izigame.me

Before I begin, this review will inevitably feature several comparisons to Battle For Bikini Bottom (BFBB) and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie game (TSSM) as the overall gameplay is pretty similar to those titles and I am pretty familiar with them.
With that said, let's get into what I liked about the game.
Positives
-The presentation is beautiful
From the animations, to the lighting, to the various character and environmental models, this game looks fantastic. The more cinematic cutscenes are a treat to see and remind me very much of watching an episode of the show. In-game graphics are no slouch either and there were several times where I spent time looking around just to observe my surroundings
-Gameplay overall is solid
The way that SpongeBob controls feels pretty good and he has a variety of moves that can be used for combat and platforming. To provide an example, SpongeBob gets access to a karate kick move early on in the game that homes in on enemies and certain obstacles and bounces you up into the air after you hit them to give you a second to decide what to do next and keep your momentum going. Occasionally, you will have sections in the levels where you're doing other stuff such as riding on a seahorse through a large stretch of land or (returning from BFBB) sliding down a slide that help keep the gameplay loop fresh.
-Level design is good
If I had to compare the levels to something, I would say that they're most similar to the levels in TSSM. What I mean by this is that levels are linear for the most part with some small side areas to explore or challenges to complete to obtain collectibles. Also similar to BFBB and TSSM, when you first go through each level, you won't have the necessary abilities or meet certain requirements to obtain everything. To add onto this, after completing the level for the first time, you will usually encounter a character in the HUB world with a quest that has you returning to past levels to collect stuff for them to obtain collectibles needed for 100% completion.
As for the levels themselves, I found all of them to be pretty good. They're interesting to travel through and you're introduced to at least one new ability or mechanic that you'll use through out each level. The game is very good at telling you where you should go to complete the main objective and levels are designed in a way that it's difficult to get lost. You won't be seeing any BFBB Kelp Forest here.
-Classic Spongebob songs and voice actors are used
Nothing much to really say here, the voice actors that have been with the show since the beginning are here and sound exactly like you expect. If you like the music that's heard in the show, then I'm happy to say that they've likely used a familiar track in at least one part of the game somewhere. The game also features several original tracks (I think?) that fit with each level that they are in.
Neutral
-Only one playable character
The only character you play as through the entire game is SpongeBob. It's a shame that previously playable characters like Patrick and Sandy aren't playable, but it makes sense when you consider that Spongebob has an expanded moveset that features moves very similar to the ones they had in BFBB, which would make them redundant.
-Story is not all that interesting but serviceable
The story is mostly just here to give SpongeBob an excuse to go to each level. You can tell right away who the main antagonist is going to be within the first several minutes of the game and there's no kind of twist or anything to make it interesting.
The story of each level can basically be summed up as: Find character or important building you want to save, figure out the conflict(s) of that level, solve the conflict(s), take character or building back with you at the end. The story isn't offensively stupid and there are some funny moments in the story and levels, which is why this is more neutral than outright negative.
-Costumes aren't as important as they're made out to be
In the game and in promotional material, costumes were hyped up to be this thing that would allow you to complete levels using their powers. In reality, they are purely cosmetic and offer no gameplay changes. This is somewhat disappointing, but also understandable considering how many moves SpongeBob already has available to him.
On a more positive note, you're able to change your costume at any time during the game through the pause menu and there are quite a lot of them to unlock, with the vast majority of them being references to stuff in the show.
Negatives
-Collectibles don't feel rewarding enough
This might sound strange in a game like this, but the rewards you get for collecting stuff feel... underwhelming. When you're not collecting stuff to complete one of the quests, the main collectible is doubloons. As you collect doubloons, you'll fill a bar and eventually level up. What does leveling up do? It gives you access to more costumes you can purchase and then wear... and that's all it does. Unless you're going out of your way to get 100% completion or there's a costume you really like at a specific level, there's not much incentive to collect doubloons. The same thing applies to the jelly that you see everywhere in each level. Jelly is only used to purchase the costumes that you unlock through leveling up and nothing else.
In this game, golden spatulas return from BFBB and there's 1 in each level. What do they do? They give you an achievement after you collect all of them and that's it. You don't even get to hear SpongeBob say any unique lines or do any kind of animation when you collect them, which makes them even more pointless than the previous collectibles if you're not going for 100% completion. Finally, in a few of the levels you can find the golden underwear from BFBB and it does increase your health like in that game, which makes them one of the only optional collectibles that affects gameplay in any way (still no unique lines or animations though rip).
Finally, my last gripe with the collectibles has to do with 100% completion. After you finally get all the collectibles and complete all the in-game awards (achievements basically), what do you get for putting in the effort? Nothing but achievements and the satisfaction of completing the game entirely. I find this disappointing as in both BFBB and TSSM, you got an extra ending scene, got to view concept art, and other cool rewards to make collecting everything worthwhile. It just seems strange that the most notable rewards you get are costumes and a few health upgrades and it feels like something is missing.
-The Final Boss is not very good
I won't say too much to avoid spoilers, but the final boss seems like they combined a few of the bosses you previously encountered and called it a day. The whole battle follows the pattern of: Dodge multiple shockwave attacks, pick up the power up you were introduced to in the final level, charge it up on basic enemies the boss summons, hit boss with charged up shot, repeat this cycle two more times and the boss is done. It sounds like I'm simplifying it, but it really is that easy, and for an enemy you encounter at the very end of the game, it shouldn't be.
Conclusion
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake was very fun for me to play through. I enjoyed all the silly references and memes from the show and previous games, and the entire game was captivating enough for me to want to 100% complete it, despite how underwhelming the process was. If you're a fan of both older and modern SpongeBob, have played BFBB or TSSM and enjoyed them, or just want an casual platformer and don't care about getting 100%, I can highly recommend this game. If you do not fall into any of those categories, I would wait for a sale if you still want to try it at some point.