SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake Review (PS5)

After the moderate success of the rehydrated Battle for Bikini Bottom, it was to be expected that THQ would continue churning out SpongeBob SquarePants videogames for fans of all ages. The Cosmic Shake promised to follow in the footsteps of the previous episode, with the same whacky humor, well-known characters, a mildly challenging combat system and the almost frustrating platforming system. But is it enough to make us open our wallets?

Developed by Purple Lamp, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is clearly a game targeting fans of the franchise and kids of all ages. No one expects it to revolutionize the platforming genre, to have the impact of AAA game or to make us change our world view about what lies at the bottom of the ocean. What people expect is a fun game, that helps you relax and puts your reflexes to a mild test, while maybe making you smile at a few, more or less clumsy, jokes.  

The expectations having been set, the story sees our two half-wit heroes, SpongeBob and Patrick, causing once again a calamity that turns upside down the lives of the dwellers of Bikini Bottom. This time the cause of trouble is a vial of wish-granting Mermaid Tears found by SpongeBob among the useless trinkets peddled by Kassandra. After treating it like a tube of dishwasher liquid that can be blown into funny looking shapes, our heroes manage to tear up the very fabric of the Universe.

As a result, Patrick gets turned into a floating balloon animal, but more troubling is the calamity that destroys the settlement from the bottom of the ocean, opening portals to seven different dimensions, in each being lost one key NPC. From cowboys to movie sets, knights to pirates and even prehistoric snails, each dimension has a different theme based on the personality of the character you have to rescue. The mission of our duo of heroic morons is to save their friends from these alternate worlds they are trapped in, trying to restore the world to the state it was before.

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These Wishworlds named with mouthful descriptions such as Wild West Jellyfish Fields or Halloween Rock Bottom, also unlock new abilities for SpongeBob. The Karate Kick or the Fishhook Swing are not necessary only to move forward, but they also are part of the overall design that requires you to revisit already completed levels in order to unlock all their secrets. The new moves join the basic controls of the hero you order around, that include gliding with an empty pizza box or trying to keep the enemies at bay using a butterfly net.

Overall, the story of the game is exactly what you would expect from the franchise, with whacky humor, including some not so kid friendly innuendos, together with all the favorite characters from the show and their typical banter. On the plus side all characters are voiced by the same actors as in the TV show. On the other hand, the banter between SpongeBob and Patrick consists of a series of one liners or short dialogues that are repeated until they become more than annoying. There are so many times you can listen to SpongeBob humming the Krusty Krab pizza jingle.

Repetition remains the biggest problem of the game in general. Although the new abilities bring some variety and the developers tried to spice things up by adding different minigames, changing perspective or making the boss fights more unique, the combat of The Cosmic Shake, remains dull and predictable. Faced with the same gelatinous opponents in each location, you will realize pretty soon that the variety is quite limited.

Once you learn the simple tactics needed to deal with them, it all becomes a matter of going through the motions. Combat is more like a necessary chore you have to go through in order to progress towards the platforming parts and trying to figure out how to nab the collectibles.  

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At the same time, platforming can be quite frustrating. It is not because of the difficulty, but rather due to the lack of precision. The camera often works against you and calculating the landing point of a jump is still tricky. But being a game targeting kids of all ages, the price of failure is almost inexistent. As you get low on underpants representing your lives, you will see Patrick flying around carrying some spare undies for you.

If the unimaginable still happens, and you chafe your style because you missed a jump too many times, the game will respawn you quite close to your point of demise, also replacing the cosmic bubbles you already collected together with the opponents you have defeated.

Basically, this is no punishment, since you have no reason to turn back once you got past hurdles and when you revisit areas hunting for hidden collectibles, enemies are respawned anyway. Next to the golden spatulas and the golden underwear that extend your number of lives, you will also have to keep an eye out for golden coins, necessary to unlock the different tiers of whacky costumes that SpongeBob can equip. Their role is purely cosmetic, but the end result can be quite comic.

The graphics are exactly what you would expect, the cartoonish style being given a shiny polish. The framerate can be shaky though in some cases, the drops being inexplicable, since the current generation of consoles is more than prepared to handle these visuals. The controls work generally well, but the camera angles chosen by the game can be troublesome. Next to the voice acting that is on par, we also have a new soundtrack signed by the same people who did Battle for Bikini Bottom. It works well with the game but is in no way memorable.

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The Good

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