Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland review

Back when I was a youngster, there wasn’t much more of a risk you could take than purchasing a game based on a popular TV show or movie. Gaming has a rich history of less than stellar tie-in games, based on everything from Star Wars to Batman, but for the most part we’ve moved past those days of disappointment. Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is something of a throwback to those dark days, and it feels even sadder to say that when a lovely franchise like Rugrats is involved.

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a 2D platformer set in the house of Tommy Pickles that was made popular in the cartoon. You can play as any of the four main babies (Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, or Lil) as you make your way through stages with the aim of collecting enough Reptar coins to open a door to the final boss. Two still image cutscenes with no voice acting open and close the game, and like any good episode of Rugrats it’s all a situation that’s being manipulated by iconic older cousin and perpetual bully Angelica.

After the brief introduction you’re ready to choose your baby and jump into the action. Unfortunately it doesn’t take long to realise that this adventure doesn’t control particularly tightly. Despite this though, one interesting element of the game is that each of the playable characters have slightly different jump height and floatiness, and those of us with a bit of retro gaming knowledge will recognise that this is a homage of sorts to the stylings of Super Mario Bros 2.

This isn’t the only thing lifted from that often slightly overlooked Nintendo classic. After jumping on enemies you can lift them up and throw them, and even whole stage concepts are taken from the dreamy late 80s game. A desert level in particular includes the blocks of sands you dig through and snake enemies that pop up with an almost identical animation, and I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to hark back to such a classic adventure when the one you’re playing doesn’t really play as well.

More than anything else it’s the level design that lets Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland down. Most of the game’s stages are frustrating labyrinths that are miserable to navigate, packed full of cheap tricks designed to both hurt and frustrate you. It doesn’t help that the game is weirdly zoomed by default, and although you can adjust this, doing so creates large borders making it a fairly redundant option.

On top of the poor level design, almost every enemy in Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is infuriating. Flying Cynthia heads are large and difficult to deal with. Then there are the enemies that fire projectiles, which are placed in positions where it’s almost impossible to avoid their shots. Fundamental elements of this relatively straightforward platformer are just not up to scratch, and meant I had a bad time from the first level to the last.

So we’ve already established that Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is not a game I enjoyed playing, but there’s still one final (very important) issue with it that must be discussed. This game is retailing at £30 or your regional equivalent, and it took me a grand total of ninety minutes to complete it. No matter how much £30 means to you this is too short a game, and imagining someone getting this as a heartfelt birthday gift or a pick-me-up after a rough day and discovering this makes me feel pretty sad.

There are at least a few elements of the game that are at least rather novel. The fact that you can switch characters mid-level to conserve health is a nice way to preserve lives. You can also switch between the default visuals and 8-bit visuals, and while neither look particularly gorgeous it’s at least something to play around with, and a nice throwback to that NES-era.

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a poor experience overall, and it being based on a cartoon I loved as a kid only makes that sting more. Poor platforming, frustrating enemies, and an incredibly short length make it one to avoid, no matter how long it’s been since you stopped wearing diapers.