I never played the original version of the PS2 platformer that “Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom: Rehydrated” for the PS4 is based upon. From what I could gather, the critics generally found it to be a middling effort while audiences were more generous to the point that they started a cult following for it. As for this new remake, it sounds like critics are less enthused and more confused on account of what made “Battle for Bikini Bottom” click for some players. As someone who went into this blind, I really wasn’t expecting much. I kind of figured this was a run-of-the-mill platformer just like most others that were made at the time. And in the end, my experience with this remake didn’t change my mind on the matter. In fact, it reinforced why I was entitled to the predetermined stance I already made.
I watched the TV show “Spongebob Squarepants” a couple times when I was younger, but compared to the rest of my peers at the time, I wasn’t as into it as everyone else seemed to be. What I saw of the show was fine and it certainly has its moments (the F.U.N. song, anyone?), but it wasn’t something that I’d write home about. I had other things to keep me occupied at the time, mainly video games, but I digress. From what I played of the rehydrated “Bikini Bottom”, my stance still stands. As a game, this simply just isn’t an interesting or exciting game for me to be invested in. It feels like a routine platformer I’ve played many times in other various forms such as “Spyro”, “Mario”, etc. with a noticeable absence of innovation that was present in the other said titles.
Its camera controls feel rather restrictive and frankly out of date compared to where they should be by modern standards. Navigating the environments, especially those that are indoors, feels very clunky and cumbersome because of this. I also didn’t like the limitations placed upon the player regarding where you can go within the environment. The game tricks you with a semi open-world mentality at first in the veins of “Spyro”. Seeing that this a 2020 PS4 game, you’d think you’d be able to go to that area that’s just behind Spongebob’s pineapple home and a few inches further in sea level that’s easily jumpable without getting grief from the game itself. Nope. The moment you try and get cute like that, which is what I did, you are promptly teleported an inch or so back to the boundary you came from.
Exploration then becomes a game of whether or not you have enough spatulas or floating collectibles to unlock access to certain areas within “Bikini Bottom”, including Spongebob’s aforementioned backyard that I was trying to visit. The game’s story seems relatively loyal to its license with Plankton unleashing an army of killer robots upon the citizens of Bikini Bottom, and Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy being amongst those attempting to stop them. It seems to have most of the original vocal cast from the show aboard. So the game has its moments there on that end. But when the uninspired core gameplay mechanics and camera controls become a chore to navigate, along with the creepy visual presentation feeling average at best for current-gen, it seems as though this “Battle for Bikini Bottom” needs significantly more rehydration at its center.