When Astro Bot Rescue Mission launched on PSVR, it served as a fun game that showed off the tech in a fun, albeit short, way. Then, when the PS5 was released, we got Astro’s Playroom for free, which yet again was a great way to show the tech. This time it was showing off all the cool stuff in the dual sense controller, and though it was short, coming free with the console was amazing as it was an amazing game loaded with PlayStation references. At the end of that game, I was hoping for some more Astro Bot action.
My wish came true; Astro Bot is back in the new game Astro Bot, and it’s awesome.
So what is happening with our old friend Astro Bot?
Astro Bot and the ship full of… smaller Astro Bots are flying through space in their PS5-shaped spaceship when our old enemy, the green alien, attacks. Nek Minnit the Bots are scattered across planets, and Astro Bot needs to fly around visiting the planets to save them in his Dual Sense mini spaceship.
The story is light, but I’ll be honest, the story isn’t what you are here for. You are here for the gameplay, and this is where Astro Bot excels.
Astro Bot has all the moves now!
The game is made up of a series of worlds with a bunch of main levels inside. After a few levels, you get to take on a boss, and you will quickly have rebuilt the PS5 spaceship. The levels vary in length wildly, but most of them tend to revolve around one specific gameplay mechanic. The fun part of this is that the mechanic gets picked up at the start of the level, and then rarely does it come back again. This is an especially important part of what makes Astro Bot great. Mechanics pop in, keeping the game fresh, but disappear before you have time to be sick of them.
Don’t like the extendy arms that have you climbing walls by tipping your controller from left to right? Get through the next 15 minutes and you can move on. Love the extendy arms level? Do it again and look for all the secrets and collectables. I won’t spoil too many of the abilities because finding them is half the fun, but one of the best is the boxing glove, which allows you to punch enemies, swing across ledges, and so much more.
It’s not just the moves that make Astro Bot awesome
The levels are well built. Almost all the levels are linear, with heaps of clever hidden bits in the scenery to discover. The levels are long enough to be engaging, but not so long as to get tedious. Generally, the main levels are easy enough to chill and blast through. Then there are heaps of super short challenge levels that you can find hidden. These ones have a nice ramp up in difficulty. Levels that should take a couple of minutes took me easily half an hour at times.
Then there are the awesome PlayStation references. Going into the game, I was nervous it would have too many references to keep the game from being its own thing. And in some ways, it does, but in many other ways it doesn’t. There are heaps of the bots you will find and collect that are built based on PlayStation characters and references in the scenery. Then there are entire levels built around the gameplay of older PlayStation games. It’s bananas how well it works. And you don’t have to know the references to enjoy yourself here; it’s a fun platformer.
Should you play Astro Bot?
This is easy. Do you enjoy fun platformers that are filled to the brim with charm? Then this is an easy recommendation. It’s simple, fun, engaging, and platforming action. Best of all, it doesn’t gatekeeper people that may be new to PlayStation. For people not knowing the references, it’s a fun platformer with some bizarre themed levels. For long-time fans, it’s a nostalgia-packed, engaging, fun platformer.
