Review of Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition for Nintendo DS

I never got around to playing the original Drawn To Life game on the Nintendo DS. As much as I wanted it, I couldn't justify spending full price on the game when it first released. However when I saw that this unique game was being released as a Spongebob Squarepants Edition, well naturally my tone changed. I wanted, wanted, wanted it!

The game starts off with a quick and easy emphasis on exactly what your main goal is. DoodleBob has ran through town creating a mess of doodles, and holding some hostages along the way. Your main character will be one that you create yourself. You can draw your own unique scribble character, or you can use one of the pre-made ones.

Messing around with your own custom character however is what makes this game so fun. Once your doodle character is made, your mission will begin to destroy DoodleBob and all of his wrongdoings around Bikini Bottom.

Your main start point will take place in your home, which you have full control over creating, right down to the windows, or lack of them. Once you have your house all set up, you will be asked to make a bed to furnish your home.

Everything glides along smoothly and making these little creations is just a lot of fun; that is however if you have the patience to draw on your DS. If not, skip this game entirely, because customizing is basically what this game is made of, and in order to customize, you will have to draw. It is easy though, don't worry about having poor art skills.

Game play:
 
The entire game is made up in 2D side-scrolling, and initially when you are not drawing you will be simply running around a simple level collecting coins, hearts (eventually these hearts can be changed into whatever you feel like drawing them into), erasing scribbles, and freeing residents of Bikini Bottom that have been held hostage in cages.

Graphics:
 
The graphics in the game are done up nicely and truly resemble the cartoon. Your drawings that you create will look as good as you draw them, and levels all are unique and colorful.

Music and Sounds:
 
The game matches up to the sounds you would hear in the cartoon well enough, but there are beats and drums that will lightly play in the background that seem original compare to the sleepy underwater pirate like tunes you find in the Spongebob cartoons. All in all though nothing is bothersome or annoying.

Controls:
 
The controls all work flawlessly in this game and I have yet to run into any kinks or oddities that became frustrating like in other games. Side scrolling through each level is easy, and does not consist of very much thought. Drawing creations is a bit more difficult due to the small space you will sometimes have to confine your images to. However the steady hand, and keen eye will not have an issue with creating little works of in game art.

Overall:
 
Drawn To Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition is a fun game from children and adults alike. The addition of in game drawn creations is a neat little twist on gaming, and moving through each level is not that difficult so children will enjoy it for that reason. Older gamers will have a lot of fun with drawing, so it is a win win for any age group of gamers.