General Information
Building on the already strong foundation of its predecessor, Astro Bot weaves in the core premise of Rescue Mission; rather than tracking down PlayStation-related artefacts, your main job is finding the little robot's crewmates, all scattered throughout each level. It's a perfect recipe for a 3D platformer, encouraging you to explore every nook and cranny in search of those adorable little droids.
The mothership — a PS5, finally filling a role it's always looked designed to play — crash lands on a desert world at the center of several nearby galaxies. These systems house the game's stages, where you'll spend most of your time, but you'll also regularly return to the hub world, which evolves and expands as you progress. It falls into a great rhythm of exploring each galaxy and its stages, then returning to the hub to drop off your robot buddies and discover new things to see and do.
While there's plenty to like about the hub, which we'll get into later, the main attraction is the game's range of levels, which are as varied, playful, and fun as you'd hope. Each galaxy contains four or five main stages, a boss, and a special last level themed around specific PlayStation franchises. On top of that are numerous shorter challenges — tougher platforming or combat trials to test your skills — and a selection of secret stages to discover. It's a generous package, and what's most impressive is the sheer variety it offers.
Many themes are unique to a single stage; Sky Garden's flamingo paradise is never revisited, nor is Construction Derby's building site. You'll also explore a giant singing tree, a vibrant casino, and the inside of a giant hourglass — all one-and-done ideas. It isn't just the level's themes that are varied; many have their own gameplay ideas as well. One later stage involves swapping from day to night, changing the geometry of the level, while an underwater planet adopts a more open design — and equips Astro with a power-up unique to that stage. While there are some recurring themes and mechanics, the overall variety meant we were constantly excited to see what was coming next.
Speaking of power-ups, our robo-hero makes use of numerous new toys throughout the game. Some appear more than others — the frog gloves, which let you hit enemies from afar and swing from poles, come back a few times, while some one-off mechanics are our favorites. One allows Astro to shrink in size, while another turns him into a sponge, able to soak up and then eject water. All these power-ups combined with the varied level design make for a game that never runs short of ideas, and it's brilliant.
The power-ups flesh out Astro's move set which, on its own, is fairly simplistic. However, while his range of moves isn't particularly deep, they're executed excellently. Jumping, hovering, punching, and spinning all feels spot on thanks to tight, responsive controls. The true test of any 3D platformer is whether it feels fun to simply move around, and Astro passes handily. It feels great to hop around each stage, and Astro is often augmented with new abilities, so we never felt like he needs more moves.
Those PlayStation-themed levels we mentioned are some of the highlights, too. After defeating each boss — each one a fun fight, by the way — you'll meet an iconic Sony character, such as Kratos, and they'll open a new stage based on not only their worlds, but their mechanics. Continuing with the God of War example, Astro will use the Leviathan Axe to attack enemies, and just like Santa Monica's action games, it can be thrown and recalled, freezing enemies and helping progress through the stage. We won't spoil the others, but PlayStation fans will be delighted with these Astro Bot renditions of some favorite franchises.
These are far from the only references to other games you'll see. Of the 300 bots you need to rescue, over half of them are dressed as characters from some of the most iconic games to grace PlayStation over the last 30 years. While a lot of them are based on first-party properties, like The Last of Us, Shadow of the Colossus, and Ape Escape, there are many more based on third-party titles — some of which are amazingly obscure. There are one or two surprising absentees, but on the whole it's a remarkable selection that had us grinning with every character we recognized. It's all delivered with so much affection that it's hard not to love it.
Going back to the hub, where all your collected bots congregate, it slowly opens up to reveal new areas to explore and more features to enjoy. Puzzle Pieces are another collectible to gather, and they unlock new rooms, with one of them being the returning Gatcha Lab. The prizes you get here, earned by spending the coins you've collected, more often than not, are attributed to one of the bots you've found, like a specific weapon or object that gives them a fun interaction in the hub. Other prizes include cosmetics for Astro himself and his Dual Speeder, letting you customize his look with some iconic outfits. You can also unlock the Safari Park, a special zone to hang out in, but it also gives you access to a simple Photo Mode, then usable throughout the game.
The whole game is wrapped up with great presentation, too. The image quality is superb, showing off the vibrant and detailed worlds wonderfully. While it doesn't have the graphical heft of other first-party titles, it's incredibly visually pleasing thanks to clean, consistent art direction. On top of that is silky smooth 60 frames-per-second performance, with not one hitch spotted in all our time playing. Oh, and special mention must be made for the soundtrack, which is just excellent throughout.
We need to give a shout-out to the DualSense support here, because as you might expect, it's best in class. Team Asobi asserted dominance in this area with Playroom, but the range of effects delivered here through haptic feedback and the adaptive triggers outshines it. These conditions do drain the battery, but the implementation is too good to really worry about that. There are even gameplay mechanics that utilize the haptics in ways we haven't seen before, like feeling particular walls for a rough texture to reveal a secret. It really shows what the DualSense can do like no other game before it.
Conclusion
Astro Bot is a stunning 3D platformer, and easily among the best games in PS5's library. It fully delivers on the promise of Astro's Playroom, building on the rock solid core of tight controls and inventive gameplay and turning everything up to 11. With tons to see and do, almost endless fresh ideas, innovative use of the DualSense's features, and truly charming presentation, it's a confident and cohesive experience that players of all ages will love. To top it all off, it's a perfect game to celebrate PlayStation's 30th anniversary, reflecting on the myriad series that made the platform what it is today.
