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SpongeBob SquarePants: Legend of the Lost Spatula
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Score: 80%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: THQ
Developer: THQ
Media: Cart/1
Players: 1
Genre: Platformer
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Graphics & Sound:
Some of us grew up on Nickelodeon. I well remember rushing through homework, dinner or whatever to grab time in front of the TV watching crazy gameshows, cartoons or even (gasp) educational programs. Nick has always had a bent toward the wild and crazy, but I still don't remember anything quite as bizarre as SpongeBob Squarepants. I mean, he has a sponge body and wears pants, which he frequently loses or rips a hole in... But, I digress. Legend of the Lost Spatula is typical Nickelodeon fare, with bad guys that make you laugh out loud and a good guy who doesn't seem capable of tying his shoe, much less saving the world. The setting is a weird one, mostly underwater in and around Spongebob's home. One minute you'll be jumping around on coral reefs dodging jellyfish, and then you're in some kind of Muscle Beach setting, watching Sandy the Squirrel work out. It's a weird world, and you'll see a lot of it. Along with bright graphics and strange visuals (like watching SpongeBob lose his last pair of pants) you'll hear some good tunes, and decent effects. The songs are infectious of course, not a surprise to those who still can't get the 'Nick-nick, Nick-nick' doo-wop theme out of their heads after 10 years.
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Gameplay:
Looking at this game from the outside, it's hard to guess what it will play like. And, even after starting it up and playing for 10 minutes, I still wasn't sure. Unlike most Platform games where you go level by level in a tidy order, Legend of the Lost Spatula presents a more free-roaming environment. You start outside SpongeBob's house, and get time to explore the immediate neighborhood without fighting off enemies. You can talk to people, move to other parts of town, and not even realize you've started playing until SpongeBob loses his last pair of pants and has to start over. There's a real sense of adventure and an organic quality to the way this game plays, and it almost becomes too open in places. The basic idea behind all the action is that SpongeBob aspires to become the greatest fry cook ever, and thinks getting the Golden Spatula will help him. He takes off into the unexplored wilderness in search of the Spatula, armed only with a bubble-blower, net and a clean pair of pants. Okay, you're already shaking your head. In fact, there's a solid Platformer under all this wacked-out storyline. Legend of the Lost Spatula is as much of a platforming title as anyone is likely to find right now on Game Boy Color, with very few flaws or problems. Controlling SpongeBob couldn't be easier, and managing his arsenal of weapons and tools is relatively easy. Using the patented SpongeBob Utility Belt can get you through all the obstacles in each level, but some items are more intuitive than others. Certain areas of the game don't open up until SpongeBob finds a special item, so exploring each level thoroughly is key to success. Friends can give hints back in town if you get lost during a level, and progress through a single level can be slow. Levels are big, with lots of high jumps that can make life hard if you miss. I wasn't wild about the feel of jumping, but most people will adjust as necessary if they like the game. After finishing each level, you get specific goals that SpongeBob needs to accomplish, and new goals will come up while you play. The ultimate goal is to recover the Lost Spatula, of course, but it will take a lot of puzzle solvin' and boss fightin' before that happens. The enemies are sometimes tough, and there's no lack of them. Some are only defeated by a specific weapon, and since enemies fall into recognizable types, it's usually easy to tell which weapon to bust out. The mix of a free-roaming adventure style and the classic platforming is well balanced, all wrapped in the silly persona of SpongeBob Squarepants' underwater world. |
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Difficulty:
Bosses, puzzles and exploration take a backseat to quality of control for most platformers, but jumping is always a big issue. Legend of the Lost Spatula suffers from poor jump control, which doesn't lower it far below the level of most GBC Platformers. For some reason, I've yet to see platforming on the handheld that matches larger systems. Maybe it's having less ability to scroll and move quickly around the screen, based on resolution or system limitations, but the range of movement allowed in a jump for this game is hard to gauge. Holding down the jump button gives more distance, but trying to adjust the D-Pad accordingly to land on small platforms is fiendishly hard. The places it really shows up are in levels that have layer after layer of high, small platforms to navigate. Missing jumps sends you all the way down to the bottom, which really sucks. Legend of the Lost Spatula is on the high side of the frustration meter for controls, so you have been warned.
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Game Mechanics:
One really nice thing about Legend of the Lost Spatula is how much happens on any one screen. Moving SpongeBob around is simple, and interacting with objects and characters is done by pressing up when you're even with them on the screen. Backgrounds sometimes end up working like animation cels on GBC side-scrollers, with a character that just moves in front of static objects. Although there's no true 3D on GBC, Legend of the Lost Spatula surprised me in how inventive it was with perspective. Some objects that can be jumped on to reach higher levels (rocks, hills, etc.) can also be walked in front of to reach tucked-away treasures. Every level is busy, and although the visuals are nice, it's easy to get lost. In some places, little arrows help direct you, but I'm of the opinion that these really just point to a flaw in design. I know designers have the challenge of becoming too linear or just plain boring, but seeing big arrows pointing me in the right direction says someone forgot about the users. Another thing that didn't get implemented in a very smart way is selecting weapons. There is a 'quick' way into the item list, but I wish THQ could have demanded that a one-button push be used to switch weapons or items. As it is, facing several different types of enemy means toggling back and forth between action and the item screen, which tends to diminish the flow of the game. A small point, but something you notice after you're deeper into the game. Legend of the Lost Spatula is a quality production, especially for a licensed game that could have gone the way most licensed games do. The payoff for sticking out some tricky control issues is the crazy, funny world of SpongeBob, and there's more than enough game here to keep platforming fans happy. Come in expecting a super polished, cutting-edge experience and you'll be disappointed. Come in knowing that you will sometimes feel like feeding your GBC to the family dog after falling off the umpteenth ledge or platform, but still have a good laugh getting back to where you lost ground, and you'll be fine. SpongeBob is at times too big for his square britches, but careful exploration and a good memory will reward the patient gamer. I actually hope this franchise makes it to one of the larger consoles; it feels too cramped on that little screen. |
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-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
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