The PlayStation has sure gone through its share of mascots over the years. Parappa the Rapper, especially, was their attempt at carving a face in their business cards with a game that proved to be more of a niche than anything, and let’s not start talking about those weird cats – the less we say about them, the better. In the last few years, though, it certainly seems like they hit it off with Astro Bot, the tiny robot who first graced us as a PlayStation VR tech demo, later on starring in a pack-in title for the PlayStation 5 and who’s now getting his own solo game, aptly titled Astro Bot.
And Astro Bot is damn good, like REALLY damn good, a platformer that not only plays upon some of the best mechanics from what was previously put out, be it by Sony themselves or even Nintendo with the 3D iterations of their Mario games. It’s a hilariously on-the-nose love letter to Sony’s properties, written and put together by Team Asobi, paying homage to all manner of software and hardware with some surprisingly deep cuts. Yeah, I’m talking about you, PocketStation!
Flying about in space, the hero’s PlayStation 5-shaped ship flies happily as a huge party is going on within it, with an infinite amount of bots having the time of their lives as Astro is piloting it to God knows where. That is until some aliens decide to rip into and steal the vessel’s core, sending it plummeting to the closest planet’s surface, where our new adventure is bound to begin as we’re tasked with saving all of our buddies and showing those green freaks who’s boss.
Having never played the first two games – sorry, criminal, I know, hope to rectify after this one – I was floored with two things about Astro Bot. First, and foremost, how well it looks and feels. Making use of the DualSense’s haptics, it’s a joy feeling every different surface the mascot runs over, as well as getting to listen to some well implemented audio effects that come out of the speaker, which combined with the graphical flourishes of the game itself help the immersion a whole bunch.
Then there’s the gameplay, which while not revolutionary in any particular way, it’s done masterfully well, having you scour levels in search of Astro’s friends, as well as other pick-ups, puzzle pieces and whatnot. Along the way, special power-ups show up to help the tiny dude along, like a balloon that allows him to access higher platforms and even a set of boxing gloves that speak for themselves.
This is the sort of game that’s hard not to play without a huge grin on your face, especially if you happen to have followed Sony’s console history and games, as it features look backs at a bunch of them, all done in a way that’s fun to witness and discover. And to those unfamiliar to them, they work in revealing what made the brand so special over the last 30 years and counting.
If you’ve played Super Mario Odyssey and its ilk, you’ll find that there’s a lot in common between them and Astro Bot, and seeing how well Asobi pulled it all off just speaks to their talent. This is definitely Sony’s answer to character platformers of the past, doing enough to modernize it and make it an amazingly good time for this day and age’s player. What makes it special is the marriage of its wonderful presentation and tight gameplay that makes use of everything that the PlayStation 5 has going for it leaving nothing behind in its wake.
This is the sort of game that’s bound to take an obligatory space in every owner’s game shelf, regardless of their fondness or nostalgia for the PlayStation brand. Even without the nods to the past, it’s an enjoyable time on its own, but add to that the immense amount of history it’s got going with it, you’ll be hard-pressed to something that is as lovable to its parent company’s legacy and a very good game on its own right than Astro Bot.
