Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition

DS review by Oliver Banham, published on Thursday 13th November 2008

The much loved Nickelodeon show SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the few cartoons that appeals to both children and adults alike. Its random yet at times immensely clever humour makes it stand out from the rest, and its popularity is unparalleled. Acting as a themed spin-off to the original Drawn to Life title, Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition is a mostly pleasant cartoon cash-in. With a great premise and some nice touches, DTL: SSE is let down only by some painfully simple and uninspired gameplay.

The game takes a lot from the first Drawn to Life title, with the central gameplay mechanic of drawing your hero and the screen furniture still present and as charming as ever. You start in Bikini Bottom - SpongeBob’s homeland and the hub of all gameplay. Each time you beat a level you’re brought back to its homely atmosphere, so you’ll certainly get used to its presence.

Bikini Bottom is also where the main story begins, and the trademark SpongeBob humour remains intact, even if it isn’t exactly up to the quality of the TV show. The story is unsurprisingly simple; a careless artist at sea drops two magic pencils, which get into the hands of starfish Patrick. Patrick being Patrick accidentally draws up the evil DoodleBob, who consequentially steals the other pencil and runs off to take over, the pesky hooligan. With the other pencil still in the possession of Patrick and SpongeBob, it leaves it up to you to draw a hero capable of saving the precious land of Bikini Bottom - lovely.

There’s something hugely satisfying about the first few drawing aspects of the game, as everything feels extremely fresh. Seeing your hero alive and animated is like seeing your newborn baby for the first time, but more meaningful. He’s your creation, and, assuming you spent time on his appearance, you can’t help but feel a little proud. Unfortunately for the game, this feeling only occurs for the first few characters and objects you draw, as after that the novelty wears off immensely. For keen artists, it’s less inclined to do so, of course.

Objects, accessories and characters are all drawn using the game’s intuitive drawing system. A basic shape template makes up your canvas, with an array of colour schemes available and three thicknesses to further aid your artistry. It all works a lot like MS Paint, and fits the game well - being neither too complex nor too simple. The game will ask you to draw platforms, lifts, mine carts, ninja boots, boulders, and even a neat space teleportation device, and this is only touching on the surface, as on every level you’ll come across a whole host of drawable devices, and while most are fairly lacking in creativity, a fair few will let your creative juices flow.

One could say there comes a point in the game where you’re given too many similar objects to draw, but maybe that’s a product of your own reluctance to draw something wildly original, and daring. The game would certainly be more memorable if it let you draw the things that really mattered. There are a few examples like this, such as the ability to redraw the health pick-ups, but these are rare.

Behind all the homemade sketchery, there’s a fairly mediocre game, with forgettable gameplay and some simply pedestrian level design. It’s unfortunate, as having the drawing mechanic mixed with some genuinely enjoyable gameplay would have been a winnable formula. Instead, the game resorts to many basic fighting and platforming tasks. It’s by no means dire, but it doesn’t take long to lose its appeal. Repetition kicks in a lot of the time, and you’ll be praying for the end of the drawn out (pun unintended) levels in no time. As well as having long levels, DTL: SSE is also a long game for a handheld, and it surprises you by the way it introduces new level after new level. You’ll rarely know whether you’re close to the end thanks to the way the story pans out, and with this type of game you’d expect a short single player experience - not a twenty plus wave of levels that last upwards of ten minutes each. Longevity is normally a good thing, but when tedium kicks in, it becomes more a liability, and your reluctance to complete the game relies entirely on you either wanting to see the story’s conclusion, or merely just to see the whole thing out.

The visuals are 2D based, and aside from some nice background effects here and there, everything is largely average, and something that wouldn’t look out of place in a GBA game. Obviously part of the graphics will depend on your drawing ability, and there are some nice hand drawn sections of the game otherwise, with some neat graphical touches regarding the TV show (such as the recreation of Bikini Bottom), but overall, there isn’t much worth to the visuals. Sound ends with a similar fate, with cookie cutter tunes you’ll forget in an instant. Dialogue - while not voiced - carries from the TV show each character’s personality well, so for fans of the series it’s quite ideal - there’s a fair chance you’ll laugh along the way.

With a mini colouring book and some multiplayer fun involving mini-games to add to the wholesome single player, there’s value for money to be had here, but more is this true for content than experience. While it inevitably outstays its welcome a little too soon, Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition is a charming little game that commands respect for not ending up as another dreadful spin-off that relies entirely on its cover-star, and not the actual gameplay. It has its fair share of flaws, but for the most part, it’s worth dropping on the deck and flopping like a fish for.