Nicktoons and The Dice of Destiny is essentially a Diablo-style game featuring Nickelodeon characters, aimed mostly at kids and fans of Nicktoons. It is a fun experience for much of the younger audience, but players looking for a deeper gameplay experience may find it lacking.
The game’s story centers on Timmy Turner from The Fairly OddParents. Timmy wishes to enter his favorite tabletop RPG, but a mistake by the fairies creates a shared world where characters from various Nickelodeon franchises come together. The narrative focuses on recovering the Dice of Destiny by traveling through this world, with levels inspired by different Nickelodeon properties.
This fantasy setting includes many iconic Nickelodeon characters, such as those from The Fairly OddParents, SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, among others. Even when some franchises do not have playable characters, they are still represented through NPCs found throughout the game.
The gameplay is fairly simple and closely mirrors Diablo, with an isometric view. Each playable character can equip a weapon, armor, and accessories, along with mapped shortcuts for special skills that unlock as you level up. This is the full extent of the upgrade and customization system, and it is kept intentionally simple. The game is clearly aimed at kids, but I still enjoyed it for what it offers. While the writing is not particularly strong, it is essentially fan service in video game form.
The developers have put effort into matching each character’s personality with their assigned class. SpongeBob is a knight, Timmy is a wizard, and so on. To support this, the game includes familiar classes such as healer, barbarian, rogue, and samurai. The game works best in co-op. While the single-player experience is fine, having to switch characters at times can feel a bit clumsy. Characters cannot be swapped instantly, although this is rarely an issue since the gameplay itself is quite basic.
The game is never too difficult and features straightforward level design. Enemy variety is somewhat limited, but four-player co-op improves the experience significantly, thanks to smooth drop-in and drop-out support. There are very few puzzles, and combat mostly comes down to mashing attacks with the occasional use of skills. These skills are tied to a recharge meter that drains and refills over time. I also liked that character outfits can be changed easily. On the downside, there is no shared experience system, so if you stick with one character, they will level up faster than the others, creating unnecessary grinding for the rest of the roster.
The one thing that immediately impressed me was the presentation. From the polished cutscenes featuring Nickelodeon characters to the in-game visuals, the game looks great. I am not fully aware of the specific upgrades in the Switch 2 version, but it appears very crisp, seemingly rendered natively at 1080p. I cannot say much about performance beyond the fact that it felt good enough throughout my time with the game. There is also an option to game share with others, which I believe is exclusive to the Switch 2 version.
While the visuals are strong, the art style may not appeal to everyone. I personally liked it and saw it as an alternative take on these classic franchises, but the developers have taken some creative liberties with certain characters. The environments look good, though not to the point where they truly stand out on their own.
Nicktoons and The Dice of Destiny is a decent Diablo-style game with a Nickelodeon twist. It may not impress everyone, but I enjoyed it, especially thanks to the smooth co-op support. It offers a solid experience on the Switch 2, where co-op is clearly one of its strengths. That said, the replay value is fairly low, and the price feels a bit high for what is offered. Still, if you are a die-hard Nicktoons fan who also enjoys Diablo-style games, there is some fun to be found here.
Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny Game Information
- Price: $49.99
- Publisher: Game Mill
- Developer: Petit Fabrik
- Platform: Switch 2 (Reviewed)
- Disclaimer: A review code was given by the publisher
