The game starts off with SpongeBob sleeping in his bed that looks like a car. He’s in some weird dreamlike state so as he wakes up, he’s suddenly off and racing. You get to hold the Wii-mote sideways and steer like it was a steering wheel, except it doesn’t really steer. The controls are sluggish, but as long as you hold that A button down and plow through the course, you should be fine. Once you get to the finish line, SpongeBob coos over how shiny his driver’s license is. Yes, I don’t get it either.

Somehow, your driver’s license bounces away from you and your next goal is to go catch it. This is where it turns into a platform game and it shows you the various moves you can do as SpongeBob. Luckily, the platform sections have better control but the game isn’t exactly too hard. As a 3D (sometimes 2D) platform game, you can use the Wii-remote to rotate your camera while using the nunchuck to move. You can swing your Wii-mote to open gates, turn into a heavy weight sponge to do a ground pound or swing around to slap the bad guys. The rest of the game is mix of strange occurrences and a variety of gameplay modes. One minute you’re playing a platformer, the next you’re racing, and before you know it, you’re flying. The overall structure of the game doesn’t really make much sense, but we are talking about a sponge that lives in Bikini Bottom.

I’ve only seen a handful of SpongeBob episodes, and they’re about as wacky as the game is. The reason I watched it in oceanography class is because the show was created by a marine biologist and animator named Stephen Hillenburg. As weird as SpongeBob SquarePants may be, the little quirks and jokes are amusing and there are some educational facts that can be learned.

The graphics are rather plain when it comes to the background. Although I don’t think you could expect too much when the game is based on a rather low-budget Nickelodeon cartoon, you would think that the underwater realm of Bikini Bottom would have more to offer. The characters look exactly as they do on the show – very perky. SpongeBob looks great as he does his little victory dance, which cracks me up every single time. You will also have the chance to play Starfishman, who is basically SpongeBob’s best friend Patrick in a superhero outfit. The music is catchy and does the job of keeping things upbeat and fun. The voice acting is good in a cheesy sort of way, which is part of the overall charm of game.

There are bonus games available but they need to be unlocked in story mode first. I never like the feature of unlocking, but I suppose it forces you to play through the main game which can feel like a chore. Free play allows you to play through any of the dream sequences that you’ve gone through in story mode and you can play SpongeBob musical instruments in the Sponge Band feature, but they also need to be unlocked first.

This is definitely a game for SpongeBob fans, it certainly isn’t the most engaging platform that is out there. It’s also a single-player game which is unfortunate, because the GameCube SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants! was a four player game and everything is always more fun with more people. Don’t expect too much from SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty. I think I might pass this one on to my friend’s kids who like SpongeBob, since I don’t see much replay value.