Japan Studio was sadly dissolved in 2021, with many of its staff folded into Team Asobi to make Astro Bot. Its wild characters and artful, innovative games are particularly favored in Astro Bot’s directory of PlayStation history. It takes you through deserts, across volcanos, inside dojos, to outer space, up mountains, down rivers, and both visually and mechanically, offers something new every time that always hits the mark. Bosses appear at the end of each cluster of levels and randomly in the middle, always with a new way of attacking that forces you to use powers in new ways, think differently, and experience the level in a fresh light. Platformers used to be this bold and seemed to shed that personality in favour of retreading safe old ground.

There’s nothing beyond familiar forms and frameworks, yet it still manages to bring a smile to our faces. There’s not much to say about Astro Bot’s plot; it serves as a simple introduction, giving the player a reason to rescue bots in need and search for console-ship components to continue the journey through the vast cosmos. What truly sets Astro Bot apart from the competition, however, is the gameplay. In 2024, Astro Bot not only comes to Sony’s rescue but also in a big way reminds us why we play video games at all. None of that affects Astro Bot’s quality as a game but it does limit its successfulness as a nostalgia piece.

Astro Bot Overall – 96/100

The different levels Astro explores have themes that you’d expect. There’s a jungle planet, a volcano planet, and worlds of pirates, ghosts, and gardeners. Some worlds require special powers to navigate, and those, too, are pretty standard in function if not in form.

With polished gameplay and a visually appealing world, Astro Bot delivers a fun and rewarding platforming experience. The result was Astro’s Playroom, a 3D platformer that was, once again, released as a free game designed to showcase a new piece of hardware. It came pre-installed on the PlayStation 5 when it went on sale in 2020.

Platformers have so long followed in the footsteps of Mario, with so many titles trying to emulate what the mustachioed plumber has achieved. Astro Bot’s utterly overflowing creativity and ingenuity make it one of the first platformers that feels like it can stand outside the long shadow cast by Mario. It’s a grand celebration of PlayStation’s legacy and a sign of what its future can become. As you’d expect from a 3D platformer, Astro Bot contains hundreds of collectibles for you to find. In https://inutoken.io/ of our Astro Bot guide, we have checklists for where to find every collectible in the game, including all Bots, Puzzle Pieces, Lost Galaxy Warp Portals, and more in your quest for 100%. To put that in another way, for many people, video games become a community hub, a place of belonging and socializing that they may not have outside of their computer or console.

For many players, part of the fun was discovering all of the cameo-inspired robots in Astro Bot. Thankfully, the DLC levels continue that element and Armored Hardcore is no exception. The Vicious Void Galaxy DLC has added the likes of Jade from Beyond Good & Evil and Heihachi Mishima from the Tekken franchise to name a few.

At its core, Astro Bot is built on the technical foundation of Astro’s Playroom. Using its own in-house technology, the design objective seems clear – to deliver a smooth platforming experience at 60 frames per second while dazzling the player with physics and pyrotechnic effects at every corner. From a technical perspective, the execution is virtually flawless.

Astro Bot is a platformer that genuinely thinks like the best platformers out there. It anticipates the things that you will anticipate, and then goes one better. An entire level set on a dream of 1930’s skyscraper construction sites!

Did you know you can use your Twin-Frog Gloves Power Up to beat up two Wormys at once? Yep, while exploring the Wormy Passage world, be sure to keep an eye out for a pair of two or more Wormys (green worm enemies). Press both your left and right trigger (L2 and R2) to punch your left and right Twin-Frog Glove into the mouths of the Wormys. Did you know you can catch the bugs in Apes On The Loose with your net? You can find the Golden Butterfly at the very back of the Apes On The Loose level, in a bush to the right of the sky bridge where you find Sky-Walking Ape Special Bot.

Abilities

Some are on the linear side, testing your platforming skills, but others are more open, giving you some freedom as to how to achieve your goal. You might find yourself equipped with gloves that allow you to pummel enemies at range, for example, or a bulldog strapped to your back with which you can charge into heavy items and send them flying. As previously mentioned, anyone that has played Astro’s Playroom will have a good idea of what to expect here.

Super Mario Odyssey

Astro Bot is back in action later this month with five new challenge levels. How a baby robot went from tech demo to iconic Sony mascot–and put its studio on the map in the process. On the cute side of things, Astro reacts to his environments with endearing animations like shivering in the cold, quivering in fear and tapping his tiny metal feet in excitement, and his bot friends are similarly expressive. When Astro boops his head on an impassable ceiling, he makes the sweetest little flinching motion.

Then hopefully Sony realise that fun, original, innovative single player experiences have a place in today’s world. Older platformers ideas WERE experimental, STILL ARE FRESH/UNIQUE in the genre, no one wants to copy them, expand on them, make their own mechanics like them. Many that the Indies even are inspired by all feel bland, & why because the level design is eh, the movesets are pathetic & to be honest they don’t have the talent & their inspiration is just weak. Is it good with cameos yes (not a graveyard indeed), is it good with core mechanics IT OFFERS yes, level design eh the themes are generic.

You can also hover over the Nebulas to see how many total collectibles there are in the sub-levels. The hub area ‘Crash Site’ also contains bots and puzzle pieces, which you obtain by interacting with the blue markers to call your bots for help. Then there are 2 extra Nebulas, one for the final story part, and one is the ‘Lost Galaxy’ that contains all 11 secret levels. As galaxies are explored and Bots are rescued, Astro Bot’s hub world stations begin to unlock, including a closet with outfits for Astro and a claw machine that gives players a place to spend all their collected coins. The machine dispenses new Astro costumes, cosmetic options for the PS5 controller spaceship, and joy for the rescued PS-themed Bots.