At the launch of the PlayStation 5 back in 2020, Astro’s Playroom knocked gamers out of the park with its charm and novel use of the new DualSense controller. The 3 hour long game was included completely free as a pre-installed sort of tech demo for the PS5 and more specifically the new controller, which came loaded with a bunch of new features that other major releases since have barely utilised. At the time it felt like the whole community was losing its collective mind over how wonderful the game was, and there was a desperate need for more.
However as the years went by, it seemed like Astro would be abandoned, left in the junkyard of other Sony IPs people love which for some reason have never received more attention, like Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter or even the now infamously abandoned Bloodborne.
That was until- rather unexpectedly, Astro Bot stole the show during Sony’s May State of Play. Four years later Astro was back, this time in his first (of hopefully many) full-fledged adventure. We only had to wait a little under four months before we could get our hands on Astro Bot, and now that I have I’m excited to say it’s everything I would’ve wanted from an extended Astro game.
A vibrant and colourful adventure
Across more than fifty levels, you take control of Astro as once again he needs to repair the PS5 mothership and save loads of his friends along the way. And the planets here are more varied in design than ever before. Two levels barely ever retread the same ground, instead the game thrusts you on a rollercoaster through different environments- going from a construction site, to an underwater paradise, or even a dazzling casino world featuring a particular Phantom Thief.
That’s right- the game doesn’t just pay tribute to Sony properties. It feels like a love letter to a lot of gaming in general, with the context of the great presence PlayStation have always held in the gaming industry. A lot of great studios and franchises got their start with PlayStation, and a lot of those are honoured here.
But it’s not all just about the cameos. Even when Astro Bot isn’t referencing something from a vast gaming library, it’s an incredibly fun little game. As mentioned earlier, the environments are wonderfully unique, and the levels have an assortment of fun power-ups to pull from, similar to Astro’s Playroom though of course with much more variety here. Some are quite simple like a dash through the air, but quite a lot of the time it’s something more unique that compliments the brilliant level design, like one of my favourites which allowed Astro to shrink to the size of a mouse. Be sure to check every nook and cranny in that one.
The game makes every level, which vary from about 10-20 minutes in length, a joy to play, and all to the beat of a simply addicting soundtrack. I won’t be getting the main theme out of my head anytime soon.
Fun for the whole family
It’s funny that in a game all about PlayStation– Astro Bot draws most of its comparisons to Mario. While it doesn’t yet have the depth of gameplay of something like Super Mario Odyssey it certainly has the charm, and I believe Team Asobi can achieve the former with a few more attempts.
Astro Bot is already a great platformer in the truest sense. You could give the controller to a six year old, and they could probably beat the game, though that doesn’t make it boring for more skilled players with how smooth the game controls, its signature Astro charm and all the optional hidden objectives that can unlock harder levels. The game offered up a few moments that gave me the same feeling as stumbling across a secret world in Mario as a kid, and some of these things are really quite challenging.
That all said- it’s absolutely a good thing that the main game feels geared towards a younger audience. Sony used to be kings in the field of kids games, with things like Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet and Clank and earlier mentioned titles, but for a long time now solely Nintendo have dominated the field. It’s always a good thing for children to have more options of high quality.
The start of something fantastic
All these thoughts I had whilst playing didn’t take any enjoyment away from me as a grown man. Astro Bot still feels like a must play for any PS5 owner, especially those that grew up with a PlayStation console. Yes, I adore mature story driven games like The Last of Us or God of War– but sometimes it feels really good to turn off your brain and play something more mindless, and I had a blast doing that for the entire 15ish hours that it took me to beat Astro Bot. Overall Astro Bot is a fantastic game and one well worth experiencing.
For Sony, this feels like a step in the right direction. The big budget games with movie-like quality are all incredible of course, but with things like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 costing over $300 million and still receiving negativity for a rushed story it’s clear that all this effort isn’t always worth it. Gamers like to play something smaller sometimes, and if Sony can keep delivering these tight-knit truly fun experiences like Astro Bot, we’ll keep playing them.
Third year Journalism student passionate about video-games.
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