All the time the bridesmaid however by no means the bride, SpongeBob’s sleepy sidekick, Patrick Star, has usually been missed in favour of his over-the-top neighbour – at the least on the planet of video video games. That hasn’t stopped him from making a house in our hearts, although, so I used to be using excessive after I realized the enigmatic starfish was lastly being thrust into the limelight… however then the emotional rollercoaster dipped again down as I found SpongeBob SquarePants: The Patrick Star Game is little greater than a sea of uninspired minigames and repetitive actions that waste virtually all of its apparent potential, outdoors of a boatload of cute references to the present.
Getting into the flowery shorts of Patrick himself, you embark on a six-hour sandbox platforming expedition by way of a thoughtfully recreated Bikini Backside. Along with having a devoted burp button, Patrick can decide up gadgets with both hand and go to sleep on command, turning the invertebrate right into a possessed bowling ball you can ship hurtling throughout the ocean ground. As a result of underwater setting, gravity is kinder than in most physics-based puzzlers, which means there’s added time to plot your jumps and repair errors while you’re off the bottom. This forgiving, acquainted management scheme is utilized to a blended bag of actions dotted across the map, like skydiving or smashing up crates within the native Rage Room. Succeeding in these duties rewards you with valuable Sand {Dollars} that may ultimately afford Patrick a slot to compete in opposition to his porous bestie within the prestigious Fry Cook dinner Video games. It’s an approachable setup buffeted by charming however ultimately repetitious conversations with beloved characters like Mr. Krabs, Plankton and Sandy Cheeks.
The surrounding cartoon world is a mix of stable and breakable buildings and allowed me to interact my interior chaos service provider as I took out any aggression on glass panes and metallic partitions alike. It isn’t all all the way down to Patrick’s spiny appendages, although, as you too can benefit from equippable instruments littered across the vibrant underwater wonderland which bolster his platforming talents. Whether or not I used to be crusing throughout a valley with the assistance of a paraglider or taking out a false wall with a comically outsized hammer it was simple to get caught in a chaotic suggestions loop, bounding across the suburbs and bothering the Backside-ites. However whereas all of it sounds very liberating on paper, it’s additionally paper-thin, and I quickly noticed the boundaries of this moderately sized world. If you push the haphazard reactivity too far the masks begins to slide, with clipping points and weird NPC habits that illuminates the frayed technical seams that ultimately come aside and depart an in any other case good first impression in tatters.
Maybe the saving grace right here is that Bikini Backside as an entire is such a pleasure to discover, for the brief time the novelty lasts at the least. It’s an interactive diorama, embellished with hallowed places like Mrs Puff’s Boating College and Glove World, and it speaks to the facility of SpongeBob SquarePants that I used to be so enchanted by the referential signage, meals gadgets, and flower clouds scattered throughout the sky. The nostalgia is compounded by Patrick’s unlockable outfits, too – whereas the promise of getting into the Fry Cook dinner Video games didn’t immediate a lot ardour, grinding for iconic outfits like The Elastic Waistband and Patrick’s ‘Candy Victory’ swimsuit actually did.
That magic ultimately runs out, although, and a broader shallowness rears its head. Whereas that is felt throughout The Patrick Star Game as an entire, it’s most obvious in its inconsistent array of minigames, which vary from well-meaning imitations of pre-existing concepts to thankless busywork. I most loved the Chum Bucket, an Overcooked clone that had me scrambling to make gooey buckets of eyeballs and bones underneath a time restrict for paying prospects. Elsewhere, I discovered myself clearing out lounging locals from Squidward’s favorite sunbathing spot, which each felt on-point thematically and leveraged the wacky physics to nice impact. In these moments, I used to be reminded of The Simpsons Game‘s hilarious and moreish slate of duties, which equally mixed its present’s distinctive humour with appropriately comical jobs.
Sadly, these moments of readability have been quickly overshadowed by a glut of laboriousness. That features in search of out limitless golden gloves throughout a pint-sized amusement park or trawling the dump looking for an ever-increasing variety of treasure chests. Within the latter, I quickly resolved to tear the place aside with an unlimited magnet, however that strategy solely made my search more difficult as fished-up vehicles and different detritus received caught within the surroundings, trapping spoiled mattresses in a state of annoying everlasting squeaking. In the end, I deserted all hope and moved on, looking for alternate technique of incomes the Sand {Dollars} essential to enter the Fry Cook dinner Video games. And, even after I did attain that coveted finale, I used to be met with extra of the identical clunky interactions I used to be already acquainted with – it felt becoming that Patrick fell asleep through the closing ceremony.
It’s a disgrace that The Patrick Star Game resorts to simplistic collect-and-clear duties when there’s such a deep nicely of SpongeBob lore to drag from. There are shades of this within the Bikini Backside College section, the place you tackle Squidward in an artwork contest, however its on-rails, oversimplified nature makes it arduous to really feel too invested. It will have been good to see a extra cohesive story play out as an alternative of coping with so many disconnected and lacklustre cameos.
It’s small comfort, however at the least after I did get tired of the repetitive minigames, I may change gears and deal with a listing of extra particular Feats, incomes Sand {Dollars} for serving up burnt Krabby Patties or finishing my childhood dream: pulling a full-blown 360 on the neighbourhood swing set. The light-hearted necessities of those Feats supplied focus after I was shedding curiosity, and the collectable Mayo Jars positioned all through Bikini Backside broke up the post-game monotony with some correct platforming challenges.