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More of the same Nicktoons games that we've been playing for a while.

Spongebob Squarepants: Globs Of Doom is the newest beat-'em-up / platformer from publisher THQ to carry along the majority of the Nicktoons characters on its back. Sure, it's got Spongebob featured in the title, but in reality it's just another Nicktoons game, like Attack of the Toybots, featuring the likes of Danny Phantom, Invader Zim, Jimmy Neutron and so on.

Not only is it similar in looks to previous Nicktoons titles, it pretty much plays exactly like I remember Attack of the Toybots working out. You're paired off with another character from one of the many Nicktoons related universes, and you run thru levels with an AI partner, jumping platforms, hitting switches, and swinging at mindless hordes of enemies, this time taking on a "glob" like form. It's not quite high art, in fact, it's a constant retread of a game that everyone has played a few times already, using familiar kids characters that have reprised this role for the umpteenth time.

This time out though, the "twist" is that you can now pair up with some of the archenemies for these various characters, so you'll be able to take control of someone like Plankton (after a little bit of growth), instead of being stuck with the usual combo of characters and their second-tier counterparts. Each level mixes up the combo as well, but it doesn't really matter much outside of how they look, since they all play in an identical fashion. Each character has a special weapon to use this time out, but they all seem to have the same effect. You can either swing with it for a basic strike, or use a special move that pretty much traps an enemy and allows you to hit it for an instant kill. The special move is tied into a meter right below your health meter, and power ups that drop from dead foes will fill it back up.

The levels themselves are divided up into worlds, as you might have already guessed. You'll start off with Bikini Bottom, move on to Invader Zim's town, and so on. There is a little variety in how each of these areas plays out, and not just in how they look. There's also a large boss encounter at the end of each stage (which is divided into three levels), but the bosses themselves are pretty simple and easy to knock off.

The AI of your partner is pretty much useless, and while they'll go on the offensive often, they tend to lag behind your character and they're constantly popping into play behind you, most likely because they missed a jump or just got stuck behind a wall. You can switch between the two characters freely, but there's little reason to do so, since they have the same attacks and jumps.

Prior to each level, and I assume this is a way to mask some of the loading, you'll do these little water levels that have a single character riding along on a boat/jet ski type object and collecting the various tokens that you can use to power up characters along the way. These little sections are probably the most fun you're going to have with this title, simply because it's a good departure from the gameplay that's grown very stale at this point.

Visually, going by comparisons between the Wii and PS2 versions, they're pretty identical. It's not the best we've seen on either system, and it's pretty much on par with the previous Nicktoons titles so far. The Wii actually doesn't have any real advantage over the PS2 that I could see, and oddly enough the use of motion controls is kept to a minimum here.

Basically, this is a simple retread of the last few Nicktoons related games and it's almost an exact replica of Attack of the Toybots but with new levels and character skins. The plot is new, but hardly worth mentioning, and while I'm sure there are kids out there that eat these games up, it's not going to relate well to the average gamer. If you're looking for a simple mindless platformer, you can honestly do better than Globs of Doom.