SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is as joyful as its source material. It’ll appeal to fans of the cartoon more so than those seeking a challenging 3D platforming adventure, but it’s a fun, nostalgic romp either way. Just don’t expect much from the new multiplayer component.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated is a solid remake that perhaps stays a little too true to the original. The updated visuals bring the game more inline with the original cartoon series, but some dated game design holds the port back from being truly exceptional.

Playing Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is a fun enough time if you’re looking for a nostalgia kick with better graphics and if you’re a fan of the genre already you just might enjoy a trip to Bikini Bottom yourself.

It’s completely for the fans. Speaking as one of those fans, I think that’s really admirable and despite some late-game annoyances and sound design flaws, I found Battle For Bikini Bottom absolutely worth going back for. Nostalgia may be a powerful tool, but this game is still worthy of your time regardless.

This game is exactly what lifelong SpongeBob fan hoped it would be. For observant players, there are tons of nods to the show, and the humor and charm of SpongeBob shines through brilliantly. If you were to remove the SpongeBob license from it though, the game would be just "good enough." It's competently made but falls short of greatness. Ultimately, SpongeBob fanatics and hardcore platforming fans won't want to miss this release, but otherwise, you need not rush to get it.

Even with its many imperfections, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated ultimately succeeds as an attempt to spruce up a 17-year old game. It doesn’t stand alongside the 3D platforming greats, but it’s a fantastic, humour-filled tribute to a beloved show. People less familiar with the yellow sea sponge’s exploits will find it harder to overlook the creaky, PlayStation 2-era quirks. It looks better, but that doesn’t mean it plays better than it did 17 years ago.

Considering the long-reaching cultural impact that the SpongeBob cartoon has had on modern pop culture, it’s nice to see that the franchise got at least one solid video game that properly represents the unique draw of SpongeBob and his friends. Though Battle for Bikini Bottom doesn’t bring anything new to the table as a 3D platformer, its strong level design, lighthearted tone, and gorgeous remastered visuals make this one an easy recommendation. That being said, rampant technical issues hold the game back from true greatness, which is a real shame given the quality in nearly every other area. As a result, this certainly isn’t the game to unseat Super Mario Odyssey, but those of you that love a good collect-a-thon 3D platformer will find plenty to love here.

This is for one of the best SpongeBob SquarePants videogames ever made. However, the game hasn't been properly updated after the original title was released more than 15 years ago.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated is a long name for a game that does not have a lot to offer. This remastered version of an older work brings a 3D platforming formula that worked much better in its original day than today. On the other hand, this new version brings an updated visual environment and a multiplayer mode, even though the latter only provides the bare minimum. Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated fits better within a specific group of players rather than with a wider audience.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated hits you with nostalgia, but that's not enough to carry it forward in 2020.

With a remake, all of this, along with the often questionable level design, could have been corrected. But with SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated aiming to be as faithful to the original as possible, these issues only serve as a reminder of how much better the industry has become at making 3D platformers.

A perfect example of nostalgia glasses. In short, this may be a hidden gem, but it is completely representative of its time. 2D Platformers have long moved on, and this deserved some overhaul to the core gameplay, instead of just a graphical improvement and a tacked-on multiplayer experience. The soundtrack is a perfect encapsulation of the game as a whole. Utterly charming for the first few moments, but then each track repeats again. And again. And again. One note. Those who enjoyed the first may find themselves questioning why they did, should they dive into the murky waters here.