There were times not too long ago when grown-ups talking about talking sponges, infantile starfishes and evil plankton would be carted off to the nearest loony bin. Nowadays the new norm is weird, as Spongebob Squarepants flaunts in the strangely entrancing cartoon. Now that Bob’s made it big enough to get his own movie, he not only gets an obligatory children’s game made about him, but also a standard movie tie-in game as well! Attempting to kill two fish with one harpoon, The Spongebob Squarepants Movie double-jumps its way onto PS2.

The storyline for the game is the same as the film, so if you don’t want to know the ending, I’d watch the film first! Basically, after the grand opening of the Krusty Krab 2, the evil Plankton (no points for guessing what he is) devises a plan to get his rival fast-food chain, the Chum Bucket, onto the top spot. He nicks King Neptune’s crown and blames it on Mr. Krab. Spongebob and faithful pal Patrick then set off to clear Mr. Krab’s name by finding the crown and returning it. And it gets a lot more complicated than that, which is bizarre for a kid’s game…

You might have noticed I mentioned races earlier. Indeed, Spongebob has also got a set of wheels, and a, uh bathtub… In his quest to recover Neptune’s crown Spongebob requisitions the Patty Wagon- a car shaped like a giant burger, complete with lettuce and cheese! One of the best parts of the driving must be the little things, such as when you hit a jump the sections of the burger separate, and flop around when you take sharp corners. As for the bathtub, this comes into play when you ride it in the sliding sections. These sections are pretty fun, despite being a simplified version of the driving, and they help to break up the jumping about.

Also on the mini-games list are Patrick’s floating square challenges, where you jump from one to the other, and Spongebob’s ball challenges, which seem strangely like Sega’s Super Monkey Ball. There are loads of other different games to play, and all are pretty quirky and fun. The only problem is in the difficulty, which will stop most kids in their tracks...

I’d imagine the mini games would be excruciatingly tough for kids to play, but the main levels are simple and easy to complete. Even if you find them a little bit tough you get unlimited lives and loads of checkpoints, which eliminates any real challenge.

The Spongebob Squarepants Movie is quirky and fun, with enough charm to keep the Spongebob fans interested. It has everything a kid’s platformer should have, except for a consistent difficulty setting. This is a game (like cutting with scissors) that will require the help of an adult, but that still won’t guarantee getting past that ring level…