He’s also our go-to guy for Sonic-related matters, much to his delight/chagrin. A collection of endlessly inventive levels and fantastically fun abilities, it delivers joy in spades, never once becoming even remotely dull or repetitive. And while you don’t need a long history with Sony systems to enjoy it, it is especially a delight for those with a piece of PlayStation in their heart as a treasure trove full of playable nostalgia awaits.
Astro Bot is easily the best game on the PS5 to date and a platformer that can proudly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with anything Mario has done. Astro Bot is a delightful 3D platformer that has captured the attention of critics with its creative level design, smooth controls, and nostalgic PlayStation references woven throughout. It delivers a fun, accessible experience that should appeal to new players and long-time fans.
Astro Bot is a certified Game of the Year contender as our own review painted it as one of Sony’s best first-party exclusives in years. This review of Astro Bot was facilitated with a code provided by the game’s publisher. As of now, Sony does not have a PlayStation 6 on the horizon, nor does it seem to have any other major new hardware coming soon.
Although we can’t match every price reported, we’ll use your feedback to ensure that our prices remain competitive. Find out about Astro’s origins and learn how to draw your favorite bot from the playful hands of team Asobi artists. ASTRO BOT is developed by Team ASOBI, part of PlayStation Studios.
Test your skills in five additional speedrun levels available now, and collect new Special Bots. Feel the might of power-ups and the tension of tools as you repair the PS5 mothership. These powers give ASTRO weird and wonderful ways to explore planets and battle his enemies. With your new powers, battle out a whole new roster of quirky baddies and huge bosses. Feel every hop, punch and crack through your DualSense wireless controller. Following its release, Astro Bot received multiple updates which included new levels and V.I.P. Bots, among a number of other minor additions.
What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Solid Snake – Legendary Mercenary
This isn’t something that directly influences the core gameplay but it makes it feel better. Astro Bot has six worlds and dozens of levels to complete with Bots, Puzzle Pieces, and Costumes to collect, secret portals to find, and trophies to earn. IGN’s 100% Astro Bot walkthrough will guide you to every collectible and secret. Foamstars has 2 done to death modes yet I can think of a surfboard mode, a foam clean up mode, chemicals to mess with the foam, traps and more.
As part of our Astro Bot guide, we’re going to reveal all Special Bots, who they are, and where to find them. As it stands, with dozens of Astro Bot reviews in, it is currently the best scoring full game of the year. It has a 94 metascore, rocketing it into GOTY contention, if not being a clear frontrunner at the moment. It’s being called one of the best platformers ever, right up there with the classics, and the reviews are just absolutely glowing.
What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Cheeky Ape
Few ideas are even revisited, making some moments feel memorable and unique. While it can border on not allowing some of those ideas to creatively breathe, given how quickly they can be cast aside in favor of something new, I never felt robbed of my time with any moment, or spectacle. Every stage in Astro Bot provides its own challenges, forcing players to think outside the box or make use of unique power-ups. As previously mentioned, anyone that has played Astro’s Playroom will have a good idea of what to expect here. Controlling Astro is a joy, with him being extremely responsive as he runs, jumps, uses his foot-lasers to hover a small distance, and lash out at enemies with his short metal arms. You’ll use these basic skills liberally as you explore the levels found within each star system, negotiating platforms, avoiding traps and overcoming a wide range of enemies.
Vibrant colors make me feel like I’m in a cartoon, but Team Asobi doesn’t flatten its environments or skimp on detail. In one level, I start by walking across swaths of bright green foliage. I feel the crunch of the grass between my metal feet and hear the sound from my DualSense’s speakers. Then I move on to a metallic checkerboard floor, where I hear my legs lightly click-clacking on the tiles.
They’re digital collectible figures, Funko Pop alternatives for 30 years of PlayStation gaming, celebrating almost every Sony property you can think of. Naturally, you’ll find Ratchet and Clank, Kratos, and Nathan Drake here; third-party heroes with a PlayStation connection, like Metal Gear Solid’s Snake and Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter, are also represented. Whether for licensing reasons or just to make a fun guessing game, the bots are given coy names like Dad of Boy (Kratos), Spinning Marsupial (Crash Bandicoot), and Immune Survivor (The Last of Us’ Ellie). There are some deep cuts that will have all but the most encyclopedic of PlayStation fans scratching their heads. They gradually fill up the desert crash site, turning this hub world into a bustling Sony museum. In a way, Team Asobi — Sony’s go-to tech demo developer and maker of Astro’s Playroom and the upcoming Astro Bot — has been doing this kind of preparatory work for the last 12 years.
Still, Team Asobi may argue its smaller complement of baddies that grow in complexity are what keep it consistent. It’s a play straight out of Mario’s book, and in the platforming world, the plumber is still the king even as a new pretender climbs higher to the summit. Aside from elevating Astro Bot with strikingly tactile feedback to what is happening on screen, the DualSense is also the source of clues. In particular, the rumbling, or specifically the type and intensity of the rumble. For certain puzzles, including the Az-Tech Trail doors, the DualSense is crucial to figuring out how to proceed, so pay close attention on what your controller is telling you at all times. Like many of PlayStation’s limited edition DualSense controllers, the Astro Bot DualSense is based on one of its many franchises, specifically 2024’s Game of the Year, Astro Bot.
Players have long expected more DLC, however, as a number of unreleased bots appeared in the Astro Bots credits. Featured here are licensing credits for Rayman, Worms, Assassin’s Creed, Beyond Good & Evil, Croc, and Tomba, potentially revealing which five special bots will be released alongside these levels. That being said, Armored Hardcore is almost certainly a reference to Armored Core, while Cock-A-Doodle-Doom is likely Doom, so bots from these franchises are also likely. Astro Bot is also meant to be a DualSense showcase, and it certainly does a lot there, though I continue to feel like the controller’s most passionate fans are within the company itself. While some abilities are more fun than others, they nearly all work seamlessly. As Astro, you’ll strap on the ability and intuitively understand it.
This controller was crafted by our techno-magician designers at Sony Interactive Entertainment. And since the first controller proved so popular, we have brought it back with a new joyful twist to the touch pad! We’ll have more information to share soon, so be on the lookout for future updates. Unfortunately, the Astro Bot Joyful DualSense Controller deal remains sold out at all retailers. You can, however, save $20 on other limited-edition models, including the Walmart-exclusive Icon Blue DualSense.
At the start of nearly every level, Astro jumps into a suit or straps on a backpack of some kind that gives them a new ability. In one level, it’s spring-powered boxing gloves resembling cartoon frogs. In another, it’s a robo-dog that gives the bipedal bot a wall-smashing rocket boost, or in another, a time-freezing tool that allows Astro to scale otherwise impossibly fast-moving sections.
Detailed in a PlayStation Blog post, Tick-Tock Shock is the first level available now. Subsequent stages — Thrust or Bust, Cock-A-Doodle-Doom, Hard to Bear, and Armored Hardcore — will be available each following Thursday at 6am Pacific / 9am Eastern / 2pm UK. The fact that Team Asobi’s games have the potential to become someone’s first game is something that Doucet takes seriously. “Team Asobi’ kuwin com is just across the street from our building, so they were always the first to prototype with our hardware,” says Senior Principal Product Manager Toshi Aoki, product director for the DualSense controller.