Astro Bot Review — More Than Meets the Eye?

Anyone who owns a PS5 has undoubtedly played Astro’s Playroom, which was a tech demo, of sorts, pre-loaded onto all PS5s and allowed you to experience a lighthearted platformer that showed off the capabilities of the DualSense controller. Well, aside from the VR-only Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Astro now has a fully-fledged game in the form of the simple-titled Astro Bot, which expands on the world and abilities of Astro; but does this colourful 3D adventure stand tall amongst other platforming peers like that of Ratchet & Clank and Crash Bandicoot?

While one might be a little apprehensive at first thinking that this experience is ‘Astro’s Playroom 2.0’, continuing the tech-demo approach, Astro Bot is a full-on game with all the nuts and bolts this time around, with fleshed-out gameplay mechanics, a heartwarming little story, and far more expansive levels to explore, collect, and fight your way through. Whereas something like Knack (an early mascot-like adventure from Playstation) didn’t fully lean into its potential as a standalone game, Astro Bot understands that there is some serious interest and likeability around the character and IP.

Like other platformers, you’ll scoot your way through environments, jump to overcome obstacles, collect items, fight some enemies, and solve puzzles along the way. The formula is there, but Astro Bot mixes it up a bit by theming each level around iconic Playstation franchises. You’ll go from fighting your through God of War-style hordes to playing an Uncharted-inspired scenario, all of which are amazing throwbacks to iconic PS series.

In this spirit, Astro Bot is essentially somewhat of an homage to the simpler era of Playstation platformers, but it maintains and develops its own identity with some snappy mechanics and interesting gameplay twists that harness the admittedly underused features of Sony’s DualSense controller. You’ll be constantly switching from ‘normal’ controls to having to do something unique and quirky with the touchpad, triggers, or motion gesture capabilities of the PS5 controller during levels, keeping you on your toes throughout the 10-to-12-hour adventure.

From the music to the gloriously vivid visuals and animations, Astro Bot is as good to look at as it is to play. It doesn’t go for grand scale and opts for more nuanced animations and slick execution in its excellently designed worlds, more akin to games of yesteryear albeit with a super-shiny coat of paint.

If you’re looking for a break from the endless shooting, RPG mechanics, and complications of many modern games, Astro Bot is a breath of fresh air for the genre and scene as a whole. It offers a fun, challenging, and nostalgic experience that every Playstation fan should play.

Astro Bot is available on PS5.