It's 9pm and all I want to do is sleep. I barely have the energy to talk, let alone play a video game. But I have a job to do and that's reviewing. Astrobot for its release date, so I make a deal with myself to only play two levels and then go to bed…
Five hours later, my face is burning from smiling so much. I'm convinced I could build and then break through a brick wall. That's the way to… Astrobot will make you feel
AstrobotOut now for PlayStation 5, it's a collectible platformer. You play as the robot Astro on a space adventure in his PS5-shaped mothership with 300 of his friends, some of them just robots, others robotic versions of famous video game characters. Suddenly, he's attacked by a very unsubtle green Xbox alien monster that rips his ship apart, scattering its parts and his 300 friends to the far corners of the universe.
Astrobot is full of the typical platformer tropes, but manages to convey a sense of wonder in its presentation. As you explore galaxies to find your robot companions and unlock new parts of the game, you'll encounter plenty of familiar elements, only to see them executed in quirky and charming ways. Almost every platformer has an ability that lets you shoot at longer distances, but none of them let you do so by strapping a bulldog to your back.
The various levels that Astro explores have themes you'd expect. There's a jungle planet, a volcanic planet, and worlds of pirates, ghosts, and gardeners. Some worlds require special powers to navigate, and those are also pretty standard in function, if not in form. The monkey's power-up lets you climb walls, while the mouse's ability shrinks you down to access tiny spaces. There's even a Super Mario Sun-Esque FLUDD power that uses liquid to move Astro.
I'm convinced I could build and then break through a brick wall. That's the way Astrobot will make you feel
Developers Team Asobi didn't reinvent the platforming wheel here, but like any good platformer, what makes this special is the unique way power-ups are used. Instead of water, that FLUDD power-up absorbs green goo which it then spits out to create grassy platforms. I laughed like a little kid using it to defeat a special enemy, literally sucking out its slimy green brain.
An enhancer, which I won't describe beyond saying that it is… very pretty Since figuring it out is a big part of the fun here, it really captures the essence of AstrobotWhen I first encountered it, I didn't understand it at all. It seemed pointless; I felt stupid for being stumped by what had been, up until that point, an incredibly simple game. And unlike most of my games, the game didn't help me. Astrobot Normally it shows a little box with a tutorial on how to use it, but this time it deliberately left me hanging. Playing a game is like being in a conversation with its developers without the ability to speak directly, and I felt like communication had broken down.
But then I remembered that communication between player and developer is not just about what to do but also what to do. feel. AND Suddenly, I felt like they were hovering just over my shoulder, holding back laughter like a dear friend would while waiting for me to get a joke. They had intentionally held back an explanation because they wanted me to experience the sensation of figuring it out for myself. They wanted me to laugh, as I suspect they did when designing it.
And when I finally understood it, the jolt of realization was so powerful that I laughed until I spontaneously sobbed and said out loud to no one: “astro-bot, i would do it die for you.”
There are plenty of moments exactly like that. I thought the bots you rescued were simply money used to advance to the next level, only to realize that in the game's hub world, they're your friends risking their lives to help you access even more collectibles. Some distinctive PlayStation-themed bots (think one with Aloy's red hair or Kratos' beard) serve a more special purpose. When you rescue them, they can give you that character's power and take you to a special level inspired by a game like Horizon Zero Dawn either Unexploredso detailed that they'll even include side quests from the original. And I challenge you to feel anything more than the warmest nostalgia during the final boss fight and credits sequence – I didn't know how much excitement a PlayStation Move controller could make me feel.
Since my two-hour demo at Summer Game Fest earlier this year, I knew Astrobot It would be something special. It was a simple, cheerful little platformer created as a celebration of PlayStation's past. And if that was all, it would be a great stop on the 2024 gaming calendar as we move toward bigger, more anticipated releases like Dragon Age: The Veil Keeper, Echoes of Wisdomand Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
But Astrobot It's much more than just a platformer from the late 90s reimagined for modern audiences and hardware. It's the kind of game that reminds us why video games exist in the first place: love. (Yes, I know it sounds cheesy, but I'm serious.) Astrobot exemplifies the great love that drives us to play, create, write about, and share video games with our friends and family, even if it keeps us up long after our bedtime.
