If this, alongside new titles like Lego Horizon Adventures, signals a new and less stuffy direction for Sony, then I’m excited to see what the future holds. For now though, you’ll find me trying to 100-percent Astro Bot, cursing and laughing the whole way through. Even within a level, an ability is used in several different and creative ways, but always stemming from its singular mechanic featured in that level.

In the game, the player plays as Captain Astro, who aims to rescue his lost crew scattered across different worlds. A lot of modern entertainment, including video games, has a real problem with nostalgia bait, playing off people’s memories and trying to capitalize on that, without making anything new or original in the process. That’s why we keep seeing so many remakes and remasters, but Astro Bot doesn’t fall into the same trap. It feels like a celebration, with deep meaningful references that truly understand the quirks of the series it’s featuring.

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Here Astrobot has the talent & the polish but are the mechanics/moveset actually as good as the forgotten platformers nope. Splatoon 2 was good to me early this year, grapple/other details were simple but great QOL over 1 & the guns as grapples, etc. were fair & the level design was great. Not a lot of games to compete with in that field, but I’m sure it’s great. Pre-ordered as I have no idea when or what the next Sony game is I’ll get.

This game takes the level of quality seen in Sony’s other first-party titles like The Last of Us or God of War and grafts it onto the platforming genre. It goes toe-to-toe with some of the greats of gaming and proves it deserves to be in the same conversation. The player can then take the bots collected back to a hub world of sorts known as the Crash Site. There they are given the chance to spend their hard-earned in-game currency on collectible set pieces for each of these gaming icons. The level players will encounter the Mouse power-up in should send them into glee.

Abilities

Astro Bot is now available to play and own physically and digitally. Think of the character Astro Bot has in Sony’s version of Nintendo’s Mario or Sega’s Sonic The Hedgehog. The small robot is the PlayStation’s lead mascot for the console. If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Unfortunately, the future is a bit uncertain for Astro Bot, as Team Asobi hasn’t revealed what’s next after this DLC pack. Considering the popularity of the game, it’s easy to assume more DLC is on the way, though as of now, nothing is official.

This is a huge win given just last year, it was mentioned how the publisher didn’t want to include FF7 characters in the game as bots even if they are part of PlayStation history. Foamstars has 2 done to death modes yet I can think of a surfboard mode, a foam clean up mode, chemicals to mess with the foam, traps and more. They barely come up with anything that useful to use the foam for. They just don’t have that mindset, too much money focus then to be creative with the worlds/core mechanics.

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. Astro Bot is rolling back the years, not only shining a light on 30 years of PlayStation history through a ton of cameos and level design tributes, but by putting platformers back at gaming’s pinnacle.

A sequel, Astro’s Playroom, was released for the PlayStation 5 as a launch title that is pre-installed on every console and serves as a tech demo for the new DualSense controller. When it’s all done I’m left with that strange feeling of being very well cared for. But when I close my eyes I see the tumbling fruit, the hundreds and thousands, the gems stacked so high I can kick through them as if I’m wading through autumn leaves. I think, more than anything, of all the glorious bits and pieces.

Now it’s up to Astro Bot to literally put the pieces together. Astro Bot’s various worlds have a lot of colorful characters you’ll meet along the way. To challenge TG88 , the final boss of the game, you must first complete every main planet across all galaxies. Last year saw the release of Astro Bot, our biggest game to date.

Once you have unlocked Crash Bandicoot Special Bot and its unique cosmetic from the Gatcha Lab (Protective Spirit), find Crash at your Crash site. To unlock the Royally Stuck trophy you need to first collect The Prince Special Bot (aka Katamari Damacy) on Downsize Surprise world in the Tentacle System. The next step is to unlock the Rolling Star Gatcha Collectible from the Gatcha Lab. Look for Kratos Bot and Thor Bot near the bridge that leads to the Jungle Temple at your Crash Site (northwest of the crashed Mothership). Kratos Bot will hit Thor with his axe, freezing him into a cube!

That means that I rarely need to stop moving to take care of a few pesky bots. An extra level of difficulty can be found in the semi-hidden trial-like stages found by exploring among the overworld’s stars, though. These short sprints are littered with fast-moving objects, numerous enemies, and precise gaps to hop across that are designed to trip you up. Throw a complete lack of checkpoints into the mix as well, and these are easily some of the toughest tasks in Astro Bot, with a final level that’s a real tough nut to crack. It’s a non-stop gauntlet of quickfire threats that made me piece together everything I had learned up until that point in a frantic, but still fun test.

This bird, which seems to be nameless, actually pings any remaining collectibles in the level. This includes all undiscovered bots, puzzle pieces, and Void levels, which are the secret levels found within other levels (as opposed to those found in the space map). The bird pings collectibles from quite far away, and the pinging intensifies as you get closer. Some platformers are really safe in their level design/movesets so you bet I’m critical. The second highlighted moment comes after Mighty Chewy has been vanquished.