Astro Bot | Review

Initial release date: September 6, 2024

Series: Astro Bot

Platform: PlayStation 5

License: proprietary license

Composer: Kenneth C M Young

Genres: Platform game, Fighting game

Developer: Team ASOBI

Key Takeaways

• Most fun I had since playing Super Mario Bros in 1987
• Performance was great on vanilla PS5
• Interesting and varied platforming mechanics
• Sony’s flagship franchises represented to the fullest
• Feel good game of 2024
• “I Am Astro Bot!”
• Great music
• Stages and Challenges diverse and never samey
• Lush visuals
• Main story ten hours long
• Reminiscent of my 80’s childhood with my NES

Introduction

Astro Bot is the sequel to Astro’s Playroom which was a pack-in Playstation 5 launch game. Astro’s Playroom was basically a slice of what the DualSense controller was capable of showcasing it’s haptic feedback triggers and whatnot.

It was a fun albeit short game. As for Astro Bot it is a whole other beast of a video game. It’s a full-fledged 10 hour minimum campaign featuring dozens of Sony Franchises scattered through a plethora of entertaining planets to explore and I loved every minute of it.

Presentation

Flawless performance at sixty frames per second. No bugs or glitches. TEAM ASOBI knocked Astro Bot’s presentation out of the park. Couple the latter with stunning visuals, tight controls featuring great usage of the DualSense features.

I enjoyed how Astro Bot’s presentation focused on past and present Sony Playstation franchises with dedicated planets featuring Uncharted, Ape Escape, Persona, God of War and Crash Bandicoot for example. I really dug the music tied into each level.

Story

The story goes Astro and his crew friends get attacked by Space Bully Nebulax. Nebulax destroys the Playstation 5 Mothership they were on scattering it’s hardware across various galaxies.

As Astro you must collect the mothership’s hardware pieces by defeating boss’ across various sectors. After fixing the mothership and finding your friends scattered about the universe Astro defeats Nebulax. The end. It’s a Mario-esque story. It wasn’t The Last of Us story but did have Joel and Ellie as collectibles.

Gameplay

I loved how tight and flexible controlling Astro was whether using his jets or using a specific level’s special ability. Yes. Every planet and level adds a special ability that’s very useful to that world level. I enjoyed every special ability in Astro Bot.

Special abilities ranged from monkey grip hands, Rhino jetpack thruster, time manipulation, a goo gun and more. Oh yeah, there was a Yharnam Hunter Bloodborne collectible on a pirate world level. So many great collectibles.

Every major boss fight was entertaining albeit not very challenging. You always had to be on your toes while platforming however. The challenge overall was decent. I completed a few challenge levels which did just that, challenge me.

I loved how varied and interesting each level was. I really enjoyed the God of War and Uncharted planets. You can use Kratos’ axe and Nathan Drake’s pistols during them.

There is a hub where you can mingle with all of your collectibles and friends with some exploration and customizable aspects tide in. Astro Bot is the ultimate feel-good fun video game and it’s gameplay never let me down during my ten plus hours.

Visuals | Art

Astro Bot features some of the most crisp detailed graphics I ever seen in a platforming video game plus it ran at a locked sixty. Each level was filled with great texture work as it’s imagination. The Casino Persona world was visually a standout.

Sound | Music

“I Am Astro Bot!” Song has been in my head since I beat the game. I sing it to my dog, he loves it. Anyways, the music had cues from various Sony franchises from God of War to Uncharted’s theme. I also enjoyed the base music as it fit each level adding immersion. I just wished the game had more music.