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Usually I do review round-ups for titles that I think are important or highly anticipated. In the case of Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition, I am motivated primarily by a profound sense of futility and despair. The message THQ sends by publishing this game is clear: 5th Cell's original idea didn't sell, the clever technology and design be damned. Spongebob sells, so a new developer named Altron gets to cannibalize the original Drawn to Life to create a Spongebob-themed sequel.

This is the kind of thing that usually makes me want to crawl into a bottle and engage in some hardcore existential depression. But, you know, maybe I'm being pointlessly melodramatic here. Maybe Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition is going to make some little kid really happy, or maybe it pairs the licensed IP up with the basics of the Drawn to Life engine in a clever way. I don't think this is terribly likely since it's sitting at a mediocre 73% Metacritic rating, but I'll play the optimist and examine some reviews anyway.

The high score comes from VideoGamer, who perhaps not incidentally use an entirely different, parent-specific review format for discussing games likely targeted at children. Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition earns an 8 out of 10, recommendation for little Spongebob fans, though reviewer Tom Orry has qualms about the sheer amount of text in the game.

There are two distinct parts to SpongeBob's latest video game. The running and jumping on platforms and enemies and collecting tokens is all pretty simple stuff, with the odd bit of touch screen scribbling required to get rid of some ink. Players of the original Drawn to Life will find this very familiar and it's not too tricky, even for younger gamers. There is a fair amount of text to read throughout the game, with the characters often telling you what's going on - under sevens may find the game a little too text heavy.

IGN's coverage is a bit less enthusiastic, with a 7.5 out of 10 awarded to Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition. Reviewer Craig Harris dignifies the branded sequel by seriously comparing it to 5th Cell's original title, not just as a kid's game but just generally as a thing intended to amuse human beings. As far as that goes, Harris points out that Spongebob's version of Drawn to Life offers several technical improvements over the original for all that it's sloppier in other areas.

I definitely appreciate the original Drawn to Life because the creators had to start from scratch with not just its original concept, but also in its characters and storytelling. Spongebob Edition relies on the familiar: we already know the Spongebob crew from the hundreds of episodes on television as well as the influx of licensed products already on the market. The original Drawn to Life has a much better, fleshed out, almost Japanese RPG-influenced presentation compared to the Spongebob follow-up that hastily tells the Doodlebob story through sloppy cutscenes that awkwardly flipflop between 3D models and 2D talking heads. These guys don't even have voices beyond the random "Ack!" that don't even sound like they were recorded by the original actors.

But it's hard not to notice that the actual gameplay of Spongebob Edition feels a bit tighter and faster-paced than the original Drawn to Life. Neither game in the Drawn to Life series are all that remarkable in their 2D platforming; they're both rather typical run/jump/butt-stomp designs with tons of token collecting used to upgrade your character, and lots of touch screen "scribbling" to get rid of all the inkblotches in each of the levels. Spongebob Edition is a little "peppier" with a little better collision detection and a faster, more energetic speed. And, since the publisher gave the game a bigger amount of save RAM you have more creative input on what shows up in-game.

Most of the scores for Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition are 7s, the number of flawed potential or shameless mediocrity. To balance out the higher scores, I'll look at two of them. The first is the 3.5 out of 5 awarded by GamePro. Reviewer Nadia Oxford wrote from the interesting viewpoint of a grown-up fan of the Spongebob cartoons who is simply appraising whether or not this game makes good use of the license. Interestingly, her reaction to the game is much harsher than that of reviewers who primarily compared it to the original 5th Cell Drawn to Life.

The graphics are one-hundred percent Nickelodeon and Bikini Bottom (aside from whatever perversions you decide upon), but Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants edition is a little lacking in wit and humor. Patrick, Squidward, Mrs. Puff and Mr. Krabs all interact with and/or help Spongebob once they've been freed, but they lack hilarity. Even Squidward seems disappointingly tolerant of his two idiotic neighbors. There's little voice acting and the boring text that substitutes for character speech scrolls slowly. The music is similarly rinky-dink and forgettable.

Drawn to Life: Spongebob Edition is also pretty easy. It's obviously meant for a younger crowd, which it caters to quite decently. Kids might not mind the lack of Spongebob's surreal wit since there's still plenty of pretty colors and slapstick. Some youngsters might get impatient with stopping the action to draw every little nick-nack in the game (which requires a lot of sheathing and unsheathing the stylus), but those with an artistic flair will have a great time.

A similar score was handed out Nintendo Power, which awarded Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition a 7 out of 10. Ironically named reviewer George Sinfield appears to have had a perfectly neutral reaction to the game, which is perhaps the definition of damning with faint praise. Here's the entirety of the game's single-paragraph review.

For those who are artistically inclined, the chance to contribute to Spongebob's world should be a dream. The Bikini Bottom-themed take on THQ and 5th Cell's innotvative platforming concept (Altron has taken on the development for the sequel) lets you draw your own hero, house, furnishings, platforms, health pickups, and even enemies-turned-friends. The specifics of your creations don't affect gameplay, but the make-it-yourself concept is a new way to interact with an established cartoon universe. If you're not an artist, you can trace over predesigned characters or select them without embellishment. While you're running and jumping, you are tasked with clearing away Goo on the touch screen, which is more stylus-juggling chore than entertainment. The game's 20 levels (including vehicle chases) give you plenty of play, but the reason to pick it up is to fire your creative muscles.

All told, while I can respect Altron for basing the game on a specific Spongebob episode about an evil drawing ("Frankendoodle"), this game sounds like a cash-in. A solid, perhaps competently developed cash-in, but you know, still a cash-in. People, do me a favor: if you're tempted to buy Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition for a kid in your acquaintance, do yourself and the kid a favor and track down a copy of the original instead. The more creative plotline is going to be more entertaining, the gameplay is probably about the same, and an artist who's drawing in an original world is probably going to feel more inspired. I can only see someone preferred this branded edition to the original if the kid in question is a raging Spongebob fanatic of some sort, and I'm not sure those really exist.

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