Some worlds require special powers to navigate, and those, too, are pretty standard in function if not in form. The monkey power-up lets you scale walls, while the mouse ability shrinks you down to access tiny spaces. There’s even a Super Mario Sunshine-esque F.L.U.D.D power that uses liquid to move Astro around. Astro Bot is filled with standard platformer tropes, but it pulls off a sense of wonder in their presentation. As you explore galaxies to find your fellow robots and unlock new parts of the game, you’ll find a lot of familiar elements, only to see them executed in quirky and delightful ways. Just about every platformer has an ability that lets you shoot across longer distances, but none of them let you do it by strapping a bulldog to your back.

What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Rost – Paternal Outcast

Some of the levels are even themed around different franchises and implement mechanics from those games. An extra level of difficulty can be found in the semi-hidden trial-like stages found by exploring among the overworld’s stars, though. These short sprints are littered with fast-moving objects, numerous enemies, and precise gaps to hop across that are designed to trip you up.

Part of that Nintendo feel is also shown across the game’s bosses. Astro Bot crams in nearly two dozen boss encounters, some that repeat in certain ways, but all of them are truly special events. From flying atop a bird as you smash away at its helmet, to a Djinn or a Gorilla, these fights are simple in their design, but due to the wondrous abilities and the slick controls, are engaging and often magical. That said, the final battle is likely the weakest, coming across as the less creative design of the entire bunch, which is a shame since the game goes to great lengths to show us Nebulax between each world. [newline]Still, the other fights are very impressive and constantly shine.

Astro’s adventure takes him to various galaxies full of planets to explore as he tracks down his scattered crew. This part of our Astro Bot guide goes over each and every level in the game, highlighting where to find all collectibles and more. Every level brings something new, and the controls feel perfect. The bright graphics and little PlayStation references make it even better.

Our charming main hero is rescued by a smaller ship that looks like a DualSense controller. What remains of the PS5 console crashes onto a small, sandy planet, which will serve as our home base from now on. While ruminating on the game’s score, which is finally balanced between an 8 and 9, it’s the force feedback and audio design which pushed us over the edge. All of this accounts for just a portion of what makes Astro Bot so interesting and fun. The technology is important but the core design and what they do with it is what made me fall in love with the game.

Perhaps an in-game encyclopedia would be useful, briefly describing the robots dressed in non-familiar outfits. Such a feature would make the game an even greater treat for fans of the Japanese console. There was already a lot to love about Astro Bot before, with it being one of the best PS5 games of the year, but Team Asobi didn’t stop there.

What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Freya – Valkyrie Queen

Strapping a penguin to your back will allow you to swim faster, whereas a dog on the back of Astro can propel him further. One ability that joins Sponge and Mouse in that it isn’t used much is the Teddy Cymbol, an ability that is really only injected into the game should you discover all the secret levels. While there are a few other abilities you’ll discover, they are used well enough in their respective levels but don’t really feature the same creativity as some of the ones I’ve just mentioned. Astro’s Playroom is just pure, unadulterated fun, and Astro Bot somehow manages to better it in just about every way.

Its soundtrack–already an array of bubbly earworms–reimagines familiar overtures from other games. In doing all of this for these most-special one-offs, the promise of its world comes into full view. Astro Bot swarms the player with bright ideas, sparking almost endless joy. Besides many of Astro Bot’s creative and exciting boss battles, nostalgia fuels much of Astro Bot’s most thrilling moments, especially with the few stages specifically themed after PlayStation’s most beloved properties.

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Astro Bot is a platformer that genuinely thinks like the best platformers out there. It anticipates the things that you will anticipate, and then goes one better. To challenge Bully Space Nebulax, the final boss of the game, you must first complete every main planet across all galaxies. To put it simply, Astro Bot is quite literally a complete package.

But then I remembered that communication between player and developer is not only what to do but also what to feel. And suddenly, it felt like they were hovering just over my shoulder, holding back their laughter as a dear friend would while they waited for me to get a joke. g28 ’d intentionally held back an explanation because they wanted me to experience the feeling of figuring it out for myself. They wanted me to laugh, like I suspect they did when designing it. Like its predecessor, Astro Bot is filled to the brim with PlayStation references and cameos. The most visible ones come in the form of the Special Bots — bots dressed up as famous and obscure PlayStation family characters.