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. And while there’s nothing to quite rival the GPU earworm of four years ago (despite the best efforts of a giant singing tree), the music is a consistent delight throughout. Members of Team ASOBI discuss what it takes to make a platformer feel good.

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We are happy playing PS4, other PS5 or any older gen games, coming up to a compelling PS5/Series/Switch/PC/mobile game and then going back to the other or moving on to the next. The creativity is there no doubt and people wanting a break or something to mix in from the cinematic games or just something to play in depseration. But I think this all the time with videos I watch/games I play/research and end up with large comments like this. A good game is a good game yes, but a game that may appeal to one person will not appeal to another. However reviews and scores you would think would then be balanced. I disagree that a platform game, however good, is a perfect score.

Lost Cross Void Overview

The game on ps5 i’ve been waiting for since i got one basically… The switch has remained my most played platform after all these years because of the lack of games like this, for me the essense of gaming… [newline]Carefully jump onto the invisible platforms above the other sunken stones in the desert until you reach the other side (remember to use your booster dog). Open it and take the secret exit to unlock the High-Suction Hero level in the Lost Galaxy. Use the whistle (Triangle) to all call bots, then use Camera Mode (D-Pad Up) and move the camera around until you’ve found both explorers.

Today, PlayStation’s cinematic blockbuster titles still mostly cater to a mature audience, but Team Asobi is taking a different approach. The studio’s roster of delightful robots and the inventive gameplay with which they and players interact have been compared with the Nintendo way. While today PlayStation’s headquarters may be located in San Mateo, California, the history of Sony’s beloved video game console brand started in the early 1990s in Tokyo, Japan. Ken Kutaragi – who would later become known as the father of PlayStation – had been working together with Nintendo on a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo. When this got canceled, Kutaragi went to Norio Ohga (Sony’s CEO at the time) with the proposal of making Sony’s own console. It’s Super Mario Bros. for a new generation of video game fanatics, at once an introduction to common mechanics and also a significant challenge for seasoned players.

On top of that are numerous shorter challenges — tougher platforming or combat trials to test your skills — and a selection of secret stages to discover. It’s a generous package, and what’s most impressive is the sheer variety it offers. Team Asobi clearly designed it for players of all skill levels, and that includes children and newbies, but at its core Astro Bot feels purpose-built for video game fans. It’s a skill-driven celebration of everything that makes the format so memorable and joyful, and at the same time, it’s an excellent introduction to the language of games.

Every time I found an old friend, I was transported back to that kid in the backroom of my parent’s house playing PS1. The unbridled joy I felt when firing up a game I’d never seen before came flooding back to me. I remembered why games were so important to me growing up and how they shaped my creativity. Naysayers will say that no childhood memory comes from sitting in front of a TV, but that was never true for me. Astro Bot still takes advantage of the console’s power too, but not by dipping into photorealism or needlessly flashy spectacle. Incredibly smooth performance means I’m never taken out of the flow by frame hiccups.

Everything glistens with the technology-based gleam that has come to be expected of the Astro world. Environments, while emulating the look of tropical beachfronts, molten volcanoes, and bustling jungles, still have this shimmer of being held together by plates of steel and other metallic materials. Dream Traveler is the second bot found in Balloon Breeze and is inspired by Klonoa, the main protagonist from the Klonoa series. You can find this puzzle piece midair at the top of the balloon. On the fourth checkpoint, the one where you encounter some logs, the puzzle piece is located in the vertical log on the side.

Not only this, but the game even makes use of the controller’s speakers to make the game even more immersive. The fact is that the game is both easy to learn and play, yet it’s able to be entertaining with the sheer amount of things to collect and discover. While exploring a certain level in the first world, I came across a portal of sorts that actually led me to unlock a few of the game’s secret levels. gg88 made me wonder just how many levels there actually are in the game. The amount of collectibles and secrets there are to discover is also staggering; it’s enough to keep you playing for hours on end and keeps achievement hunters busy.

In one, you hit switches that change the level between night and day, changing the entire layout at the same time. In another, you shrink into a tiny mouse, seeing things from a whole new perspective and opening up wild new solutions to puzzles. Past that, another level has you growing flowers to make your way up an ascending staircase of giant pots. There are musicals to play through, obstacle courses, giant robots to resurrect, and more. I could go on and on about every unique level, but the wonder of Astro Bot lies in discovery itself.

It’s a shame that most other PS5 games don’t even come close to utilizing these features to their full potential. 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. The games have lots of fun platforming to execute, with grappling hooks and hover-jumps and all kinds of fun things. There are also plenty of alien and robotic enemies and bosses to take on. But that’s not the only way Astro Bot celebrates history, as that idea is also directly tied to the game’s collectibles.

One of the biggest announcements during last week’s PlayStation State of Play livestream was Astro Bot, the full-fledged sequel to the excellent Astro’s Playroom that comes preinstalled on PS5. Just like Astro’s Playroom, Astro Bot is a 3D puzzle-platformer that pays homage to PlayStation history and makes heavy use of the PS5 DualSense controller’s many unique features like haptic feedback and dynamic triggers. However, this time, we’re getting a full-length game (with no microtransactions) that’s much bigger than Astro’s previous adventures.

After acquiring his DualSense controller ship, Astro has to travel to various galaxies and rescue the bots. It’s not all that different from other platformers out in the market right now, yet it’s able to stand out from the rest with its fun and unique gimmicks, amazing level design, and amount of content. When comparing the game to something like Super Mario Odyssey, you could even say that Astro Bot may have taken a lot of inspiration from the Nintendo exclusive. 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 a platformer adventure game released on September 6, 2024, for the PS5, serving as a sequel to Team Asobi’s Astro’s Playroom from 2020 and the third game in the series.