Here we are again with a trilogy of SpongeBob Squarepants games. We are two years on from the sequel Rehydrated with the Cosmic Shake and now the time has arrived to dive into another 3D platforming Spongebob and Patrick adventure in ‘Titans of the Tide’. Let’s get into it.
There’s something about the SpongeBob games that instantly transports me back to the PS2 era. Titans of the Tide might be shiny and new on the surface, but beneath the bubbles it’s carrying the same old-school platformer DNA that defined those Saturday-morning sessions we all remember. It just has that same essence of the retro adventures like Spyro the Dragon, or Ty the Tasmanian Tiger. This latest entry once again builds on the bright, goofy world of Bikini Bottom. Only this time, the tides are haunted.
Ghosts, Gods, and Goo-Goo Lagoons
The story starts at the Krusty Krab, where you are effortlessly preparing for discounted Krabby Patties and the line is out the door and round the coral reef. Things start to kick off with a battle between The Flying Dutchman and King Neptune that shakes Bikini Bottom to its sandy core. With battle determining who rules the sea’s, the fall out is drastic, and the very fabric of Bikini Bottom has been altered.
Residents have been turned into ghosts; even SpongeBob and Patrick have Casper DNA rippling through them. Ghostly goings-on soon impact through familiar haunts, and it’s up to SpongeBob and Patrick to sort the mess out (as always). The writing is full of the usual absurd humour, but honestly did you expect any less? Patrick’s lines in particular still crack me up, and having the full original voice cast back makes the whole thing feel instantly warm and familiar.
Much like The Cosmic Shake before it, Titans of the Tide builds on the world of Bikini Bottom with a mix of linear story missions and open world–ish levels that give you space to explore. There’s plenty to do from collecting jellyfish to zipping around on your ghostly surfboard (“The Ghost Board”) – which actually is a bit of a godsend for hoovering up coins. You can complete mini challenges such as racing, solving puzzles for chests, all wrapped in that nostalgic feeling of old-school platform collect-a-thons.
It’s that perfect blend of old but new. The levels have modern polish, but they still feel like something ripped right out of the PS2 generation in the best possible way. I genuinely enjoy that essence; the comfy, slightly clunky fun of hopping through brightly coloured environments, hoovering up collectibles, and watching SpongeBob grin through chaos.
They are just ridiculously joyful characters, and I would hardly describe myself as a superfan but I have always enjoyed the entries as games to immerse yourself with a fun story and a bit of silliness.
The Party’s Over, Kids
That said, there is something about Titans of the Tide that didn’t always have me gripped. It sometimes felt as though it doesn’t know when to quit. On one main world level, you arrive at King Neptune’s Palace, eager to get in to talk to him about The Flying Dutchman. Unfortunately, security is too tight and you’ll have to break your way in and convince those around you you had a ticket to the party to be able to approach him.
Whilst having an interesting plot to the story, and features both adventuring inside and outside of the castle, it features a back-and-forth puzzle that starts off fun but quickly drifts into tedious territory. The longer you stay, the less momentum you feel, and eventually I felt my brain almost breaking having to keep up with what I had already done to not undo what progress of the puzzle I had already achieved.
It felt like it was never going to end, constantly revisiting rooms I had been into to change one thing to go into some other next hallway to do something similar to go back to base and hope something has changed. When I was finished, I thought I would be deeply relieved and experience some sort of sense of achievement but in fact I was kind of glad it was over so I could call it a night.
The continuous storyline is fine if you’re deeply invested, but these worlds can easily stretch past an hour and a half each. Sometimes I found myself thinking, “Crikey, will this ever end?”. Even pausing at a logical break point can be tricky, because there’s always another cutscene, another goal, another extension to the quest. It’s a lot of SpongeBob – maybe too much SpongeBob – to take in one sitting.
Each “mini-world” feels like one big, continuous storyline rather than a neat set of short stages. That’s nothing new – cosmic shake did sort of have this set up to a degree – but I feel like in my mind I remember them much more segregated.
A Few Crabs in the System
Gameplay wise, SpongeBob and Patrick each have unique abilities. Patrick can burrow and pull objects down, while SpongeBob uses bubble powers to interact with the environment. You can switch between them freely, which keeps things light and gives some flexibility in puzzles and combat.
However, the controls don’t always keep up with the game’s ambition. They’re not outright janky, but there’s a slightly blurry feel, and don’t even think about saying ‘But Kat, earlier you said you liked that PS2 feel’. Yes, I absolutely do, but the precision isn’t quite there when you need it most. Platforming sections sometimes demand pinpoint accuracy that the controls just don’t quite deliver, especially during the mini-races. There was one jump in particular that I just couldn’t stick, no matter how perfectly I timed it. Both SpongeBob and Patrick would just kind of bonk into the same ledge every time.
Then there’s the combat. Enemies are fine, the bosses are fine and interesting enough to keep it entertaining at the end of every world. However, once you’ve beaten a boss, you’ll often find them popping back up later as regular enemies. Smaller, weaker versions, but still not that exciting to fight again. It’s like déjà vu in jellyfish form. I can see the vision and how that ties things up, but for me, it allowed proceedings to get a bit stale.
One thing I did find a bit odd about this, was that there is almost 0 consequence to losing all your underpants and ‘dying’. You start back in the same place, you haven’t lost any coins, you don’t lose any story progress and you’re not restarting the chapter or checkpoint. At worst you’re a few paces back from where your body would lay, but I mean literal paces. You do have the option to ‘buy’ new underpants to permanently deck out your lifespan, but… why? I can’t actually remember if this was the same in Cosmic Shake, but for some reason it appeared really obviously to me playing Titans of the Tide.
I did hit a few bugs. A couple of times I got completely stuck in the environment; other times SpongeBob or Patrick just refused to move. Nothing game-breaking but still frustrating. On one occasion I had lost a whole sequence of platform jumping but that was the worst of it, and another I had to reset the boss halfway through his health as I got stuck running against nothing. But that’s okay, this isn’t Elden Ring, I haven’t lost hours of progress and the frequency of this was minimal.
Despite those grumbles, I can’t deny I did have fun sometimes. Titans of the Tide has heart, but I think the Cosmic Shake has mine more. The script’s funny, the cast nails their delivery (as they would, of course) and there’s a real comfort to slipping back into SpongeBob’s world. It’s easy-going, nostalgic, and colourful enough to brighten a grey day, but it’s also more of the same.
Whilst there’s still lots to collect, a wardrobe of fun constumes, and a museum of items you can just buy (I’m not sure I totally saw the point in this last one other than something to just spend your money on), there’s not much new here to keep me coming back once the nostalgia wave fades. It’s a cheerful, bubble-blowing time capsule of what platformers used to be and for some players, that’ll be more than enough. For me, I had fun. This is a reasonable addition, but it felt a bit drawn out in places and burst my bubble in hopes for future collections.
SpongeBob Sqaurepants: Titans of the Tide is out November 17th on PS5 (review platform), PC, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.
Developer: Purple Lamp Studios
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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