Astro Bot isn’t just for youths. Staff Asobi clearly designed it for gamers of all ability ranges, and that features kids and newbies, however at its core Astro Bot feels purpose-built for online game followers. It’s a skill-driven celebration of the whole lot that makes the format so memorable and joyful, and on the similar time, it’s a superb introduction to the language of video games. With exact and responsive controls, cute characters, and an thrilling number of mechanics and environments, Astro Bot is definitely among the best video games that Sony has ever produced.
Astro Bot is technically the fifth entry within the Astro universe, although it’s the sequence’ first absolutely fledged — and absolutely priced — installment. It follows The Playroom (a 2013 mini-game assortment for PS4), The Playroom VR (a 2016 PlayStation VR jam), Astro Bot Rescue Mission (a 2018 PS VR platformer starring simply the bots), and Astro’s Playroom (a 2020 DualSense demo that’s pre-loaded on each PS5). Astro Bot takes concepts from these earlier titles and compiles them right into a centered 3D platformer with dozens of primary worlds, a bevy of extra unlockable planets and a variety of satisfying mechanics. On high of this, the robotic protagonists are tremendous cute in each scenario. The truth that a few of the characters and settings in Astro Bot are recognizable from fashionable video video games solely makes the entire thing sweeter.
Gamers are on a mission to rescue all 300 of their robotic buddies after an alien intercepted their spaceship, a super-charged PS5, and scattered the crew throughout six harmful galaxies. Perched atop a lone DualSense, Astro scours 50 whole planets and collects different bots by punching or kicking them — you realize, in a pleasant approach — after which storing them contained in the touchpad of the on-screen controller earlier than dumping everybody on a safe world. On the similar time, Astro is looking for the lacking elements of the PS5 spaceship, that are being guarded by bosses in every galaxy.
The hub world, the place the ship and rescued bots reside, has customization portals for the DualSense and Astro, a gatcha machine with gadgets that convey your bots to life, and a safari zone the place you’ll be able to take photos with animals you discover. There are additionally small areas to repair up with additional puzzles for Astro and his buddies. Outdoors of the hub planet, the sport’s baseline loop entails amassing cash, puzzle items and bots by finishing platforming challenges and surviving Koopa-like enemies, however new risks and even-trickier environments seem at each flip.
Lots of the planets that Astro lands on introduce new mechanics, equivalent to spring-loaded boxing gloves that appear like frog faces, an octopus that blows Astro up like a balloon, a mouse backpack that shrinks him at will, a penguin-propelled swimming booster, and a stopwatch that freezes time for a short time. Levels are designed round these distinctive mechanics and the variety on show is spectacular, from a spooky citadel full of toxic-green ghosts and invisible platforms, to a deconstructed house station in a tasty cosmic setting, and a whole planet constructed out of big, neon-lit on line casino props.
Even earlier than selecting up any cool new toys, Astro has a laser-propelled hover potential that lets him destroy enemies whereas leaping over them, plus a typical punch and a rechargeable spin transfer. These three talents, plus no matter software he picks up, are the whole lot of Astro’s arsenal. This mechanical focus allowed Staff Asobi to excellent every transfer after which apply all of them in a thousand alternative ways, and the result’s a rewarding and strong platformer. All of the cuteness is simply an added bonus.
Astro Bot isn’t punishing, but it surely’s not simple both. Loads of phases require persistence, consciousness and a excessive diploma of platforming ability, although resets are beneficiant and failure does not value something apart from your time. Completionists could have a good time with this one — there are so many secret passages and hidden bots to search out, most of them cleverly tucked away and simply missed except you’re actively searching for them. On the flipside, speedrunners ought to get pleasure from Astro Bot as effectively, because it affords planets of platforming challenges with extremely responsive controls.
There are 300 bots to search out, and plenty of are pulled from the broader world of gaming. Loads of the branded bots originate exterior of Sony’s secure, with large hitters from Capcom, Konami and Sega represented effectively — a couple of of them undoubtedly made my companion yell in pleasure, which was cute in its personal proper. Among the extra memorable ranges stem from fashionable Sony franchises like God of Conflict, with Astro wielding Kratos’ ax on one planet. Staff Asobi actually mined Sony’s vaults, far past easy Crash Bandicoot callbacks, and into extraordinary video games like LocoRoco and Vib-Ribbon.
And now, enable me to essentially gush. Astro Bot is gorgeous, and never simply in a cartoony type of approach. Its landscapes are sharp and alive with interactive particulars, and it looks like each pixel has been polished to perfection. But it surely’s the sport’s physics that energize the whole lot — when Astro lands on high of a large inflatable daisy, the fabric buckles underneath his little ft, indenting with every step and sway, and making all the scene look totally squeezable.
When skating within the snowy ranges, Astro picks up velocity and pivots on a dime, and the DualSense responds with the sounds and vibrations of a pointy knife slicing by way of thick ice. (Aspect be aware: I may fortunately play a complete sport of simply ice skating… so long as it’s not referred to as Astro Glide.) Piles of tactile objects like sprinkles, cube, skulls and glass stars are scattered across the ranges, and working by way of them isn’t solely gratifying in an ASMR sense, but it surely typically uncovers a brand new secret. When rain hits Astro’s clear umbrella hat, the sound is mirrored completely on the DualSense, together with the sensation of raindrops on the grips. Every stage has background music to match, funky or large band or synth-y, and all the time with a catchy hook. Astro Bot’s sound results, haptics, graphics and physics harmonize flawlessly, reworking each floor right into a playground. It’s magical.
On the lovable aspect of issues, Astro reacts to his environments with endearing animations like shivering within the chilly, quivering in concern and tapping his tiny metallic ft in pleasure, and his bot buddies are equally expressive. When Astro boops his head on an impassable ceiling, he makes the sweetest little flinching movement. The bots flip round and shake their booties at Astro proper earlier than he punches them into the DualSense. On the pause display screen, you’ll be able to flick your whole collected bots out of the digital controller they usually flail in mid-air earlier than touchdown safely again contained in the touchpad. Just about the whole lot the bots do is charming.
Astro Bot highlights the significance of play. It’s Tremendous Mario Bros. for a brand new technology of online game fanatics, directly an introduction to frequent mechanics and in addition a major problem for seasoned gamers. In each instances, Astro Bot radiates pleasure. If this, alongside new titles like Lego Horizon Adventures, indicators a new and fewer stuffy path for Sony, then I’m excited to see what the longer term holds. For now although, you’ll discover me making an attempt to 100-percent Astro Bot, cursing and laughing the entire approach by way of.
Psst: Astro Bot has now joined the hallowed ranks of our favourite PS5 video games information. You possibly can view all of our picks — 21 on the time of writing — at The perfect PS5 video games for 2024.
