But maybe the PlayStation didn’t need an answer to Nintendo and Sega’s beloved mascots. Games were entering an era in which more realistic human characters like Cloud Strife, Solid Snake and Lara Croft were becoming the new industry icons. As this more mature stream of gaming culture evolved, cutesy mascot characters and the 3D platformers they called home became less and less common. When Microsoft entered the industry with the Xbox in 2001, Halo’s Master Chief instantly shaped the console’s image.

Astro Bot Has One Of The Year’s Catchiest Soundtracks

There are even more surprises to be found, but players will have to discover those for themselves. Scattered across its intergalactic world are literally hundreds of hidden bots for Astro to find. A good chunk of these are PlayStation/gaming-themed, making them more than just a simple collectible to discover. While 3D platformers are not necessarily considered the most technically demanding genre, Astro Bot takes those sorts of preconceived notions and jettisons them into the vastness of space. Getting bigger is great, but shrinking down leads to some better creativity in the level’s design. From hopping around tiny mushrooms to grinding on clotheslines, Downsize Surprise overall is a delightful level thanks to the Mouse power-up and unfortunately, Astro Bot doesn’t feature it as much as it should.

With the success of Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Team Asobi and Astro Bot jumped to the PlayStation 5. The post regarding the new Astro Bot update also teased new Special Bots for each stage, and gave the first look at the Atsu bot based on the protagonist from Ghost of Yotei. The rest of the new bots are based on fan-favorite Square Enix characters that PS5 players will certainly enjoy. Each of the 11 levels can be found by finding a secret exit in various other levels throughout the universe. There are 91 stages in Astro Bot, making this one of Team Asobi’s biggest and most ambitious games to date. Between them, they boast well over 460 collectibles, including 120 Puzzle Pieces, 10 Lost Galaxy Warps, and 332 stranded Bots that are just waiting to be rescued.

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. AR Bots make their debut in The Playroom, where they appear in the activity AR Bots, which was named after them. When HM88 , they waddle around the room aimlessly at various speeds. Pressing down on the touchpad activates a vacuum that can bring the AR Bots back inside. AR Bots also appear in the downloadable activity Ninja Bots, where one playable AR Bot appears. Astro Bot is the most recent entry in the Astro Bot series and was released in 2024 for the PlayStation 5 in celebration of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary.

Climb up the snowball, pull the wire, and activate the vacuum device. Suck up all the ice blocks and head inside the tropical oasis to find the disco ball. Activate it to use the secret exit and unlock the Turtles in Trash level in the Lost Galaxy. Instead of leaping to the boss fight, approach the large snowball that’s being nurtured by two penguins — after you defeat all the enemies. Grab the snowball from them and roll it around until it gets nice and big.

This is when you learn that there are not only special bots, but each galaxy has a special level completely inspired by a PlayStation game or series. These unique one-off levels also see Astro transmogging his abilities and appearance by borrowing an item from the character who inspired the special level. There were so many surprising elements that I was utterly confused as to how they pulled it off.

What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Alundra – Dreamwalker

The only other game I’ve seen that’s similarly willing to dispose of cool ideas like this is It Takes Two, and Astro Bot does it more often and with more enjoyable mechanics. There is both depth and breadth to most levels, and frequent checkpoints mean you’ll rarely be punished for exploration or missing a jump. Levels take only five to 10 minutes in most cases, but are overflowing with personality. Robot animals climb trees along the periphery or jump out of the ocean far beneath the levitating worlds you explore.

Besides the main bosses, mini-bosses pop up in other levels unexpectedly, and they are also a lot of fun to fight. The new game, simply called Astro Bot and developed (like the others) by Team Asobi, kicks off when a group of robots’ PS5 mothership is attacked, scattering the robots throughout the galaxy. Your job as Astro is to go around to all the planets and collect your friends.

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. While most levels are linear, they highlighted some as exceptionally enjoyable and creative.

The stages constantly surprise and delight as they take full advantage of the PS5’s hardware. Astro Bot levels are beautiful, brought to life by genius art direction and some of the best graphics on the PS5. It all feels so alive thanks to how the DualSense controller reacts to what players see on the screen, with Astro Bot making great use of the DualSense’s haptic feedback and speaker.

That leads me through a fantastic puzzle-platformer gauntlet where I need to shrink down to climb into a lock or hop up a tree’s leaves. Another level drops me in a casino and puts a time-slowing PSVR on Astro’s head. I use that ability to freeze a giant slot machine as it rains down chips, turning them into platforms. Ingenious one-off mechanics like this feel like they could serve as the basis for an entire game; that’s how well-crafted they are. 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.

Jumping, hovering, punching, and spinning all feels spot on thanks to tight, responsive controls. The true test of any 3D platformer is whether it feels fun to simply move around, and Astro passes handily. It feels great to hop around each stage, and Astro is often augmented with new abilities, so we never felt like he needs more moves. The same should be said for the soundtrack, which, luckily, is more expansive than Astro’s previous games. Even better, Astro Bot’s soundtrack comes with many highlights.

It’s a sustained tech demo, one that never runs out of new wonders to show you, new marvels to fling at you and swiftly discard. Previous Astro Bot games have been employed to showcase new bits of kit. It feels like Sony is trying to channel its whole spirit into this game. Astro Bot is a glimpse of what Sony wants you to understand that it believes that it is. It has the boundless cheer of a group of people coming together and trying to be their best selves. This is more of a nitpick, mainly because the game is actually catered to everyone.

Each galaxy you arrive in houses several secrets to uncover in the overworld, and even levels themselves have hidden bonus stages. This game’s secrets have secrets, with more hidden levels being revealed at a steady clip whenever you inch closer to polishing off each galaxy’s to-do list. There are 300 in total, though you only need 200 to face the final boss, and over half of them are dressed up as iconic characters from video game history. With the basics on lock, Team Asobi lets players focus on Astro Bot’s wildly inventive level design. In one level, I get a power-up that lets me shrink Astro down to the size of an ant on command.

What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Aibo New – Pup Pal +

Dualsense use are be fine, level design/movesets look done before. @Bluetrain7 Nearly every level has at least one Bot to rescue, including the challenge levels and secret levels. In order to get the Platinum, you need to rescue every Bot and get every Puzzle Piece.