A Captivating Cameo Collection
Over the years, Sony has had several mascots. Few were arguably as cute as Astro Bot, the little robot hero gamers were introduced to back in 2018 with the PlayStation VR exclusive Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. Now, Astro features as the protagonist of Team Asobi’s Astro Bot, a platforming collect-a-thon in its own little galaxy.
Starting off with an overall simple premise, Astro Bot focuses on a hunt through six galaxies for the stolen piece of the Mothership, shaped like a Playstation 5 of course, and hundreds of missing fellow bots. Said fellow bots range from generic copies of each other to unique, stylized bots representing some of the best known characters from Sony’s long history of games. The lineup even includes marketing mascots like Kuro and Turo, well-known legacy characters like Crash and Dante, and many more. The sheer variety of bots, as well as their unique animations, makes it very easy to want to save them all. The simplicity of the plot works to Astro Bot’s favor as well, as it leaves more of the focus on the charm and love put into the bot designs and levels of varying difficulties.
Astro can run, jump, punch, and jet hover throughout the various levels in an impressively responsive control system. On top of these defaults skills, Astro also gets access to special abilities in most of the levels, each with their own unique effect on the environments and enemies. Some levels turn Astro into a walking sponge that supersizes after absorbing water, granting extra destructive power, while others give a little robot dog onto Astro’s back that allows for clearing larger gaps and bashing through certain obstacles. The level designs throughout the entire game makes excellent use of all of the abilities Astro puts at players’ disposal, asking players to consider just what combination might nab them that far off extra bot in need of rescue.
Overall, Astro Bot brings together a collection of well-designed levels, responsive controls, and an absolute plethora of charming cameos that are a joy to collect. Topped with a catchy soundtrack, it’s very easy to spend hours on challenge levels or interacting with the cameo bots without even realizing how much time has passed. Astro may be newer to the scene, but Team Asobi’s little hero, and this segment of adventures, have proven a whole lot of heart, skill, and care.