Twenty years ago the video game space saw many licensed properties adapted from their TV or movie counterparts. One such IP was SpongeBob with the game Battle for Bikini Bottom. I rented it on PS2 from Blockbuster and completed 100% of what it offered. A remake of it came to fruition in 2020, but I couldn’t bring myself to once again spend all the time I spent years ago, despite it adding new features and cut content. A new game in the same spirit however, well, that’s a different story.

Going into a SpongeBob game 20 years later means a lot has changed. That includes the show itself, which seems like a husk of its old self. But the early seasons still have plenty of life, as my daughter will watch them semi-regularly. As I was booting up the game for the first time, she seemed disinterested. Once it actually started though, she was in. And when the loading screen was an “X hours later” card with narration, my wife professed her love for it. Indeed, the animations and voice acting is what you would hope for from this type of game, although its writing only made me laugh a couple times in total. Unfortunately, it’s more in line with current day SpongeBob, although it does have nods to the early episodes (a shadow puzzle in particular had me asking if my daughter remembered the scene it was from).

The game eschews the different playable characters for just SpongeBob with his floating balloon friend Patrick. I appreciated this, as I rarely enjoy the different play styles that come with other characters, especially in platformers (my problem with the sequels to Spyro and Sly Cooper). You’ll travel to several different environments to collect jelly, save your friends, and make Bikini Bottom normal again. There are collectibles to find, and side missions that require replaying the levels, generally for additional collectibles. You will unlock costumes as you progress, but there are also optional costumes to unlock. These are merely for show, but they can be fun to wear.

The variation in enemy type is minimal at best. You’re introduced to a few different baddies, and that’s the extent of it. Funnily enough, I didn’t realize the proper way to kill one of the last ones you meet until after I beat the game and was completing side quests. The game is very forgiving with deaths and progression, which no doubt makes this more accessible to the younger audience that will be drawn to it. While the enemies don’t change much, the level themes do. You’ll be a pirate, cowboy, movie star, cave sponge, amongst others. The levels themselves even offer different segments, such as riding a seahorse, surfing on your tongue, and karate kicking obstacles to travel through the air. There are also abilities you’ll gain that will allow you to further explore past levels.

While some of the issues I encountered will be fixed with the day one patch, I saw many that were not in the known issues document I was provided. Ideally these will be patched as well. When I’d die from the environment, I’d more often than not spawn in a spot that would kill me again – sometimes I’d spawn on an enemy instead. At certain points in the game, a giant swirling bubble will envelope you with enemies – it disappears after defeating everyone. There’s a labyrinth in the game where you can get sucked into one while the gate is closed, meaning I had to reload my save and ensure I didn’t get close to the gate. There were also times that the HUD just didn’t display, and there was no clear indication of what was happening with the onscreen action. When I finished the first seahorse section, a second after dismount, I died and had to do the whole thing over. I also found myself getting stuck in geometry within the different realms, once again causing a restart. The game also had instances of the quest marker either not showing at all, or leading me to something I already completed. And there was one instance in particular that made me turn off the game because I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

Combat itself is pretty generic, and some boss fights really left me frustrated. I remember one specific boss battle that involves Pearl where I said out loud, this will be one people hate. Especially if they’re trying to get the trophy to not get hit throughout. And SpongeBob will constantly say the same phrases over and over as you play, which get tiresome to say the least. But there’s nothing overly obtuse in the game – it mainly feels like some things could do with a patch.

I went into The Cosmic Shake with mild expectations. While licensed games don’t generally carry the stink they did two decades ago, they still aren’t something I jump at with open arms. A lot of my issues can and likely will be patched out, which is great. And I’d venture to say that this kept my attention more than Battle for Bikini Bottom. If you like current day SpongeBob and platformers, this will probably scratch a specific itch for a few hours. Just don’t expect this to be the next Mario game.

6 out of 10

Pros

• Voice Actors
• Costumes
• New abilities
• Level Themes

Cons

• So Many Glitches
• Occasionally Frustrating Combat
• Many Laughs That Don’t Land

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake was developed by Purple Lamp Studios and was published by THQ Nordic. The game is available on NS, PC, PS4, and XSX. The game was provided to us for review on PS4 and played on PS5. If you’d like to see more of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake, check out the publisher’s site.

 

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