I was lucky enough to get a PlayStation 5 pretty early in its lifecycle. Apparently I was a “top customer” at a Swedish online game store so I got to pre-order an early batch. I guess it pays to be really careless with money.
Anyway, with this PlayStation 5 came the game/tech demo Astro’s Playroom. Imagine my surprise when it was actually fantastic! Great controls, fun use of the DualSense, pure platforming joy, and lots of PlayStation callbacks. Now, with Astro Bot, we have a standalone game in the same vein and it’s even more fantastic.
You’ve probably heard it already, but I’ll say it again: Astro Bot is probably the only 3D platformer that reaches the heights of Nintendo’s flagship games. That should be enough for you to go and buy it, but I’ll explain why I think so because this is a blog and I like putting words in it.
First and most obviously, there’s just a real sense of joy in Astro Bot’s design. The little robot’s a joy to control, the environments are a joy to explore, the secrets are a joy to find, the challenge levels are a joy to complete, and so much more. It’s filled to the brim with PlayStation history, so if you’ve been around Sony for a while you’ll see a lot of recognizable characters-turned-robots that act as collectables. Some of the high profile ones also get their own level where you borrow their trademark power and play a stage reminiscent of their game. While fun, I haven’t really played Sony’s darlings like God of War, Horizon, and Uncharted so to me that was just another level.
What I did particularly appreciate were some of the deeper cuts, looking at you vib-ribbon, Devil Dice, Mister Mosquito, and Mad Maestro. While this was in some ways a bit bittersweet in the light of Sony not necessarily taking care of their original IPs, looking at you Ape Escape, I prefer to see it as a sign they’re aware these were actually pretty great games and might now give them the time of day. It was also honestly quite shocking that among all the 3rd party bots you can find, there were none from Final Fantasy—a series that to many defined the PlayStation. Licensing is a bitch, I guess.
The game’s structure and general gameplay is pretty close to Super Mario Galaxy and its ilk, and while it’s not really inventive it’s very effective. The pacing of the game was truly excellent with no level or gimmick overstaying their welcome. As I grow older I appreciate short games, too. After getting the platinum trophy for Astro Bot in about 17 hours I can comfortably say that that was both money and time well-spent.
What I loved the most in Astro Bot was using the power of PlayStation 5 not for photo-realistic environments and a thousand shades of brown but for simply putting a whole lot of shiny objects on screen at once. Pull a wire to open a wall, out rolls tons of shiny acorns. Find the pirate’s secret treasure and wade through a veritable sea of shiny diamonds clinking and clanking against each other. The list can be made long, but it was fun every single time. This is what I want my next gen consoles to do, just fill the screen with items I can throw around!
There’s of course more to say, but I don’t want to talk too much about the levels and challenges themselves as going in blind is the way to do it. I will however point out how extremely well Astro Bot utilizes the DualSense. It never stopped being nice getting different sounds and types of vibration when walking on different materials, flying with the gyro control, doing cool things with the adaptive triggers, and so on. In fact, it makes me pretty angry how poorly the DualSense is utilized in other games—that’s how good it is.
Overall, Astro Bot was a fantastic time and I really hope Sony allows Team Asobi to continue making games in this series—with or without the PlayStation celebration aspect. If you like 3D platformers, it’s one of the very best in the genre and should not be missed for any reason.
Things I liked:
- Super tight controls and gameplay with just enough challenge (for me)
- Fun and exciting level design with loads of variety
- DualSense integration is stellar
- Catchy music and great sound design
- Seeing references to old PlayStation games (looking at you, Kurushi Final)
- When many small, shiny objects fill the screen ☺️
Things I didn’t like:
- Missing some VERY IMPORTANT PlayStation references (looking at you, Flipnic and The Eye of Judgment)