Continuing with the God of War example, Astro will use the Leviathan Axe to attack enemies, and just like Santa Monica’s action games, it can be thrown and recalled, freezing enemies and helping progress through the stage. We won’t spoil the others, but PlayStation fans will be delighted with these Astro Bot renditions of some favourite franchises. There are also small regions to fix up with extra puzzles for Astro and his friends. Players are on a mission to rescue all 300 of their robot friends after an alien intercepted their spaceship, a super-charged PS5, and scattered the crew across six dangerous galaxies.
There are one or two surprising absentees, but on the whole it’s a remarkable selection that had us grinning with every character we recognised. It’s all delivered with so much affection that it’s hard not to love it. And of course, with a new set of challenge levels comes a whole bunch of new VIP Bots. We know that Ghost of Yotei’s Atsu is joining the crew, but the rest are being kept as a surprise for now. Considering how requested they’ve been for some time now, and after Astro Bot’s director kind of hinted that they might still be added, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some Final Fantasy characters finally get in on the fun. The sheer number of boss fights throughout Astro Bot is exciting, but each boss battle’s energetic song is what really brings their encounters to life.
You’ll see the stone platforms many feet under Astro will start to glow while you’re above them. The secret exit in Djinny of the Lamp is at the very end of the level, after you defeat the Djinny. Punch the ladybug trampoline so it’s as close to the pot as possible, then jump on it and activate your power-up mid-air. Float over to the pot and use your spin move to clear the debris on top. The secret exit in Hieroglitch Pyramid is at the very end of the level, after you’ve slid down the spikey path and made it to the normal exit.
Astro recovers the CPU, but when he and his crew defeat Nebulax by blowing up the spaceship he is attached to, it creates a black hole that begins to suck Nebulax in. Nebulax grabs Astro to try to take him down with him, but the crew take hold of Astro to try to pull him back. Refusing to let the crew sacrifice themselves for him, Astro lets go of them and falls into the black hole, which explodes into a supernova. Simply put, Astro Bot is not just one of the best platformers I have ever played, it is a celebration of what makes both PlayStation and gaming at large great. The player can then take the bots collected back to a hub world of sorts known as the Crash Site. There they are given the chance to spend their hard-earned in-game currency on collectible set pieces for each of these gaming icons.
Astro Bot Planet Walkthroughs
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. TR88 could go on and on about every unique level, but the wonder of Astro Bot lies in discovery itself.
Soccer Player – This Is Football
Speaking of the use of DualSense, the game uses all of the controller’s features to the max. It adds so much to the in-game experience that this game might actually be the perfect demo to showcase what a PS5 and DualSense can do. The use of adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and gyro controls makes the game perfect for the console. Special Bots can be found as you progress through Astro Bot, each one dressed as a character from PlayStation’s long history. There are hundreds of them to collect, appearing in each level of the game.
This part of our Astro Bot guide goes over each and every level in the game, highlighting where to find all collectibles and more. It’s a thrilling adventure that takes you on a journey through different planets, filled with exciting challenges and unique abilities. It even pays homage to some of PlayStation’s most beloved characters, bringing back a sense of nostalgia and joy for both new and seasoned players. Every level brings something new, and the controls feel perfect. The bright graphics and little PlayStation references make it even better.
You’ll receive two PSN avatars–one of Astro in his normal outfit and another of him wearing the Parappa getup–and the Glorious Graffiti skin for Astro’s Dual Speeder vehicle. These items can be unlocked in the game without preordering, but buying one of the physical or digital editions early lets you access the outfits and avatars from the jump. Awkward controls aside, Rising Heat is actually a fairly simple stage to clear. The only things that players need to watch out for are the circular disk on the ground that needs to be slammed with both hands and the tilting platforms. They can make the latter steeper using Astro’s jets, which will in turn allow them to skip over a couple of bananas.
If you watch long enough, you’ll see that one of them is actually a generic bot. Just before you lift the massive bridge out of the ground, you’ll find some moving metal boxes in the poison lake to the right. Cross them (destroying them as you go) and then boost up when you reach the final platform. You’ll reach another PlayStation bot hanging in the mouth of a gold snake statue. You must complete the Great Master Challenge in order to find and collect Chop Chop Master Onion Special Bot.
Try to press on and not stop, as you’ll become an easy target for projectile enemies or obstacles like fire or thin ice. Not every level does require you to be quick on your feet, but it’s a good reminder for when you’re tackling some of the harder levels. Team Asobi has teased that tools will eventually be added to Astro Bot that should appeal to speedrunners. With that tool and a bit of post-launch content updates, Astro Bot’s fun could last a lot longer than it does, and that would be a welcome inclusion for a game with a short run time. Still, any frustration with the game ultimately stems from wanting more of what Astro Bot provides, which at its core is a top-tier platformer with innovation, charm, and enjoyment to spare.
Eventually, you’ll find a platform that has a separate spiral platform to the right, a goop monster above, and a sand waterfall that’s covering a caged bot. To get in there and save the little guy, boost up, kill the blob monster, pull the lever it was sitting on, and jump down to rescue the bot. 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. Out of the 300 bots you can collect in the game, 173 are such Special Bots. ASTRO BOT is a platformer video game developed by Team ASOBI and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.