The PS2 is back, folks. We got PS2 ass shooters with Gungrave 2, PS2 ass action games with HFR, and kind of middling PS2 character 3D platformers back with Spongebob in the seat. Obv rough around the edges, game has skung for days, but it's packed to the gills with charm and love for the series it's just sort of infectious. All the VAs and a lot of the music are back from the series (no weird ass Mr. Krabs imitation), and there's a lot of incidental and moment specific dialogue that's generally pretty funny!
It's notably lesser than BfBB, which had tons of small interior areas and moments, vs here where you get to see more landmarks in Bikini Bottom but not actually go in so it just feels a lil hollow. Also can't see this game taking off with the speedrunning scene since it's super linear. One of the weirdest things is they populate the levels with side quests after you beat them, so the first time you go through there's just obviously empty spots in secret areas or tricky platforming sequences that don't get used till later. Super weird! Also while the cutscene animation here is excellent, super expressive and in line with the newest movie, it def feels like they just rushed it out the door, no nice 100% cutscene like BfBB.
The levels themselves are great though, lots of variety and neat themes. The replaying stages thing is clearly to pad the runtime (did everything in the game in like 6 hours), but they make good use of it, with some funny objectives, new dialogue and characters, and new platforming challenges. And sometimes it's just lock and key padding shit... can't win em all 😓. Patrick and Sandy are missed, but the grappling hook and kick moves feel good in their simplicity. If something like a Hat in Time is a game for people who want a new and improved modern collectathon, this is a game for people for whom the warts on those old games is part of the charm. It's skung, and it's loving skung
It's notably lesser than BfBB, which had tons of small interior areas and moments, vs here where you get to see more landmarks in Bikini Bottom but not actually go in so it just feels a lil hollow. Also can't see this game taking off with the speedrunning scene since it's super linear. One of the weirdest things is they populate the levels with side quests after you beat them, so the first time you go through there's just obviously empty spots in secret areas or tricky platforming sequences that don't get used till later. Super weird! Also while the cutscene animation here is excellent, super expressive and in line with the newest movie, it def feels like they just rushed it out the door, no nice 100% cutscene like BfBB.
The levels themselves are great though, lots of variety and neat themes. The replaying stages thing is clearly to pad the runtime (did everything in the game in like 6 hours), but they make good use of it, with some funny objectives, new dialogue and characters, and new platforming challenges. And sometimes it's just lock and key padding shit... can't win em all 😓. Patrick and Sandy are missed, but the grappling hook and kick moves feel good in their simplicity. If something like a Hat in Time is a game for people who want a new and improved modern collectathon, this is a game for people for whom the warts on those old games is part of the charm. It's skung, and it's loving skung