Spongebob Squarepants: The Yellow Avenger
Score: 78% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: THQ Developer: Tantalus Media: UMD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Action/ Platformer (3D)
Graphics & Sound: Spongebob Squarepants: The Yellow Avenger is Spongebob's first trip to the PSP, and graphically the port to the handheld system has been done rather well. Characters and locations look almost as good as they would on your console, but what detail is lost is hardly missed. Everyone from Patrick to Mermaid Man to Spongebob himself look fairly close to their Nick Toons counterparts, while the semi-open, non-linear environments sport several landmarks from the series as well. Audio-wise, I was a bit disappointed with The Yellow Avenger. Since pretty much every other SpongeBob game has excellent voice-overs, I was expecting more of the same with the game's port to the PSP. Alas, instead of hearing the high-pitched, slightly annoying voice that is SpongeBob, I was reduced to reading text. The only reason I can see for this infraction is the fact that The Yellow Avenger was released for the DS as well, a system that doesn't seem to have a lot of voice-work in its games.
Gameplay: Spongebob Squarepants: The Yellow Avenger follows everyone's favorite porous character as he tries to stop the dastardly Dirty Bubble, an arch enemy of Spongebob's hero's, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. When the dynamic hydro-duo are put out of commission, Spongebob puts on Mermaid Man's belt and reprises the role of "The Yellow Avenger". Now the new hero of Bikini Bottom will run around the town cleaning up the streets. The general structure of the game has Spongebob talking to someone and helping them out with whatever their problem is. Unfortunately, except for a few boss fights, Spongebob feels more like The Yellow Errand Boy rather than a superhero out to save the undersea world. Most of the tasks that people ask you to do involve going to their job and/or home and getting something for them. Sure there are plenty of people that have been affected by Dirty Bubble along the way, and you will have to jump on their heads to get rid of the evil suds, but even that action starts to get old after a while. Thankfully, there are a few times in the game when you are saved from the same-old gameplay. These are when you get to use some of Mermaid Man's super powers. When you can activate these powers, Spongebob can summon sea-life, shoot water balls, and of course super speed and strength.
Difficulty: As far as platformers are concerned, Spongebob Squarepants: The Yellow Avenger isn't as bad as it could be. Once you get used to the PSP control scheme (with its single analog stick), anyone who finds fun in the platform-jumping scenarios prevalent in this style of gameplay should not have any real problems navigating the world. What does get to be a bear, though, is when you have to cross the same tricky pits over and over again as you go run errands for someone in a hard to reach location. I wouldn't say it makes the game harder, but it definitely adds a bit of annoyance to the game when you have to perform some series of perfectly timed jumps to get to someone and they tell you what they need is on the other side of the jumps. So now, not only do you have to make your way back across the pit or goo or whatever, but then you have to bring that item back across the area a third time. If this had happened only a one or two times in the game, I wouldn't be quite as annoyed, but it seemed like most of the game involved this backtracking system.
Game Mechanics: The most interesting mechanics in Spongebob Squarepants: The Yellow Avenger are probably the super powers Spongebob gets from Mermaid Man's belt. These powers act similarly to the special abilities found in console games like Battle for Bikini Bottom and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. You have limited abilities that last for either a short time or with limited range. Super speed gives you a temporary boost as you follow a specified track, while the water-balls are a very range-limited, but powerful, attack Spongebob can use against his foes. If you are aching for a new platformer game for your PSP, then you might want to look into The Yellow Avenger. If you are a long-standing Squarepants fan, then you will definitely want to pick this game up, otherwise it isn't really worth your time and money since it doesn't really offer anything new or innovative.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Titan Attacks FIFA Street 2