Stats time!
Play Time 1h 15m
Total Drive Points 12130
Grades: 18 As 8 Bs 3 Cs
Events Started 45
Events Finished 35
Events Won 22
Parts Collected 100
Knock Outs 65
Ring Outs 26
High Combo 548
Drivers 9/9
Boats 18/27
Levels 22/22
Classrooms 6/6
Game Options 2/3
Videos 18/18
Total 75/85
It’s time to finally delve into the world of Spongebob! I must admit that I actually haven’t played a great deal of Spongebob games before. This is one of the first ones for me, but it’s a pretty good way to get back into the franchise. This title is a racing game mixed in with a little vehicular warfare. It makes for a good dynamic and the game even has a plot which is an added bonus. Especially considering that this game goes for only a few dollars, you do not want to miss it!
The game starts off with Spongebob failing to get his license once again. It’s a pretty emotional moment since he had been doing so well in the training, but he randomly decided to accelerate and hit every obstacle. I feel like his short term memory had just ended when the exam started so he forgot everything that he learned. He feels bad about it, but then a shark comes along and offers Spongebob a chance to get a license through…other channels. He simply has to complete the Shark’s D.R.I.V.E. school which teaches you how to be a bad driver, that way you know what not to do on the real exam. Spongebob figures that this is easy enough and decides to pay the high entry fee to join. The rest of the characters get in on the action as well.
After you finish singing the Spongebob theme song to yourself and get back into the game, you’ll see that the DRIVE chapters have now opened. There are 5 chapters in the game along with a final chapter where you must use everything that you have learned. It’s graded report card style, but fortunately you don’t need all As. The levels are mostly pretty easy. A few of them may have taken me 2-3 tries, but ultimately you’ll have it down pat. The controls are easy enough as you just accelerate, turn, and brake. That’s it. You get to choose which vehicle you want as the game goes on and once you unlock the big boat, there’s no turning back. One good hit from that car can total just about any other. It’s only drawback is that it’s slow, but that’s not a problem in bumper cars. Just don’t pick it for the races.
The different game modes are: “Smash The Cars” “Race The Cars” “Smash The Cars and pick up the pieces.” My favorite is certainly the first mode, but they’re all reasonably solid in their own right. I haven’t played a great deal of car games with this gimmick so that was definitely a lot of fun. The gameplay is actually pretty smooth and I’d say that the game got a pretty decent budget for a title based on a TV show. There are even a lot of sound effects as you’re driving where the characters hurl some pretty personal insults at each other. Lets just say that their friendships will be a little strained after this event is all over. It’s the price that they have to pay for victory!
Graphically, Spongebob delivers. It may not look great, but the levels are very clear. If anything, the only part that bothered me was the loading screen as Spongebob would get a very weird facial expression. They also added too much color to his cheeks which was odd as well. So when you ignore the loading screen, then the whole thing comes together quite nicely. I should also mention that the game has fully animated cutscenes with voice acting which was a really good bonus to have along. The music is also pretty good. The main theme is very catchy and I still remember it which is a very good thing.
There is a little replay value to be found here. Once you obtain all A ranks in the game, you’ll unlock the final vehicles and game options. It probably wouldn’t take long to get the rest of them. I got a bunch of A ranks without even trying so it’s not like you’d have to redo all of the lessons. Still, I can’t say that I’m too tempted to get the rest of the cars since the ones that I already have are pretty good. I suppose it still does help to make the overall game longer and more worth your dollar though.
You definitely do need to enjoy the gameplay though since the game is very formulaic and can be seen as a little repetitive. There are roughly 35 levels sprinkled into the game and since there are only 3 game modes, you’ll be seeing them quite a lot. I guess you could say that it’s set up like Mario Kart, but with far fewer levels so you’re usually just on the same roads. The game did its best to shift things up a bit, but the level designs was certainly its weakness. There are no colorful levels as they all look the same.
Overall, I’d recommend checking out Spongebob’s Boating Bash. It’s a surprisingly fun adventure and one of the only underwater racing games that I can think of. What really gives it an extra boost is the story mode since it’s pretty engaging. Spongebob is definitely a little more naive than I remember, but at least he’s portrayed as a good kid. He’s always acting pretty modest and addresses everyone as Sir. His friends all seem a little more mean spirited though as they all join just to beat up Spongebob. I forgot how much the whole village resents his success. I look forward to trying out one of the Gamecube games at some point, but it’ll likely be a long while before then.
Overall 7/10
This comic was surprisingly bad. I expected better from Spongebob and usually his comics are fairly decent, but not this time. The comic is split into two stories. The main one is about Spongebob taking over the hamburger making at the local cafe. The problem is that he’s not fast enough to really satisfy the customers so he is forced to split his arms up and have them multiply. They finally start achieving the goal so then Spongebob eats his arms and serves the burgers. I have to say that this part was pretty gross. Why did Spongebob have to eat himself in the end? It didn’t serve much of a purpose and that was an anti climactic way to end it all. The art was also fairly terrible for this story. It may be the worst art from all of the free comic book day issues, which is a true shame. Nothing could really save the comic after this rough start.
The other half was about Mermaid Man and his sidekick in their classic Batman homage series. Mermaid Man and his partner have to stop the villains and they make some good puns along the way. Honestly, there’s not much to say here. This may be a parody, but unfortunately it isn’t a very good one. The issue isn’t funny and just comes across as generic and time consuming. The comic isn’t bad so much as it is just not very good. It’s another missed opportunity for the Spongebob comic. The art was certainly better, but it was still nothing special in the end.
It’s scary to think that titles like the Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers were funnier this year. Maybe Spongebob has lost its touch. Like Bongo, Spongebob is typically around year after year so at least it will have a chance to redeem itself for this issue. At the very least, there’s no way it can lose to this one. I’ve heard that the show has also gone downhill since the older seasons as well so maybe there is a correlation here.
Overall 3/10
It’s stats time!
Seahorse Stampede 8
Mother of Pearl 100
Jig on The Brig 330
Surf Resc-Goo 2130
Floor It 655
Breakin Out 390
Beats Me 460
Jellyfish Swish 141
Inflatable Pants 6170
Rock Bottom 812
Pedal of Honor 2236
Weight & Sea 2280
The Bouncers 1835
Jellyfish Jamboree 258
Rubble Rabble 777
Flingin & Swingin 880
Rope Burn 1162
Order Up 1340
Machine Meltdown 141
Goo-Ladiators 262
Surface Tension 3950
Charge 1693
Blistering Barnacles 133
The Tide Piper 319
Flippin Out 1920
I’m always up for a retro Gamecube game and I got this one as a souvenir from my very first SSB4 tournament. It’s a Spongebob party game so I thought that it would make for a decent playthrough and who knows…maybe it would be a lot of fun! Unfortunately, it was actually less fun than I had expected and that’s mainly due to the lack of options within the game. It’s very short and compact to the point where I feel bad for anyone who may have bought this on day 1 at full price. I shudder at the thought!
The plot of the game revolves around an episode that is being created about Mermaid Man. The director is looking for actors willing to grab the roles that are left, but they’ll have to earn them by playing a lot of games. Spongebob and friends are up for the job! There’s not much of a story though because every cutscene is basically just the director talking to the organizer of the event. Rinse and repeat a few times until the commercial is done. The game is incredibly short as a result. Each area has 3 mini games to complete and then you move on to the next area. I forgot how many areas there are, but one playthrough should be enough to easily get through the game. It’ll take you around 2-3 hours I believe and if you skip cutscenes, then that total significantly decreases.
One of the problems about the cutscene at the end is that it isn’t handled well. Every time you beat an area, you get to see one scene from the episode. Once you beat the game…you get to see the full episode. The problem is that you’ve already watched 90% of it so instead of enjoying the final product, it’s just really boring. The episode has such low replay value that even just watching it a second time isn’t very long. It’s also about as long as a real episode so that final cutscene just drags on and on. I would actually recommend just skipping it since it’s unlikely to get you hyped or impressed.
Granted, the episode had some good lines in it. I forgot how old Mermaid Man was nowadays and he just doesn’t understand anything that’s happening. It’s like Knuckles from Sonic Boom, but not nearly as funny. I can see the humor of Mermaid Man though and he’s decently funny, but I’m not sure if the other characters can keep up. It’s purposefully campy like the classic Superfriends so a show about Mermaid Man would have some potential, but again…I wouldn’t want to see any episode twice. At least not twice in the same day!
As for the gameplay, some of the minigames do have potential, but nothing is handled right. Every minigame has a mandatory timer so that none of them can end before 3 minutes. (Typically) This means that even the most enjoyable of games will start to drag on. I’ve always preferred stocks/lives/health points to a timer system since it encourages you to get good and really take on your opponents. With a timer system, you can build a big lead, but you’ll still have to wait for the timer to finish. It’s just not fun and drags the minigames down.
The best minigame is easily the one that ripped off Mario Party. I’ve noticed that just about every party game rips this minigame off, but that’s a good thing since it’s always fun. You have to balance on a ball of sorts and knock your opponents off. It’s fun, but the area is so small that it can be very hard to do anything without falling. You could say that this takes skills or you could say that the game tried too hard to make it an even playing field for newcomers and pros alike so a lot of the enjoyment was squeezed out. Nonetheless, this is the best minigame in the whole collection. (Again, not much of a collection though) There’s a nice car minigame and climbing the mountain is decent as long as your partner doesn’t sabotage you. There’s even a nifty Soccer game. Again, the problem is that you have to play these games until the timer ends and some of the minigames actually end up copying each other, which isn’t cool. In such a short game, this is pretty unacceptable.
Even the enjoyable games could have been better if the company had put more of an effort into the project. This game is definitely a cash in and may have been phoned in by the devs. I can only imagine what the reviews would be like nowadays for a game like this one. Spongebob was apparently a good show back in the day (It never caught my eye) so it deserves a lot better than this.
I’d say that the graphics are decently good. They won’t be something to write home about like Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, but they’re not that bad either. They’re essentially a nonfactor while playing the minigames. You can still tell what and where everything is and that’s the important thing. The game will be over before you know it after all. There’s not really a soundtrack to speak of. Any tunes that were in the game were instantly and completely forgotten. That’s the problem with having such a forgettable soundtrack.
There is also no real replay value here. Why are most of the minigames 2 vs 2 contests? That doesn’t really make sense for a party game. If you’re a group of 3, then one person is going to have to be with the computer and I can assure you that you won’t have a great experience. There are a few free for all contests, but it’s a very small number of them. I don’t understand the thought process that went behind this and maybe the developers forgot that they were making a game midway through. Once you have beaten the game, there’s really nothing to do. The only thing that you have for replay value is really just playing the minigames again a few times. Yeah…I don’t think I want to do that anytime soon. You can go for the high scores, but that’s not much of an incentive either. This game is definitely lacking in bonus content.
Overall, This is a game that’s best left on the forgotten shelves. I planned to get a few other Spongebob games, but that might have to wait for a while after this. The next time that I want a Gamecube game, I’ll just get Kirby Air Ride or Gotcha Force. Granted, Gotcha Force is going for 100 dollars and up right now so it’ll also have to wait for a little while. There’s really no reason to get this game and the only reason that it’s not lower is that some of the minigames are decent. It’s not borderline unplayable or anything like that, but there is no reason to play it. This would be a bad game if it didn’t even have that or if it forced you to keep on playing them over and over again in a very stretched out story mode. Either way, I do not recommend this title and you’re better off getting just about anything else. I was really torn between giving this game a 4 or a 5 and in the end, I had to go with my gut.
Overall 4/10
Spongebob Squarepants is a show that I never got into when I was a kid. I will admit that the theme song was so cringe worthy for me that it eventually became catchy and I would find myself playing it over in my head. I couldn’t get over it and eventually realized that the theme song was simply too good to ignore. When I saw that a Spongebob comic was among the free ones that I got, I could barely keep my hopes from getting slightly higher than the average comedy issue. After all, Spongebob was usually fun right?
Spongebob is going Jellyfish hunting since it is the annual Jellyfish migration. Unfortunately, none of them are showing up this year. It seems like the Plankton has stolen them for his own fiendish purposes. Will Spongebob allow this to continue or will he decide to join Plankton? Either way, it sounds like he may accomplish both! This is a dark time for Spongebob and his friends.
The plot is decent and it lasts for the entire issue, which is good. A lot of comedies decide to have a cop out and contain several stories to buy themselves some time. If you can’t think of a good story that can last for the whole issue, then I’m afraid that it is game set and match. The Jellyfish hunting could have been a real problem, but luckily they make it clear on several occasions that the Jellyfish will not be harmed. The heroes make fruit punch from their stinging, but Plankton reminds us that it will not hurt the Jellyfish in any way.
You will feel bad for the Moneybags guy since he thought that people were praising his artistic talents when they were actually bashing him. I really felt bad for the guy since he clearly tried his best. It just was not enough that time. His paintings didn’t look bad either. Moneybags can be rather stuck up and he was a little mean to Spongebob so I suppose that he had practically been asking for this to happen. Ah well, at least the mean townsmen didn’t actually break all of his art. Now that would have been sad!
The art looks decently good for this comic. It is nothing amazing of course, but I applaud the effort. There are no panels that look bad and every character’s model appears to be accurate. I’d expect nothing less from Spongebob right? It is a lot more enjoyable than the other comedies. I never saw the show, but I’ve always had a good understanding of how good it was. The comic did not disappoint and lived up to my expectations.
Overall, Spongebob’s Freestyle Funnies were good. We got to see why Spongebob is the main character of legend and I think the show is still going. I know that we recently got a movie, which seemed intriguing. It’s still not quite up to snuff when compared to good ole DC and Marvel, but for what it is, it’s not bad. I’m nearing the end of my Free Comic Book marathon so it is good to see that some of the final issues still have a positive score within them.
Overall 6/10
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