Spongeminator is back! – review of the game “SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated”

A sponge in 2003

When looking for information about the original release of this platformer, I found data that it received mixed and positive opinions from critics, while players received it quite warmly. You could play it on PS2, XBOX, Game Boy Advance and PC. Many years after its release (thanks to, among others, players’ requests), the remake decided to develop Purple Lamp Studios and release THQ Nordic.

Sponge in 2020

As I could only read about the original version of this game on the Internet, meeting the new release is also my first contact with this title. The plot is quite simple and light, but interesting at the same time: Plankton – the villian of this universe – creates an army of robots that is flooded by Bikini Bottom. The attack turns into pure chaos because he forgets to program them to obey him. The brave sponge is then faced with the task of saving his neighborhood and friends from the metal paws of various types of automatons.

Colorful, cheerful and pleasant

The first thing that caught my attention after launching Rehydrated was the amazing visuals. The vivid and optimistic colors definitely reflect the atmosphere of Bikini Bottom, known to me from the animation, and from the very first moments, it simply makes you feel very happy about the upcoming game. Although the main character is SpongeBob, we can (and sometimes even have to) play as Patryk and Sandy. Each of the heroes has different skills, useful at specific moments, so the gameplay is not monotonous and requires some ideas from us (especially since some quests are available only for selected characters). Of course, we also meet other people known to us from the cartoon, such as Skalmar, Mr. Krab or Mrs. Puff (which usually gives us additional missions).

10 pairs of pants, 10 socks, several thousand flowers and 40 shoulder blades

Podczas gry zbieramy różne przedmioty. Najważniejsze są dla nas złote łopatki, gdyż to dzięki nim odkrywamy kolejne plansze podwodnego świata. Majtki SpongeBoba są punktami życia. Po drodze szukamy również brudnych skarpet dla Patryka (daje nam za nie łopatki) oraz kolorowych kwiatków, które są walutą wymienną, np. by uzyskać różne udogodnienia podczas przygód. Jak widać zbierać należy sporo, na szczęście sterowanie nie jest skomplikowane więc wszystko da się przejść. Rozgrywka jest dość prosta. Przedzieramy się przez kolejne plansze co jakiś czas bijąc różne rodzaje robotów, skacząc, zjeżdżając i zbierając itemy, które pozwalają na odkrywanie innych części tego świata. Mimo iż chwilami musiałam dłużej pokombinować, żeby dotrzeć do wszystkich zakamarków, w których umieszczono łopatki, gra jest raczej łatwa i na pewno spodoba się młodszym odbiorcom (a w szczególności tym zaznajomionym już z przygodami gąbki). Nowością w stosunku do pierwotnego wydania jest opcja multiplayer, która pozwala na podzielonym ekranie grać w towarzystwie (zarówno w trybie online, jak i offline).

You are standing in front of the Spongeminator

The excellent dubbing performed by our Polish actors, as well as the characters’ dialogues and texts, which are extremely funny at times (there is also an option of subtitles if you sometimes have to play in silence, but I do not guarantee that you will not be able to burst out laughing) also deserve mention and praise. As for interesting facts, I will add that many funny solutions were used during the game, e.g. when we enter the part of the board that we are not allowed to enter, a big hand appears and takes us from it, or if we do not move the character we control for a moment, this will start making faces at us. While going through SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated, a smile hardly left my face!

We would like to thank the publisher Koch Media Poland for providing the reviewer’s copy of the game on PS4.