SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake

Spongebob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake is a standard platform collect-a-thon that is held up by its content and humor. I was smiling the entire time I was playing it and it lasts just the right amount of time. I feel like Rehydrated was a touch more interesting on the whole, but this follow-up is more than worth your time if you are a fan of the genre or subject matter. Spongebob is timeless and can be enjoyed by anyone of any age, even if your nostalgia for it is as nonexistent as mine is.

Whether you're a SpongeBob fan or just looking to get a new game for your kid, The Cosmic Shake is a solid choice.

Despite a few hiccups and disappointing aspects of The Cosmic Shake design, at its core it achieves its goals. Playing it felt the way I remember Battle for Bikini Bottom playing and all of the jokes and references felt aimed at older SpongeBob fans, pulling straight from the classic episodes. There are tons of small jokes and references in the levels that will make you smile and SpongeBob and Patrick will have you at least chuckling more often than not. It's not a revolutionary platformer, but it is good enough to keep you engaged throughout the entire game's length. If you have no reverence or appreciation for SpongeBob, whether it be the old games or the cartoon, The Cosmic Shake likely won't appeal to you. But for those of us who love SpongeBob, the Cosmic Shake is a great time with some old friends.

All in all, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a middling effort that is helped along by the titular protagonist’s whimsical humour, the sparklingly colourful Wishworlds and the jolly soundtrack. Unfortunately, The Cosmic Shake spirals down from its promising state as an original SpongeBob adventure because it feels like any old-school platformer from twenty years ago. Sure, the kiddies will find The Cosmic Shake to be a simple and satisfying slice of SpongeBob silliness to savour, but without an impactful zest to it, there’s not enough to make it stand out from previous outings. There’s a woeful dearth of depth here that ensures The Cosmic Shake flounders adrift in the high seas of averageness, instead of soaring into the skies of sensation. It’s an adventure that will do in a pinch, but SpongeBob fans know this could have been so much more.

Spongebob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake does a lot of things really right and well to make this feel like a Spongebob game for the current generation. But its lackluster objectives and its sometimes repetitive platforming and combat hold it back from being great. Instead, we’re left with a decent game that’s well worthwhile for a casual Spongebob or action-platforming fan, but a bit short of expectations for anybody who hoped this would take over as their new favorite Spongebob game.

SpongeBob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake isn’t a bad game, but it’s not a particularly great one either. It exists firmly in the middle, a game that is slightly more good than it is bad, and a game that could be quite good with just a few tweaks and changes. If I were an eight-year-old kid with plenty of time and patience, I don’t think I could find much to fault here, and given that’s primarily who this game will be aimed at, that’s probably good enough.

SpongeBob: The Cosmic Shake offers a new story that compiles some of the best moments of the series in an interesting platformer performed by the original voices of Bob and company.

Even if I’m not quite ready to take Employee of the Month away from Battle for Bikini Bottom, we have the makings of something amazing here. Nickelodeon needs to recognise this potential, and sets its sights higher with the next SpongeBob game.