I've been playing this game for a while and I'm wracked with confusion. There are two stances I can take with SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab. I can look at it as a game aimed at children; ignoring any of the hand-holding, the simplicity and look purely at what it achieves. Or I can look at it as a game for all and bring up these points as death knells for it. I'm completely torn, so I've decided to do both!

A Game Aimed at Children

SpongeBob SquarePants is possibly one of the most bizarre and wacky cartoons since Morph. His adventures seem to be somewhere between the wacky trippiness of Yellow Submarine and the sickly morals of The Little Mermaid, yet it works. In fact, it works so well that it went on to be nominated for several Emmy awards and even become a feature film, in the form of The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. So, despite the lunacy of the series, it was successful and seemed like ideal fodder for a computer game - and to some extent they were successful too, with the game based on the movie receiving a respectable 8/10 from Dexter. This game is also successful - at least partially.

Creature from the Krusty Krab is almost a nonsense game, a mix-bag of levels that shouldn't work and for the most part don't. However, as the variety mixes up the styles of game this can be fun as you swap roles between Spongebob, Patrick and Plankton who all take turns to be the star. The plot is a little strange and to explain it would also require revealing a catch at the end that is really worth the wait for those who persevere as the three live out their worst nightmares. SpongeBob must take part in a Mario Kart style races, only this time he's using his mattress, while Patrick becomes Starfishman to do battle with arch nemesis Dreaded Patrick and Plankton must escape being captured by a gigantic krabby patty that's hunting him down!

At times it feels like the designers tried to do too much, like they wanted to create a SpongeBob Racer, got bored halfway and then did the same with the other two game styles. Because of this the connection between the levels feels a little weak, but as logic was never a big part of the show we can look past this. This mixture of platform action and racing means that there is a little something for everyone (almost like Crash Tag Team Racing) and though it could be better integrated, it certainly helps to relieve the boredom that twenty races or twenty jump, smash and collect levels can sometimes create. Yes, as with lots of games of this type, besides jumping, you also must collect a number of items in each level to either progress or unlock bonuses. This is not original in any way, but can be fun and at least adds something to the longevity of the game.

The animation and graphics are simply fabulous; rather than just sticking to the 3D animation that can bore me from time to time, it switches back to 2D in a few levels and this takes you back to an almost 16-bit era, but also helps connect the game back to the original cartoon more. The level designs are simplistic and repetitive, although this isn't a bad thing, as I'd much rather have a game with one good level design replicated and added to over a series of levels, than lots of different but equally poor levels. This is all helped along with the excellent use of music from the TV show and voiceovers for the main three characters, as well as most of the enemies and supporting cast, although this can be a little repetitive at times, with most of the funny one-liners ruined by having the character say them a number of times during a single level.

The controls are easy to get to grips with and there is no learning curve required for you to understand what you need to do. For those who have played the previous games it'll come naturally, as the controls have had no real overhaul other than the racing sections, but they follow the same rules that most racers follow and you'll be speeding along in no time. Longevity is where the game is let down, as it's very short (nine levels) and will take most people less than six hours to complete. Afterwards there are a number of mini-games that may increase the longevity to some extent, but these four have your basic 'Collect as many…' feel that can be entertaining for a while, but then becomes a little tedious - with that said, playing as the giant Plankton to destroy a skyscraper is wonderful in that classic Rampage way!

A Game For All

Ignore everything I just said, put the game down and pick up something else instead! If you didn't read the above and think, "Well, it'll be good for my six year old son at least," I still wouldn't bother. It's not that the game isn't good in its own right, although I could argue for England about why it's not - but in comparison to most other current similar titles out at the moment, it's simply appalling. Yes, the graphics are great, although no step-up from the previous games and the voices are repetitive but fun, but it has the feel of an expansion pack. It feels like the designers simply took the basic three or four levels and good elements from the previous title, slapped them into the same game and, in some cases, especially the innovative and highly irritating Mattress Races, made them worse. Sure, it could be fun for a few hours, but as that is the case I can do nothing but recommend you rent it first, as I'm sure you'll find this is the easiest game in existence with a lifespan of around six hours, if you even bother completing it at all! Krusty Krab does so much hand-holding that even if this was the first game you ever played you'd still be insulted by how little the designers trust that you can figure out where you're supposed to go, or indeed what you should do if you find a door that's locked.

So, there you have it - if you have a child under eight who loves SpongeBob and you want to buy a game that's full of fun and simplistic gaming then SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab might appease him or her, at least for a few hours. If however you're a hardened gamer looking for something different then I couldn't recommend Krusty Krab any less. Despite the fact that I truly love watching the series, it saddens me that I have to mark this low and leave my poor Bob out of the water as a dried up husk on the side of the bath! Choose wisely!

Reviewed by David Simpson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).