SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake Review

SpongeBob SquarePants was never a big part of my childhood, and it’s really not something my kids watch now. That being said, when the Battle for Bikini Bottom game released on Nintendo Switch last year, my kids had a great time with it. They were equally as excited to hear that a brand new game was coming, and from our viewpoint, the wait was worth it. While the majority of our review play time was completed by my eight year old, I still think the opinions below will be helpful in whether or not you should pick this up! Let’s go!

In The Cosmic Shake, the cosmos gets, well, shaken up. After blowing fancy bubbles all around Bikini Bottom – without reading the label, classic SpongeBob – SpongeBob SquarePants realizes he has made a grave error. As a result, portals open up in the town to various worlds, and it is up to SpongeBob to enter those worlds and save his friends. It all begins with a quest to find Mr. Crabs in a gorgeous western themed town, but when he meets sheriff Sandy and more of his friends, he quickly realizes things are not quite right!

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The gameplay in The Cosmic Shake is pretty standard fair, and obviously aimed at a younger audience. My son had a blast with the various attacks, jumps and glides he could perform. None of the platforming elements were particularly difficult to master, and he was able to sail through the game with relative ease. Buttons are mapped for jumping, double jumping and gliding (pressing A, pressing A again, and holding A), as well as buttons for doing a ground pound and for swinging at enemies. Again, standard and easy, but probably appropriately so.

There isn’t much variety in the gameplay, but there is a decent amount when it comes to visuals. The various worlds you will access from Bikini Bottom are unique and also rather impressive. There is a Halloween world, Western world, Pirate world, and more. Each is packed full of colourful characters, enemies, and quests to complete. This game isn’t overly long, but for those looking to unlock everything, there is still more than 10 hours of game here.

I love that everything is fully voice acted, and it is done well too. This is a real highlight for me, and shows that a developer – THQ Nordic in this instance – is going just a step further to create a more immersive experience. Take note, Nintendo. There is still NO reason why Pokemon games are not voice acted!

Check out Game Play for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake

Not everything is perfect though. Like I said before, I found the gameplay fairly repetitive, and even though we get unique world to explore, what you do in each isn’t wildly different than the last, just with different skins. There are also a few graphical and framerate issues on the Nintendo Switch, although none that break the game or really cause any issues.

Overall, The Cosmic Shake is a great experience. As a non-SpongeBob SquarePants fan, I think it’s a solid 7/10. If you love the franchise, it’s probably closer to an 8! Either way, it is worth a play, and highly recommended (9/10) for younger players!