I never expected to like Spongebob Squarepants iOS games as much as I do. I was too old to get into his cartoons when they first aired and — honestly — I found the character pretty annoying. But back in 2010, I got to play Spongebob Marbles & Slides and, well, I was taken aback by how enjoyable it was. Now, Spongebob’s Super Bouncy Fun Time has come along, and I’ll be darned if the game isn’t even more addictive and fun.
I never expected to like Spongebob Squarepants iOS games as much as I do. I was too old to get into his cartoons when they first aired and — honestly — I found the character pretty annoying. But back in 2010, I got to play Spongebob Marbles & Slides and, well, I was taken aback by how enjoyable it was. Now, Spongebob’s Super Bouncy Fun Time has come along, and I’ll be darned if the game isn’t even more addictive and fun.
Spongebob’s Super Bouncy Fun Time is a physics puzzler, one that feels like it combines the best of Peggle with Angry Birds. Spongebob sets out to cleanse the seas of the hordes of jellyfish that are floating all over the place. Seriously, that’s about all the story you get, though you’re treated to a panning still image (sans dialogue or narration) that introduces each new environment.
The Angry Birds influence is obvious as soon as gameplay begins, since you tap on the screen to aim and power up Spongebob’s bubble gun. The Peggle elements come into play once you’ve fired a shot, because the bubble will bounce all over the place, often off the bouncy blocks, items and jellyfish that are all over the level. A level is completed once you’ve knocked all the jellyfish out, but what’s really fun is that they’ll bounce all over the place after you hit them, which adds an element of randomness and fun to the overall experience.
In fact, the entire game is teeming with randomness and fun. Odds are that you won’t spend more than five or ten minutes on any one of the game’s 100 levels, but they’re almost always challenging and entertaining to play through. Sometimes you’ll want to replay a level in order to earn three stars, but this is rarely tough to do. In fact, all these elements prove downright addictive: This is one of those games where it’s not unusual to lose yourself in it for an hour when you only meant to play for a few minutes.
The production values, too, are just stellar. The iconicSpongebobcast has been given a purposefully exaggerated manga-style makeover, and the vectorized environments and jellyfish almost look like something out of The Powerpuff Girls. That may sound weird, but it works beautifully here. Meanwhile, the sound is also a blast. The music is fast-paced and really retro (it sounds like something out of a quality NES game) and Spongebob will occasionally utter sayings that are pretty funny.
There’s really no reason not to pick up Spongebob’s Super Bouncy Fun Time. Not only is it addictive and fun, but it’s loaded with some of the best graphics and sound you’ll find on iOS devices. This is one of those games that’s just impossible to put down, and it’s even harder to find any fault with it.
