It is the eleventy-seventh anniversary (117th for us normal people) of the Krusty Krab and Spongebob has been entrusted with the secret formula of the Krabby Patty. In typical Spongebob fashion, he loses the formula and must journey through his memories in hopes of finding the all important Krabby Patty formula.
Spongebob’s Truth or Square is based on the TV episode of the same name and is a pure action-adventure game. You take on the role of Spongebob as he makes his way through one of the more bizarre collections of levels that I can recall. Truth or Square is the first full release title in the franchise to land on the Xbox 360.
Truth or Square’s main hub is Spongebob’s pineapple where you can select a level to play, view bonus costumes available for purchase, view concept art, and change options or enter game cheats.
Story mode features a full 3D environment, complete with a lackluster camera that sometimes seems to be trying to intentionally irritate you. The camera is controlled by the right thumb stick, but has limitations that keep it from being optimal in certain areas.
Controls are what you would expect with jump, attack, etc. assigned to the face buttons. Combat is enhanced by the availability of special abilities such as the Patrick Pow Powerup that has Patrick appear with a large mallet that he continually smashes into the ground destroying everything and anyone in its path. Other powerups include Spongebuff, the Sandy Spin Powerup and many more. The end of each level features a boss battle that sometimes could be quite difficult, mostly because it was unclear how to actually defeat the boss. Luckily the game features pop-up hints to guide you.
As annoying as the camera is, Truth or Square is quite a fun game with a pretty long story. The graphics are pretty standard fare and looked good in HD. The sound got to be a little grating, although I would attribute that to Spongebob’s voice being annoying and not a real issue with the game.
Sadly, there isn’t really much more to say about this game. It’s a pretty generic adventure game that you’ve probably played before with different characters and different enemies. The game is budget-priced at $39.99, so fans of Spongebob are potentially getting a great deal. With that said, I don’t know that it’s worth the full price, so we recommend you wait until it drops a little. If you can’t wait for the price to drop, take comfort in knowing that it’s a least a fun game to play.
ESRB: E for Cartoon Violence and Comic Mischief
Pros: $40 pricetag.
Cons: Spongebob’s voice. The camera.
Plays Like: Every other 3D adventure game with camera issues
