Licensed video games have had a spotty track record over the years. In the GameCube era, getting a licensed video game (especially a 3D platformer) was almost a monthly thing. Now that trend has calmed down, companies often try to bring their licensed IP into video games, but it usually doesn’t work. SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake may be one of his first licensed games in years to break that mold. While it still suffers from the usual licensed video game traps, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake stands out and is a 3D platformer you should check out.
The main premise of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is that SpongeBob and Patrick are given a bottle of mermaid tears to use as bubble soap. These tears have magical powers, and as is normal for SpongeBob and Patrick, things get out of hand and literally tear apart the fabric of the universe. The story is your typical licensed video game story, and honestly it’s not a bad thing. SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is great because it does a great job recreating the feel and humor of his first three seasons of SpongeBob SquarePants. To be fair, I only watched the first few seasons of SpongeBob before quitting as I got older. But there is some nostalgia in the old episodes from a time when the episodes felt really funny and incredibly clever. SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake excels at delivering that level of humor. It’s smart, it’s witty, and it’s really goofy, but not so goofy that it makes your eyes roll.
The actual gameplay of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake itself is a 3D platformer. You are put into these large sandbox worlds to run around and explore, defeating enemies and picking up tons of collectibles along the way. Learn new techniques to help you improve, like how to glide Each level has its own theme and usually changes the techniques required to progress. Honestly, the platform is a lot of fun and surprisingly accurate. It’s been a long time since his licensed 3D platformers make real platforms feel like they’re floating, jerky, or simply broken. SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is thankfully pleasant to play and even better at controlling real platforms.
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a really cool game. If you’re familiar with the recent Battle for Bikini Bottom remasters (which look like… well), the game has massive visual improvements across the board. The characters are more alive and convey more expression than in previous remasters. Plus, the world feels deeper and more alive than ever before. It’s an improvement in quality that I didn’t expect, but I’m happy with it. It feels like you’re playing an episode of a TV show.
My main problem with SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake has to do with its puzzles and combat. The game is definitely aimed at a younger audience, so the puzzles are meant to be simpler and easier to solve. The problem is that the puzzle doesn’t change at all. So a very simple puzzle at the beginning of the game ends up being exactly the same simple puzzle, which is really disappointing.
The other major issue has to do with combat. In SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake, there are plenty of enemies you have to karate chop, bubble attack with his wand, and/or ground with his pound. The problem is, combat never feels good. He always has a 0.5 second delay between pressing the attack button and the actual attack, making combat feel awkward. It also doesn’t help that you can kill almost every enemy with the exact same attack. It felt pretty boring after an hour or two. It would be great if there was a way to change which attacks work on which enemies, or how an actual attack feels. It may have been a choice. Either way, combat is such an important part of gameplay that it doesn’t feel overly awesome.
Overall, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a fun game that fans of the 3D platforming genre should check out. This is his one of the best licensed games to come out in years. Visually, the game looks like an episode of a TV show, with very vivid colors and a world full of life. There is also great humor in the game that recalls the early seasons of SpongeBob, where the jokes felt clever. However, it is not without its drawbacks. Ultimately, his two main areas of gameplay throughout Cosmic Shake, puzzles and combat, aren’t great. The puzzles are incredibly simplistic and don’t change as the game progresses, and the combat feels sickening throughout the game. . Finally, if you’re a fan of 3D platformers or a fan of SpongeBob SquarePants, you’ll have plenty of fun to check out SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake.
