Game8 rated it 96/100, calling it the best platformer of the year, praising its stunning visuals, great design, and fun, simple controls. They compared it to Super Mario Odyssey but noted it still feels unique. IGN gave it a 9/10, calling it a fantastically inventive platformer filled with PlayStation memories.

Some of this stems from Team Asobi’s enthusiastic use of the DualSense’s rumble, haptic triggers, and speaker. Some is rendered by Team Asobi’s astonishing, virtuosic command of the PlayStation 5 itself; Astro Bot is a tech marvel, perhaps the best-looking PS5 game to date. The sheen of the surfaces, slosh of the liquids, scale of the levels, and smoothness of the frame rate are stunning. The physics, as Astro sets piles of hundreds of shiny apples tumbling, or wades through a pool of gold nuggets, are just showing off. Unlike ASTRO’s Playroom, ASTRO BOT is a standalone, full-sized adventure that offers over four times more worlds, 300 bots to rescue and dozens of new powers and features to discover. Selected by a combination of jury vote and public opinion, this is widely considered one of the most prestigious awards in the video game industry.

Every level has a set of hidden bots that Astro needs to rescue. That would be a charming Easter egg hunt, but Team Asobi isn’t just investing in empty references. It uses the opportunity to show its love for PlayStation history. According to the game’s reveal trailer and details shared on the official PlayStation Blog, Astro Bot will feature over 80 levels spread across six galaxies players will explore. That makes Astro Bot a significantly bigger adventure than Astro’s Playroom and PSVR’s Astro Bot Rescue Mission. We’re eager to see how Team Asobi expands the gameplay this time around.

Not only are the character designs perfect for distinguishing the bots, but these are also apparent in some gameplay segments. One example is the game’s callback to Ape Escape where you’ll be chasing the apes around the map the way you would in the original game. Other than these gameplay examples, the special bots in the game also have unique and special animations that you can unlock in the game’s Gacha Lab, which adds even more personality to the already amazing-looking models. The worst sin that a game like this can commit is repetition, and Team Asobi firmly understands that.

Dualsense® Wireless Controller – Astro Bot™ Joyful Limited Edition

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 dangky g28 ’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.

Not only are all of the aspects amazing, from its catchy music and great sound effects, the game actually uses the controller’s speakers perfectly as well. There’s not much else to say about it except that it’s pretty much perfect for the game’s vibe and presentation. Got the plat shortly after release (couldnt stop playing it) and flipped it to a friend. I will be asking for a loan in a few months when a couple more of the speed run levels drop. @2huwman Just let people be lolPushSquare has the guide out on Day 1 because they compete with other organizations who do the same thing and their guides will be out on Day 1 so it’s kinda like a little competition. If people want to “ruin their experience” as you say, then let them.

Astro Bot High-suction Hero Bots & Puzzle Pieces Locations

If you don’t have enough coins you can always replay levels to get more. Nothing is missable, you can still replay all levels after the story and go back to all areas. If you don’t want to replay levels, the most efficient method is to collect everything on the first run. You need most bots anyway to unlock the boss levels in each Nebula.

The use of adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and gyro controls makes the game perfect for the console. They look smooth and flow well, and it’s worthy to note that the bots’ special animations representing their respective characters also add so much to the character representation in the game. Moving on to the audio design of the game, everything from its music, sound effects, and what not is superb. They fit in perfectly with the game’s vibe and atmosphere, which is really hard to find a fault as it even uses the DualSense speakers impeccably. Astro Bot is PlayStation’s exclusive 3D adventure platformer that features Astro’s journey to rescue his fellow crewmates and fix up the mothership. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn’t do well, and if it’s worth buying.

One power-up — which I won’t describe beyond saying it’s really cute since figuring it out is a big part of the fun here — truly captures the essence of Astro Bot. It seemed useless; I felt silly for getting stumped by what had been, up until that point, an incredibly simple game. Astro Bot typically displays a little tutorial box for how to use it, but this time, it deliberately left me hanging. Playing a game is like being in a conversation with its developers without the ability to speak directly, and it felt like communication had broken down. The developers at Team Asobi didn’t reinvent the platforming wheel here, but like any good platformer, it’s the unique ways the powers are used that make them special. Instead of water, that F.L.U.D.D. power-up sucks up a green goo it then spits out to create platforms of grass.

It even feels like some popping candy has smuggled its way into your controller as it fizzes and pings away, sweetly reacting to whatever is happening on screen. Astro Bot is a showcase for the DualSense’s bells and whistles unlike anything since, well… Triggers tighten in your fingers and rumbles are sent through your thumbs. I found my whole body involuntarily drifting from side to side as I guided Astro’s ship with the motion controls. I’d also recommend turning your controller speaker volume up if, like me, you have it muted by default – you’ll be missing out on some fantastic audio flourishes otherwise.

As you rescue more bots, they will make their own little spaces out and about, all in the area around the ship. You’ll track down puzzle pieces across each stage as well, with these working towards unlocking a habitat that grants you additional collectibles such as skins for Astro Bot or the controller you fly around on. The puzzle pieces unlock these areas in order, so you’ll have these locations granted to you in the same order as everyone else. Once the PS5 ship has crashed, Astro Bot will explore the space around the crash site. This is the hub world that allows you to unlock more of the galaxy map. You’ll track down a satellite-centric bot and it will ping the next destination.

You need to fly around the Nebula with your space ship until a UFO appears that holds the puzzle pieces, simply fly into it to collect it. If you replay levels, you can buy a satellite at the start for coins that marks the collectible locations. However, you need 15,000 coins to buy 150 gatcha items for the Money Well Spent trophy, so it’s best to not spend coins on the satellites. After reaching 100% completion you will have close to 15,000 coins if you don’t spend them on satellites.