Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland Review

I’ve been a Rugrats fan ever since I first saw the cartoon back in the mid-90s. It was my favorite show throughout my entire childhood. I couldn’t get enough of the adventures that these babies would get themselves into with each new episode. The series has had several video games, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a new one. That’s why I was so surprised to see a brand-new game announced this year coming to modern consoles in Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland. It immediately brought a rush of nostalgia along with it.

Presentation

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a beautiful-looking game. The art style looks like you’re playing an episode of the cartoon in crisp HD. Every character is lovingly recreated, and there is a mix of enemies from different show episodes and original ones. You can choose to play with either modern graphics or 8-bit graphics. The choice is the same for the music. You can also select them separately if you want the 8-bit music but don’t want to sacrifice the modern graphics. The music itself is fantastic, especially during boss battles, where it remixes the Rugrats theme song with some heavier overtones.

Gameplay

There isn’t much of a story here. You’ll get a few cutscenes with text dialogue and Angelica trying to manipulate the babies, and you’re on your way. Tommy and the gang go on adventures in six parts of the Pickles’ house to get enough Reptar coins to fight the final boss. The action plays out as a 2D platformer where you can play as Phil, Lil, Tommy, or Chuckie. You can even switch them on the fly. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses. Chuckie can jump high, and Phil can lift the most. Lil can float briefly, and Tommy seems to be the all-around baby. This feels very similar to the US version of Super Mario Bros. 2. The babies can lift items to move them out of the way or create a way to reach a higher point. They can also defeat enemies by ground-stomping them on their heads. You can also jump on top of them and throw them at other enemies or objects.

Level Design

The level design in Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is infuriating at times. You’ll go left, right, up, and down in almost every level. There are plenty of ropes that you need to use, and there are a lot of times when you can’t tell whether it’s a pit beneath you or another area. Sometimes, you don’t even know if you can keep going right. The bedroom level was the worst. I got to the point where I just had no idea where I was going because I was constantly going in and out of doors and jumping to different platforms. This is even worse because you need to find Tommy’s screwdriver to open the level’s ending. It’s worth noting that the modern style was much more challenging to navigate than the 8-bit style. It’s a little less busy on the screen.

Enemies

Enemies respawn so quickly that sometimes they’ll return right after you remove them and move a few steps. There aren’t many enemies on-screen; they’re just in the worst spots. It’s sometimes hard to jump on them, mainly because each character plays differently. The only way to get rid of them is to hit them with another enemy if they’re in an annoying position. Then they come right back. They also like to pop up right before you go to the next screen to get a cheap hit on you. It’s frustrating. Special mention is given to the flying Cynthia heads, bringing back Castlevania vibes. The controls aren’t tight enough to perform many of the actions you need to do without taking a hit. There were times when an enemy hit me three times at once because the time that you’re invincible after being hit is so short. This was incredibly annoying in boss battles. The collision detection is also hit-and-miss. I’ve items at enemies, and they’ve gone through them multiple times.

Collectibles/Bosses

There are four Reptar coins to find in each level. I found it challenging to find the last one in some of the levels. I always seemed stuck on three, so they must have hidden one of them well in each one. Cookies refill your health and act as an extra life that you can find multiple times in each level. Bottles fill up pieces of your health bar and are placed around the level. Enemies will also drop bottles from time to time. There is a boss at the end of each level, and I found them all to be pretty fun to play against. They were the highlight of the game for me. The Dummi Bears and Mr. Tippy stood out to me because they were memorable from the show. Each boss battle has stages, so you won’t just hit them a couple of times and defeat them.

Value

This is a game that isn’t going to take you a long time to beat. Many problems involve getting turned around in different levels. It can be completed in around an hour or two, depending on your skill level with these types of games. The issue with that is that it’s a $24.99 US game. It seems a little too expensive for a game like this, which won’t provide much replay value. A physical edition is coming from Limited Run Games for $39.99 US. It’s a lot of money for a game like this, and I don’t think it’s worth it.

Conclusion

I had fun with Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland, but not as much as I expected to. This isn’t a bad game at all. It’s a short one, and it’s frustrating. The lousy control can be overcome if you stick with it for a bit, but the levels are a maze sometimes, and you’ll spend longer than you’d like trying to figure things out. It’s a decent platformer, but nowhere near perfect.