I've found one of he best ways to test games for kids is to play them with kids. The thing about titles based upon kids' shows is if the child doesn't know the show, they game is often lost on them. Such seems to be the fate of Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie.
Josh's opinion:
The game is pretty good, but it wouldn't be my first pick in the store. Maybe my second or third pick. It isn't real hard to play. You start in this one area, but you get to go through portals to different areas in Bikini Bottom, fighting different guys to collect goofy goober tokens. Then you leave Bikini Bottom, go to Shell City to get a crown. Then you come back to Bikini Bottom to find out it changed into Plankton City and you have to battle the king to turn it back into Bikini Bottom, and then, poof, game over.
It's funny because Spongebob and Patrick want to be men, but they can't because they are pretty stupid. They say all kinds of silly things, and are crazy. The game is kinda easy, but it gets hard once you get closer to the middle of the game. You have to battle the sea monster that has a tongue that is disguised as an old lady, and that's really funny. You race down tracks, knock down towers in silly ways, and fight things with a macho spin. I got stuck a couple times, but finished the game pretty fast
Mom's opinion:
The game didn't seem to hold my son's interest for long. He doesn't watch Spongebob often on TV, and hasn't seen the movie that the game is based on, so that could be why. It seemed to me that the game was either very specific and so frustrated him, or very easy, so he blasted through it. For example, at one point he had to use Patrick to pick up a piece of fruit and throw the fruit somewhere in order to flip a switch. At least, that is what we thought he had to do. It was difficult to figure out how to make Patrick pick up the fruit, no combination of controller input seemed to let him do this. He had a friend look up on the internet how to get past that part, and to be honest I'm not sure if the boys cheated their way past this point, or were able to play through it. I wasn't watching them play the day they finally got past it. There seemed to be a few places like that in the game, where it just wasn't obvious how to accomplish a particular mission goal. The next time I watched him play seemed to be just the opposite, though. I tried the game when it seemed to be easy, and while it was a challenge for me, I could still move Spongebob through the level that Josh said was one of the "easy" levels. The eye hand coordination that I've seen required in many of these games just didn't seem to be as needed in this one.
The game is cute and funny so long as you know what the Spongebob Squarepants sense of humor is. To anyone who's seen the series and doesn't enjoy this type of humor, though, I would say don't buy the game. But because my youngest son, age 3, has watched Spongebob sometimes with his older brother, it was a game that they could enjoy together. Graphics wise it is exciting enough that my youngest enjoyed watching his brother play, cheering him on as he went through the game.
Overall, I'd have to agree with Josh's assessment of the game. It wouldn't be the first thing I would buy for him, but it wouldn't be one that I would avoid buying, either. He did have fun with the game. Though, the fun and challenge just didn't last more than a couple weeks.
I’ve played computer games since college, addicted first to story type games like Might and Magic. I have 3 children who also love computer games. My oldest son is a typical kid who loves the challenge of pressing the right combination of buttons and levers on a joystick in just the right way to make something happens, and frequently gets frustrated with mom’s slow fingers. ;) We use computers for both education and entertainment, and sometimes even bribery for good behavior.
The “glory days” of computer gaming for me were when games like Spectre Supreme, Pirate’s Gold, the Might and Magic series, the original Prince of Persia… those sorts of games were coming out on a regular basis. Back then I owned a Macintosh and was a die hard Mac fan. I was one of the first in my area to buy an iMac and on it learned the joy of playing games on the internet like daily crossword puzzle and “mind bender” type puzzles. My first online RPG was given to me for Christmas the year EQ was released, and I was hooked from day one. I played EQ for about a year. I started playing DaoC during late alpha testing, and was hooked on it.. well, to be honest I still am. I’ve tried pretty much every MMORPG I can get my hands on, from big names like EQ, to more obscure ones such as Underlight. I’ve been writing for IMGS since the first DaoC guide, and find I love the challenge of learning a game and presenting what I’ve learned (and sometimes my opinions), to other players.
I’m not a very strong player as far as learning PvE or quick reaction times, so I tend to stay away from games where I’m pitted against someone else in a way that requires physical (rather than mental) response. I still enjoy story and puzzle games, and in a way that’s how I still approach online games. I would much rather spend hours working through a quest than 5 minutes in combat against another player. I still get lost in simulation type games, obsessing over them until I’ve gotten them beaten. And I like being able to sit down at the computer when I’ve got less than half an hour and playing through a few levels of a puzzle game. I tend not to like first-person shooter type games, or anything with person to person violence, so I steer away from them unless they are fantasy based settings. All in all, I enjoy computer gaming so much that my life feels incomplete somehow when my computer is down.
