When I was young, I loved watching stuff on the kids’ cable channel Nickelodeon like Danger Mouse, Double Dare, and You Can’t Do That on Television (yeah I’m THAT old school).  But even years later as a teen and young adult I liked watching Nicktoons like Rocko’s Modern Life and Invader ZIM.  And once my little brothers came along, they were all in on shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, Rugrats, and Avatar: the Last Airbender.  So I’m always happy to review a new Nicktoons game.  So here comes Nicktoons and the Dice of Destiny, a crossover action RPG featuring some of your favorites.  In the game, Timmy Turner from The Fairly Oddparents is playing a table top RPG with his fairy godparents Cosmo and Wanda.  It’s a spoof of Dungeons and Dragons (they even call it Creatures and Caverns).  Anyway, Timmy wishes he could be in the game for real, so with the help of some dubious magical multisided dice that Cosmo found, they are whisked into a fantasy world where other Nicktoon characters are sucked in as well.  Now Timmy and characters from SpongeBob, Avatar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and more must go on an adventure to find the magical dice so they can go back home as well as battle villains like Plankton and Angelica.  Nicktoons & the Dice of Destiny is available on most current consoles but reviewed on Switch here.

The game is an overhead viewed action RPG where you can run around with the L stick and attack with the buttons.  You can also do a dodge roll with the A button and press the L shoulder button to quick heal if you have enough potions.  As you defeat enemies and gain experience, you’ll level up and gain new skills.  Assign these special moves to the other face buttons.  They require points to use, but the meter fills quickly so you can use them often.  The dungeons are based on locations from the shows like “Bikini Bottomshire.”  You’ll pick up gold, potions, weapons, and armor you can equip to improve your stats.  If you run out of energy, you’ll have to start the dungeon over again.  When you are not in a dungeon, you’ll be in a hub world town where other minor Nicktoon characters can sell you potions, armor, weapons, upgrades, and missions.  Four can play at the same time, which is awesome.

One thing that really impressed me about this game was that pretty much every piece of text in the game has spoken voice from all the characters (hi Rob Paulsen).  Even minor characters!  And the cutscenes look exactly like the cartoons, too!  I’ve reviewed lots of other Nicktoon games that didn’t have those things, so this game has some really high production values.  I did have some problems with the game, though.  The difficulty spike between levels and bosses is wide, so you’ll want to grind to level up to stand a chance against them.  Which brings me to my next problem in that the game can also be a bit repetitive and mindless at times.  One other minor quibble that’s more of a personal problem is that I wish other characters from shows like Rocko’s Modern Life and Invader ZIM would’ve shown up.  And all four Ninja Turtles are present, but you can only play as one.  Bummer, dude!  But other than that, if you enjoy simple action RPGs and have kids or are a kid at heart, you’ll enjoy this one.

Kid Factor:

Nicktoons & the Dice of Destiny is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence. You can hit cartoony enemies with weapons and magic, but they just fall over and disappear in a puff of smoke when defeated.  If your kids are old enough to watch these cartoons, they’ll be fine with the game.  Even though most of the game has spoken voice, reading skill is still helpful for the menus and such.  Younger gamers might need help with the tougher bosses, but luckily four can play at the same time, making this a great time for the whole family.

Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television