SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide Review (PS5)

Developer Purple Lamp Studios has been honing its craft working on several licensed games, with more than one SpongeBob title under its belt.

Its latest effort, SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide, is another 3D platformer riding the wave of nostalgia caused by its remake of the fan favourite, Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated.

Much like its previous effort, The Cosmic Shake, Titans of the Tide is a solid, fun adventure that's clearly made by fans of the long-running cartoon series, but some rough edges and reliance on old ideas hold it back from greatness.

There's a special offer at the Krusty Krab, and it's drawn the attention of two of the sea's most powerful beings: King Neptune and the ghoulish Flying Dutchman.

The pair clash, with the latter's spectral powers turning Bikini Bottom citizens (including SpongeBob) into ghosts and causing widespread mayhem.

Fortunately, the oblivious Patrick Star is away from the fallout, and when he reaches the Krusty Krab, he and SpongeBob discover a unique ability to swap between their regular bodies and ghostly forms. This also acts as the crux of the gameplay.

You can change between SpongeBob and Patrick pretty much whenever you like, and doing so is necessary, as they each have unique abilities.

For example, Patrick can burrow through the sand and pick up heavy objects, while SpongeBob has his karate kick and can blow bubbles.

Utilising all these abilities is key to getting through each level, sometimes requiring quite dextrous character swapping to navigate platforming sequences.

It's a neat idea and executed reasonably well; levels are designed in such a way to encourage you to move between the characters constantly, and even the basic combat incorporates the mechanic, with some enemies much easier to deal with depending on who you're controlling.

For those with an appetite for a pretty straightforward 3D platformer, this is ticking most of the right boxes.

We were initially worried that the ghostly theme of the game might make it too one-note, but there's a decent variety in the stages despite the set dressing.

Your hub this time around is an airship constructed from what used to be the Krusty Krab, and it's not an enormous space to explore, but there is more to see and do there as the game goes on.

From there, you'll dive down to locations old and new, like a low-rent resort called Goldfish Island, the decadent halls of King Neptune's palace, and even a new, snowy spin on Jellyfish Fields.

It feels fairly responsive to play, and certainly looks the part, with vibrant visuals that echo the show. This is helped immeasurably by having what seems to be the entire cast onboard for voice work; even the extra voices from unnamed Bikini Bottom citizens are recognisable.

The cast does its best with a script that lacks some of the snappiness of the cartoon. There are some funny lines and moments throughout, but some interactions feel a little stunted.

What can't be knocked, though, is the developer's clear love for the series, as it's absolutely packed with references and jokes that fans will eat up. The clearest evidence of this is in the costume selection for SpongeBob and Patrick, where you'll find outfits from numerous episodes.

You can purchase any unlocked costumes with the coins you pick up during play, but there's more on offer — underpant pieces, which increase your health, and display items that'll show up in the hub.

The game is probably one of the better SpongeBob games to release in recent years, but there are a couple of things that stop it from laying claim to being top of the pile.

Firstly, we can't ignore some of the bugs we encountered. A soft-lock situation in the second half of the game forced us to start over again, and there are some other, much more minor issues, like textures taking a long time to load in properly.

Secondly, there's the feeling that Titans of the Tide is still borrowing heavily from Battle for Bikini Bottom, a platformer released more than two decades ago.

Some mechanics and moves feel like they're lifted directly from that template, and while there's definitely an effort here to try something new, we can't help but feel some of its fundamentals feel a little dated at this point.

That being said, fans aren't going to mind. Ultimately, the game is another very serviceable SpongeBob platformer that riffs on the de facto favourite, and it brings just about enough fresh ideas to the table to justify itself.