smaihlee's Full Review: Spongebob Squarepants: The Battle for Bikini Botto...
I had watched only a handful of SpongeBob SquarePants episodes when I bought the SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom game. After spending many hours playing the game, I became hooked—and became a huge fan of the show.
It was Christmas season, 2003, and my husband and I were looking for an age-appropriate video game for our then 5-year old son. We knew he was a big fan of SpongeBob and had asked for the game. When we saw the game box displayed an “E” rating, the choice was pretty simple. However, I worried that the game might be too boring, or too silly, or too easy for my son and it would end up in our video game graveyard.
Flash-forward to 3 am, a few days after Christmas, as I was laughing and cursing myself at the same time for ever having purchased the blasted game. There I was, sitting on my son’s new SpiderMan beanbag chair, battling TarTar robots and belly-flopping enemies and swinging from Texas Swinghooks. All in the name of this crazy game I’ll admit is probably my all-time favorite. It all reminded me of those days when I still lived with my parents and stayed up playing the original Zelda game on our family Nintendo system. I know that 30-somethings should be able to find better things to do with their time, but this thirty-something likes video games and will not apologize for doing something that makes me happy.
Any thoughts of the game being too easy quickly dashed that night in late December, and I soon found myself spending hours every day looking for gaming bulletin boards and cheat sites on the internet. Less than a week into the game, I was officially obsessed. Unfortunately, it took several days of nearly falling asleep at my desk to realize this wee-hours-of-the-morning game playing wasn’t going to help my career any once I returned to my job after the holiday break.
This is my first game review, so I’m going to present the information in what I hope will be reader-friendly fashion.
Main Characters – Good Guys
SpongeBob – but of course. Your favorite porous friend serves the role of the primary character in the game. Spongebob starts out with several basic moves, but as you progress in the game, “Bubble Buddy” will grant SpongeBob several cool new tricks. There are certain areas of the game that require the new moves, so you’ll have to work hard to earn them if you really want to finish the game.
Patrick Star – the game wouldn’t be any fun if SpongeBob’s favorite sidekick, Patrick, didn’t come along to play. True to the original character, Patrick in this game is slow, goofy, and irresistible. He’s not very powerful and his moves are hardly sophisticated, but he can get the job done. Patrick has several basic moves from the beginning, which serve his purposes throughout the entire game.
Sandy Cheeks – this Southern sweetie has a few brief appearances in the game, but what she lacks in exposure she makes up for in character. Like Patrick, Sandy is short on moves and doesn’t gain any fancy new tricks over the course of the game. But once you get her soaring through the air, you might not want to switch back to SpongeBob.
Though SpongeBob is on stage for the majority of the game, there are dozens of points in the game where you’ll have to switch to Patrick or Sandy Cheeks in order to complete a certain mission. For example, Patrick is the only character who can use “throw fruit” and Sandy is the only one who can use the Texas Swing Hooks.
Other Major Characters
Mr Krabs – SpongeBob’s “loveable” boss will serve as a guide for the game with explanations and hints at the beginning of many levels.
Mrs. Puff makes a few appearances in the game, also serving as a mission guide
The Bad Guys
Plankton – of course, the ultimate goal of the game is to defeat this tiny-but-evil enemy. He has taken control of Bikini Bottom and has sent his evil minions out to keep anyone from getting in his way. You don’t actually fight Plankton himself until late in the game, and though he is HIGHLY annoying, though you should be able to figure out a way to deal with him through timing.
The bulk of the enemies you fight throughout the game are robots. There are robots that throw things at you, smash you, and run into you. There are also a lot of robot duplicators that pop up and continue spitting out robots until you kill them—and thus their ability to reproduce. No matter what enemy you’re faced with, each is equipped with a characteristic that will drive you to the brink of insanity in many cases.
Collecting Treasure
Before I get into the game overview, I’d like to briefly cover some of the goodies you’ll collect along the way…
Shiny Objects – You can collect these outright, by defeating enemies, or by smashing the various types of Tikis and other certain items. You’ll usually have to collect a certain number of shiny objects to “open” the next higher level. As you’ll read in a sec, you’ll also have a few chances to exchange shiny objects for spatulas.
Patrick’s Socks – these are hidden throughout all 13 levels, and can frankly be quite hard to find in some of the later levels. In many cases, you have to explore territory you might not otherwise deem important in the game. Keep in mind you’ll have to find all of the socks to complete the game. To understand why, read on…
Golden Spatulas – The "mother" of all objects, there are 100 golden spatulas spread throughout the 13 levels. You earn them in several different ways, like completing challenges or defeating big level “bosses”. You can also trade Mr. Krabs a certain number of shiny objects for a spatula (you have several chances to do this, for an increasing number of shiny objects each time), or you can trade Patrick 10 socks for a spatula (there are also multiple chances to do this).
Overview of the Game
In this game, lives are represented as underwear. You start the game with 3 underwear “containers”, with the chance to earn 3 more along the way (look for the Golden Underwear). Throughout the levels of game, you’ll see underwear floating around. If you have all your containers filled, the underwear will be “grayed out”. If any of your containers are empty, the underwear will be white and you simply walk over it to fill your underwear container. Your underwear status remains at the top of the screen throughout the game, as does the number of spatulas you have earned.
In SBBFBB, you navigate through 13 main levels, each of which require you to perform different tasks and challenges:
You’ll spend a lot more time in some areas than others, either due to the sheer size of the area or due to the number or difficulty of tasks you’re required to perform. Each level brings a whole new set of enemies and challenges, and you’ll often find yourself pausing the game, just to soak it all in.
You will begin the game in Bikini Bottom and will be assigned challenges one by one in this level. Once you have collected a certain number of shiny objects, you will be able to move into the Jellyfish Fields level. The whole game naturally progresses from one level to the next, which generally means that you will be forced to gain all special skills needed in a challenge prior to being granted access to the challenge. Nothing is more frustrating (especially for a kid) than getting psyched up for a battle that you can’t win. I’m not saying it can’t happen in this game, but the designers have done a pretty good job of keeping gamers from totally losing their minds.
A Sneak Peek
I won’t ruin the game by telling you everything that goes on in this game, but I will point out a few of the challenges that await SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy…
In Downtown Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob strolls the streets in search of Wagon Wheels, all the while battling enemies and trying to get his drivers’ license from Mrs. Puff. After changing characters, Sandy Cheeks swings about the rooftops to find more treasure.
Sand Mountain is a multi-tiered level that finds SpongeBob and Sandy wandering through lodges. You’ll also encounter one of the many slides that will totally test your patience. Not only will you struggle to stay on the slide, but then you’ll be required to get to the bottom (without falling off) in a record time!
SpongeBob’s Dream sees all 3 characters encountering a maddening variety of challenges such as crossing spiky, moving blocks, steering Sandy through a Texas-size slide with twists and turns at every breath, and an enemy battle atop a griddle that will leave SpongeBob begging for mercy.
Where Am I and What Do I Have?
Navigating between screens and checking your stats is easy with just a few button pushes on your controller. When you press your start button, a screen pops up which pauses the game and allows you to access a sort of game road map. The game level is listed at the top of the screen, while the challenges within each level are represented by question marks (then Golden Spatulas as the challenge is received).
If you haven’t received a challenge, the screen will display “you have not received this challenge”. Once you have been given a challenge, the question mark will change into a grayed-out spatula and the name of the challenge will be displayed when you move the joystick to highlight the challenge. You can move freely between challenges once they have been granted. Once you complete the challenge and win the corresponding spatula, the grayed-out spatula will change to gold on the screen.
The number of socks needed and received is also displayed on the control screen.
In Closing
Since I hadn’t watched the SpongeBob show very many times before playing the game, I wondered at first if the game’s graphics and layout mirrored the show. As a I played the game more and more, I began to pay attention to the show when my son watched it and found that the game is VERY True to the show. It made no difference to me in terms of my enjoyment, but I think this would be a very important factor in holding the interest of a child. I know that in my own child, this game has helped build self-confidence and problem solving skills. A lot of people might say phooey to that, but I truly saw a difference between when he first got the game to a point several months later when he was able to conquer levels without any help from mom and dad.
Overall, I have to say that this is one of my favorite games of all time. It is very challenging, but entertaining enough to make you want to keep playing. There are some points in the game where you’ll get so frustrated that you’ll swear the game off. While this game can be mind-numbing and the music can be irksome at times (you just might wear out your TV’s mute button), it is challenging enough to keep your interest.
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