As I journeyed through Astro Bot’s gorgeous worlds, I was constantly blown away by the clever new hook each level introduced. While a traditional 3D platformer collect-a-thon at its core, Astro Bot is always throwing in a new gimmick to make each level feel fresh and distinct from all the others. Oftentimes, these gimmicks add a new exploration tool, in turn giving the developers the freedom to build levels in completely different ways.

There are a few different reasons for this, the first of which is that Astro Bot’s core gameplay is as solid as titanium. If you’ve played any other Mario-esque platformer, you know what to expect here, but Team Asobo has really created a game that feels astoundingly satisfying to play, even in the most minute ways. You have absolute control of Astro’s jumps and punches, with smart features like lasers that come out of his feet opening up even more options for gameplay. Astro Bot is nothing short of a masterpiece, an ingenious platformer filled with vibrant worlds and ingenious design.

Astro Bot Brought Home Four Big Game Awards

One level allows you to explore a recognisably domestic world but you can drastically change size, bashing through doorways one minute and wriggling through a gap in the skirting board a minute later. Another lets you transform into an ultra-heavy version of Samus Aran’s morph ball thingy, and has brilliant stuff for you to do once you have. These levels feel so Nintendo-like because they get everything out of their ideas.

Do You Want Astro Bot On Other Platforms?

Like any excellent platformer, Astro Bot’s movement feels responsive and trustworthy. Despite the game consistently giving you new ways to traverse its puzzling pathways, you’ll almost always feel like you have a good grip on clearing gaps, timing attacks on enemies, and dodging bosses with expertise. The camera caused a few rare instances of what felt like selling me out, but the game’s checkpoints are so numerous and the load times are virtually non-existent, such that this never became a pain point for me. Like https://f168.direct/ , Astro Bot is a love letter to PlayStation–not just its current make-up, either, but its illustrious history. From first-party icons like Kratos and Ellie to third-party heroes tied to the hip with Sony’s gaming past, such as Lara Croft and Leon S. Kennedy. There are 195 hidden cameo characters in Astro Bot’s dozens of levels, and part of the fun is tracking them all down.

Press both your left and right trigger (L2 and R2) to punch your left and right Twin-Frog Glove into the mouths of the Wormys. Did you know you can catch the bugs in Apes On The Loose with your net? You can find the Golden Butterfly at the very back of the Apes On The Loose level, in a bush to the right of the sky bridge where you find Sky-Walking Ape Special Bot. Papa Tree will start singing, but you’re still technically on the Dual Speeder.

Many things in Astro Bot approach the quality and imagination of a Nintendo game but the use of force feedback surpasses anything on the Switch. Astro Bot has six worlds and dozens of levels to complete with Bots, Puzzle Pieces, and Costumes to collect, secret portals to find, and trophies to earn. IGN’s 100% Astro Bot walkthrough will guide you to every collectible and secret. Foamstars has 2 done to death modes yet I can think of a surfboard mode, a foam clean up mode, chemicals to mess with the foam, traps and more. They barely come up with anything that useful to use the foam for. They just don’t have that mindset, too much money focus then to be creative with the worlds/core mechanics.

As a matter of fact, I sold Elden Ring (which was a horrible experience for me – but I’m glad some people are enjoying it) to buy this little gem. Buying at Full Price for £55 to support more of these kind of games. The fact that it is rated so high for the limited type of game that it is, just tells me that the review scores are unreliable and steers me away from it because it is scored so high.