating, because I'd give the GBA version a 2.5/5 whereas the console version gets just a 1/5.

One of the most bizarre games I ever played as a kid. The game has such a weird, eerie and lonely vibe to it, a sharp contrast to the animated show it's based on. The game has an ear-bleeding overworld theme that plays almost non-stop and it just adds to that weird aura. Bikini Bottom feels extremely abandoned, the only NPCs you meet are hostile for seemingly no reason, it almost feels like a post-apocalypse. I'd actually recommend playing this at least once, it's so weird and uncanny that it has its own charm despite not actually being a good game per say.

Wow! Revisiting childhood games sure is fun, but I expected a Spongebob tie-in to be way better than this? Immensely bad call on my part to make the worst one in this franchise be the first I return to.

So many assets here clash visually. Spongebob's house looks empty and each piece of furniture feels like it doesn't belong, which should've been my first signal to dip. Leaving Spongebob's house was really no better, every single place out there looked awful and going into the Krusty Krab was bizarre. I felt like I was in a Creepypasta-version of the world where SOMETHING just doesn't feel right about it even though LOGICALLY it is MOSTLY correct.

The visuals improve a lot after the first area. Downtown is kinda cute looking, the construction site is admittedly detailed well enough, and the high rise apartments had a lot things going on at once that made it feel more lively. I also give this game a point for at least TRYING to cultivate unique objectives. Having to deliver crabby patties to different apartments is a fine idea, even if the execution is utter shit.

What really brings Revenge of the Flying Dutchman down is the unbearable platforming and how awful Spongebob feels to control. It's a fucking nightmare, I hating moving through this game, not only are you omega slow but all of your jumps feel off and having to switch between the costumes to do different objectives is exhausting. There's nothing dynamic to do and all the jumps are painfully easy. Even if it was meant to be an "explore" type of game, that'd feel more justified if the environments were worth exploring.

The collectibles are also pretty unexciting. You get like a really shitty puzzle mini-game if you collect all the letters in a level and it's not fun. There's nothing fun to do here, the hour I spent felt like an eternity. Hoping the other Spongebob games are better!

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/