The art program to draw up all the editable game sprites is pretty much identical between the two versions. It's hard to say if Spongebob Edition is actually using any of the tech from the original Drawn to Life, but at the very least the games share similar interfaces in their similar designs.

In fact, Drawn to Life: Spongebob Edition is actually based upon specific episodes of the cartoon where an evil drawing comes to life: DoodleBob is this game's nemesis, and you actually play a 'good' doodle of Patrick's to thwart the babbling black and white scribble that's blotching up the Spongebob world. The big difference between this Drawn to Life game and last year's original is, essentially, the revolving universe the game takes place in: where 5th Cell created a fantastical world specific to last year's game, Spongebob Edition obviously takes place in Stephen Hillenburg's wacky seascape. Scribbles become enemies, friends, platforms, springs, gearsвЂ¦and because it's all up to the gamer's art skill, the game can either be pure or downright crudeвЂ¦with the scale sliding heavily towards the latter. Much of what 5th Cell put into the original Drawn to Life has pretty much been applied to the Spongebob Squarepants game: the design is a traditional side-scrolling platform design with heavy emphasis on giving players the ability to customize the main character, gameplay objects and sprites using a touch-screen art program. The original team moved on to bigger and better things (Lock's Quest) once last year's Drawn to Life hit the scene, so for this branded follow-up вЂ“ let's not call it a sequel вЂ“ THQ went with its standby-studio Altron to handle the development. But kids are going to love all the things they can doodle up to make the game their own.

It's a good, solid platformer that doesn't quite reach the creative high of the original game. Luckily the game within the packaging doesn't sully the name that 5th Cell created. I can't say I'm shocked or surprised after all companies make games to make money, and it's pretty much a shoo-in that вЂ“ better or worse - Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition will sell considerably better than the game that inspired it. So isn't it funny that THQ, after taking that risk with an original title in the form of Drawn to Life, follows up that game with the 'guarantee' branding of Spongebob Squarepants. Retailers want to guarantee sales, so games without a brand attached to it always seem to get the shaft in favor of the Spongebob titles.

Whenever I bring up the state of the handheld gaming industry regarding original titles versus licensed titles, I always seem to use Spongebob Squarepants as the best example.

Drawn to life spongebob