I feel like I would've gotten more out of this game had I watched Rugrats in the childhood, but I never did so I was left with a confused impression. Playing this game I could see the valiant attempt at making something the fans of the show could enjoy. There's tons of what I can assume are references and callbacks to the show itself, so clearly the dev team had some idea what they were doing designing a good tie-in. Unfortunately the technical side fall a little short.

The game greatly suffers from similar issues some other 3D-games were suffering at the time, with controls and camera placement still being figured out. However, this game had more problems than just the industry standard, hitboxes especially feeling like a hot mess and controls being especially janky. The camera jumps all over the place, making any sort of consistent and fluid movement impossible. Also, whenever there's any enemies you need to beat, aiming is way harder than probably intended with the character's movement and lack of any good perspective. Most of the times I lost health just while trying to pick up ammunition and turning towards enemies to launch it at them.

The saving grace for this game is the nonexistent difficulty and short length. Most of the challenge for me was fighting against the janky controller scheme and character trying to get stuck in every corner and piece of furniture around the house.

Can I recommend this? Not really, unless you're a big fan of the show. I can see the love the makers of this game poured in, but the execution was left severely lacking.

Tenth GOTW finished for 2024. A clunky, bumpy, sloppy-camera riddled mess that I absolutely loved. This is objectively not a great game, but it feels like it's more indicative of the state of early 3D platformers and less because of a lack of effort on the part of the developers. There's a ton of love behind this game, packed with references and nods to the show, the actual voice actors playing a part, and lots of fun ideas that were poorly executed. To be honest, due to the poor camera control, the house often felt like the greatest adversary in this game. Most of the levels I enjoyed were played outside/away from the house, while the ones I didn't involved navigating this enormous space full of crevices, obstacles, and multiple doorways that made actually completing them a nightmare. Still, I can feel the care that went into this game, despite all its flaws, and for that I still had a good time. Gotta love that wave of nostalgia!

Is it a good game? No, not really. The controls are clunky, the camera even more so. The entire affair is emblematic of the shift to 3D and the effect it would have on quality licensed games, the skillset needed to make them becoming more specialized and the rough edges far more easily seen.

But quality is the word here, because there's clearly effort in play. Though fumbling, the game is certainly creative, packed with references and clever ideas that the execution simply cannot keep pace with. The victory lap at the end, playing as a triumphant Reptar destroying the city with colorful news commentary in the background, is evidence enough that someone working on this genuinely cared.