As a hugely successful Nicktoon, it makes sense that there have been dozens of different SpongeBob Squarepants video games. These have come in many forms, ranging from beloved classics to forgettable titles. In recent years though I’ve found SpongeBob games darn entertaining, like the delightfully silly Patrick Star game. With confidence that another Bikini Bottom banger was coming I was rather excited for SpongeBob Squarepants: Titan of the Tides, and I’d say I was right to have been so giddy.
The setup for Titan of the Tides is simple but effective. Series villain The Flying Dutchman has gone to The Krusty Krab thanks to an exciting burger offer, and gets angry when King Neptune gets special treatment. Because of this he starts firing lasers that turn people into ghosts, and one of them hits our beloved SpongeBob. After the chaos dies down SpongeBob and company decide to try and stop the ghostly villain, and discover that he and his buddy Patrick can switch which of them is a ghost by touching their friendship rings together. It’s a fun narrative that enables you to swap between the two series favourites, and spend time with anyone even slightly popular from the cartoon.
SpongeBob Squarepants has been featured in all sorts of genres, but where I feel the most at home in Bikini Bottom is with a 3D platformer. That’s exactly what I got with Titans of the Tides, complete with incredibly tight controls. Both SpongeBob and Patrick can double jump, glide, and dash with ease, and these abilities feel perfect and can be chained together in a wonderful ballet of spongey goodness. I wasn’t really prepared for such crisp movement from the yearly SpongeBob game, and the good times didn’t stop there.
As well as these identical base abilities, both protagonists learn all sorts of skills as you progress through various underwater locales. SpongeBob’s karate kick can be used to fly through the sky to kickable objects, and he can use a bubble gun to activate certain switches. Patrick on the other hand can dig underground to collect treasure and sneak under small gaps, and he can grapple with and throw explosives to blow up boulders. There’s a nice range of different powers that are all fun to use, and some of the best parts of the game will feature you swapping about in hectic sections or to solve puzzles.
The structure of SpongeBob Squarepants: Titan of the Tides is one of the things I love most about the game. Levels are made up of open areas full of collectibles and side quests, but then also feature more linear platforming paths when you decide to head to your objectives. It’s an ideal blend of map scouring and obstacle course challenge, that you can rarely really enjoy in a single platformer.
Titans of the Tide isn’t even just about the jumping around. There’s variety in the form of combat, which is fun if not particularly noteworthy. There are also a whole load of slide sections, which are a real highlight of the game and a lovely throwback to platformers past. Hell there’s even surfing in the very first level, which just sets the tone for the entire game.
You’d be entirely welcome to play through all of Titan of the Tides without looking at the side content (especially because unlockables are all cosmetic) but for those completionists there’s plenty to keep you busy. The best optional content is a time trial mode you’ll find in the hub world, which features almost Super Mario Sunshine style obstacle courses. Otherwise you’ll be doing a lot of collecting, which was fine by me.
I was beyond pleasantly surprised when playing through SpongeBob Squarepants: Titan of the Tides, but it does still have a few issues worth mentioning. The lack of meaningful collectibles is a real shame, because unless you’re desperate to put Patrick in a funny outfit there’s just no real point grabbing all the shiny doodads. There’s also occasionally a bit of an issue with the game telling you where to go, which you’d think would be fine thanks to the ghostly ability to point to an objective but that isn’t always helpful.
SpongeBob Squarepants: Titan of Tides isn’t just a fun SpongeBob game, it’s a great platformer in its own right. Getting around as SpongeBob and Patrick feels fantastic, the variety of activities is delightful, and it’s packed full of Nicktoons laughs. I was not prepared to love this licenced game based on a children’s cartoon as much as I do, and hopefully it earns Mr Krabs a nice pile of money.
