Spongebob Squarepants Featuring Nicktoons Globs of Doom
Score: 88% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: THQ Developer: Natsume Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Action/ Adventure
Graphics & Sound: It seems like Spongebob is everywhere. Now he's got yet another game where he has to save the world, with the help of some of the other Nicktoons. To be honest, I wasn't expecting very much graphically from this Spongebob Squarepants Featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom. I mean, it's a licensed game and it's on a small screen where I've just gotten used to companies taking shortcuts on the graphics. I was pleasantly surprised when I actually played it, though. The characters look very well done. They look as close to their TV screen counterparts as they can without being overdone. The five different areas of the game also look like their screen counterparts and the level of detail is just right. You never get bored with the scenery, because it varies enough within the same level to keep you interested. You don't get any voice acting in the game, but you do get some good background music. It fits the game well, but you don't have to listen to it if you don't want to; there's nothing you're going to miss in the game if you want to listen to your own music while you play.
Gameplay: In Spongebob Squarepants Featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom, Spongebob and company have to rescue the world from the meteors that have landed in their towns. His company includes Plankton, Danny Phantom, Technus, Jimmy Neutron, Beautiful Gorgeous, Invader Zim, Dib, Tak, and Traloc. I'm sure you've noticed by now that there is one good and one evil character from each of the shows. Good and evil will have to work together if they want to succeed. As I mentioned before, there are five main areas of play. You might guess that these areas are mostly the hometowns of our heroes/villains: Bikini Bottom, Amity Park, Pupununu Village, Retroville, and the final Space Station. Each location has a specific pair made up of one good and one evil person. Each person has their own skills that are going to be necessary to make it through the puzzles alive. You only play one person at a time, though. I found that it was easiest to get one person as far as they could go and then get the other person as far as they could go, then switch back to the first. The only pair this didn't work well on was Spongebob and Technus, since you needed Spongebob's bubbles to get Technus to higher levels. I'm sure you'll develop your own way of handling each character. At the end of each level, you get a score from E to A++ for your time, enemy rate, continues used, damage taken, crystal rate, and special items found. Each of these are averaged together to give you an overall score from E to A++. This means that you should get quite a bit of replay out of it if you try to get an overall A++ for the level.
Difficulty: Since you do have 10 characters with 10 different sets of abilities, and they all have to work in pairs, it is going to take you a while to master Spongebob Squarepants Featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom. So far, I have found the time used to be the hardest stat to get an A on. You'll have to play through several times to memorize every little move if you want to achieve this. The enemies on the other hand aren't that hard to beat if you're even the slightest bit careful. The one thing to watch is that they seem to respawn when you switch characters in some places. Be careful that you don't kill one, run past it, and then switch characters and run straight into it thinking that it will still be dead. It doesn't take off that many hit points, but it will lower your enemy rating at the end. The other real challenge on some levels isn't where to go, but how to get there. The game is very good about putting arrows with the character's pictures on them so that you know which character is supposed to go which way. But it almost never tells you how to get them there. Figuring that out is up to you. Some pairs are harder than others. If you get stuck, I recommend backtracking a little to see if you missed something. It shouldn't take too long to eventually figure it out. You have to beat each stage to get to the next one. Each town/area consists of three stages and then a boss battle.
Game Mechanics: With ten different characters to learn the mechanics of, you might think that it will be hard to get the hang of everyone, but it's actually pretty easy; since the same buttons call up the same type moves, it's not like you have to completely change your mindset for new characters. All of the characters are moved around by using the D-pad. The (B) button is always jump, and, in the case of Plankton, you can press it twice for a double jump. The (Y) button will let you attack. Everyone is going to have their own unique attacks, though, so you'll need to test them all out to figure out how they work and how close or far away you need to be from the enemy. The thing that really differs from one character to the next is their special attack, although you always use (A) to launch it. For some characters, it is a more powerful attack; some can fly through things, some attacks can be used to get to higher areas. You'll quickly find your own style to use each character's abilities. When you want to switch from one character to the other, you use the (X) button. When I first got this, I was expecting to play it through, write a review, and never pick it up again. I am pleased to report that I will be picking it back up when I get time. There is enough content to keep you busy for a while, especially trying to get the entire bonus content. I recommend buying it, not just renting. It's a wonderful game that will keep you entertained for hours.
-Cyn, GameVortex Communications AKA Sara Earl
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