Absolutely adorable, ridiculously reactive to player mischief, and the most addictive jumpy-jump this side of a Ninty platformer. Some games deserve to have their pluses mentioned early in a review, and so you should know, from the astro-go, that my feelings on this game align with the chief export of its masc-bot—overwhelming positivity.
Because, hey, how could you not appreciate an underbot tale such as this one? From VR-y inauspicious beginnings, Team Asobi has scratched together a franchise from a double-A PS VR title to a pack-in demo, and now they’ve laser-booted Astro Bot to the mountain top of the 3D platforming genre.
Admittedly, what’s here isn’t quite pinnacle perfect. For starters, I utterly adore retro, but Astro Bot’s insistence on continuing as a catalogue for antiquated PS hardware can feel like a vestigial demo limb. That being said, my two sons, who’ve no idea what a 15-block Memory Card is and drew a blank on most of the 300+ bygone rescue bots, still couldn’t put this down until they (each) 100%ed it.
That’s a pretty ringing endorsement of how well-designed this game still is when divorced from its weapons-grade nostalgia. In my household of overflowing games, such bloody-minded playthroughs only occur with the best platformers Nintendo drops on Switch, or TT’s lauded LEGO games. Quite the compliment.
a pretty ringing endorsement of how well-designed this game still is when divorced from its weapons-grade nostalgia.
Now, if you have already clocked Astro’s Playroom, that freebie demo on your PS5 console, this full-priced Astro Bot represents more of the same, just with a bigger budget, bolder power-ups, and a tougher endgame that stretches to roughly 3-to-4 times the length. Yep, Astro Bot’s only a 12-14 hour hop-through if you’re looking to 100% it. This does not compete with the 50-odd needed to collect Super Mario Odyssey’s 880 Power Moons.
With that expectation set, let’s move on to the landslide of more positive things to say about this package. Namely, the one-two punches that’ll floor you right from the start—genre-leading visuals and audio.
With the former, Team Asobi has crafted one of the finest looking 3D platformers I’ve ever sated my kleptomania in. Big points are scored early with a dedication to level biome variety, followed by flex after flex of mind-boggling dense incidental object counts and a cavalcade of other visual flourishes. Think: vegetation, snow, sand, and water/goop tech that’s so schmick you’ll divert time from collecting crap to go buggerise around in it.
Likewise, these worlds are teeming with enough punchable interactive elements to rival even the LEGO games. It’s also quite ridiculous how every animal / vegetable / mineral in sight not only has an amusing idle animation but a pretty hilarious reaction when you go upside its head, too. It feels like there are very few centimetres in this game that won’t push back and reward your curiosity, and I love that.
Speaking of unabashed adoration—let’s touch upon the ludicrously expansive and infectious official soundtrack. Like many of you, I had great difficulty removing the earworms from Astro’s Playroom out of my brain, and now a much larger can of them has been poured right back in there. Worse—read: better—some levels have slapping remixes of already banger theme tunes from beloved PS titles.
When I heard the God of War dance remix that used “boyyy” as an instrument, I knew it—this is my OST of the Year so far.
there are very few centimetres in this game that won’t push back and reward your curiosity
When it comes to navigating Astro Bot and ticking off a long list of collect-a-thon levels, Team Asobi moves away from the “digging through the guts of a PS5” playbook of Playroom. What’s here is a “planetoid levels nested in solar systems” approach that’s highly reminiscent of Super Mario Galaxy—a brilliant game to crib from for anything.
Generous checkpoints and infinite lives keep these pitfall-filled gauntlets accessible for all. Sharp eyes are needed to find six Where’s Wally-bots per level, two of whom will be skinned as classic gaming protagonists (but I wanted them all to be). You’ll also need to be on the hunt for three puzzle pieces and sometimes a hidden room that will unlock a bonus planetoid out in space. It’s all simple, effective, and addictive stuff.
Each of the six or so galaxies will wrap up with multi-phase boss battles, which are all reasonably clever and heavily reliant on the power-up flavour of the moment. Surprisingly, you’re then handed one more extra planet that’s themed specifically on an iconic PlayStation game and comes with a gameplay mechanic shift to complete the homage. (The Locoroco one is particularly excellent.)
On the topic of standouts, I was also partial to the four challenge levels themed under each of the PlayStation symbols. They’re 16 short, deep end of the pool challenges that will reasonably test the limits of any genre veteran. They’re capped off by a groin-kickingly Great Master Challenge waiting for you at 99% completion.
To get there, you’ll need to mop up a Hub-world tale of a crashed PS5 console/ship. The more bots and puzzle pieces you earn on planets elsewhere (and in the debris at ground zero, too), the more this central area opens up. Pretty soon, you’ll earn the right to shop in cosmetic stores to gussy up your DualShip or Astro himself, plus the Playroom gacha machine returns to fill your life with 169 animated figurines.
multi-phase boss battles, which are all reasonably clever and heavily reliant on the power-up flavour of the moment.
All told, that’s a decent content-drip that few people will be able to resist, and I haven’t even detailed the real (but non-literal) stars of Astro Bot yet—its gameplay-bending power-ups. Astro’s basic moveset—punch, hold-spin-punch, and double-tap hover-jump—remain as rock solid as ever, but almost every level lets you soup up in some way. And don’t worry, Playroom veterans; the overwhelming majority of these don’t rely on the DualSense’s more niche and tedious functions—microphone blowing, controller tilting, etc.
I’m not going to spoil the better ones, but there’s over half a dozen or so items that will radically change how you dash, jump, or bonk your foes into oblivion. There are also suits that can render you temporarily immune to certain environmental hazards. Almost all of these come with a timer or some other double-edge that will give you just enough rope to hang yourself with, should you go nuts with them.
Speaking of flip-sides to otherwise golden coins, when I reached the end of Astro Bot, I experienced some deja vu. It was the exact same reaction I had when I 100%ed Astro’s Playroom—a sad feeling of, oh dude, I wish there was more of this. Of course, back in 2020 that was a mighty selfish thought to have about a freebie pack-in that had no business being as great as it was. That same thought today, with an almost full-priced product, feels like a valid concern.
I suppose my only gripe with Astro Bot is a glaring lack of the speedrunning facilities that kept me returning to Astro’s Playroom. But, hey, a few timers and some leaderboards—surely that’s an easy post-launch bolt-in?
Even if that doesn’t materialise, though, Astro Bot stands as an absolute top-tier 3D platformer, with visuals that nip at the heels of the venerable Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart. Ocular onslaught aside, the jumpy-jump stays constantly inventive, the collectables are nostalgia-gasmic, and the only thing more taxing than its final level is the challenge of ridding this soundtrack from your subconscious. This is very much a universally appealing, must-own gem; no bots about it.
