Astro Bot is a 3D platforming game was released in 2024 exclusively for PS5. It was developed by Team Asobi and Published by SONY Interactive Entertainment, and it is also a full-length sequel to 2020's free tech-demo title such as Astro's Playroom for PS5.
I always been a fan of the platforming games as an genre in video games, so back in the days of early-90s we all know the competition between the games company had faired shares with their own video games mascot for platforming series such as Nintendo had Mario and SEGA had Sonic that not only it kept the gaming industry going forward but makes the console wars quite exciting that attracts the consumer's attention to buy the video game system, up until when SONY had entered the console wars competition with their first system called Playstation 1.
At the time when PS1 had been introduced in mid-90s, SONY had an interest to create the video games mascot that will attract the players to buy the PS1 system which is why we had Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon made a forthcoming debut on the SONY's platform becoming the PS1's benchmark characters that everyone know and love.
Going forward to year 2000s when PS2 came around in time, they also bought a characters for the new original IPs such as Ratchet and Clank, Jax and Daxter, and Sly Cooper which are also quite an likable characters being loved by the fans of the Playstation's hardware system.
Then in the late 2000s, we had cuddly little plushie like Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet for the PS3 which not only we liked the game but it's the character which I felt he's an adorable little thing that made the series quite memorable back then.
SONY had shared with their interesting things to create the characters for their own platforming franchises, but there's one of the character that had caught everyone attention when made the debut in the year 2013 where they had released the PS4 system at the launch release being pre-installed with the game called The Playroom, a collection of augmented reality mini-games meant to demonstrate the use of PS Camera and DS4 controller, so it featured a cute little robots known as AR Bots where you had to interact them using the camera's motion capabilities, and then 3 years later they had own VR title called The Playroom VR, a series of 6 asymmetrical minigames to demonstrate the features of PSVR headset running on PS4 had one interesting game called Robots Rescue which would in fact be made into a 2018's fully-fledged game in itself titled as Astro Bot Rescue Mission, a series very first 3D platforming game for PS4 which requires PSVR headset to play and it is also featuring a AR Bot now finally being given the name as Astro Bot goes on a quest to rescue his lost crew scattered across different worlds.
The game had received critical acclaim at the launch release in 2018 with praise for the innovative gameplay and level design.
It was followed by the 2020's pre-installed tech-demo title Astro's Playroom for PS5 to demonstrate the DualSense controller making it a first game in the series not to feature the VR headset like the previous title and it is also receive generally positive at the release calling it a great launch title for PS5 debut, which led them into creating a 2024's full-length sequel titled as Astro Bot had gained universally acclaimed by the critics and fans calling it the PS5's best 3D platforming games and had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide as of 2024 making it one of the PS5's best-selling title on the list.
It is also positively compared to Nintendo's Super Mario series particularly most of 3D Mario games in terms of gameplay design and visual art-direction, and it also become the most awarded platformer game of all time including best family game, best Playstation game, best platformer, and of course game of the year 2024.
First of all, I never had a VR headset for PS4 which is why I never had a chance to play Astro Bot Rescue Mission, so that was quite a bummer because I heard many positive things by those who owns their VR headset had their great experience of playing the game, but thankfully I get a chance of playing a non-VR game when I had a PS5 console last year which is why I had played Astro's Playroom, so what do I think about the game? it's quite short but plays really great throughout the campaign with cool motion controls systems and segments in many levels which I've adored the creativity of gameplay design just worked really well for tech-demo title, which is why I've decided to pick-up a full-length copy of Astro Bot as a 2024's sequel title for PS5 just to see if this game are actually done it better, so the answer is hell yeah, I f***ing loved the game it's genuinely being the best f***ing thing that defines the PS5's libraries, which is why I am here to review this game for all pros and little cons to discuss.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The game starts out with Astro Bot and his crew enjoying their time flying around with the PS5 console...yeah as their spaceship which is cool, but moving on.
As they exploring around in space, the UFOs creature just showed up known as Space Bully Nebulax, a mean ugly green alien began to chase and attack them, then rips open PS5 console and held CPU Kid in captive causing the PS5 console crash land into a desert planet.
Astro Bot then wakes up from unconscious and began to go on his adventure in the search of his missing crew, retrieve the missing parts for the PS5 console, rescuing CPU Kid, and defeat the alien Space Bully Nebulax as his primary goal.
The opening story in this game is incredibly fantastic and easy to follow, so you're an Astro Bot going on the quest to save and reuniting your friends to find their way of getting back to their home planet, as well as rebuilding the PS5 console back to life by finding the missing parts being scattered to the different planets, which I really liked how they made games like this featuring a bunch of adorable bots living inside the game console just seems to be a really cool concept for the platforming game.
I say Astro Bot as a protagonist of the game is looking KAWAII!!!!!!!! yes that's right everyone, he is adorably cute as an his appearance because it's looks like of one of those Japanese Kawaii action-figure toy (such as Eilik robot by Energize Lab as an example) in terms of overall design and cuteness personality which is why I find this character quite appealing in the game.
Then you have bunch of bots buddy as an NPCs including most of V.I.P bots which are based on various of video games characters from the series that we all know and love such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), Ratchet (Ratchet and Clank), Jax (Jax and Daxter), Ryu and Ken (Street Fighter), Dante (Devil May Cry), Jill & Chris & Leon & Claire (Resident Evil), Joel and Ellie (The Last of Us), Nathan Drake (Uncharted), Kratos (God of War), Aloy (Horizon), Joker (Persona 5), Kazuma Kiryu (Yakuza), Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid), Dracula (Castlevania), and you name it because there's so many V.I.P bots to discover in the game.
Lastly, you had a mean ugly-ass green alien named Space Bully Nebulax which his character's design kinda gives me a vibe of Nickelodeon's cartoon characters aesthetics which I liked the way they designed it to make it look wacky and goofy as f**k.
It made me laugh to see this green alien bully picking on that poor CPU Kid in some scenes...yeah poor little fella getting teased by the villainous green alien, but it works mostly well to have a mean bad guy like Nebulax in this game.
The presentation in this game is amazing because I got to praise the title screen sequence which display Astro Bot and his buddy flying on the DualSense Controller at the same time as you move the controller in motion from left to right side of the screen and thrusting the ship with the haptic trigger buttons to go faster...yeahhhhhh!!!! I'm flying.
I also liked the design of the overworld map which displays the screen of world select where you get to fly around the planet with the DualSense ship and navigating the location of the levels.
The settings of the worlds has different kinds of scenery and style such as crash site which is a desert land like hub world where it had 4 ruins to discover, but what I've liked about the central area of crash site is that it had PS5 console on the construction area, it had various of shops like gatcha lab, DualSense's paint shop, and dress-up costume, the outside of the areas had filled with sands, palm-trees, and puddles, and you get to interact with V.I.P bots buddy does do a funny animated parts.
Each worlds such as Gorilla Nebula, Tentacle System, Serpent Starway, Camo Cosmos, Feather Cluster, and Lost Galaxy has fair shares with different layouts of each levels such as Sky Garden are filled with flamingos, trees, and pools where as the water slide are blocked by many colourful balls.
Construction Derby takes place in the city filled with constructible stuffs like cements, paint cans, metallic bricks, and bridge lifting machine.
Wormy Passage took place inside the dark cavern filled with glowy crystals and ancient looking objects around the area.
Trunk of Funk had a forest like areas with trees and waterfall featuring a singing trunk guy which makes us dance to this song.
Slo-mo Casino set in the place full of casinos stuff like dominos, pack of cards, slot machines, dices, and tokens.
Spooky Time set in Halloween style settings filled with ghouls of ghost, tombstones, crooked branches, candles, and haunting old castle.
Balloon Breeze takes place in a world of gardening stuffs like plants, flowers, gardening spade, bug-bots, and that iron giant.
Hieroglitch Pyamid are filled with old-fashioned stuff such as ancient tomb, antiques objects, and idol statues.
Bathhouse Battle sets in asian-cultured stuff like hot baths, falling pink leaves, bamboos, roof temples, and bunch of lanterns.
Djinny of the Lamp sets in middle-eastern stuff like sandstorm, palace with big dome, empty old house, and that large looking magic lamp.
Overall, it has fantastic openings, adorable protagonists, and amazing presentation.
Gameplay
You take control of Astro Bot in 3rd-person perspective, as your main goal is to retrieve all the missing parts and rescuing all bots, but in order to do that you must beat the entire level which you'll need to search and find the missing bots whereabouts in the area is the only way of unlocking the new paths and the missing parts can be retained by defeating the main bosses in each world.
You will see the list of bots on the overworld map screen to see how many bots have you rescued which became quite handy for later part of the game in the crash site area.
In the gameplay, pushing the left stick controls to move Astro Bot around and pushing the right stick controls is to rotate the camera around, but you can also turn the camera assist on at the option menu which allowing you to reset the camera position by pressing the circle button.
Press the cross button to jump which are used for basic platforming, where as press and hold the cross button is to hover in mid-air allowing Astro Bot to reach at the long platform in 3 seconds, but while in the mid-air your hover has a laser on the feet which can be used as mid-air attack works effectively against the ground enemies.
Press the square button to use Astro Bot's punch acts as an melee attack which deals the light damage against the small enemies, but you can also hold the square button till it charged then release it which allowing Astro Bot to perform spin attack deals heavy damage attack worked effectively on big enemies.
The major focus part of the game is the make use of the DualSense controls capabilities such as gyro-scope motion sensor and haptic triggers which I will explain how it works with this type of game are fully designed to use various of power-up abilities such as rocket powers does a various things like bulldog allowing to thrust players forward and break through objects and surfaces like glass, and you have chicken will launch players upward to reach higher platforms, and the penguin will make players swimming faster underwater.
Then you have Octo-Balloon which makes players float high up into sky and blow up enemies, the iron suit is a set of heavy armor that will weigh players down with power allowing them to roll through spikes or getting pelted with lava, as well as shove themselves into vaccums to clog up enemies or mini volcanoes to blast elsewhere in a stage.
You have elephant equipment which sucks up liquids to produce platforms and hop around which means players can able to perform various of platforming such as being able to bounce up high or deploy grass shrubs below them to do some platforming, so this can be deployed 3 times after every sucking motion.
The fist weapons such as frog gloves which allow the player to punch forward with both triggers on the controller and can also use them to pull on enemies to unmask them, whip them around or even grapple onto certain surfaces marked by red objects, where as the monkey arm are used for climbing certain sections using the motion controls and the triggers.
Using the mouse ability which makes the player shrink down in sizes allowing them to enter small-sized paths like tiny doors as an example but you can also revert back to regular size which also can break certain barriers like cages that fellow bots are trapped in, so this makes the creativity of level design quite interesting to play starting from big to small areas.
The sponge which absorb water making the player big so that they can tear through levels in destructible ways like a Godzilla style, but you can also then spray it on things like flames to extinguish them, water can create pathways once cooled on lava, and also makes the various of small sponges into a big platforms.
Lastly you have the time stopper which allowing the players to stop time meaning that it does a various of things like halting the hazardous objects such as buzzsaw and being able to jump on normal hazards to get where they need to go, but they can only have a few seconds till its ran out of time.
The rumble feature can work for puzzle solving such as the tiles that hide the hidden passages, so it will start vibrate when touching one of the tile will able to open.
The adaptive triggers are designed for certain stuffs like shooting with a pistol or bow in one of segment level, and you also had a built-in microphone which allowing you to blow stuff like colourful fans.
The motion gyro-sensor which I did mentioned about monkey climbing ability earlier, I also wanted to mention other motion gyro-sensor actions like tilting the controller when flying with the DualSense ship at the beginning of the level before landing and there's one of the bonus stage with the bridges can be tilted with the DualSense controller.
I say the controls system plays really great because not only the basic controls plays smoothly throughout the level which I am completely fine with moving around and jumping on the platforms seems very easy to play, but I got to praise the use of the motion controls and adaptive triggers works really well for many levels such as tilting mechanics, climbing stuff, flashing light at ghosts, flying on DualSense ship, shooting out with pistol and bow, squashing capsule to open, and etc. because it feels immersive to play with the DualSense controller had a good feel on the vibration feedback on the triggers, and the motion gyro-sensor is quite responsive as I'm tilting side to side just feels great for this kind of 3D platforming game like this.
Each levels has shares with many fun segments that made the game so entertaining to play such as walking with the blue ball on spikes in Rolling Star Sola, finding the hidden passages on the tiles in some levels, transforming from big to small sizes in Downsize Surprise, let's boogie with the singing tree in Trunk of Funk, make destructible stuffs in Bathhouse Battle, save and interact with iron giant in Free Big Brother!, swim and discover underwater in Bubbling Under, jumping on floating platforms of sandstorm in Djinny of the Lamp, changing the day and night cycle switches the platforms in Luna Sola, squirting out the water on lava creates the paths in Cannon Brawl, chasing after apes with the capture nets in Apes on the Loose, swinging and throwing axe at them in Bot of War, shooting down enemies with pistol in Dude Raiding, rolling round about in Going Loco, there's big huge robo t-rex chasing after you in Machine Learning, and of course the shoot-em-up action in PlaySquadron Go! which proves that the 3D platforming games can be a full of creativity and challenging fun to play makes this game a major key of entertainment.
The best part of the game is that some of the levels has the secret exit which means that if you found one of the secret exit that can be discovered in the hidden area of the level then you've unlocked one of the secret bonus stage will be added to one of the world such as Lost Galaxy.
I also wanted to praise the game's content which includes various of bonus challenging levels such as retro rampage which is a stage full of retro-style layouts where as the crumble rumble which has a fragile floor surfaces so your goal is to defeat many enemies to rescue Bots, lost void is a challenge stage where you had to rescue Bots all the way to finishing point without taking damage, and of course great master challenge is slightly much harder than the lost void which has a multiples of dangerous obstacles layouts to evade.
The crash site is a hub world which really has the interesting discoveries to explore around it, so there are 4 locations to access which requires many Bots that you had rescue from the levels which means the more you rescued multiples of the Bots then you are able to gain access to the undiscovered areas with the help of the bots.
Not only you really needed the Bots, there are some of the unlockable areas which requires collectable jigsaws to unlock those such as gatcha shop which you will unopen these capsules toy from the gatcha machines which unlocks stuffs like customised skins for ship, multiples of costumes for Astro Bot to wear, and has V.I.P Bots animations added in Crash Site's central areas.
It had a safari park which is a zoo touring place has a full Bots of animals to discover around, the custom room which allows you to select any of favourite costumes for Astro Bot to wear, and of course the paint shop which allows you to select any of themed skins for DualSense ship.
I had such a wonderful time of playing this game is because I really liked using the cool power-ups which allowing me to do things like punching and jabbing on enemy's faces, crushing and smashing stuffs in pieces, blasting up so high in the sky, freeze time on stages in slo-mo effects, shrinking and enlarging the size, and climbing on stuff just works really well with the DualSense controller.
The stages are packed with lot of cool stuffs to play like collecting jigsaws, finding the secret exits, gather the coins, and of course rescuing various of Bots is what keeps me playing the game.
I also enjoyed various of bonus challenge stages which are very good to play because I really liked dodging various of obstacles and defeating many enemies as possible to rescue the Bots.
I also forgot to mention about the boss battles which I consider it as entertaining to play such as Mighty Chewy the big hairy ape, Specter the albino monkey, Wako Tako the red-octopus with goggles, NidHog the raging pig bot, Lady Venomara the golden venomous cobra, Chief Cawah the undeaded skeleton with gold hat, Mecha Leon the chameleon punk, Falcon McFly the large feathered bird with yellow helmet, Blunderjaw the robo T-Rex, and of course Nebulax the space bully green alien, which I'm praising these bosses for its crazy over-the-top action is what makes the whole game so great to play.
Overall, it has immersive controls, fun and creativity stages, cool power-ups system, and entertaining boss battle action.
Graphics
This game looks absolute perfect for its visual quality showcasing the PS5's hardware power which I can guarantee that you'll be amazed with everything you see in the game.
The environmental design is incredibly big for its large landscape on the far-distance backgrounds, solid build-up level design that are well-built, has nice and sharper texture surfaces, well-designed foreground areas with multiples of objects and scenery around, shared with lighting and shadow effects in some levels, and the art-style of the whole game is filled with wackiness of interactive details really fits the game's overall presentation such as colourful settings with lot of details they putting in the levels, particles goes everywhere on the screen with the bunch of party poppers, leaves and round balls objects, has lot of slimy and sludges of paint cans and water bombs, the lavas and water is looking clear as crystal with nice reflections and shades, and the character's animation is quite fluid and comical just really adds up a game's charm is what made the game look appealing for 3D platforming games like this.
The game's performance is running so smoothly at the 60fps with no signs of slowdown and being managed to play on full 4K resolution natively without displaying any of shimmering and laggyness on screen meaning that your image quality level of the game plays flawlessly on your 4KTV making it the most polished PS5 games they ever achieved resulting a clean and stable overall performance throughout the playthrough.
The loading time between the levels is surprisingly load quicker done in 1 second thanks to PS5's SSD just really helps the game go faster, so which means no more sitting, waiting, and staring at the screen too long till its fully load because it's the power of the SONY's 9th-gen machine guys.
Overall, it has incredible environmental design, detailed art-style, fluid animations, and of course solid overall polished performances.
Music and Sounds
The soundtrack in this game is fantastic especially with the theme song at the title screen sings "I am Astro Bot" is the recognisable things we hear stuff from the game like this, and if this is not enough then there are various of amazing music from each levels like "Astro", "Crash Site", "Disco Tree", "Bar BOT" "Specter" "Push the Boat Out (beach remix)", "Tan Tradicional", "Tite Mites (Crystal Cave)", "Papa Tree", "Quel Fromage", "Twinkle Toes", "Ninja Bots" "Broken Bridge", "Pit of Peril", "Muteki Funk", "Windswept", "SSD", and "A Fire In Your Mind".
It was composed by Kenneth C. M. Young, who previously worked on audio works for games like LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway, did a solid job of creating the very best video game music for 3D platforming games like this filled with very catchy tunes.
The game also included the songs from various of video game series such as "Spike Bot" from Ape Escape, "Bot of War" from God of War, Drake's BOTune from Uncharted, "The Strength to Stand Alone" from Horizon, "Going Loco" from LocoRoco, and of course the best part of the song is got to be "PlaySquadron Go! (A.K.A Rising Blue Lightning)" from Thunder Force V.
The use of the sound effects are excellent in this game filled with cartoony sound environments and atmospheric background noise depending on the settings of the levels, and I got to praise the sounds of the DualSense controller's speaker which you can hear multiples of sounds noises like the footsteps, shattered glass, rocket blasting, ground pounding, noisy winds, exploding, and of course Bot's adorable voices is just sounds great on the controller.
Overall, it has fantastic soundtrack and excellent sound design.
Special Features
The game had unlockables stuff like V.I.P Bots, paint skins for ship, and costumes wear for Astro Bot. It also has secret exit for bonus additional stages, Lost Void's challenge stages, Tick-Tock Shock's speedrun stages, Vicious Void's 5 new levels, and of course the new level such as Winter Wonder with various of new V.I.P Bots.
Overall, a perfect content overall so far.
Advantages
Amazing presentation for opening scene and adorable characters
Immersive controls system for DualSense controller
Fun and creativity stages with tons of great platforming action
Entertaining boss battle action
Incredible visual and performances
Fantastic soundtrack and excellent sound design
Disadvantages
No negatives at all
Final Verdict
Presentation 10/10 - fantastic openings, adorable protagonists, and amazing presentation.
Gameplay 10/10 - immersive controls, fun and creativity stages, cool power-ups system, and entertaining boss battle action.
Graphics 10/10 - incredible environmental design, detailed art-style, fluid animations, and of course solid overall polished performances.
Music and Sounds 10/10 - fantastic soundtrack and excellent sound design.
Special Features 10/10 - Unlockables such as V.I.P Bots, ship's skins, and costumes, secret bonus stage, challenge stage, and etc.
Overall 10/10 - Astro Bot is indeedly a masterpiece title that became a major key point for PS5 console owners should get a hands-on with the 3D platforming games like this are fully jammed packed with the wacky worlds with tons of platforming action, fun and creative stages, lot of discoveries with secrets and collectables, participate the challenge stage, and has crazy bosses to fight is what makes Astro Bot an outstanding PS5's library to play, as much as I say Super Mario 64 is to N64, Sonic Adventure is to Dreamcast, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon is to PS1 proves how much I loved the 3D platforming games as an my personal favourite video game genres over the years.
Its really great to see this game had gained universally acclaimed reception and won the The Game Award's Game of the Year 2024, which deserves the same recognition as the classic 3D platforming games we knew back then.
This is what many modern generation gaming really needs to have something that are very good and fun to play in order to attract many newcomers, who are new to the 3D platforming games as an genre, should able to see game like this that are wonderfully entertaining for both younger and family audience will likely to enjoy this kind of game.
I say Astro Bot is an definite to be on my favourite PS5 games list which I am happy with the result had turned out to be a success.
You can get a physical copy of the game off from online store are much cheaper around £40, where as the digital copy from PS Store cost around £60 for standard edition and digital deluxe edition for £70 are slightly bit high, so is this game a must buy? absolutely correct because Astro Bot is a must buy for PS5 owners will likely to enjoy this masterpiece without doubt.
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