Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland Review – By Guggs

At completexbox we are very much community driven, and welcome guest articles, opinion pieces and reviews. This time round we welcome back Guggs to the Xbox Review team, and whilst we get him fully set up with his own profile for this fantastic website, here is his Full Review for Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland!

Written by Guggs, Posted by CX Dave

Born in the ‘90’s I got to experience the golden age of Nickelodeon. I could often be found watching Rugrats in front of the fireplace as I ate my toast before school. It’s a franchise that I look back on with a certain fondness, it was formative and led me to discover other animated shows that I still enjoy to this day. Seeing Rugrats back on my screen with a controller in my hand made me think back to 1998’s Search for Reptar. I spent hour after hour exploring every corner, and I dread to think of the amount of time that I played mini golf in the Ice Cream Mountain mini game. It’s fair to say that when sitting down with Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland, I was excited and a little nostalgic. Unfortunately, a combination of poor mechanics and imprecise controls, as well as a bug that caused me to lose progress, ensured that my excitement was cut considerably shorter than the game’s 1 hour length.

The story is a simple one – After watching a TV advertisement for a new Reptar video game, through the power of imagination, the babies transform Tommy’s house into a video game world of their own. After picking between Tommy, Chuckie, Phil or Lil, you make your way through 6 levels dotted around the house with the aim of collecting enough coins to unlock the Reptar door. Characters can be changed at any point during a level at the push of a button and each has their own advantage – Chuckie can jump further than any of the others, while Phil’s strength far exceeds any of the remaining trio.

I found myself using Chuckie for the majority of my playthrough, as the others’ attributes didn’t feel like a necessity, nor was progression halted by not opting to switch.

Characters aren’t the only thing that can be changed on the fly, with the choice to play with a modern HD look or an 8-bit NES look that you’d recognise from the late ‘80’s/early ‘90’s, available in the menu. I was a rugrat myself as the fourth generation of gaming approached its end, but as someone that’s spent time going back to experience some of the classics that I missed out on, I was impressed with how faithful the recreation of the aesthetic was. Switching between the two available options was seamless and the same level of care has been given to the soundtrack, which is also able to be switched between the two styles. I opted to spend the majority of my playthrough in the HD style. Levels looked great, were vibrant and you could be forgiven for thinking they’d been plucked directly from the TV show.

Something that was noticeable during my time with modern graphics selected was the poor use of the bordered full screen. The bizarre decision by developers The Mix Games/Wallride to include screen crunch in a brand-new game in 2024 is a baffling. Playing with the borders reduces your screen to replicate something that you’d see if you were playing on a late ‘90’s handheld system, and off-screens enemies, pit falls and some of the cookies and coins you’ll collect along the way. Fortunately, you’re able to change to a cropped widescreen display, and I urge everyone to do this.

As I made my way through the 6 available levels dotted around the Pickles household, it was nice to see nods to the show placed in the background of each, as well as Easter eggs like the Reptar Wagon from the original film. Each of the levels has a theme, with the attic being a particular favourite of mine. The dark roof space was suddenly reimagined into a creepy haunted house, complete with ambling resurrected dolls, as well as the occasional spider’s web adorning the corners of newly thought up doorways. Each level ends with a boss battle, however, to be cognisant of spoilers I won’t reveal their identities, but it was nice to see some faces from the franchises’ history making an appearance. Graphically there’s plenty here that gives each level its own identity, however when you look below the surface at the gameplay, Adventures in Gameland struggles.

I like to consider myself as somewhat of a platforming professional. Whether it’s thwarting foes with a famed marsupial, testing my thumbs and patience to their limits collecting 202 berries as I climbed a mountain, or rescuing an abducted princess from the clutches of a royal anthropomorphic turtle, I’ve always enjoyed traversing levels, avoiding obstacles and defeating enemies. Adventures in Gameland has all those things, it just doesn’t deliver any of them well.

The foundation of any solid platforming experience is responsive controls, being able to make tight jumps and navigate sections that require intricate movement are key to success. Adventures in Gameland makes those key elements far more difficult than they should be, and this isn’t helped by poor enemy placement and design. The flying heads of Angelica’s prized Cynthia doll in amongst delicate rope jumping sections are obnoxious, the size of them in comparison to the character models renders them as an irritant, not a challenge. Projectile throwing enemies are also poorly designed, with their shots in some places being almost impossible to avoid. Although you are gifted brief invincibility frames upon taking damage, you can easily find yourself stun locked and this is apparent during the final level, where a duo of these enemies can cause you a real headache.

Part of what makes some platformers so enjoyable is the sense of achievement you get when you finally manage to achieve your goal. I wasn’t left with a sense of reward after making my way to the exit of each level, but relief, which was followed with a quick roll of my eyes as I then faced the same poor gameplay implementation until I reached the end credits. It took me a little over an hour to finish the story and I spent 20-25 minutes mopping up the final achievements. That hour did include a glitch where I found my character glitched into the wall, conveniently in the flight path of an oncoming enemy. My hopes of being free upon losing all my health were quickly dashed as I found myself still as one with the wall when I should have been respawned elsewhere. A quick reset saw me put back to the start of the level, dealing with the same clunky jumping and woeful enemy patterns I’d just suffered through.

Final Words

While it may be enough for the ardent retro platforming enthusiast or for hardcore fans of the show, it’s difficult to see this is anything more than a barebones release aimed at cashing in on those hoping for a dose of nostalgia. Adventures in Gameland never stopped amazing me, regrettably most of my amazement wasn’t in a positive manner.

It’s been 20 years since the last Rugrats video game, but perhaps this is proof that some things are better left in the past.