And here I still managed to end up enjoying Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated despite starting it off with bad impressions for me. Sometimes I think it is impressive when I play a "bad" game that's bad in the way I don't like it, rather than it just being plain boring, because that means there's more to talk about in terms of what makes it not work.

First of all, the control is too slippery. While it isn't a huge deal on the ground, when trying to glide, SpongeBob will be turning way too fast, making you miss jumps or have a hard time controlling him.

I do have some mixed feelings about the level design. I liked the different movement options and how , they are probably the best part of the game, but the levels themselves feel like they want to cram in too much in them with how short they actually are, which results in them being more memorable from concept rather than gameplay. My guess is that it's because this game has the same controls as BFBB, but that it fits more for a collectathon like it while this game is a lot more linear with the occasional collectible, which way too many are hidden in plain sight. I know this is a kids game, but even to them this is too easy. And aside from said collectibles, there really isn't anything else to do in the levels, since if you want to fully complete them, you need to backtrack.

The story is mostly just an excuse to include as many SpongeBob references as possible. Hell, a majority of the levels literally use the same locations as BFBB with just a new theme such as historical set pieces. And in terms of structure, you just go from one world to another in a straightforward manner, nothing more to say.

There are also many technical problems. I normally don't complain too much about these sorts of things, but it was too distracting in this game, like the sound design. Sound effects don't always occur, voices either cancel each other out or talk on top of each other, and just like in BFBB, get used to hearing the same lines over and over again. And there are several times where the game would just stop for a few seconds, likely from there being too much on screen, and as you can guess, that's not fun (there are rarely any loading screens in the game, so compared to previous SB games, this one has to balance a lot in just one level).

And this is pretty unimportant, but anyways. I've been a fan of SpongeBob since I was little, but in recent times, I've decided to move on to pursue other media. I still wanted to give this game a chance, because, hey, I still have my fondness for the sponge. But then I left it feeling pretty disappointed, so let's just say, I feel even more ready then ever to move on.

But major thumps up for this game not restricting itself to just the pre-movie era when making references to the show.

Reviewed on Jun 08, 2023


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