Game no. 13!
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab (Wii)
As a Wii launch title this was one of my very first games for the Wii, along with Cars and, of course, Wii Sports. I didn't remember much about it though. All I remembered is Patrick being a superhero, Plankton running from a Krabby Patty, and then at some point I sold it or gave it away without beating it. But now I got it again, and it's a pretty short game, so I just marathoned through it. So, how is it? Eh.......just eh. To be honest, it's not that good of a game. At it's core it's playable, and near the end it does pay off with some cool sections and a cool final boss fight, but the majority of this game ranges from mediocre to terrible.
SBSP:CftKK changes gameplay style all the time, but at its core it's a combination of a beat-em-up and a collect-a-thon. There are also sections of 2D platforming, plane flying, and other small minigames to break up the pace, but the majority of the game is spent either running around collecting items or fighting enemies. Too bad nothing is really special about it. The worlds, while clearly attempting some creativity, are pretty bland to go through, and levels blend together a lot. The puzzles are simple. Now I would not mind that because I get it's targeted at a younger audience, and simpler puzzles are OK as long as the game is fun to play, but it just isn't. Another factor in that is the fighting, but it's nothing special. Just spam Z and the enemies will die, that's literally all the strategy you need for fights. There's only like 2 or 3 enemy types too, so fights very quickly turn incredibly boring. So to summarize, general exploration and combat are incredibly boring. And since that's your main objective that's a problem.
But the issues keep on going from there. Controls are a problem too. First of all, as soon as the game tells you to dash with a Nunchuk-waggle, ignore it and use the up-direction on the D-pad. Everyone knows the Nunchuk waggle is unreliable, and that goes here too. I get it was a launch title, and I can excuse it to a certain extent, but launch title or not, the motion controls are broken. This is most obvious with the winches. To turn this the game wants you to rotate your WiiMote, and it's just broken beyond belief. Let me explain to you: Hold your WiiMote completely straight up, slant it very very slightly to the left, and then move your arm in a circular motion while keeping the WiiMote upright, as if your WiiMote is the handle on a big wheel you're turning. I get that mimics the actual winch, but it's not explained well, so there you go. And apart from that, the motion control is just broken. The wheel does not work how you want it too. It's easily the most frustrating part of the game. With most other stuff (apart from the god awful plain sections) it's doable, but they're not great.
Also, we gotta talk graphics. This is an ugly game. It looks like it belongs on the PS2, and a low-budget PS2 game at that. Again, I get it was a launch title, but that's no excuse here. They do attempt some different art styles to spice stuff up, but the novelty of this wears off quickly and it's just completely booted out halfway through the game anyway. If you want a pretty Wii game, keep on looking.
So are there any goods? Well, I will say that the good of SpongeBob does shine through. All dialogue is voice acted, and the lines do reflect that classic SpongeBob humour we all love. From Plankton's sarcastic "Woohoo" to SpongeBob pointing out the obvious absurdity of everything going on, sometimes the SpongeBob charm does shine through. Also, again, the final sections with Plankton and the final boss are actually pretty good. I will not spoil what they are here, but those sections are enjoyable. Enough to warrant playing the entire game? Probably not, but hey, they are good nonetheless.
To summarize, Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab is sadly not a good game. It's not god-awful, I've definitely played worse, but it's probably a good contendor for top 5 worst Wii games in my collection. Now recently I've started backing up my Wii games to USB Loader GX and playing them from there, and that app allows you to use a ranking system from 1 to 5 stars. And if I were to put SBSP:CftKK on there, I think it would get two stars. Not the worst, but still pretty bad, and apart from
maybe the final Plankton section not worth looking back to. But hey, a game beaten is a game beaten!
Full list:
https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149075.html#msg149075