From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for showing your appreciation. Click the link to find detailed information on where to find the Bots hidden in all the stages. Most of the Astro Bot cameo characters are pretty easy to identify, but there are a few VIP Bots who are obscure and thus can be difficult to place.
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 recognised. It’s all delivered with so much affection that it’s hard not to love it.
Astro Bot is technically the fifth entry in the Astro universe, though it’s the series’ first fully fledged — and fully priced — installment. Astro Bot takes ideas from these earlier titles and compiles them into a focused 3D platformer with dozens of main worlds, a bevy of additional unlockable planets and a wide range of satisfying mechanics. On top of this, the robot protagonists are super cute in every situation. The fact that some of the characters and settings in Astro Bot are recognizable from popular video games only makes the whole thing sweeter. When we arrive on a planet, we typically have to complete a series of skill-based challenges, which, importantly, aren’t frustrating and remain enjoyable even in the endgame.
Everyone should be able to play this masterpiece, but maybe the PS5 should actually get more games to play. Speaking of the use of DualSense, the game uses all of the controller’s features to the max. It adds so much to the in-game experience that this game might actually be the perfect demo to showcase what a PS5 and DualSense can do. tr88 of adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and gyro controls makes the game perfect for the console. It’s been quite a rough few weeks for Sony and PlayStation fans out there, and it’s great to know that it’s not all doom and gloom as Astro Bot is here to save the day. As a casual fan of platformers, Astro Bot blew me away and reminded me of the nostalgia and fun that is to be had with the genre.
Some is rendered by Team Asobi’s astonishing, virtuosic command of the PlayStation 5 itself; Astro Bot is a tech marvel, perhaps the best-looking PS5 game to date. The sheen of the surfaces, slosh of the liquids, scale of the levels, and smoothness of the frame rate are stunning. The physics, as Astro sets piles of hundreds of shiny apples tumbling, or wades through a pool of gold nuggets, are just showing off.
Astro Bot Review
In Let it Slide, you will slip, slide and skate your way across a frozen sea avoiding the perilous icy waters below. Jump across crumbling icebergs, dodge spinning blades, and create your own frosty platforms on the way to rescue your freezing friends. In Building Speed, with the help of Barkster, the bulldog booster, you will blast your way through a sky-high city. Dodge cranes, smash through crates, and even speed through a flying car wash on the way to rescue your stranded crew. The crew mourns Astro and sad credits begin to roll, but are interrupted by a broken Astro falling back onto the mothership.
Creative Puzzles
The most refreshing thing about the PlayStation Bots is that they’re not used as often as one would expect. It could have been easy for Team Asobi to overdo the callbacks and make this game nothing more than a self-indulgent reference fest. Instead, they treated these cameos and references like a spice that was only occasionally sprinkeld throughout the game. The game puts a lot of this “spice,” but understands that too much will kill the dish.
The game is a 9.7 for me personally and i’m very much looking forward to the next game Team Asobi does. Team Asobi could go back to the tech demo days of the franchise’s past and showcase some new hardware, like the PSVR 2. But now that players have been treated to a fully-fledged platformer, it could feel reductive to go back to those smaller adventures. And while there are many routes that platformers can take, the way Astro Bot celebrated the brand really helped prop it up as something special. At its core, Astro Bot is built on the technical foundation of Astro’s Playroom.
It’s these individuals or groups who are able to influence swathes of people, sway online opinion, and contribute to radical takes. The reaction to Astro Bot winning Game of the Year is a prime example of how the internet and gaming culture can divide people, despite their promise as forms of connection. And since good news flies in pairs, we are delighted to also announce that an updated version of the Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense wireless controller is launching later this year!
Astro Bot took what players loved about those tech demos and expanded upon them immensely into a fantastic platforming experience. In this game, players once again have to save Astro’s crew across multiple galaxies. Along with that, they also have to repair their PS5 mothership and experience the history of PlayStation through collectibles, unique levels, fun little robots, and so much more.