ASTRO BOT (PlayStation 5) Review

I believe I used to be as shocked as anybody that ASTRO BOT got here into existence in any kind—the PlayStation 5 recreation, not the character. After I wrote my piece Nintendo and Microsoft Want an Astro’s Playroom, I believe I settled on the concept ASTRO was a superb consultant of Sony’s {hardware} however I by no means foresaw him internet hosting his personal little recreation. 

I assumed that ASTRO’S Playroom being a “genuinely enjoyable platformer with numerous love and care put into it” was only a bonus characteristic to it being a technical showcase of the PlayStation 5, nevertheless it appears Group ASOBI had sufficient concepts to pack a complete recreation after which some. ASTRO BOT is extremely enjoyable, extremely inventive and an unbelievable love letter to the historical past of PlayStation video games.

The story is pretty easy: ASTRO and his cohort of BOTS are blasting via house within the PlayStation 5 Mothership when a nasty inexperienced alien cracks the console open and steals the CPU. Unable to carry itself collectively, the PS5 Mothership breaks aside, scattering the Bots and its 4 element elements all through the galaxy. ASTRO wakes up on a barren planet however, with the assistance of his trusty Twin Speeder, is ready to discover the bottom of the PS5 Mothership. The plucky BOT units off to rescue all of his stranded buddies and restore the Mothership to its former glory.  

It’s a foolish, lighthearted little story that does a very good job of building the premise of the sport’s most important promoting characteristic, the gameplay, in a enjoyable approach. However ASTRO BOT didn’t actually need a correct “three-act” narrative—though it positively wouldn’t have suffered from having one. The expanded sense of narrative makes ASTRO BOT a way more thrilling recreation and permits it extra room to experiment with completely different concepts. 

In some methods, ASTRO BOT seems like an extension of ASTRO’s Playroom, sort of in the identical approach The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was an extension of Breath of the Wild. Group ASOBI basically took the entire greatest concepts from ASTRO’s Playroom and constructed a complete recreation round them. 

It’s unbelievable as a result of the basics are basically the identical, however the creativity on show is astronomical. Very similar to ASTRO’s Playroom, at its core, ASTRO BOT is an extremely tight and absurdly polished motion platformer. Gamers will information ASTRO via a plethora of insanely inventive ranges, rescuing misplaced BOTS—which successfully exchange the PlayStation trinkets from Playroom—and looking for puzzle items alongside the way in which. 

Nevertheless, each the BOTS and the puzzle items have been given a bit extra depth in ASTRO BOT since discovering BOTS is crucial to exploring new areas of the Crash Website House Base in an effort to unlock the 5 completely different galaxies that make up the sport’s ranges. The puzzle items unlock varied bases that enable for varied customizations—from giving ASTRO a brand new costume to giving the Twin Speeder a contemporary coat of paint or unlocking particular gadgets for the PlayStation-themed BOTS. 

“Very similar to ASTRO’s Playroom, at its core, ASTRO BOT is an extremely tight and absurdly polished motion platformer.”

However other than being an unbelievable platformer on a technical stage, ASTRO BOT persistently shakes up the gameplay with distinctive mechanics which can be constantly applied in creative methods. On one stage, you’ll have just a little octopus that’ll blow ASTRO up like a balloon, permitting him to drift for a short while; on one other, you’ll get a mouse that lets you shrink at will, to a rooster that acts as a rocket booster. Moreover, mechanics from ASTRO’s Playroom, just like the Monkey Go well with and the rolling ball, have additionally been included however made a bit extra streamlined and player-friendly.

I’ve typically lamented video games like Tremendous Mario Bros. that may typically introduce a gimmick or two and design ranges round it somewhat than combine them naturally into well-crafted ranges. However the charge at which mechanics are launched is so speedy that it all the time feels inventive—as quickly as you suppose you already know what the sport has to supply, they offer you a PSVR that permits you to cease time. 

The truth is, Tremendous Mario seems like an apt comparability for ASTRO BOT as a result of each stage and each design resolution feels so intentional and so directed in direction of having enjoyable. I don’t suppose there was a single level throughout my in depth time dedicated to this recreation that I didn’t have an enormous, goofy grin.

However the final end result of this—and arguably the crown jewel of ASTRO BOT—are the degrees impressed by iconic PlayStation video games. In fact, once I noticed the debut trailer for the sport, I used to be initially enthralled by the concept these icon BOTS would issue into the sport’s story in some way. Nevertheless, for the reason that recreation doesn’t actually have a narrative per se, these moments turn into the finale of every galaxy, the place completion will get you one of many 4 important PS5 parts.

It’s not simply that these ranges are lovingly crafted representations of the video games they’re based mostly on, or how they mix the long-lasting imagery and design of every recreation with ASTRO BOT’s extremely tight platforming, however how they discover a option to incorporate a key mechanic from these video games into the extent to make it so ridiculously enjoyable. 

Within the first world based mostly on Ape Escape, you’re working round with Spike’s web and scanner to seek out BOTS dressed as the long-lasting simians. Within the God of Struggle Ragnarök world, you’re utilizing the Leviathan Axe to freeze gears to cease shifting mechanisms or turning pillars of water into makeshift platforms. I do know I preserve saying it, however every stage is simply bursting with creativity and a loving appreciation of the supply materials and I used to be genuinely excited after each boss battle to see what PlayStation recreation I’d be collaborating in subsequent. 

After I began taking part in ASTRO BOT, there was part of me that felt it was virtually an extension of ASTRO’s Playroom—insofar that if you happen to hadn’t performed the latter, this is able to really feel a bit like a tech demo. However truthfully, I don’t suppose that’s the case. ASTRO BOT is without doubt one of the few video games that really takes benefit of the PlayStation 5’s {hardware} in a significant approach that derivatively calling it a tech demo utterly undermines how inventive it’s being with the instruments it has. 

If ASTRO’s Playroom was the proof-of-concept, ASTRO BOT is the idea made manifest. The way in which it makes use of each distinctive side of the DualSense controller—from the distinctive adjustments of vibration when shifting over completely different surfaces to the way it maps sounds to the controller’s speaker for an added stage of immersion to its fixed inventive use of the adaptive set off. ASTRO BOT flies within the face of each “AAA” recreation that may’t appear to seek out one attention-grabbing option to make the most of this unbelievable system—and wouldn’t you already know it, it remembered the sport has gyro controls.

“ASTRO BOT persistently shakes up the gameplay with distinctive mechanics which can be constantly applied in creative methods.”

Visually, ASTRO BOT is past gorgeous. There was a sure level the place I couldn’t assist however giggle to myself that this recreation in some way out-Nintendo’d Nintendo. Each stage is EXPLODING with color, life, marvel and an obscene consideration to element. No two ranges really feel the identical—you’ll go from a large singing tree to a Japanese Tub Home, to a haunted citadel, and a lot extra. Nearly every little thing from fauna to flora has little BOT faces, which is simply lovely. Every thing is rendered in unbelievable element, from bricks to blades of grass; mushrooms gentle up and make little chimes once you stroll over them

And the soundtrack, Candy Child Ray THE SOUNDTRACK. Kenneth C M Younger, Kemmei Adachi, Tadashi Yatabe, Sachiko Miyano, Takuro Iga, Hirofumi Sasaki, and Masso Kimua completely crushed each observe they labored on in ASTRO BOT to such a level that once I was taking part in in the identical room my spouse was working in, with out even wanting on the recreation she stated to me, “I actually just like the music on this recreation.”

“If ASTRO’s Playroom was the proof-of-concept, ASTRO BOT is the idea made manifest.”

Like the numerous ranges and gameplay, the music runs the gamut of genres from funk to pop, jazz to rock, and so many extra. Each observe is high-tempo and energetic, including to the enjoyable on an audible stage. To not point out the methods they remixed the music for the PlayStation-themed ranges so that they embrace ASTRO’s theme however nonetheless really feel thematically correct is nothing in need of unbelievable—I used to be a very huge fan of the BOT of Struggle theme. You already know you probably did one thing particular with the music when even within the aforementioned haunted citadel stage, the music was so good my spouse was really dancing alongside to it. 

However it’s not simply the soundtrack that makes the sport stand out. The audio design as an entire is so extremely detailed and encompasses such a variety {that a} recreation so visually cartoonish feels so extremely plausible and actual. From the way in which ASTRO’s little ft clang on metallic surfaces to the pitter-patter or rain on his little head umbrella, the soundscape is so extremely wealthy and delivered to life in distinctive methods by the DualSense controller’s accompanying speaker and rumble. 

I might preserve going, however I believe by now you get the purpose. ASTRO BOT is one in all the standout video games on the PlayStation 5 and, perhaps subsequent to Ratched and Clank: A Rift Aside, the one recreation I’ve performed that’s performed something attention-grabbing with the system’s distinctive {hardware}. 

I believe some players is likely to be delay by the sport’s asking value of $59.99 (or $79.99 CAD), however truthfully, I might say it’s nicely price it. It’s obtained one thing to supply everybody from players, younger and previous, new and skilled, and even newcomer or veteran PlayStation followers. ASTRO BOT is a recreation that by no means stops being enjoyable.