SpongeBob SquarePants The Patrick Star Game Review (XSX)
Summary: SpongeBob SquarePants The Patrick Star Game is a solid sandbox title for younger gamers.
3.5
Solid
A SpongeBob SquarePants game where you don’t play as SpongeBob? Outrageous! A SpongeBob SquarePants game where you play as Patrick? This actually might work in some strange hilarious multiverse type of way! For the uninitiated Patrick is a slightly overweight starfish who is the best friend of SpongeBob SquarePants and is one of the goofiest denizens of the underwater city of Bikini Bottom.
He is also voiced by actor William Fagerbakke in the TV Series who provides the voice of Patrick in this game. Interestingly SpongeBob SquarePants The Patrick Star Game coincides with the 25th anniversary of this franchise, so it’s a great time for fans.
The core of his game is a single-player sandbox adventure game and its goofiness is reminiscent of Goat Simulator 3, however it is firmly based in the universe of SpongBob SquarePants. So if you love this Nickelodeon series and the aforementioned game (which is a hit in our house), you’ll be in SpongeBob heaven.
The game is also available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (reviewed) and PC Steam.
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Patrick Star Game Highlights
- Explore and cause chaos across Bikini Bottom’s most iconic locations like The Krusty Krab and Glove World as the titular starfish
- Take on missions set by all of Patrick’s friends, including SpongeBob, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Sandy and Plankton
- Experience the voices of the SpongeBob SquarePants actors, including Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick and Tom Kenny as SpongeBob
- Discover hilarious Easter Eggs and unlock costumes from the show
The game is filled with cameos like Squidward and Mr Krabs that are jam packed with Easter Eggs from this popular series. Needless to say, the graphics successfully mirror the cartoon series well – in other words it looks like who SpongeBob SquarePants, err… Patrick Star game should. The stars of the game are however all the characters who appear in the cartoon series who now appear in the game. The in-game presentation of Patrick is perfect!
The 3D environment is colourful with landmarks such as Bikini Bottom University and Fast Food Coliseum which really adds to the overall immersion factor of the title. There’s also some nice lighting, special effects thrown into the mix that all help recreate this underwater cartoon series, now made interactive thanks to Outright Games.
Like Goat Simulator 3, SpongeBob SquarePants The Patrick Star Game encourages the player to explore with no concrete narrative but rather it’s a collection of strange and wacky missions plus mini-games that younger gamers will enjoy. Additionally there’s plenty of secrets to be uncovered, including costumes that can be purchased with Sand Money that adds to the longevity of the title because if you do go off the beaten track, you never know what you might find.
Even Patrick’s superhero ego makes an appearance because you can eat food to power-up his burps – so as you can see, a true homage to 25-years of SpongeBob history. As this is a game for younger gamers, the controls are quite sturdy (not as much as My Little Pony) but it does work well with the gameplay and in-game “underwater” physics. In other words, it doesn’t feel too restrained and does portray that open-world relatively well. Mini-games such as cooking, washing, painting, shooting or racing serve as a nice distraction and all in all, the gameplay comes together rather well for this enjoyable title.
The voice acting of SpongeBob SquarePants The Patrick Star Game cannot be fault as boasts many of the original actors from the TV Series such as the aforementioned William Fagerbakke as Patrick, Tom Kenny as SpongeBob, Rodger Bumpass as Squidward and Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs. Best of all, the actors really get into their characters that adds to the overall humour of this game – both my daughter and I were in hysterics throughout our time with this title. Music, sound effects also go hand-in-hand with the graphics and the gameplay. With that said, this is not some quick cash grab at a popular franchise but rather, you can see the dedication that has been put in by the developers.
Final thoughts?
If you have a younger gamer in your family that loves SpongeBob, they will definitely get a blast playing his goofy sidekick Patrick – sure, the game does lack any real direction but so does the TV show as you explore this whacky underworld city and its surrounding, get up to mischief and also helping (equally causing mayhem as well) the underwater denizens of Bikini Bottom.
Fun times indeed!
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