(That’s today!) As with tr88 to the Game of the Year winner, the new levels are free to download — and, of course, each comes with a new Special Bot to rescue. It’s hard to say what cute, robotic PlayStation characters could possibly top the twin Spider-Man bots from the Christmas level, but I’m excited to find out. Essentially, here, key mechanics from the most recent God of War are put to use – specifically the axe where you can throw, freeze and retrieve the axe. This puts a completely different spin on platforming and combat. But they go even further to the point of referencing those narrow passages you often see in big AAA cinematic titles where the camera pulls in and your character slowly makes their way through it.
These special cameo bots are rescued from the galaxies’ main boss fights, which are a real highlight of the experience. Like the rest of the game, Astro Bot bosses are inventive, defying player expectations while still rooted in 3D platformer tradition. The boss fights deliver on visual spectacle, have a nice challenge to them, and above all, are fun to conquer. Besides the main bosses, mini-bosses pop up in other levels unexpectedly, and they are also a lot of fun to fight. Like Team Asobi’s previous games, Astro Bot revolves around a community of tiny white robots. Following the events of Astro’s Playroom, they are attacked by the evil green alien that served as the final boss of Rescue Mission, destroying their PS5 spaceship and scattering them across the cosmos.
I really like platforming but going back to Playroom I really hate that climbing gyro mechanic, doesn’t feel fluid or natural at all. My wife and I enjoyed It Takes Two but some of the one off I was glad to get rid of. My kid on the other hand hated how you kept learning new stuff only for it to be dropped and never return again, just like this review, and I was getting this for them for their birthday.
Latest News On Astro Bot
Obviously, there’s no way you can feature everything from across four decades of gaming, but I consistently found myself amazed by the rich variety of references and games featured. Finding these little bots was like taking a walk down memory lane, fondly remembering the hours I sunk into these beloved titles, while providing value for this current experience. As you’d expect from a 3D platformer, Astro Bot contains hundreds of collectibles for you to find. In this part of our Astro Bot guide, we have checklists for where to find every collectible in the game, including all Bots, Puzzle Pieces, Lost Galaxy Warp Portals, and more in your quest for 100%.
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It’s clear from the very first frame of Astro Bot just how much love and reverence Team Asobi has for the history of Sony’s consoles and their library of games. You choose a new save file by selecting one of three original PlayStation memory cards and are then thrust into a scene taking place on your PS5-shaped mothership. That mothership crash lands on a desert planet after an evil alien attack, and Astro must now travel the galaxy searching for its missing parts and crewmates. Many of the PlayStation characters appear as short, charming cameos, but a handful play fully-fledged supporting roles. I won’t spoil who gets the star treatment here, aside from one – the previously revealed Kratos.
Bots (formerly AR Bots and VR Bots) are a major species within the Astro Bot series. Appearing in every installment to date, they serve as the crew of Astro Bot, and their rescue appears as an objective throughout the games. An entire level set on a dream of 1930’s skyscraper construction sites! Many of these things are platformer standards, but that’s kind of the point, because the game always chucks something in to warp it and make it fresh.
The first galaxy, Gorilla Nebula, has you facing off with a giant mechanical gorilla named Mighty Chewy. It is in the last level before the boss fight, titled Construction Derby, that the player has their first encounter with the beast. The level sees Astro jumping and dashing through a live construction site atop a bunch of cranes and skyscrapers. Then suddenly the camera rotates and stills, transforming the level into a 2D side-scroller with Mighty Chewy chasing Astro with an open hand, ready to crush. I couldn’t help but draw a comparison between this and the original Donkey Kong arcade game.
Eventually, Astro Bot reaches and defeats the Alien, giving the crew a peaceful ending. Astro Bot might be the best game out right now to make use of the DualSense special features. The use of haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and gyro controls makes the game’s simple mechanics shine even more as it adds so much to the gameplay. Not only this, but the game even makes use of the controller’s speakers to make the game even more immersive.
You can even attack your robotic allies (when they’re standing on the goal) if you want just for kicks. This is what I tend to like about platformers, attacking non-playable characters just for the heck of it and for laughs to get a reaction from them. It’s a shame that recent platformers don’t have that level of polish these days. Due to the fact there are so many objects and non-playable characters to interact with, this game feels like a tech demo but I’m not saying this as a bad thing.
People have entire online communities based around the enjoyment of a title, whether that’s Elden Ring or Astro Bot. It wouldn’t be an Astro Bot update without new Special Bot cameo appearances, and now we know a few that players can discover. One is the protagonist of Sucker Punch’s upcoming Ghost of Yotei (which is receiving a special State of Play).