Developer: Purple Lamp Studios
Publisher: THQ, THQ Nordic
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Tested on: PC
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated – Review
Everybody knows the friendly sponge that lives in a pineapple deep in the sea, SpongeBob SquarePants. SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom originally released in 2003 and had a great reception at that time. While this game has grown old with some very outdated graphics, the cartoons certainly haven’t as you can still see this show on many TV channels. Now, this cult classic is back with SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated as a remaster of the original with better graphics and accessibility on all modern consoles and PC.
Story
Like in its predecessor, Bikini Bottom is overrun by evil robots created by Plankton with one of his plans to steal the secret recipe of the Krabby Patty, the Krusty Krab’s signature dish. Like all of his previous plans, this one fails as well as these robots won’t listen to a thing he says. He then deviously gets SpongeBob to help him defeat the robots and save Bikini Bottom.
After seeing the introductory video, you will start in SpongeBob’s Pineapple house where you immediately need to find a golden spatula to get out. After going outside, you have multiple places to go, but most of them are locked with a number of spatulas needed to enter. Each area has its own events and side quests along with defeating the robots there and collecting golden spatulas. When you have defeated the boss of an area, you can choose to collect all other spatulas, or move on to the next level if you have collected enough golden spatulas.
Graphics
Compared to the old game, this remaster definitely looks a lot better, with more details, better textures, and a higher resolution. You won’t have to expect the most HD graphics because it still needs to look just like in the cartoons, which it totally does with some added 3D-effects. Each character looks exactly like they look in the series and the game will take you to many well-known areas like the Jellyfish Fields, the Poseidome, and many others. These areas look just like in the series, maybe even better. The characters’ appearance will constantly adapt to the environment, like when SpongeBob enters Sandy’s dome, where there is air instead of water, he turns into a dried-up sponge or when a robot comes near, SpongeBob will run with his arms up in the air because he’s afraid.
Sound
The sound has been done very well in this game. All the original voice actors have been used to voice all the series’ popular characters. The game also offers support for multiple languages, although sadly, Dutch isn’t among them. When you boot up the game, the intro from the series will play, making it feel very nostalgic for older players and a very immersive experience for the younger ones. When playing, the characters will constantly say those well-known verses the characters are known for. There isn’t a thing you can say that’s not good in this category.
Gameplay
SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is an open world, action-platformer which sets you in the shoes of SpongeBob SquarePants and his funny friends to save Bikini Bottom from the evil robots that have been released upon the town through an evil plan concocted by Plankton in order to acquire the Krabby Patty’s secret recipe.
The gameplay of SpongeBob hasn’t been changed if you compare it with the older version, although the game runs and feels a lot smoother than on the older consoles. You’ll start with controlling SpongeBob himself and he can jump, smack enemies with his jelly fishing net. He can do a ground pound move while in the air and he can do a boosted jump with the help of his bubble skills. SpongeBob will also learn to wall jump after playing a bit.
You won’t only control SpongeBob as you will often need to switch to his friends like Patrick Star or Sandy the Squirrel as they have other abilities to overcome certain obstacles. Patrick not only looks stronger than SpongeBob, but he certainly is too. He can pick up watermelons or other throwable items to destroy enemies or activate buttons from a distance. Sandy, on the other hand, has the ability to float by using her lasso after she jumped, which will make her able to cross much bigger gaps than SpongeBob and Patrick. As you progress in the game, you will notice that there are areas you can’t reach yet with signs stating that you need to acquire a skill before you can get across. These skills will be acquired as you progress through the game’s story, so you need to return to these areas later after getting these skills.
There are three collectible items in this game, golden spatulas, shiny objects that look like the flowers in the series and Patrick’s (dirty) socks. The golden spatulas are needed for unlocking new levels and to progress in the game, the shiny objects are needed to buy golden spatulas from Mr. Krabs and to pay off Clams to open up new levels in an area. The dirty socks are given to Patrick in exchange for more golden spatulas. Everywhere in each level, you’ll find SpongeBob’s underpants floating around. These function as your characters’ Health points. When they get hit, they will lose one of these underpants. While SpongeBob is always happy to find underpants to restore health, Sandy isn’t really all that happy with them as she can’t believe she’s really wearing SpongeBob’s underpants.
Conclusion
SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is a good remaster of a cult classic that was already received very well back in the days. With this remaster, this game has become accessible to the new generation and it doesn’t really need a lot of new things as the game was already great. The areas and characters are designed perfectly and totally resemble those in the series. The gameplay of the game is still great, with not a lot of difficulty, making it easily accessible for everyone. With no blood, gore and a lot of violence, this game is very suited for kids, while it also lets them play as one of their favorite cartoon characters. If you have kids who are a fan of SpongeBob and his friends, or just want to play the game without dusting off your old console, we’d definitely recommend buying this one as it will have you entertained for quite a while, but you won’t have to expect new content as this is mostly just a plain remaster with updated graphics.
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