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Rugrats Adventures in Gameland Review (Steam)

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Rugrats Adventures in Gameland Review, When Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil see a commercial for the new Reptar video game, they pretend that they’re in a video game of their own! Toggle between beautiful 8-bit and HD art, select your favorite baby, and play solo or co-op in Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland, a neo-retro platformer.

Rugrats Adventures in Gameland Review Pros:

  • Classic cartoon graphics.
  • 863.4MB download size.
  • Platinum trophy.
  • 3 save slots.
  • 8-bit CRT filter.
  • Three game difficulties – Newborn, Baby, and Big kid. This affects swaps, health, and respawns.
  • Four playable characters – Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil. Each has its own unique stats for a jump and a lift.
  • The game uses classic music and a soundtrack.
  • Platformer gameplay.
  • Reptar coins are hidden around and you find these to put into the Reptar door.
  • 2D game world with 3D backdrops.
  • Cookies replenish health and are an extra life, again they can be found in the levels.
  • Milk bottles give health.
  • The health bar system is represented as a milk bottle.
  • Screwdrivers can be found and the open doors.
  • Big boss fights.
  • At any time you can bring up a menu to change border art, music, and graphics.
  • The game has HD and 8-bit graphics. As said above you can change at will in the menu.
  • Classic music and 8-bit Chiptune music choices can again be changed at will in the menu.
  • Attacks – you take out enemies by jumping on them, you can butt stomp enemies to take them out completely. Jumping on them leaves them stunned and you can then pick them up and throw them.
  • Find blocks and throw those as weapons.
  • Easy to learn controls.
  • The cutscenes are a mix of animation and stills with speech bubbles.
  • World map level select.
  • You can play the levels in any order.
  • Drop in and out of local multiplayer.
  • The levels are big enough that you can explore them.
  • When carrying a block or enemy you can throw it left, right, and up.
  • You can jump as you climb up ropes and ladders.
  • Each level ends with a boss fight.
  • Depending on your difficulty you can swap between characters each with their own health bars and lives.
  • Each level has four Reptar coins.
  • You can replay levels.

Rugrats Adventures in Gameland Review Cons:

  • No in-game tutorials at all, the game just starts.
  • It’s really easy to accidentally butt-stomp instead of normal jumps.
  • You cannot remap the controls.
  • No voice acting at all.
  • You don’t get good feedback on boss hits.
  • Never sure when you hit a checkpoint.
  • When you enter the boss area you are locked in and cannot go back even when respawning.
  • The game doesn’t show you the controls.
  • They don’t tell you that each character has a unique thing, so Lil can float, Chuckky jumps higher, etc.
  • A lot of the character stuff is just reskinned Mario characters.
  • The level designs are not good, frustrating even with over-the-top knockbacks and how easily you can fall down literal screens of level.
  • It’s a very short game.
  • Once you’ve seen the levels you have little desire to go back and even more so on higher difficulties.
  • No online multiplayer.
  • You don’t really have any settings.
  • Every level has either the same music or music that sounds exactly the same.

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Rugrats Adventures in Gameland:

Official website.

Developer: MIX Games

Publisher: MIX Games

Store Links –

PlayStation

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 7/10
    Sound - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Accessibility - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Length - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Fun Factor - 7/10
7.2/10

Summary

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland offers a nostalgic trip with its classic cartoon graphics and 8-bit CRT filter, appealing to fans of retro aesthetics. The game is relatively lightweight with an 863.4MB download size and includes a platinum trophy for completionists. Players can choose from three difficulty levels—Newborn, Baby, and Big Kid—which affect swaps, health, and respawns. The game features four playable characters—Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil—each with unique stats for jumping and lifting. The platformer gameplay is complemented by a mix of classic and 8-bit chiptune music, which can be switched at will in the menu. The 2D game world is enhanced with 3D backdrops, and players can find hidden Reptar coins to unlock doors, cookies to replenish health, and milk bottles to boost the health bar, represented as a milk bottle. Screwdrivers are also scattered throughout the levels to open doors, and big boss fights add to the challenge.

Despite its charm, the game has several drawbacks. The controls are easy to learn but cannot be remapped, and there are no in-game tutorials, which can make the game feel unwelcoming to new players. The lack of voice acting and poor feedback on boss hits detract from the overall experience. Additionally, the game doesn’t clearly indicate when checkpoints are reached, and players are locked into boss areas without the ability to backtrack. The unique abilities of each character, such as Lil’s floating and Chuckie’s higher jumps, are not well-explained, and many character traits feel like reskinned versions of Mario characters. The level designs are frustrating, with excessive knockbacks and frequent falls, making the game feel short and repetitive. The absence of online multiplayer and limited settings options further diminish replay value. The music, while nostalgic, becomes repetitive as each level features similar tunes. Cutscenes are a mix of animation and stills with speech bubbles, and the world map allows for level selection in any order. Local multiplayer is available, and levels are large enough to explore, with the ability to throw blocks or enemies in multiple directions and jump while climbing ropes and ladders. Each level ends with a boss fight, and players can swap between characters depending on the difficulty, with each character having their own health bars and lives. Levels can be replayed to collect all four Reptar coins.

In summary, Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a nostalgic platformer with charming graphics and music, but it suffers from frustrating level design, lack of tutorials, and limited replay value. While it offers some enjoyable moments, the game’s shortcomings may leave players feeling more frustrated than entertained.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!