Spongebob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake Review

If you grew up playing games and consuming media in the ’90s and early 2000s, you probably have nostalgia for colorful, fun 3D platformers, and you probably watched Spongebob Squarepants.  Who would have thought that combining those two things could be a recipe for success?  Well, that’s exactly what it is, with what I consider to be one of the best 3D platforms of its time: Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom.  THQ Nordic decided it was time to finally revisit the title with a remaster in 2020, and now they’ve made a spiritual successor in 2023: Spongebob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake. So, did they sink or swim with this new title? Let’s break it down!

Graphics and Setting

I understood that this would never be a graphical showpiece, but I think it did the franchise justice!  It’s a pretty large step up from the remaster from a couple of years back when it comes to depth and detail, while keeping the style and colorful fun of Bikini Bottom.  There is something refreshing about a fun, colorful game like this that stands out in a market full of games fighting to look the most realistic.  All of the original Spongebob Squarepants series voice actors reprise their roles in this game as well, and for someone who grew up with the series, this goes a long way when it came to my enjoyment of the game!  For the level design, they went with a number of familiar locations from the series, and even some new creations, based on series references that fit the story.  From a creepy Halloween-themed Rock Bottom to a movie set in the heart of Bikini Bottom run by Squidward, the variation and characters made each level very enjoyable to explore!  The only negative to me was that the levels sometimes dragged on a little longer than I would have wanted, and started to feel a bit repetitive, but that was mainly in the early game and had a purpose we will discuss later.

Platforming and Controls

I know Battle For Bikini Bottom isn’t the first thing people think of when they hear 3D Platformer, as that crown is usually held by Super Mario 64, but I would dare to say that when it came out in 2003, it was ahead of its time, and the remaster cemented that opinion for me!  That being said, The Cosmic Shake has a lot to live up to.  I think they played it a little safe here, taking a lot of the platforming design straight from the predecessor, with one of the few new additions being seahorse riding, which I could have done without.  This was by far the worst feeling part of the game for me.  It was a cheap Temple Run-style way to get faster from one part of a level to another, but it felt clunky and slow to respond to controls.  With the rest of the game controlling quite fluidly, this felt way out of place!  The other big change is that Spongebob is your only playable character, which makes sense for the storyline, so they had to find a way to give him all the platforming abilities from the previous game.  Instead of switching to Sandy to glide with your lasso and karate kick out of the air, Spongebob has a Krusty Krab pizza box he can use as a glider and learns a similar karate kick to Sandy as a power-up during the story.  There are a number of other powerups you will gain along the way, but I don’t want to spoil them here.  Just know these are an improvement over the previous games. You no longer need to switch out characters to backtrack and get through certain spots of a level.  Overall I think the platforming and controls were well crafted, other than the annoying seahorse riding sequences and a handful of unresponsive button presses using the glider.

Overall Level and Story Design

The story of this game is pretty straightforward, and fits incredibly well in the Spongebob universe.  This a classic mess up for Spongebob and Patrick, who leave Bikini Bottom in shambles, and they have to right their wrongs to defeat the evil fortune teller Madame Kassandra.  If you are a fan of the series, you will love how each of the levels feels like its own episode set in an alternate reality!  This also lends well to how the game plays out.  Earlier, I mentioned that levels felt a little stretched out, but part of that is your lack of abilities in the early game.  I realized this once I completed the main storyline and realized I still had much to do in the game. As the game progresses, you unlock new abilities, and using these abilities, you can go back to older levels to find new or hidden challenges.  This is where I realized how much quicker you can get through the levels with all your abilities by the end game.  It also gave the game a bit of a Metroidvania feel that I really appreciate. 

Lastly, in a time where skins in even single-player games are pre-order bonuses and paid DLC, I am happy to say there are a ton of different costumes for Spongebob, with each one being a reference to an episode in the series, and all of these are unlockable in the game as part of the secret gold coins you hunt down!  I am about 13 hours in and have completed almost everything to do!