Spongebob Squarepants: Titans of the Tide is a single player platforming adventure game that is highly reminiscent of the PS2 classic, Battle for Bikini Bottom. Featuring all of the beloved characters you know well from the series it’s jam packed full of humour, fun and plenty of bubble blowing.
The premise of Titans of the Tide is that King Neptune and The Flying Dutchman have had a spat after trying to enjoy some Krabby Patties at half price. Personally I think that the fact Krabby patties were half-off would normally be world-ending enough for someone like Mr Krabs but the ruckus caused between the two powerhouses of the sea has caused all manner of chaos to erupt and put Bikini Bottom in danger.
You take on the roles of Spongebob and Patrick as they attempt to save the citizens of Bikini Bottom from a ghostly invasion and stop the infighting between Neptune and The Flying Dutchman. How, pray tell, do you defend the citizens from these ghosts? With ka-ra-tee of course! Spin, bounce and kick your way through enemies to solve puzzles and explore the colourful world around you and help your friends along the way.
Titans of the Tide has a real focus on platforming about the levels with lots of new abilities as well as being able to seamlessly switch between your characters there’s all manner of different ways to traverse every level whether it’s from surfing and climbing to bubble blowing and snatching things with a fork you’ll be sure to discover lots of innovative ways to get around the spooky ghosts.
The various levels throughout are not just themed with any area of the Spongebob show but instead seems to blend between all sorts of different areas including Goo Lagoon, Neptunes Palace and much more as well as a flying Krusty Krab airship that operates as your hub between worlds.
As well as your main quest you can take part in a number of sidequests that reward you with gold and collectables in the form of costumes, items for your airship, more health and photo filters if you like that sort of thing. I will say the game is incredibly generous with the amount of gold you receive as I almost could buy most of the shops’ available stock after the first level as you’re never really financially punished for anything so whatever gold you get you can keep without worry.
There are goofs and gags galore throughout the game that are genuinely funny and feature a number of bits from the original show. You’ll find laughs galore as you journey deeper and deeper into the world with Spongebob and Patrick regularly bouncing off one another, sometimes literally.
The side quests themselves normally feature a number of small fetch quests but you generally can find most of the items you’re looking for as you progress through the story. Although the side quests are relatively straightforward there are some clever secrets hidden throughout such as the televisions you can collect that give you advice from none other than David Hasselhoff himself, although these are quite well hidden and may require a keen eye to locate.
It’s amazing just how many environments are featured here, considering it is based entirely underwater — with beaches, frozen tundra and much more and are all cleverly packed with references to the show. My favourite so far has been seeing Smittywerbenmanjenson’s grave with the big “#1” as the headstone which did make me laugh but also features a number of characters from some of the earlier seasons, making it seem to be a bit more tailored to adult audiences as some of those references are 23 years old.
Because of the humour that features throughout and the combination of simple, and at times, a bit more complicated platforming this would be a perfect game to play with younger members of the family. Bouncing between levels and solving puzzles together would be great as a duo so it does surprise me that a game like this doesn’t have co-operative play.
I think that Titans of the Tide stands strong as one of the best Spongebob games to date. Personally I think Battle for Bikini Bottom still takes the crown but this is an unbelievably close second. With a vibrant fun world to explore and pretty much all the normal cast and more there’s a lot of fun to be had and a lot of secrets to find and keep you busy for hours on end.
You can find Spongebob Squarepants: Titans of the Tide on PC and Switch 2 as well as Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
