Our Verdict
Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a fun time for Rugrats and platforming fans alike, featuring solid level design, a enjoyable story, and good enemy design. The game performs perfectly on Switch and is arguably more fun to play in handheld mode, though there’s something special about seeing 8-bit graphics on the big screen.
I love Rugrats. It’s been a favorite of mine since I was a kid, with the 1998 platformer Rugrats: Search for Reptar being one of my favorite games on PlayStation. Even today, I still like to dive in for a bit of retro gaming from time to time, so imagine my delight at finding out there’s a new Rugrats game on the horizon.
The MIX Games and Wallride are behind Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland, so I certainly had high hopes, and I’m not disappointed. You see, as much as I love modern gaming, I’m also a retro girl, and that’s what Adventures in Gameland offers – it’s a throwback to the 90s era of gaming, where platformers were prominent. You can even switch between modern HD and 8-bit graphics for that extra kick of nostalgia. Mix that together with a nice sound design featuring the iconic Rugrats tune, and you’re already off to a flying start.
There’s a simple premise at the heart of this game – the babies see an advert for the new Reptar game on TV, causing their imaginations to run wild as they begin to act like they’re in a game of their own. Each level takes part in a different part of the famous Pickles house, from the kitchen and attic to the backyard and sandbox. Each one offers its own trials and tribulations in the form of obstacles, enemies, and platforming.
Every level is endearing in its own way, with all of them featuring some fun – and sometimes frustrating – platforming segments, though there’s a clear standout winner to me, as Tommy, Chucky, Lil, and Phil take to the freezer, launching you to icey level where not only do you slip and slide on some of the platforms, you need to climb across sweet treats such as ice cream.
In each level, you need to search high and low for four gold coins. Collecting them all allows the babies to enjoy the new Reptar game they desperately want to play. Of course, it’s not quite as simple as the tutorial leads you to believe – they’re well hidden in the rest of the levels, pushing you to be thorough in your search.
You may also find that you need to play as a particular baby to get the job done. Chucky, for instance, has the highest jump of all the characters, though he’s not great at throwing objects. Phil, on the other hand, struggles with jumping but can launch items a fair distance. You can switch between the babies by pausing the game, though once one runs out of health, they’re unavailable for the rest of the stage. At least, that’s what the normal difficulty option gives you.
Adventures in Gameland, like many of the best Switch platformers, is challenging. Luckily, you can always opt for the easiest difficulty if you’re struggling. Dubbed newborn, it gives you unlimited respawns so you can keep going, regardless of how often the babies get a booboo. Alternatively, if you want to boast about your gaming prowess, you can go for the big kid difficulty. Here, you can’t switch between the babies during a stage – meaning you have just one life.
A baby bottle in the top left corner indicates your health. You can take four hits before the active character drops to the floor and cries like, well, a baby. However, enemies sometimes drop bottles, and collecting those gives you back a single hit point, while stumbling across a cookie gives you another life.
The enemies on offer vary from level to level, though the flying Cynthia heads in the attic might be my favorite, while the snakes in the sandbox are the bane of my existence. At the end of each stage is a boss fight; the icon, when selecting which level you want to play, shows you who they are. If you manage to defeat them, you get a guaranteed gold coin for your troubles, so you know where at least one is.
Performance-wise, I have no complaints. The game looks great no matter which graphics you choose, and it runs like a dream in both docked and handheld mode. Better still, the controls are highly responsive. There’s no dreaded delay in your jumps, something that can kill the flow of a good platformer. My one complaint is that sometimes, when I’m trying to grab a rope to climb up, the babies don’t grab on, which causes me to fall back to the platforms below and, more often than not, into the path of an enemy that then gets a cheap shot in.
While it’s not revolutionary, Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a solid platformer that’s sure to please any Rugrats fan. It’s a good one to try even if you’re not too interested in the Nickelodeon show, as it’s a solid platformer that offers a good variety of stages, all of which pose a challenge.
If platformers aren’t your thing but cartoons are, we have lists of the best Cartoon Network games and best Nickelodeon games on Switch and mobile for you to check out instead.