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Astro Bot, released last week, is one of the best PlayStation games in years, like concentrated joy coming back from a simpler time in gaming’s past. It’s a whimsical tour de force of unfettered creativity, essentially Sony’s equivalent of iconic Nintendo 3D platformers like Super Mario 64 or Galaxy. Astro Bot is a love letter to every Sony game, with references and cameos to PlayStation games and hardware stretching back to before some gamers (including this writer) were born.
But Astro Bot isn’t just a nostalgic cash grab dropping dozens of ‘member berries and phoning it in. It’s a game where every level is a mechanical and visual triumph, with power ups that allow players to float like a balloon, bullet dash, spring punch, climb like a monkey, blast like a rocket, stop time and shrink down to the size of a mouse, each one changing how you engage with the collectable bots and puzzle pieces.
This game also makes full use of the DualSense controllers — different levels take advantage of the gyro capabilities and even have you blowing into the controller to spin pinwheels to create gusts of wind. And when you succeed in your task and make it to the end of the level? You best believe you’re going to be serenaded with hundreds of acorns, gold coins, snowballs or whatever bauble fits the level’s theme, just because the game wants to remind you that it can handle dropping all those beautiful physics objects in front of you at once.
Astro Bot is a unique and laudable PlayStation experience, made possible only through a combination of Sony’s cultural currency and the PlayStation 5’s hardware. It’s a must-have game for the console.
Release date: Sept. 6, 2024
Genre: 3D platformer
Developer: Team Asobi
– Tyler Graham, associate writer
