SPONGEBOB: KRUSTY COOK-OFF Review - In The Heat Of The Kitchen

Nintendo Switch (Physical) Review Game Provided by Tilting Point

The free-to-play mobile game from Nukebox Studios and Tilting Point has been making moves since it was first released in 2020. Back in 2021, they brought Spongebob: Krusty Cook-Off over to console by releasing it on Nintendo Switch, and now, in 2023, they have a physical release of the game in the ultimate “Extra Krusty Edition” which even includes a poster.

While the game is free on mobile devices, it only contains the initial five levels that the game launched with. On Nintendo Switch, especially with the Extra Krusty Edition, there are a lot more levels and a new location - New Kelp City - and more costumes for our favorite characters. The question is, how entertaining is the game?

Gameplay

One thing to keep in mind is that this is initially a mobile game and so the progress style is more fitting to that platform. Instead of earlier areas having more focus on tutorial and practice of the mechanics, they have each area of the game with roughly the same number of levels before you can proceed to the next one. The tutorial is still there, but it is spread out pretty far apart.

Your goal of the game is to serve customers the orders they place. The first area you are in is a Pancake hut so you put the batter on the grill, put the pancakes on the plates, and then dress them how the customer wants. You will start with only grape jelly, but soon you will have two jams and two fruits that go on top of the jam. Each ingredient is slowly unlocked as you complete levels in the area. This is the same for all areas, whether it is at the Krustry Crab or later down the road in the more complex areas.

Another aspect is how advanced your items are in quality. As you complete levels, you will earn money and tips which can be used to expand your serving area, cooking area, improve your products, and more aspects. There is even decor that can be purchased for the area which tends to improve the number of tips you earn. All of these improvements need to be made in each area, but your earned money does carry over, so if you save up in one area you can start off the next area with some upgrades right away.

As for the direct gameplay, customers will area with up to four at one time. Each will have their own order and you can serve them in any order, but from the moment a customer arrives a timer begins before they will decide to leave. The process is generally the same in each area - cook the food, set up the base level of food for serving, check the orders for any specifications, and serve the food and drinks to the customers as they are ordered. The key is to just keep cooking the next round of food so you aren’t sitting there waiting for anything to cook as there are always more customers ordering more food. The counter on the top even shows you how many more customers you have to serve for each level.

Audio and Visual

They do a great job making the areas, characters, and music all look and sound exactly how you would expect from a Spongebob-Squarepants-themed game. The mostly stationary screen throughout the gameplay with just light animation for characters, cooking, and serving is what you could expect from a mobile game. Knowing that is where this title started makes the audio and visual aspects of the game seem accurate and fitting.

Replayability

I can’t say that there is much replayability to the game, but with how many more areas and levels added to the game with this ultimate edition of the game, I don’t see a need for it to be replayable. It will take a fairly good amount of time before someone will beat the game from when they start it.

What It Could Have Done Better

The tutorial is embarrassingly spread out. There were things “taught” to me so deep into the game that I was already utilizing that element of the game before they told me about it. They really should condense the tutorial to all take place within the first five or so levels. From there, the player can refer to their settings and controls through the settings menu.

Verdict

Spongebob: Krusty Cook-Off plays like an entertaining mobile game that was brought to console, which means they did exactly what they aimed to when they launched this on the Nintendo Switch. If you like the way a mobile game typically plays out, then this game will have a very entertaining playstyle for you to consider. However, if you were hoping for a more gradual progression system and something more aligned with a standard console gameplay style, then there might be a bit of frustration for you with this game. That said, this is a solid game that does a great job keeping each level fresh with a unique challenge to it even though the gameplay has a bit of repetitiveness to it.

Spongebob: Krusty Cook-Off is available now on Nintendo Switch both digitally and physically, as well as Mobile via Android and iOS.