Astro Bot Review
“Astro Sweep!” Written by: Ethan (@ChaoticAether)
If you’ve been around here long enough, you’ll know of my adoration for the original Astro’s Playroom on PS5. It’s one of the strongest pack-in titles I have ever played, with tight controls, masterful level design and charming references that all coalesce together into a nostalgia-filled celebration of all things PlayStation. It’s always been on the top of my list for recommendations for PS5, so when we finally got the reveal of its full-fledged successor, Astro Bot, earlier this year, my excitement hit an all time high.
And who could blame me? Its reveal trailer was a breath of fresh air! Merging nostalgic callbacks and references with what seemed to be a genuine, joy-filled platformer. The trailer was all I needed to proclaim that Astro would be game of the year, and I returned to my bunker to prepare myself for the day our adorable little buddy finally returned to our screen. Well a few months have passed, Astro Bot is here, and man does it feel great to say I called it. Astro Bot is magnificent.
It's one of the best platformers I have ever played, and that really doesn’t surprise me knowing the calibre of Team Asobi. What did surprise me though is that it’s also one of the best PlayStation games I have ever played. Astro bot is a flawless game that manages to balance its nostalgic ties to PlayStation’s past with some of the greatest level designs in platforming history. It’s a constant joy to play, never drops a beat in its entire 15 hour runtime, and reminded me once again of why I fell in love with PlayStation as a brand all those years ago. But what truly makes this game so special? Let’s dive in.
Image Credit: Team Asobi, PlayStation
Astro’s story takes place shortly after the events of Playroom, with Astro and his bot buddies sailing across the galaxy in their ship. Everything is going swell, until an alien attacks and steals the ship's CPU, throwing parts of your spaceship and all of your buddies across the galaxy. After waking up in the desert alongside the remnants of his ship, Astro realises what he has to do. He reactivates his satellite, calls his dualspeeder to action and sets sail to space to recover his missing friends and gather the five missing parts to his ship.
It's a rather basic platforming premise, and it honestly brings up the only gripe I have with the game: its villain. Mr. Alien (that's why I called him anyway) really doesn’t have much presence throughout the game, and doesn’t really do anything throughout the adventure. Every platforming mascot needs a good adversary, and Mr. Alien (his name is Nebulax apparently) doesn’t live up to the likes of Bowser or Cortex.
But bar that one small non-issue, the rest of the story is really solid with some truly awesome moments throughout the journey. Some of these may involve characters from PlayStation’s history, but I’d hate to spoil the fun. From epic fights to joyous easter eggs, there’s always something around the corner in Astro Bot that I can guarantee puts a smile on your face.
Another joyous aspect of this game is the visuals. Astro bot is stunning, with a variety of gorgeous environments for you to explore. A few of these may be repeated over the course of your journey, but there are so many unique locals to explore that you really cannot complain. From its sparkling sand to leaves blowing from the trees, there were multiple moments in this game where I just had to stop and take it all in. Match this with what I believe is a near-perfect 60fps presentation, and you have one of the best looking platformers I have ever seen.
The same praise can be given to the game's soundtrack, as it is simply phenomenal. From singing trees, candy tundras to PlayStation inspired crossovers, there’s something for everyone here. Astro even carries on the platforming tradition of having some of the best underwater music in gaming. There’s not a single dud in the soundtrack, and I’ve been playing it on blast since finishing the game.
Image Credit: Team Asobi, PlayStation
Presentation is only half the story, and I’m happy to report that Astro Bot is equally as strong when it comes to its gameplay. At a basic level, Astro Bot has you navigating a world map similar to that of Mario Galaxy, flying your dualspeeder into one of five hub areas and progressing through levels on a linear path. Just select a level, cruise your dualspeeder to the surface, and get moving towards the end goal! Scattered throughout each of these levels are a variety of collectibles, including coins, puzzle pieces, and a number of Astro’s buddies that need rescuing. As a bonus, two to three of these bots are inspired by a variety of franchises that have appeared on PlayStation over the past 30 years. You may find levels where they are from the same franchise, or made by the same developer, or even follow the same theme. They’re all beautifully done, and with 150 different reference characters to find they are a great way to incentivise exploration throughout your adventure.
It wouldn’t be half as fun though if it wasn’t for Astro controlling so damn well. He still has his basic two button moveset from VR and Playroom, with a jump, punch, hover and charge-spin. These moves have been tweaked to make them feel more fluid, and the additions of ledge grabs and sticky ledges make his overall moveset a joy to play. Every jump and enemy have been expertly placed and it just feels so damn good. Mix that with the huge variety of abilities to be found from level to level and you get an extremely addictive gameplay loop.
Speaking of abilities, each one is now interwoven into the level instead of being limited to specific areas like in Astro’s Playroom. Just open the chest, equip your gadget, and now you have a whole additional moveset to conquer. These can range from new boost mechanics, creating platforms, to freezing time. Standouts to me were the mouse ability, allowing you to change your size with a button press, giving the whole level a brand new perspective. From shrinking under beds to floating on bubbles, the whole level acted like one big puzzle. Another, the twin-frog gloves, act like extendable arms, but also allow you to pull out blocks and grapple swing in intense sections. These abilities are only used a handful of times,with some like the mouse only being used for a single level, and none of them having a chance to get stale. Throw in the occasional end of level mini boss and you have a formula that’s constantly keeping you on your toes.
Image Credit: Team Asobi, PlayStation
These basics make up the majority of levels found in Astro Bot, but there are plenty of secrets for you to discover. Two of the levels in each world have a hidden exit. These can be rather challenging to find, and reward you for exploring each level and mastering each of their mechanics. These lead to the secret sixth hub area, and give you a bunch of new levels to explore. There are secrets to be found within each hub world as well. From challenge levels testing your abilities, to secret zones based on each of the PlayStation controller buttons. These are the hardest challenges found in the game, and involve short platforming challenges that you have to beat in one go. Astro isn’t the hardest platformer in the world, but these added levels do provide a nice difficulty curve if you’re looking for a more challenging experience.
Each world ends with a boss fight, and they are some of the best fights I’ve seen in a platformer. These fights are massive, and mix abilities, platforming elements and combat into an incredibly satisfying experience. From a monkey on a skyscraper to an octopus in the ocean, despite their generic designs each one is a blast to play, and reward you with a very special bot for your troubles. Each of these bots lead you to an epilogue world to collect your spaceship part, and each of these worlds is based on that bots respected franchise. These are an utter joy to play, have a unique ability based on the game, and are a love letter to each respective franchise. I’d hate to spoil any of them for you, but luckily for me PlayStation did reveal one of these levels early. So let’s quickly talk about that one in particular: Bot of War.
Bot of War takes place after the second world, and sees Astro wielding the Leviathan Axe to rescue Kratos’ allies who are trapped around a frozen Midgard. It plays very similar to god of war, with Astro able to throw his axe and recall it just like in the original. This allows the game to create similar puzzles and combat challenges and it all just feels so smooth. It’s full of easter eggs and references, from a narrow corridor filled with mud, to eight of Odin’s Ravens scattered throughout the land. Top that off with a killer soundtrack and you have one of my favourite gaming moments in recent memory. It’s practically perfect and to put this into perspective: it's not even my favourite one.
The final aspect of the game is the hub world, a vast desert area that you and your buddies call home. It’s here where you rebuild your ps5, and recover missing satellites to unlock new galaxies. It’s here where your bot buddies give you a hand, and work together in pikmin-like puzzle mechanics to build structures and solve puzzles to gain additional collectibles. The more bots you collect, the more collectibles you can find, and there are plenty of unique bots that can be found in the hub world. As you collect puzzle pieces new structures also unlock in the hub. From customising Astro and the DualSpeeder with costumes and cosmetics, to unlocking a photo mode, to spending your coins on the returning gacha machine to get new items for your bot buddies. It all culminates in a hub that is filled to the brim with charm, allowing you to interact with the VIP bots (who all have unique references and animations) and solve puzzles at a slower pace. It all comes together to create a gameplay loop that never grows stale over the course of the adventure.
Image Credit: Team Asobi, PlayStation
Summary
Astro Bot is one of those rare few games that elicits pure joy at every turn. From a gameplay standpoint it is platforming perfection, with a plethora of innovative abilities and exceptional level designs that never miss a beat in its 10-14 hour runtime. From a presentation standpoint it’s beautiful, with gorgeous vistas, charming animation and a soundtrack to rival the very best in platforming history. Wrap all this in a nostalgic bow that celebrates PlayStation history better than Sony ever has, and you end up with one of the best games in PlayStation’s entire portfolio.
Astro Bot is a must play for anyone that owns a PS5. Heck, I would even go as far to say that Astro Bot is reason alone to buy a PS5 if you’re yet to bite the bullet. If I could score it higher I would. It’s a generation-defining platformer, only rivalled by the likes of Mario at the top of the genre. Team Asobi knew exactly the game they wanted to create and executed on that vision flawlessly. They are a team at the top of their game, and if this is their first attempt at a full length, non-vr 3D platformer I cannot wait to see what they come up with next. Astro Bot and Team Asobi are proof that PlayStation Studios can still create high quality, joy-filled experiences that don’t need six years of development and a monumental budget to be outstanding. Now if they could pass that message on to the rest of the industry, I think we’d all be in a much better place.