SpongeBob SquarePants & Friends: Battle for Volcano Island Review (PS2)

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea??

Most TV shows are content with just their own characters and stories, but occasionally, crossovers happens and slightly less occasionally, game crossovers happen. Now in my humble opinion, this is as good a crossover platform games as you’re going to find for the ps2. It reminds me most of the early Sonic the Hedgehog games in its essence, walking along a set path collecting items and sometimes being offered a choice of 2 separate paths. This is the basic Gameplay style of this game, although it is in rather averagely created 3D. The animation isn’t brilliant but the characters were all originally 2D, so they are as you would expect them to be when transformed into 3D.

I know of one 7 year old who thinks it is “The bestest game ever!”

The story is that SpongeBob, and 9 of his friends have been transported to a mysterious island in another dimension. A strange crab tells them that they are the ‘chosen ones’ and so have to save the island, and subsequently the rest of the universe, from the evil volcano creature ‘Mawgu’, who is threatening to destroy everything. This plot however is really understated in the game, with no real sense of urgency or impending doom. It should, however, entertain children sufficiently.

The player starts off with 2 characters to control, and as the game progresses, they will find more friends from the Nicktoons shows that they can use to fight the servants of the evil ‘Mawgu’, in the form of sand monsters and birds etc? This brings me to my next point, the voice acting. All I can say is that in some places, it is very good, and in other places, it sounds completely different to those in the series.

One of the better points of the game is that it has unlockable bonus levels, which can be found by collecting specific items in the normal levels. These bonuses provide a fun, and slightly different feel from the other levels in the game. Alternate costumes can also be unlocked for most of the characters by collecting a certain number of collectable items within the levels. These costumes offer no new abilities to the player, and are purely aesthetic, but it can be quite funny for children to see the characters in a different way. The game also benefits from periodic boss battles, which involve the player working out the boss’s weak spot, and attacking it, and thus they are as simple and child friendly as the rest of the game.

In conclusion, this game is a fun play for children. It is bright and colourful. For the rest of us though it provides the bare minimum needed to make an acceptable platform game. The levels are linear, with only 1 path most of the time, and occasionally a different path leading to exactly the same place. The whole game took me about 4 solid hours to complete.

In terms of overall quality, this game cannot compare to games like the original Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot games, but it will still provide children with a good few hours of entertainment, and isn’t that what its all about? I know of one 7 year old who thinks it is “The bestest game ever!”

Bronze Y Award

3.5 / 5