Team Asobi has been out there making names for themselves as creators of perhaps Sony’s most iconic mascot in recent years. While Astro Bot himself has only been around across two PlayStation platforms, he’s rapidly become the face of Sony Interactive Entertainment for anything with than a Mature rating to which Kratos or Ellie might hold those honors for the age rating. Now the third title featuring Astro Bot is finally here in a 3D platformer of the same name and he’s brought a few hundred friends along with him.
While Astro Bot’s last adventure through Astro’s Playroom served as a tech demo and advertising piece for the unique features of the Sony PlayStation 5, the hero’s latest adventure is more of a celebration of the past thirty years of Sony heritage. Despite Sony’s recent doubling-down on live service or mature cinematic centerpieces, there are still decades of mascot characters that helped propel the PlayStation into the household name it is today. The hundred-plus cameo bots aren’t limited to just Sony’s single-party output. There are collectible characters of everything from Vib-Ribbon to Shin Megami Tensei Persona 4 to even Bandai Namco’s Klonoa series. Having Mature-rated protagonists the likes of Raziel and Kain right alongside Katamari Damacy’s Prince or the black-furred mascot cats can be quite the culture shock in a children’s game, but Astro Bot really is about bringing together the five-console lineage, even if so many of these mascots don’t call PlayStation the only place to play.
Astro Bot can punch, run, and jump to solve most of his problems, but each playable stage brings a new gimmick to utilize, typically in the form of a unique collectible. In one stage, Astro Bot might call in his DualSense-shaped airship to navigate through some narrow corridors (which happens in quite a few levels) or knock out a rogue bot to unlock a chest bearing some new ability for that stage. In the last level I replayed as I was penning this review, Astro collected a pair of frog-faced gauntlets that would launch out on spring-loaded arms and punch enemies away from a safe range away from any spiky bits while also being resilient enough to withstand being punched into a bar of pink sticky goo and used to swing Astro across pits.
Everything that Astro Bot touches is filled with whimsy and amusement. The titular hero’s every animation is tinged with a sickeningly sweet charisma, from the way he carries himself throughout the stage on his own two feet or floating through the air via his high-tech jet back, going a few rounds to knock out rogue bots, and the idle animations that are unique to each level. All of the backdrop and tertiary characters of Astro Bot similarly share that wonder and charm and even the simple interactions between one mascot bot to another would never fail to put a smile on my face. Despite the serious unspoken story of having an alien hijack your PlayStation 5 rocket ship and disassemble it across the entire galaxy, each denizen of the galaxy, both synthetic and organic, lives their best carefree lives even when Astro Bot is about to bounce on their heads to reach some out-of-sight cache of coins or puzzle pieces.
Each stage brings a new gimmick or ability to pick up and use along with their own set of collectibles. On their own, each stage of Astro Bot can easily be cleared in less than ten minutes with a majority of collectibles obtained, if not all. For those that might have missed a bot to recover for the homeward bound crews, at the start of each level replay is an optional perk that can be purchased. Costing 200 coins (which may sound like a lot, but that’s equal to two pulls on the in-game gacha machine and could easily be recouped in a single mission playthough), players can acquire a bird companion that follows Astro Bot around and chirps when there is a hidden collectible about. I won’t deny that I used this feature a few times, especially in instances where there may be a one-way path that essentially blocks off backtracking to find that one missing collectible.
There are moments in Astro Bot where the challenge doesn’t quite match the childlike wonder that Team Asobi is going for. With no difficulty options or ways to mitigate incoming damage, taking a single hit brings both Astro Bot and the player back to their previous checkpoint, leaving all of those hard-earned coins behind to be collected once more (thankfully, any proper collectibles such as puzzle pieces and fellow bots are retained between checkpoints). Astro Bot is generous in its checkpointing that players won’t necessarily have to lose more than two or three minutes at a time, but for stages with tricky back-to-back platforming segments or extended encounters against a large wave of hostile foes, Astro Bot can be an exercise in frustration for younger players not accustomed to the more challenging 3D platformers out there.
Much like Astro’s Playroom showcased what the DualSense could accomplish in players' hands for the first time, Team Asobi has designed Astro Bot to take full use of the controller with an additional four years of time to learn about the tactile capabilities. Every step the hardy little robot takes is translated to the player through both vibration and audio response from the integrated speaker. There’s a distinctive enough sensation to each material that you can easily close your eyes and feel the difference between running across grass and a cobblestone trail. All of these added sensations come at a cost, however, as the DualSense’s already minimal battery life and be cut down to the point where players might have to swap controllers to charge in the middle of an afternoon session.
Astro Bot’s soundtrack, while charming with its various arrangements of the main vocal theme and leitmotifs sprinkled throughout, is one of the few low points to the whole package. There are only so many ways to sing-speak the words Astro Bot and make them sound unique and upbeat without becoming grating to the ears. That being said, Kenny Young has still recreated the magic of Astro’s Playroom with a few earworms that will stick with you long after hitting Rest Mode on your PlayStation 5.
As one of the few platformers to keep me grinning from beginning to end, Astro Bot is some of the most fun I've had working on a review all year. There's a profound sense of whimsy and wonder to everything that plucky little robot can do while the worlds he visits inhabit such a diverse set of environments and abilities. Astro Bot's adventure still may be far from over, but this time he's brought a few hundred friends along for the journey.
Review code provided by the publisher.
