WHEN you see a movie, TV show or game make a large number of references to other franchises, it’s easy to pass it off as low effort.
While cameos from other PlayStation franchises make up a huge part of Astro Bot, they are just the icing on the cake of an excellent game.
The story of Astro Bot is pretty basic. More than 300 bots are travelling through space on a PS5 before it crash lands, sending them flying across the solar system.
Astro Bot then travels to different galaxies and planets to find the lost bots and recover the parts to fix the PS5.
The fact that 170 of the bots are based on popular characters from games that were released on PlayStation consoles over the years is just the icing on the cake for this ambitious platformer.
Astro Bot mixes gorgeous levels that require puzzle solving and deep exploration to complete, with challenging platforming levels for those who want to test their skills.
There are no difficulty settings, rather players can choose how they approach Astro Bot and how they want to play it.
Those who prefer exploration to platforming can try to find all of the hidden bots, puzzle pieces, and hidden levels.
While those who want to push their platforming skills to their limits will find challenging levels that are completely optional.
In particular, the Lost Void levels will provide a major challenge, but can be skipped if you wish.
The platforming is some of the smoothest in gaming, combining simple controls with great reactivity and allowing the level design to provide the challenge.
There are around 80 levels in total, and they introduce new concepts before combining them in later levels to add to the challenge.
The levels all feel unique, because while some themes are reused, they are mixed with something new to give them a different feel.
It’s the attention to detail that makes Astro Bot feel so unique. It feels like every part of each level was deeply considered.
For example, when you slow down time using one of the many power-ups you can find, you’ll see that the fireballs the reptiles spit out are in the shape of little lizard heads.
The bots and puzzle pieces aren’t the only things you can find in Astro Bot but all these tiny details added to every level.
It’s only September, but Astro Bot could be the best game of 2024.
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