Astro Bot (PS5) Review

An out of this world adventure.

 Astro Bot is the year's most-celebrated platformer that comes to us from Team Asobi, who's behind the charming Astro's Playroom that came installed with every PS5. A fully-fledged outing compared to its predecessor, Astro must explore galaxies to restore his mothership's parts after its been damaged by aliens. I've been meaning to play the game being a platformer enthusiast and now that I finally did, does is deliver a fun time? 

 The game starts with Astro and his family of robots flying around in space in their "mothership", which is basically a PlayStation 5. Their fun is cut short when a bunch of aliens thrash the mothership, scattering its parts all-over various galaxies and stealing the little CPU that's inside. Now, it's up to Astro to find and restore the ship back to its former glory by exploring each galaxy and rescuing lost bots. 

The story's a lighthearted one with some humorous moments.

 Astro Bot is a 3D platformer where you control Astro as you navigate through fairly linear levels as you search for missing bots and a bunch of secrets till you reach the end of the level. Hidden in each one are coins, puzzle pieces, secret exits that lead to new levels, and special bots that are cameos of icons from PlayStation and various games. It's a straightforward platformer as Astro can only punch and hover briefly—however—you get to unlock new power-ups to use like a dog-shaped jetpack and froggy stretching arms that open up new platforming opportunities like reaching out of reach platforms or beating seemingly tough enemies. You also get to all-out shooting with a bow and arrow and gun when playing the Horizon and Uncharted levels, respectively.

 The game made neat use of the PS5's Dual Sense features like the adaptive triggers, vibration, and motion controls, though I later turned off the latter since it eventually got annoying. Levels were varied just as they're plentiful and were all pleasant to play through. They take a few minutes to clear but they're stuffed with lots of things to do like one level had you exploring in total darkness until you get a glowing light bulb that illuminated hidden platforms or when you're constantly evading traps inside a giant tomb. I was a fan of the bigger levels like "Bubbling Under", where you must free a sea star from captivity by exploring around a large body of water while beating enemies and exploring for secrets.

Levels were vibrant and full of surprises.
Some even pack unexpected cameos too.

 Bosses were fun and follow a simple pattern that you need to recognize and then they're toast. The game ups the difficulty with more challenging levels that take the form of the symbols from the PS controller. They're long-winded treks with no checkpoints and will put your platforming skills to the test. It took me 15 hours to fully complete every level, rescue all bots, and collect all puzzle pieces. It was a well-paced adventure as the levels didn't overstay their welcome. I just wished that the enemy designs were more memorable as they mainly looked generic.

 Visually, Astro Bot looks great with bright visuals and colorful effects prevalent throughout the adventure. Level design was equally captivating with clever gimmicks that kept me invested. It ran well on my original PS5 with no instances of crashes or slowdowns, which is no surprise given that it's a rather light game. The soundtrack was honestly lackluster despite packing lots of upbeat tracks. Nothing stood out for me but it was decent to listen to.

Astro Bot looks fantastic and runs butter smooth.

  Astro Bot is surprised me with how polished and neatly-crafted the exprience was. With its fun gameplay, clever levels, and cheery presentation, it's one of the best game I've played all year. It pays tribute to the history of PlayStation and many of its icons that helped elevate the brand. So despite minor shortcomings, it's an easy recommendation for both platformer and PlayStation fans.