If I asked what the best first party Playstation game is, what would you answer? Many folks would turn towards Sony Santa Monica’s, God of War (2018) or Naughty Dog’s, The Last of Us Part 2. If you answer anything other than Astro Bot, on paper, you would be wrong. At the time of writing this, Astro Bot is sitting at a score of 94 on review cite Metacritic and a 95 on Opencritic. Not only is this the highest scoring Playstation game across both sites ever, but it also statistically catapults its way onto the podium for best platformer.

Astro Bot pulls out all the stops when it comes to referencing older titles in the game. Not only are the character designs perfect for distinguishing the bots, but these are also apparent in some gameplay segments. s8.com 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.

However, the way it presents itself and the way it integrates its older titles into the game make it a unique experience. Astro Bot is nothing short of a masterpiece, an ingenious platformer filled with vibrant worlds and ingenious design. It’s a game that oozes creativity, consistently delighting and surprising the player with new mechanics, gameplay twists, smart boss battles, and jaw-dropping set-piece moments. But past that, it’s also a grand celebration of PlayStation and video game history as a whole — the only game that’s been able to rival Super Smash Bros. in that regard.

Players

Generally speaking, it’s pretty easy breezy, but there are tougher challenges to find if that’s what you want. @rjejr I personally wouldn’t describe any of it as gimmicky; if I could compare it to anything, think of Super Mario Galaxy. Mario gets various power-ups throughout the game and often they only feature a couple of times — it’s like that. And it’s the same in terms of level design as well, just a huge level of variety that means certain motifs and mechanics are explored only once or twice. In my opinion, the variety and constant new ideas is a big part of what makes this game great, but it sounds as though that might not align with your taste.

What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Sindri – Dwarven Artisan

There is a second set of Tripcaster wires in the clearing with the Tallneck. Irritate some ground-bound enemies into following you, then hop into or behind the square enclosure (yes, there’s enough space for you to stand between the wire and the rock). This should lure additional enemies into the wire, getting you the trophy. To collect the Mothership’s GPU in Astro Bot, you need to complete all main world levels in the Serpent Starway. After beating Chief Cawah in the Dude Raiding, you will recover the Mothership’s GPU.

Yet I bet Astro Bot does significantly better than many titles that have spent years in development and cost double the price to make. I think this is clearly the frontrunner for game of the year now and it doesn’t look like there’s anything upcoming that has a chance of dethroning it. PS5 desperately needed this, now they need to reveal the big games 1st party is working on alongside the Pro and 2024 can be saved. It just reeks of ignorant and disconnect with PS history & fanbase.

Once you’ve beaten all 10 of the Lost Galaxy levels (although it’s currently unclear if you also need to get the 100% completion gold flag on these levels as well), a present will appear in the middle of the nebula. Fly over and activate the present to enter the Final Encore level, which has five bots and two puzzle pieces — just like the rest of the Lost Galaxy levels. Team Asobi has announced that five new levels are coming to Astro Bot as weekly drops, starting on Feb. 13. (That’s today!) As with previous additions to the Game of the Year winner, the new levels are free to download — and, of course, each comes with a new Special Bot to rescue. It’s hard to say what cute, robotic PlayStation characters could possibly top the twin Spider-Man bots from the Christmas level, but I’m excited to find out.

We have added the first four to the bottom of this list and will continue adding them as the levels are released. A whirl of bots to rescue, of loving Playstation references, of deep cuts like Ape Escape and more recent stars, who get outings I don’t really want to ruin. It’s boss fights when you expected them and boss fights when you absolutely didn’t. An entire level set on a dream of 1930’s skyscraper construction sites! Many of these things are platformer standards, but that’s kind of the point, because the game always chucks something in to warp it and make it fresh.

I’d say your only potential hurdle is some of the challenges, as they can be quite tough, but broadly speaking the game is on the easy side. Thanks for the review, I really needed something positive after the bad day I had today. @RubyCarbuncle Oh I don’t doubt there’s an audience for VR, I just don’t see Sony alloting much time or resources to it for their new golden child (Asobi) with this sort of success on the vanilla console under their belts. Digital Foundry just dropped their Astrobot video, I haven’t had a chance to watch yet but I think the title says it all.