Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland Review: The Babies Borrow From the Best
The Rugrats take on an NES style adventure with (mostly) strong results.
The Rugrats animated series premiered on Nickelodeon in 1991, at the tail end of the Nintendo Entertainment System's lifespan. At that point in time, the system was playing host to a lot of great licensed games, including Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 and Capcom's Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers. For some reason or another, Rugrats never got a similar treatment. However, three decades later, this oversight is being rectified with Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland, a retro inspired adventure that can be played in an 8-bit style, or with HD visuals that closely resemble the original animated series.
The levels in Adventures in Gameland are treated like episodes of the Rugrats TV series. Each one begins with a title card (complete with that familiar music jingle), and has the babies exploring a real location around the house that gets transformed by their imagination. The fridge becomes an ice themed level, while the sandbox in the backyard is transformed into a desert oasis. It's a smart way of sticking to the show's roots, and feels really accurate to the source material. Even the game's enemies are pulled from the Nickelodeon show, from the sippy cup Mr. Tippy, to floating Cynthia heads.
To tackle these nightmarish enemies, players will be able to choose from each member of the show's main cast: Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil; each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Tommy is the most balanced, while Chuckie has a better jump. However, this is one area where the game greatly borrows from a classic NES game; Super Mario Bros. 2, to be exact. Chuckie's jump ability is incredibly close to the one used by Luigi in the game, while Lil was given a float mechanic that is near identical to the one used by the Princess. As a big fan of Super Mario Bros. 2, I found myself amused by the similarities, but it's a little blatant. Still, if you're going to pay tribute to the NES era, it does make sense to borrow from that era's best games.
That's not to say Rugrats doesn't slightly change things. Notably, players can freely swap between the babies in each level, allowing them to take advantage of each character's strengths. If one of the babies is defeated in the level, players will go back to a close point without having to restart the whole thing, but from that point on, they'll only be able to use the other three playable characters. A Game Over doesn't actually happen until all four babies have been defeated, and even then, it just means that specific level has to be started over from the beginning. In that regard, Adventures in Gameland is a lot more forgiving than most NES games, and players can even swap a damaged character for another, then swap back once a life refilling Cookie or Bottle is found.
Throughout each stage, players can flip back and forth between the game's two presentations. While the HD visuals are nice, I found that I much preferred the 8-bit option. The visuals look accurate to later games released on the NES, and the sprite designs are very sharp. The babies themselves look great, and there are some excellent recreations of the adult cast as well. Not only are there two versions of the visuals, there are also two versions of the soundtrack. Once again, I preferred the 8-bit audio, but both options are a pleasure to listen to. The soundtrack really doesn't have to go as hard as it does, but the music is surprisingly strong.
Unfortunately, Adventures in Gameland is over pretty quickly, and can be wrapped up within a couple of hours. There's a fun time to be found for those that enjoy retro platformers and old Nicktoons, but it would be an easier recommendation if the game felt like it really did something to build off the games that inspired it. The developers are clearly passionate about the source material, but with so many other throwbacks and retro offerings available on modern platforms, its harder to overlook the game's shortcomings.
Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland serves as both a love letter to the original animated series, as well as the NES era. It's shocking that the combination took this long to happen, and it all fits together more often than it doesn't. It never really pushes the envelope in terms of innovation, preferring instead to borrow liberally from games like Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers and Super Mario Bros. 2. However, as someone that loved the Nicktoon as it aired, and spent my early childhood playing both those NES games, I enjoyed my time with this Rugrats romp. This isn't exactly Shovel Knight, but Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is an enjoyable throwback for the short while that it lasts.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is set to September 10th on PC, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch, and September 11th on Xbox Series X|S. A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review, and it was reviewed on a Nintendo Switch OLED.
