Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 27/12/2025 03:34

Nicktoons & the Dice of Destiny – Review

We wanted to squeeze out just one more backlog review before the year ended, and with SpongeBob currently starring in a new movie, what better game to look at than the latest Nicktoons title? Originally released back in September, Nicktoons & the Dice of Destiny prominently features the world’s most famous sponge, alongside plenty of faces that we recognize from our childhood. Now, our experiences with licensed games like this are, well, mixed so while our inner child is happy to find out what Timmy Turner has been up to, our adult self is going to approach The Dice of Destiny with a bit more caution. Story The catalyst in The Dice of Destiny is none other than The Fairly OddParents’ protagonist Timmy Turner. While playing Creatures and Chasms, a D&D-style RPG, Timmy makes a wish to experience the game for real. If you’ve ever seen the show, you know that Timmy’s wishes typically tend to have unwanted consequences, and of course, this is the case here. Heroes and villains from across the Nickelodeon universe are pulled into a shared fantasy world, stranding characters like SpongeBob, Jimmy Neutron and Danny Phantom in the now real-life RPG. In order to escape and return to their homeworlds, the heroes must travel through fantasy-themed versions of familiar Nickelodeon locations, defeat villains and collect the scattered magical Dice of Destiny. Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is the Nicktoons equivalent of Kingdom Hearts, however, as the light-hearted story here is simple and easy to follow, offering little more than a framing device to bring the characters together. Graphics The characters that appear in The Dice of Destiny hail from different shows and are typically depicted in a variety of different art styles. The Dice of Destiny skirts around these stylistic differences, opting instead for a unified look that sits somewhere between chibified and rubberhose visuals. The result is bright, colourful and appropriately cartoonish, and eagle-eyed fans will find tons of easter eggs and small nods throughout the game, cranking up both the charm and the nostalgia factor. That said, environmental repetition is an issue here, with many areas reusing layouts and visual themes, making for a world that feels limited and repetitive. The 2D character art doesn’t always blend well with the 3D environment either, with effects looking layered on top of the world rather than integrated into it. Performance fares a lot better, with the game running smoothly and with a stable frame rate. Sound One of the major strengths of The Dice of Destiny is the legion of voice actors that return to bring the cast to life. Veterans like Tara Strong (Timmy Turner) and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob) have been voicing the iconic Nicktoons characters for literal decades, so they know these characters through and through. As such, it filled us with joy to hear them here, something that you can never fully achieve with soundalikes. The soundtrack provides a trip down memory lane as well, with plenty of audio hooks and callbacks to theme songs from the featured shows. Sound effects and ambience are surprisingly subdued here, with The Dice of Destiny opting for functional audio cues rather than over-the-top cartoon sounds. Gameplay There is a bit of a discrepancy between The Dice of Destiny’s nostalgia-infused selection of characters and its gameplay. You see, the game is an entry-level ARPG, clearly aimed at a younger audience -an apt way to describe it would be “baby’s first Diablo”. However, The Dice of Destiny’s cast harkens back to early-to-mid 2000s Nickelodeon. Kids may recognize SpongeBob or the TMNT, but it’s not likely that XJ-9 or Susie Charmichael will ring any bells with them. This blend of kid-friendly ARPG gameplay and nostalgia baiting may be intended to get parents and kids playing together in co-op mode. The core loop involves picking your Nicktoons character, which is mapped to a specific class, and then clearing short, linear stages viewed from a top-down isometric perspective. Here you’ll defeat waves of basic enemies using attacks, dodges and special abilities, and collect loot and gold. After this, you return to a hub world to upgrade gear, buy items, accept side quests and unlock new characters. At the end of each themed world, you’ll find a boss fight, culminating in the recovery of some of the Dice of Destiny. What the game lacks in depth, it makes up for in accessibility. Combat typically boils down to repeated button presses, with specials used when they come off cooldown. Grunts rarely pose any sort of threat, and only boss battles are challenging… until you figure out their attack patterns, that is. When looking at a game like The Dice of Destiny, it’s important to keep the target audience in mind. As much as we thought the gameplay was shallow and lacking in challenge, this isn’t a game that is aimed at seasoned gamers, but at families. To its credit, The Dice of Destiny isn’t the kind of soulless cash grab that Paw Patrol Rescue Wheels: Championship was. This is a game that kids can play together with their parents indeed, and it’s casual couch co-op gameplay where The Dice of Destiny truly comes into its own. Some of the playable characters, like Katara, work around synergy with other players. The low difficulty level here means that even grandma can get in on the fun without frustration. It’s also a fairly short game, clocking in at around 6 hours, meaning you can get together with your kids and actually finish this one. Sure, it’s low in replay value, and the RRP of €49.99 is on the steeper side, but it goes on sale fairly regularly from what we’ve seen. This isn’t a matter of gameplay quality over quantity, but of quality TIME with your family over quantity. And who knows, maybe this is a good way to introduce your kids to those beloved characters from your own childhood. Conclusion We typically find that games are aimed at niche groups but have limited mainstream audience appeal, but the reverse is true for Nicktoons & the Dice of Destiny. Hardcore gamers probably won’t find enough to sink their teeth into here. While the nostalgia factor is undeniable, with the returning voice actors and easter eggs throughout, this alone isn’t worth picking up The Dice of Destiny for. As a more casual, family-friendly experience, the game definitely achieves what it sets out to do, however.