SpongeBob is particularly drawn and animated with great attention to detail. Even though these are creative battle sequences, they can be overwhelming for little hands.Įven though it's not full-3D, this DS SpongeBob game is a visual treat. Boss battles can also get to be difficult when they try to mix touchscreen play and regular button-bashing platforming. The number of tasks and gameplay length of this DS title is certainly admirable, especially for a kid's game - anything out of the kiddie shelf that you can measure in hours rather than minutes deserves credit - but there were a few times that we got stuck for no good reason and had to explore the whole game to get past. If you sit at home watching Nickelodeon all day long, maybe you think I'm dumb for not knowing that, but most folks will have to ramble about for a while before they can keep going in the game. For instance, for the game's second Squidward task, you need to know that when he's not home, he's got his dayshift going on at The Krusty Krab. You usually get hints on where to find stuff, but some things seem only available when you stumble onto a hidden trigger elsewhere, and though there's a log for tasks you need to complete, the description is sometimes too vague to know where to go. It may be a little too big, especially for a kid's game. The game's area is deceptively large - at first pass, the game seems like only a few areas on a map, but once you get into the game and unlock other areas and branches, the game opens up to reveal a really big parcel of land to hop around on. The story has something to do with SpongeBob becoming a superhero when Mermaidman and Barnacleboy lose their belts, but while he's inspired by the task, SpongeBob isn't in any great hurry to save the day when there's so much else to do in Bikini Bottom. Instead, you amble about, finding people and places and working towards the ending. The platforming sections are almost filler bits between the game's various tasks, and though you will be butt-stomping Dirty bubbles and jumping over chasms, you rarely feel the pressure of a Mario-type game. There are no levels, only various locations on the map to go through, and you can always restart from a save. SpongeBob's jumping ability is way too floaty for a regular platformer (even if he is underwater), but the gameplay works for its style of play. Draw-a-spell effects on DS are getting to be too conventional to mention, but at least most of these specials can be easily drawn with your finger if you don't feel the need to reach for the stylus. To take advantage of the DS, Spongebob can learn several abilities that he can summon, at special markers, by drawing on the screen. The game plays like a standard side-scroller, only with everything built in 3D and with branching paths placed all over the world. The actual platforming action is a little less special, but it's still fun. Draw to the side to open a cabinet, or spin the hands on your alarm clock around to the right time, or flip the light switch up and down and up and down and up and down. And because the DS has its touchscreen, there are often creative ways to toy around with the world's objects. The gameplay reminds a little bit of the classic Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis adventure games - that unique mix of action and exploring. It'd be nice if there were more things that you could check out with that didn't have anything to do with the story (most of the time, if you can interact with something, there'll be a reason for it either right that second or later down the line), but it's fun to barge into Squidward's house or The Chum Bucket and just see what's around. Any time you enter a room or house, the gameplay shifts subtly from '2.5D' platforming to 3D (without jumping) world roaming, allowing you to search the room for people to talk to or things to pick up and play with. For me, the easiest thing to praise about SpongeBob SquarePants: The Yellow Avenger on DS is its combination of standard hop-about action with the long-lost gameplay of point-and-click adventure games.

Spongebob jumping line drawing