If you play video games as an adult, odds are you played video games as a child. All gamers have a few games from their childhood that unlock some serious core memories. When you remember those times, you will, of course, remember playing whatever game it is that you are thinking about. But it goes deeper than that. That special video game represents a time in your life where truly nothing mattered in that moment except that game in front of you. There were no nagging thoughts in the back of your mind about work, stress, or bills that you were using the game to try and shove down. You were fully committed to just having fun at that moment.
I think Astro Bot has enamored many people because it’s a video game that comes about as close as you can get to capturing those fleeting emotions. Playing Astro Bot is akin to how excited you might get to pop fresh bubble wrap as a kid. It feels like going to a magic show for the first time. It leaves you carefree and with a smile on your face.
I think if I played this game for the first time as a kid, it would have left an impression on me that would have lasted a lifetime. Astro Bot will be for some kids (and adults) what Super Mario World was to me. Alas, as much as it hurts to say, I am an adult now. I can’t help but view things with a slightly more critical eye. But even with a few blips, Astro Bot is easily one of the best games this year.
If You Got Problems Finding Bots, I Feel Bad For You Son. I Got 99 Problems But A Bot Ain’t One
Astro Bot is a 3D platformer that feels like the closest thing we can get to a Mario game from Sony. In each level, you explore various locales and try and rescue as many bots that are hidden away as you can along the way. Many of these bots have outfits and hair that are clearly referencing past games in the Sony ecosystem.
The game doesn’t let you just get through each level. You need to find about 2/3rd of the hidden bots in the game to progress to the end. Luckily, I thought the exploration carved a nice balance between rewarding those who really go searching and those who mostly want to move forward. I would go for bots if I spotted them, but I didn’t go way out of my way to find them, and there was only a few times I got to a level where I didn’t have enough bots to proceed. For when that happens, the game has very smart systems in place to help you when you replay levels. You can unlock a helper bot with some of the coins you earn as you explore, which essentially acts as a radar to show you when you are close to a missing bot. I loved this system because I felt like I earned my hints since I had already beaten the level and had to pay coins to use it. While it mostly gives away where bots are, sometimes you still have to figure at least something minor out to find them.
When you aren’t looking for bots, you will naturally spend most of your time platforming. If you played Astro’s Playroom, you probably have a good idea of what to expect out of the basic gameplay here. Astro can jump and then hover with a laser that also damages enemies. He can also punch, and he gets a special technique that changes with each level of the game. Controls are really responsive, and there is a lot of inventive level design here. As you might expect, Astro Bot does a nice job mixing up its settings between different biomes to keep things fresh throughout.
Most of that strong level design comes on the back of the aforementioned special technique that you get in each level. These range from simple boosts that let you jump higher or longer to frog fists that let you punch enemies and stick to certain surfaces. There are also more complicated mechanics like a slow-motion device. The game constantly surprised me in the early going with all the imaginative ways that it lets you use the tools it gives you. The frog punch being both an offensive weapon as well as a platforming aid is a great example of this. Slow motion is used in ways you’d expect but also in some more creative ways as well. A few power ups are so interesting and off the wall that I don’t want to discuss them for fear of spoiling some of the surprise, but trust me when I say that the level design is mostly very strong in Astro Bot.
The biggest highlights come from the “cameo levels” that Astro Bot employs at the end of each world. You get to these after each of the big boss fights (which I mostly thought were pretty fun as well). These cameo levels essentially turn Astro Bot into a mocked up version of a different iconic Sony franchise and mix things up in a nice way. I won’t spoil the franchises that are here because that was one of my favorite surprises in the game, but they are easily the showstoppers here. Every one of these levels manages to capture the essence of the game they are honoring in some really clever ways. These levels also feature some of the biggest set piece moments in the game, and they are almost all big winners. I legitimately got excited each time I saw which level would be the next cameo, which is a great achievement by Team Asobi.
Astro Bot’s main levels can be a bit easy, but I usually didn’t mind that, as this is a game clearly designed for all ages to enjoy. Team Asobi smartly has optional challenge levels scattered throughout the world that allow more hardcore platforming fans to play some levels with a bit more difficulty. Outside of a couple that I found to be a bit dumb, these ended up being a nice little frantic sweat that satisfied the urge that I had to have some difficulty with the platforming. After sating this urge, it was much easier to just sit back and enjoy the magic and fun that comes with the main levels.
Do NOT Go See David Copperfield In Back To Back Years
My one issue with the level design comes from a sameness that can persist throughout the game. The various special moves that you get in each level are really cool, but especially once you get to the second half of the game, you start to mostly see the same mechanics that you saw earlier in the game. This would be totally fine if they were evolved on in some way, but the game pretty much uses the same tricks each time it busts out all of its special mechanics. It’s a lot like going to see the same magician twice in one year (a mistake I once made with David Copperfield years ago). There is still magic going on, and it’s still cool, but a lot of that wonder and awe is lost when you see the same trick that you already saw once before. I felt this way often as I got through the second half of the game in particular.
One element of magic that does hit from start to finish in this game is the sound design and the music. Astro Bot is a feast for the ears with a ridiculously fun and catchy soundtrack, mixed with one incredible sound effect after another. Astro Bot uses the dualsense controller masterfully to enhance all the sound effects in the game, which makes the world so satisfying to interact with. Just about everything you can do in this game has a unique and fun sound effect that feels like a dream come true for anyone who enjoys ASMR. I can still vividly remember the sound of walking through snow or rolling across spikes as a metal ball. That’s not something I can almost ever say for any video game, and that is why Astro Bot should absolutely win the sound design category at the Game Awards later this year.
Astro Bot is a little less exemplary with its art direction. While the game has nice fidelity, I thought both the environments and enemy design were a bit boring. It’s not all bad, though. Astro Bot remains cute as hell and is incredible merch-bait. He manages to charm you in plenty of little ways throughout the game. There’s lots of fun touches, like an ice skating animation and various dances that show off his personality nicely. This makes him a character both kids and adults can love.
I Guess I’m All Grown Up Or Just An Insufferable Critic
As the credits rolled on Astro Bot (in one of the most fun credits scenes you can possibly have), the significance of what I played was not lost on me. Astro Bot is a masterclass in the 3D platforming genre on a system where you don’t expect to see games quite like this anymore.
For some people, this was a trip down memory lane that brought endless joy as they remembered times with their favorite franchises that are long gone. For others, and I imagine a lot of kids in particular, this will be a game that lives with them well into adulthood. I have problems ever taking Super Mario World off my top 10 games of all time because of the indelible memories I created while playing it, and I think Astro Bot will have that role for so many kids that dive into this.
But for me. Astro Bot is simply a fantastic platformer. It has excellent controls (outside of the motion controls), top-tier sound design, and mostly strong level design. But it just doesn’t have quite enough tricks up its sleeve to stay as engaging as it could have been the whole way through. I want to feel the same level of magic that I know so many others have. But I am who I am. And that is an absolutely insufferable critic that drives my wife crazy whenever we watch something together. I must stay true to who I am and say that while this game is phenomenal, and a very strong bet to be in my top 10 this year, I just don’t quite view it on the same level as many others. Regardless, it’s easily one of the biggest must plays this year.
Score: 9.0/10
Time Played: 16 hours
Big Nerd Gaming 
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