Developer: Purple Lamp Studios
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
Code Received.
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a simple 3D platformer that features the extended cast of Bikini Bottom. It doubles down on the characters and humor of the TV show, which makes for an entertaining story. Unfortunately, the gameplay and platforming are decidedly simple and inconsistent, so anyone looking for a fun, challenging platforming experience may be disappointed. With the 3D platforming landscape being so sparse, and SpongeBob SquarePant appealing to such a massive audience, it feels like a missed opportunity.
The game takes no time putting its best foot forward. We’re immediately greeted with our soggy hero emerging from his prickly pineapple. We quickly go down the list of all of SpongeBob’s best friends including Patrick, Sandy, and Squidward. All delivering authentic dialogue from the original voice cast. It doesn’t take long for SpongeBob and Patrick to bump into a shady traveling merchant who sells them a mysterious purple bottle of magic bubbles. Naturally, SpongeBob gets a little carried away and “Three Hours Later™” unleashes the evil magic from the bottle, causing an interdimensional cosmic shakeup. The story, characters, and humor are absolutely where this game shines. The writing combined with the original voice cast make for an experience that feels ripped right out of the cartoon. The characters and environments are also sharp and colorful, although they might be a little too clean when compared to the show’s somewhat grimy aesthetic.
Looks and sounds are about the extent of the compliments I can give The Cosmic Shake. Not only do the levels lack any challenge, but the platforming itself feels imprecise. It simply doesn’t feel satisfying when jumping from platform to platform. I never felt confident in SpongeBob’s jump range or whether he’d reach out and grab a ledge. SpongeBob lacks weight, it’s hard to tell where you are going to land, and the camera does not keep up with the action. This means you’ll be constantly adjusting the camera to frame the action, taking your thumb off the jump and other face buttons.
This is matched by uninteresting level deign, with floating platforms thrown into the sky instead of cleverly blending them into the environment like better platformers. There’s a great sense of wonder achieved in games like Super Mario Odyssey and Ratchet and Clank, where you can look at an environment full obstacles intricately blended with level art. Then feel triumphant when you look back at the course you just bested. This is missing from The Cosmic Shake. Each level does have a unique look taking you from a Wild West town to the salty shores of a pirate cove, but what you do will mostly be the same. There were a few clever kung-fu movie vignettes which I enjoyed, but even those were followed up by sloppy platforming, simple minigames, and dull combat.
Speaking of combat, it feels just as imprecise and weightless as the platforming. Your arsenal of attacks starts out limited, but expands over time. However, more isn’t always better here because many enemies require you to use very specific moves be be defeated. Combat encounters typically devolve into button spamming and hoping the right move connects with the right enemy. One of the more frustrating mechanics is the auto-aim-only Bubble Net and Kung-Fu Kick attacks. It’s very finicky which enemy the game decides to lock onto, often resulting in missed kicks and stunning the wrong enemy. This is also exasperated by the previously mentioned lackluster camera. This imprecision carries over to platforming segments that rely heavily on these abilities, as well. The more I played the more it felt like the old Garfield platformers like Saving Arlene and Lasagna World Tour, not exactly the golden age of 3D platformers. Just a complete lack of precision and unpredictability. Needless to say this lead to many instances where failing felt completely out of my hands.
I should mention that the only reason you are doing most of this, outside of moving the story forward, is to unlock cosmetic costumes for SpongeBob. The levels are filled with purple blobs of jelly that serve as the game’s currency, plus rarer coins that unlock new tires of said costumes. This doesn’t work in the “collectathon” sense as the jelly blobs repopulate over time, so there’s really no reason to collect them all, other than to unlock costumes. There’s no feeling of accomplishment when you collect 100% of a level’s items, just costumes. Costumes that do nothing but look good and make you say “Hey, I remember when SponeBob wore that!” You are given free costumes themed after the game’s eight levels, but even those are just cosmetic as they don’t come with any special abilities and can be swapped out for a different costume at any time. Your DLC costumes are naturally featured prominently at the top of the costume selection screen.
The reason all of this this is so disappointing is because SpongeBob SquarePants is a 25 year old cartoon that is still on air today. I’m 37 (sigh) and fondly remember these characters because the show appealed to such a wide audience, not just children. It wasn’t as adult-leaning as The Simpsons or South Park, but still had smart humor and trusted the audience to “get the joke.” Each episode told a complete story, had reoccurring characters, call back gags, and felt more like a sitcom than most cartoons. It also debuted in 1999, at the height of 3D platforming fever with Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot, and Spyro capturing the hearts and minds of the same kids and teens tuning into Nickelodeon. As a member of that demographic I can attest to how much I’d love a quality 3D platformer today, starring characters I like and featuring gags that still put a smile on my face. And while SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake hits the later, it fails resoundingly in the gameplay department.
It’s clear the game is aiming at a younger audience, kids and teens that are regularly watching SpongeBob SquarePants today. I assume that’s the target demographic. It makes sense with the budget price, heavy focus on story rather than gameplay, and expectations built off of Battle for Bikini Bottom. However, I feel it’s a miss, and disappointment, to cater to such a small slice of the SpongeBob audience, especially when disposable income typically scales with age. It’s also not as if young gamers can’t appreciate and enjoy a great action platformer today. It’s probably more indicative of THQ Nordic’s goal of limited scopes and budgets in hope of high returns on well known IPs, but that business model hasn’t exactly worked out for them. That’s not to say I hope SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a failure by any means. I honestly hope it allows Purple Lamp Studios to produce a follow up that has higher aspirations and appeals to a larger audience.
