Growing up, I was a Nickelodeon kid. I remember racing home from school to blast through my homework and get the telly on. Rocko’s Modern Life, Rugrats, Doug, The Ren & Stimpy Show and Hey Arnold! to name a few of my favourites. I have always kept an eye on their gaming output over the years. Though, to be fair it has mostly been a SpongeBob SquarePants affair. From time to time, though, something comes along that grabs my interest. Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny is one of those games.
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It blends Nickelodeon shows together, and throws them into a Dungeons & Dragons‑themed real-time RPG aimed at a younger audience as a sort of onboarding experience.
Nick Lore
It begins with Timmy Turner wishing to be transported into the world of his favourite tabletop game, Creatures and Chasms. A magical dice causes the wish to go wrong, creating a rift that pulls characters and locations from different Nickelodeon worlds into a new, combined medieval fantasy realm.
It is up to you to battle through a series of themed lands, seize the magic dice and return all the heroes to their proper universes. It is a solid little tale that feels like a Saturday morning special.
Cute Diablo
What you end up with is Nickelodeon’s take on Diablo. Instead of Barbarian and Necromancer, you have Leonardo, Sandy Cheeks, Timmy Turner, Susie Carmichael, Danny Phantom, Jimmy Neutron and, of course, SpongeBob SquarePants.
Each character is reimagined as a classic RPG class, from spellcaster and wizard to barbarian and knight.
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Every hero has unique powers and weapons, usually themed well around their personality, so choosing your favourite will take some time.
Gameplay is essentially Diablo but lite, which is not a bad thing. It does not have huge depth, but what it does offer works well as you dodge attacks and manage a few power and mana bars.
Design Deficiency
The level design is where things start to fall apart. Everything becomes extremely samey after a while. This is only made worse by reused assets. You would swear you have seen the same wall and gate dozens of times. Objectives suffer too, with only three types repeated again and again.
Visually, the game is bright, bold and very Nickelodeon. It is not a graphics‑heavy title, but it looks good. The sound is fine overall. However, the voice acting on show is excellent. Much of the original cast reprising their roles and adding a welcome sense of authenticity.
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Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny does a lot right and uses the licence extremely well. There is clear thought and love behind it, but it is let down by weak level design, repetitive objectives and a somewhat broken economy.
It is aimed at younger players and they will enjoy it, but without any real challenge to push against, they may lose interest after a while. The four‑player couch co‑op should help keep things fun at least until the credits roll.
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