Common Sense Media Review
By Erin Bell
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fun all-ages cooking sim with a SpongeBob twist.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 7+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
What's It About?
Bikini Bottom's resident surfer dude Jack Kahuna Laguna decides to throw a big beach party and hold a contest to decide which restaurant gets to cater it. SpongeBob is determined to help the Krusty Krab win, but to do so he has to hire Plankton's cousins as extra kitchen help and teach them how to cook. SPONGEBOB VS. THE BIG ONE: BEACH PARTY COOK-OFF follows in the footsteps of Cooking Mama by offering 25 cooking-themed mini-games in which players use the Nintendo DS stylus to simulate actions like chopping vegetables, pounding dough, flipping patties, and garnishing salads and sundaes.
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Is It Any Good?
Although it clearly borrows its concept from Cooking Mama, and isn't quite as refined, Beach Party Cook-Off does a good job of adapting the formula for SpongeBob fans. The game is fully voice-acted, and the Plankton look cute as they work away in the kitchen. With more than 100 recipes to unlock (many of them SpongeBob themed like seaweed salad and the Bubble Bass Special), the game offers a decent length and support for up to four-person multiplayer. It's just a shame there isn't more of an ongoing story in between levels to break up the action.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about wages. Was it fair for Plankton to expect his cousins to work for free in his restaurant just because they were family? What is "minimum wage" and why is it an important concept? If you could make one of the Krusty Krab's dishes in real life, which one would it be?
Game Details
- Platform : Nintendo DS
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : THQ
- Release date : March 3, 2009
- Genre : Time Management
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : June 19, 2019
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