SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake

On January 31, 2023, it's finally time for all SpongeBob fans to say "I'm ready!", because on this day the yellow sponge and his friends will officially be released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. I had the chance to play the game in advance and would like to tell you something about it.

Story and plot:

Out of gratitude, Cassandra, a shrewd mermaid fortune teller, gives SpongeBob and Patrick a vial of magical soap bubble that can grant wishes, unfortunately she fails to tell both that they must avoid making too many wishes in a row, whereupon the structure of the reality breaks down and magical wishing worlds open up everywhere, which SpongeBob and Patrick's friends suck into the holes. Kind as Cassandra is, she offers her help to the two, in exchange for getting the two heroes the right costume, she wants to have Gelle from the wishing worlds to be able to restore the universe. You take on the role of SpongeBob and travel to a total of seven worlds to save your friends and get enough Gelle for Cassandra so that your damage can be repaired. Always by your side is Patrick, who was turned into a balloon during all the nonsense.

Seven varied game worlds

In SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake you can expect seven different game worlds, which are assigned to certain themes. For example, you travel to a country town, where you can also get your riding license. Each portal that opens over time offers new enemy types and increases the difficulty level a bit. All the worlds have been created in detail and are full of familiar places and characters from the series and movies. The platform passages are wonderfully designed and offer a lot of variety and fun thanks to new abilities.

Collectibles and costumes

In the game worlds as well as in Bikini Bottom, you can find a number of collectibles. For example, after Mr. Krabs rescues you, he asks you to find the lost coins. To unlock more costumes, you'll also have to collect gold coins, which can be earned in the worlds through challenges. In addition, there are also golden spatulas again, although I couldn't figure out for what you need them. Apart from the collectibles, there is a worm hidden in each world that you can find. To unlock all 30+ costumes you don't need all the gold coins in the game. The costumes can be purchased through the in-game menu with Gelle once they are unlocked. I liked the costumes a lot, but I only really used a few of them, since Cassandra's costumes are pretty cool.

Graphics and sound

The graphics are again very well done, bright, bold colors, lots of details in the worlds, familiar characters that you immediately recognize, nice and funny animations and the individualize in the options for eg camera. All characters are spoken by the original voice actors. To my regret, this time there is no Italian voice output, but Hindi (?). The soundtrack is great, those who like to watch SpongeBob will recognize it right away.

Nintendo Switch Version:

Kindly, I was also able to test the Nintendo Switch version for you, and SpongeBob does a solid figure here as well. The performance is mostly stable, there was only a short freeze during the loading times, the frame rate is about 30 FPS, I didn't notice any frame drops while playing, the game also runs very smoothly. The controls work precisely and simply as they should. In terms of graphics, however, you have to make some sacrifices. Colors look duller and not as bright as on PC, some details are missing or have been turned down. Many objects in the distance look blurry, muddy and pixelated. When you get closer, however, everything is clear and crisp, even the blades of grass look very good from the nearer distance. The loading times are pleasant, there are now and then loading times that take a bit longer, but in contrast to other games they are bearable and under 30 seconds. Since I already liked the game so much on the PC, I would recommend SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake on the Switch as well if you don't care for the graphics reductions. As a platformer, it's still great fun, and it runs very well for that. Those who have already played the previous game on the Nintendo Switch will get a similar picture here, but it is still a shame that the graphics had to be reduced so much.