Are ‘ya ready kids? Due to having two small children, I can’t get away from SpongeBob SquarePants even if I wanted to. Thankfully, I don’t want to because it is pretty funny. If the kids ever feel like watching the show or one of the movies, I’m more than happy to sit through it with them. Purple Lamp and THQ Nordic have SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide for me to review.

“Prepare to be scared! A clash between the Flying Dutchman and King Neptune has unleashed ghostly mayhem all over Bikini Bottom. Switch seamlessly between SpongeBob and Patrick, combine their unique skills and save Bikini Bottom from total ghostification!”

This is the first SpongeBob SquarePants game I have played properly. I did have a wee go on SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated from a few years back, but never played it, played it. I just gave it a quick look to see of my kids might get a kick out of it. However, I have played SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide from start to finish… and really quite enjoyed it.

So, the story. The Krusty Krab adds a special offer which brings in a lot of customers, including the Flying Dutchman and King Neptune. These two titans get into a bit of a wrangle and the Flying Dutchman turns Bikini Bottom (and it’s citizens) into ghosts. Playing as SpongeBob, you soon find yourself turned into a ghost. Not in a dead sponge kind of way, more of a ghostly curse. Thankfully SpongeBob’s best friend, Patrick on on hand and you can switch out between the two, swapping being under the ghost curse. The two pals have to team up to break the ghostly curse and restore Bikini Bottom to its former glory. Both SpongeBob and Patrick have their on set if unique skills and switching between the two as you play is a must if you are going to make any progression.

Taking cues from classic 90s 3D platformers, Titans of the Tide does exactly what you think it does. You’ve got a story, you’ve got semi-open-world hubs, you’ve got exploring, you’ve got puzzles and of course, you’ve got collecting. While this game is hardly going to break the mould when it comes to new ideas or game mechanics, Titans of the Tide does do what it set out to do very well. Even the boss battles are varied and fun.

Your homebase is the Floating Patty (made from the ruins of the Krusty Krab), a ship that you use to traverse between the game’s different levels. but before I do get to those levels, the Floating Patty is a little hub itself. You can interact with the various characters, explore and see what you can find, and you can spend some in-game coin on new costumes for SpongeBob and Patrick, or even buy some new decorations to make the place look nice. It’s all cosmetic stuff and none of it make any difference the game gameplay itself, but it’s a nice little addition regardless.

Where SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide springs to life is with the levels. There’s only a handful, but they are really well designed, very different from each other and there’s plenty to see and do on all of them too. Aside from the main story to follow, you’ll have side-quests to complete, races to take part in, and plenty of collectables to find, such as jellyfish to catch. Each level is brilliantly designed to utilise both SpongeBob’s and Patrick’s skills. SpongeBob can use his karate kick to reach far away platforms or knock down in the way obstacles, he can also blow bubbles that flick hard to reach switches. Patrick can dive and tunnel underground and pick up heavy blocks. Switching between both characters and using their skills is imperative (and great fun) to reach the end.

There’s a lot of variety here and even though each level’s basic task is to reach the end and battle a boss, levels feel very different from each other with their own set of challenges to overcome. Titans of the Tide looks the part, it’s bright, colourful and cartoony… as it should be given the source material. The show’s cast are on hand to do the voice work and there’s plenty of jokes along the way to the end credits. It’s a 3D platformer that, while not particularly original, does hit all the right notes, and in the right order.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide is available now for £35 and on PC and all the consoles. I think that younger kids may have a few issues with playing, as the character swapping and puzzles are bound to perplex. My almost 6-year-old had trouble getting to grips with everything, but he really enjoyed just running around the levels as SpongeBob, regardless. Older kids/teens seem to the the target audience. However, I, as an almost 50-year-old man, had a ton of fun and think that £35 price is fair for the variety of game content here, and you get added David Hasselhoff. Definitely worth a play.