Spongebob Squarepants Battle For Bikini Bottom Rehydrated is a 2020 platformer developed by Purple Lamp Studios and is a remaster of the 2003 cult classic Battle For Bikini Bottom ,originally developed by Heavy Iron Studios.
Now i played the original when i was a kid but i never completed it but i do remember the game quite fondly as being a nice platformer and pretty decent licensed game as most licensed games nowadays are blatant cash grabs.However Heavy Iron Studios clearly put a lot of effort in to the game, So how have Purple Lamp Studios done with this remaster and have they done enough to bring this game in to current gaming era…I’M READY to break it down.
Now i haven’t played the original since i was a little kid at least 15 years so it’s hard for me to remember how it played, however the Rehydrated version does play and feel like a classic retro platformer however this has both its pro’s and con’s. One one hand keeping the game retro would appeal to the die hard fan base this game has, on the other hand it does very little to get new players or players like myself that don’t really remember the original that well engaged in the dated gameplay. The Crash Bandicoot N’sane trilogy is a great example it did little but changes to the base game but it changed what was necessary for example found the jumping was much easier in the remaster than in the original and the hitboxes were more responsive from the sprites that crash is up against and it was overall a more modern experience thanks to the little tweaks, whilst still keeping the charm of the original intact. The Battle for bikini bottom does very little to bring this game to the modern era. The controls feel sluggish and a little unresponsive (most notably as Sandy Cheeks) to the point where I would find myself failing simple platforming sections over and over again because I couldn’t dodge an enemy attack in time or not quite land a small platform due to the sluggishness of the overall game. The game feels similar to Jak and Daxter in terms of objectives but with Jak and daxter being the overall superior game, The game is a collect-a-thon but without the charm of Naughty Dog’s charming platform in the early days of Playstation 2 but there is still a little fun to be had here and there, but the similarities are uncanny. Instead of Precursor Orbs you’re collecting Shiny objects when you beat a mission you get a Golden Spatula instead of a Power Cell and each area has a certain amount to collect. The game isn’t a carbon copy reskin of Jak and Daxter game and there is still a lot of original ideas and enjoyment in the gameplay but i just wish that they did more to modernize this game. They did try to add a cut multiplayer from the original game to this one but it isn’t a worthy addition and I can quickly sum it up in a few words…utterly terrible.
From a performance standpoint this game runs fine i never had any dips in framerate or game crashes and it looks pretty consistent throughout. However this game isn’t something groundbreaking in terms of graphics so i wouldn’t expect it to give my PS4 a hard time and it didn’t. The game ran exactly how I expected it to run.
Despite having its fair share of problems in the gameplay aspect,this game looks as good as a spongebob game could look in 2020. The art style that Purple Lamp Studio’s has gone for is a great direction the game looks great. It’s vibrant and colourful like you expect spongebob episodes to look. It matches the scheme of modern episodes of the cartoony sponge character, even if you dislike the look of the newer cartoons it’s easy to admit that this game nails the art direction of this game. If you’ve seen the trailer to the Sponge on the run trailer then it shares a striking resemblance to that animation style. There are a few negatives though the game opts to keep to original audio which features the great cast of the show (who are as great as ever) and some fill-in for certain characters that doesn’t quite work.For those who have played the game i am of course talking about Mr Krabs and Mermaid man who has a voice actor doing a less that impressive impression of the characters, with Mr Krabs taking the cake…the terrible, sub-par cake.
The story is pretty basic and follows the same structure as most spongebob episodes, plankton has done something evil, and spongebob must try to stop it.Saying that, just because it is basic that doesn’t mean it is bad if you’re a fan of the show there is a story worthy of Spongebob here filled with the classic Spongebob humour but very little masterful storytelling which fits the tone of the game perfectly it’s a Spongebob episode you can play what else could you ask for in a Spongebob game..
I platinumed this game in about 3 days (playing stuff in between) and after i completed it there is no reason i would go back to this game. The multiplayer add-on that is usually designed to add more value to a game actually detracts from its overall quality as it’s honestly one of the worst i have played and the game gives me absolutely no replay value whatsoever.
However even though the game has no replay value, that is not to say that it doesn’t have value at all. The game isnt sold with a £50 price tag like most new games. I bought it brand new for £25 and for a solely single player experience (i’m pretending the multiplayer doesn’t exist) and even though i still think £25 is a great price for a game i wish i had waited until it dropped in price or borrowed it from a friend..
Final Score.
Title:Mediocre
Battle for Bikini Bottom is definitely not setting the new bar for remasters and delivers a stylish looking yet sluggishly mediocre platformer for this generation
Head Over Reels 