It’s safe to say Sony has been having a tough past couple of years, with a lack of IP support, not giving their flagship system many exclusive games outside of a handful that aren’t system sellers and focusing on remasters of games not even 5 years old yet (looking at you, The Last Of Us 2). The past couple of weeks have only served to illustrate these issues further. Concord was released to not even a whimper, as it sold only around 25,000 copies. Two weeks later, Sony decided to pull the plug on the live service game and offered refunds for the copies in a move not yet seen since Atari’s terrible ET games. However, they managed to win some support back thanks to Astro Bot being a surprise hit that managed to stand toe-to-toe against Super Mario Galaxy, a feat no one expected, let alone the fact the PS5 has a new exclusive game. Now, hot off the heels of their PS5 Pro announcement trailer showing off the $700 price tag and $80 disk drive add-on, they’re back to being the punching bag of the industry for now. At the very least they can claim to have a real game of the year contender with their latest game, Astro Bot.
The story starts with the PlayStation 5 mothership venturing through space, carrying Astro and his crew of similar look-alikes and VIP bots that are dressed up as fellow Sony characters. However, their trip is cut short by the green alien called Space Bully Nebulax. Assaulting the ship to steal its parts for his ship, Nebulax leaves the PS5 ship to be knocked down into a desert planet. Astro and his PlayStation controller ship were able to wake up and after getting their bearings, now have to travel the cosmos to find missing crew members and the ship’s parts.
Before starting with the game, you need to start with the controller. No, not how the game controls, the game controls like a dream with Astro being just heavy enough to feel like an actual platforming robot. What I mean is the actual controller. For normal PS5 games, it usually only just vibrates or uses the motion sensors if it’s a shooter of some kind, maybe make use of the adaptive triggers if you’re lucky. Here, however, it continues using the DualSense controller to the fullest of its abilities as seen in Astro’s Playroom. You can blow into the controller to make wind at certain parts of the game, feel the rain hitting Astro’s umbrella vibrate against your controller, and even hear the different footsteps in different climates come through it. Even the ruffling of the grass and punching of the air is transmitted through sounds through the controller, and you can feel the controller ship boosting on your controller when you press down on the triggers. Astro Bot continues the tradition of putting the unique aspects of the PS5 controller through its paces.
That’s not the only thing it continues from Astro’s Playroom, as it also celebrates PlayStation’s past through the use of VIP bots. These VIP bots are modeled after Sony characters, ranging from the well-known ones like Ratchet and Clank and Crash Bandicoot, even going through Microsoft to use him after the buyout, but also lesser-known titles like IQ: Intelligence Qube and Mister Mosquito. Not only that, but with some bots, you can even give them accessories through the gatcha shop with these add-ons only providing more fanservice. From showing the Claire VIP bot from Resident Evil as the master of unlocking to having the Prince VIP bot from Katamari Damacy rolling a Katamari around you can get stuck in, the game pulls out all the stops to celebrate its history, and with more bots coming in free updates, it’s only going to grow.
This love letter to PlayStation’s past is further emphasized by the gorgeous graphics and charming music. Visually and musically it’s not that far off from its Playroom roots, but considering how that game still holds up, that’s only a good thing. The graphics are still colorful and engaging, with each level managing to be distinct from one another and bring in new concepts to be physically in awe of. Seeing the might of giant genies messing with the land, to climbing a giant tree as it sings its praise for watering him, there’s always a spectacle awaiting you at every turn. The soundtrack is also there to help provide more atmosphere to the delightful world around you. A pumping electro beat follows you around from planet to planet, fitting any situation you find yourself in. From a rallying Viking cry to push you along, to the plucky western theme of the crash site, there’s not a single bad track here. Add in the fitting sound effects that only add to the atmosphere of breaking glass and punching baddies away, and you have a certified winner of a soundtrack here.
Of course, none of this matters if the game itself isn’t good, and thankfully, the game is a front-runner for Game of the Year in many player’s books for a good reason. You go around from galaxy to galaxy, exploring the planets to clear up whatever troubles are there and to save any bots you find. Alongside the bots, you will be getting puzzle pieces to open up new stations in the crash site, and finding secret exits to open up secret levels in the Lost Galaxy. You’re tasked with exploring these planets and going through a path to the end, looking around as much as possible to get all the collectibles you can find. Each stage has its unique looks and gimmicks to it, bringing in new mechanics for each level. You could wield a chicken that can launch upwards in one level, or have a bulldog attached to you for charging into enemies and platforms to bounce you around. Each gimmick here is explored to its fullest. While you only have one hit point before dying, you’re never too far away from any checkpoint to make it feel like you lost too much progress if you do die.
At the end of each galaxy is a boss for you to fight against, using one of the animal buddy gimmicks you can get in each galaxy. These bosses further explore how you can use these abilities in a combat setting. From using the frog punching gloves against a boxing octopus and platforming across the ocean or getting to him, to using the iron ball ability to smash a flying bird’s face in, these abilities aren’t just content to be one-time use items. It keeps building upon the game’s mechanics to keep them interesting and varied.
There are still things to do on the map as well. Running into asteroids and stars may sometimes result in you finding new levels to explore. They could be cosmos based on the PlayStation buttons that give quick yet hard challenges for a VIP bot, or fast single challenges that involve you beating a group of enemies. Sometimes you may even find a UFO carrying a puzzle piece for you to grab, so exploring the map is just as useful as exploring a stage
And to top off each world there is a level after the boss fight revolving around the world of the VIP bot you unlocked. Each level serves as a mini level you would expect to find in the VIP boy’s actual home series. For example, after unlocking the Nathan Drake VIP bot, you then have to go through a level that’s an entire love letter towards Uncharted, filled with puzzles to solve, a gun to shoot at enemies, even when swinging around on ropes, and escaping a temple with your treasure. It’s just the cherry on top to show you that this is meant to be a love letter to Sony’s history.
This is just one of those games that doesn’t have a lot of complaints to write home about. Just to nitpick, some enemies feel like they just attack way too quickly and could go with a visual indicator they’re about to attack. It feels like they can just barely knock you out just as you reach them to attack you. The rubber ducky PlayStation symbol level where you have to put out lava pools can feel like it’s too crowded with objects.
Aside from that, there isn’t anything that negative to write home about this game. It’s just a solid and amazing platformer that, just like Astro’s Playroom, continues to celebrate Sony’s past. It managed to be an experience that was able to not only stand toe to toe with some of Nintendo’s classic 3D platformers like Super Mario Galaxy and Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It’s a colorful and proud collect-a-thon that has some delightful music and cheerful sound effects. It’s not afraid of the fact it’s a video game and is more than happy to provide a unique and charming time you wouldn’t find on other systems. While the PS5 as a whole may be lacking in exclusives, if you already have a PS5, this game is an easy recommendation and a bright spot in this system’s library.
If you’d like to see Astro Bot in action you can check out the first two hours of gameplay in our launch-day livestream where we complete the Gorilla Nebula. This is a perfect run so there will be spoilers.
