So once again we have another SpongeBob platformer. I will go over what I liked and didn't like about this game, with some comparisons to Cosmic Shake and Battle For Bikini Bottom Rehydrated when applicable to see how it stacks up. I will also do my best to avoid spoilers since this game is so new right now. Positives -The presentation is amazing I already thought Cosmic Shake was a great looking game when I played it a few years ago, but this one somehow looks even better. I think it's something to do with the lighting/shading, but whatever they did it looks great. Cutscenes are very expressive like something you'd see from the show and they are easily the best looking part of the game. The in-game graphics look very nice too and I can tell that a lot of effort went into making the environments look both natural and appealing. I can't really think of any complaints here, it's just very good all around. -The Platforming is solid This is another area where they improved over Cosmic Shake. The platforming here is some of the best of all the SpongeBob platformers I have played. Patrick makes his return as a playable character and you're able to switch between SpongeBob and Patrick whenever you want with the push of a button and this mechanic is why platforming is more interesting this time around. SpongeBob and Patrick share pretty similar movesets, but they each have a few exclusive moves. SpongeBob has a karate kick and bubble blowing move while Patrick has the ability to grapple items or enemies and a move that lets him burrow into the ground. These moves are the reason that you will be switching between each character on the fly. For example, you could be using SpongeBob to karate kick across some balloons and then while in mid-air, switch to Patrick to use their grapple on a platform to pull it closer so that they can land on it. It's hardly the most difficult platformer, but it manages to keep me entertained with how it constantly asks you to use both characters abilities to platform and solve puzzles. -Level Design is good If I had to describe what the levels are like for the most part, it would be mostly linear platforming with some occasional side paths for collectibles, but there are still a few sections that allow you to wander around and explore. Unlike previous games, you won't really be backtracking to previous worlds besides for a couple races, a side quest involving Sandy, and any missed collectibles. This is mostly because by the end of the second main level, you will already have all the abilities you will be using for the rest of the game and the game is designed to let you get (mostly) everything in one run. I don't think this is a bad thing as it allows for the platforming to gradually get more complex instead of having the majority of the platforming be very samey. It would be nice to see them try a more open ended platformer like Battle For Bikini Bottom where you could mostly choose what you wanted to do, but that's getting off topic. I think what we got here is solid and it entertained me the entire time I was playing. -General stuff I like I think the voice acting is great as you would expect from SpongeBob and I enjoyed the music here quite a bit too. It's atmospheric and fits the vibe of each level well. My favorite song has got to be the one that plays in the starting area of the fourth main level. Battle For Bikini Bottom fans will probably get a smile from hearing it. I also find the story here a lot more interesting than Cosmic Shake. It actually feels like the stuff we're doing matters and is not just an excuse to travel to different locations. I enjoyed the humor throughout the game also. Considering this is SpongeBob, there are a lot of moments where it doesn't take itself seriously or will have you do something silly, like getting some royal pajamas to wear so that you can talk to a character in a level and despite not being the target audience, it still managed to amuse me. Costumes are back from Cosmic Shake and Patrick can now get in on the action with a variety of pretty cool costumes! Besides a few returning costumes, they're all unique and reference things from the show. Collectibles in general are more varied and rewarding to get in this game compared to Cosmic Shake. There's chests, jellyfish, TVs, and items needed to complete side quests. Completing these will give you a variety of things including costumes, stuff for the hub area, underwear pieces that you can combine to increase your health, photo filters for the camera feature in the game, and awards that mostly serve as your indicator for how close to 100% you are. Neutral -The hub world is small and not very interesting Compared to the hub worlds of both Battle For Bikini Bottom and Cosmic Shake, the hub world here is pretty small. In the context of the game it makes sense why it is, but I wish there was more to see and do here. There's a few neat things here, such as a minigame where you cook krabby patties or a portal you can enter to do various challenges, but for the most part you're just coming here to talk to some characters before you enter the next level. One thing I do like is that you can purchase items to slowly decorate the area and make it more lively, with the vast majority of items being cosmetic. -Bosses are a mixed bag I liked the spectacle of each of the main bosses and their attack patterns were all good, but I wish there was some more variety to how you fight them. Every boss in this game puts you in a small arena where you dodge their attacks for a little bit before they have an opening where you can attack them. There's also what you could consider mini-bosses in this game, but they mostly serve as an introduction to enemies that you will encounter pretty soon during regular gameplay, just with significantly less health. In my opinion Cosmic Shake did bosses better since it wasn't always just waiting to wail on the boss. That game had more variety in that some bosses had you going through areas that were essentially a test of your platforming skills more than anything and those were pretty fun. I will say that the final boss was definitely better than Cosmic Shakes though, this one feels like a decent test of everything you've learned. Negative -This game is too short This is by far the shortest of the SpongeBob platformers I've played even when accounting for going for 100% completion. The most noticeable thing is the lack of levels in the game. Not counting the starting level that serves as more of a tutorial and the hub world, there are only 5 levels in this game. To give them credit, the levels are pretty long and are of high quality, but the lack of levels compared to earlier games is still pretty noticeable. It took me only 9 hours to 100% complete the game and that was with me missing a fair few collectibles and having to backtrack to all the levels to find them. I did enjoy what was here, but I really would have liked to see at least a few more levels considering this game costs 40 USD. Bit of a rant, but do we really need to keep more content that could have helped the game feel more complete behind a season pass, for a single player game no less? I see no reason why the current DLC for the game which consists of some platforming challenges and a boss rush couldn't just be part of the game from the start and have DLC for more substantial content like more levels? Conclusion So with everything I have said, what are my final thoughts? I think platforming wise, it's the best SpongeBob platformer I have played, but it is somewhat lacking in content and might disappoint you if you were expecting something that is like Battle For Bikini Bottom. I think the game needs a little more content or a slightly lower price for what it offers, but I still don't regret getting it. I can still recommend it to somebody wanting a simple platformer or a SpongeBob fan.
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