SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is the newest SpongeBob game from THQ Nordic. Coming off the rerelease of Battle for Bikini Bottom, the publisher dug in deep and made a new SpongeBob adventure that tells the tale of SpongeBob as he uses magic bubble soap to rip the fabric of space-time. It’s a simple concept really, as a mermaid mystic named Kassandra offers SpongeBob a bottle of bubble soap when he makes a wish. She might not be as nice as she appears, but SpongeBob happily uses the soap none the wiser.
After blowing a good amount of bubbles, Patrick reads that only those pure of heart can activate these special bubbles from King Neptune. And as the world breaks apart, SpongeBob’s pals are sent into different worlds and now only SpongeBob can save them. It’s a fun concept and lets the creators of the game make new costumes and use old fan favorites too. The game itself plays as a normal action platformer, and SpongeBob initially can just hit enemies aside and jump, but soon learns more skills. The worlds themselves have lots of things that require later moves as an incentive to come back to them, so you will be revisiting levels a bit.
When SpongeBob learns a move, a screen pops up and shows off how to use the move, showing shows off the move in slight detail which is good for newer gamers. The game wants to be played by everyone and it’s nice to see them put in the effort. SpongeBob gains a kick attack that with the right timing can launch him higher and higher into the air if there are kick balloons. He also gains other attacks that aren’t standard attacks, like being able to scare certain enemies and the variety is peak SpongeBob where every ability makes sense for what it is used for.
There are 7 worlds to run through, and each has a different theme. There’s an action movie level, a haunted level and a pirate level and each level has a variety of things to do to clear the level and move on, of course, there are more secrets and things to do, on top of that. The levels are all well done with quite a lot to see, with the basic level always having about 8-9 parts that you can complete. It’s easy to tell when the next part starts as there is either a checkpoint or a cutscene and the game is pretty quick if you just want to complete it without doing much else.
The game has different routes for different skill levels too and each of the worlds has multiple little paths to take and they can lead to collectibles or more jelly. None of these collectibles are inherently necessary but it’s fun to collect as much as possible in any game. In the Bikini Bottom hub world, SpongeBob can interact with his friends and take on quests, and sometimes these quests translate into different new activities like finding Plankton’s pet Spot.
After starting a quest, players will be able to find more and more collectibles in the levels. Each level has its own quest and associated collectible and some of them are pretty hard to find and might take you more time than they’d thought they’d use. The goal is to take your time and be patient and make full use of what the game has on hand.
It’s fun to see how the various characters influence SpongeBob’s adventure, which adds to the overall playtime in a good way. The voice acting is great because all of the actual voice actors voice the characters, and while the incidental lines SpongeBob says do get annoying, it is kinda part of the game’s charm. This is basically a game of SpongeBob’s greatest hits in a way with multiple show references and relevant jokes for fans as well as different costumes based on episodes and specials.
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a fantastic game for any SpongeBob fan and is well worth the time. If the player is newer to gaming they are sure to learn a thing or two while playing this game and that’s great.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided