For example, the Joel Bot from The Last of Us is said to have a habit of “[telling] the occasional white lie,” in reference to his highly questionable personal choices. Little nods like that will make any longtime gaming fan smile. Astro Bot follows the tiny but brave Astro as his PS5 mothership is attacked by his galactic nemesis, scattering the crew throughout space. Only Astro can set things right, and he needs your help to rescue the stranded crew and rebuild the mothership on his biggest mission yet. Michael writes about video games at PlayStation Lifestyle and ComingSoon. Apart from gaming, King888 likes to skate, play drums, and watch the Chicago Bulls lose.

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Some of the more memorable levels stem from popular Sony franchises like God of War, with Astro wielding Kratos’ ax on one planet. Team Asobi really mined Sony’s vaults, far beyond simple Crash Bandicoot callbacks, and into weird and wonderful games like LocoRoco and Vib-Ribbon. The game also crashed on me twice, both times erasing more progress than I’d have expected since I assumed it auto-saves after each level, but I’d lost about three or four levels of progress in both instances. However, I admit these crashes came at the end of my long 11-hour session with the game on my first day with it, so maybe it was an issue Team Asobi will address. Still, the hard crash backpedaling on my saved data was strange and somewhat soured what was a marathon of smiles for about 10 hours of that day. Normally, these levels are as brief as 30 seconds, but they require perfection and give the game a taste of trial-and-error it otherwise consciously rejects.

Astro Bot In Depth Review

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. There are 58 Trophies in Astro Bot, some of which can be incredibly tricky to unlock without the help of a good Trophy guide. Those wondering how long it takes to beat Astro Bot have come to the right place, as too has anybody wondering if it’s worth playing. Players will need to have finished the game to access this new galaxy.

Some of the cameo bots even have a direct impact on Astro Bot’s gameplay. Each galaxy concludes with a special level themed after a PlayStation game, with Astro taking on the abilities of the hero from that game. For example, there is a God of War level in Astro Bot where Astro gets his hands on the Leviathan Axe. The axe functions similarly to how it does in the actual God of War games, meaning Astro can use it as both a weapon and as a tool to freeze objects for puzzle-solving purposes. I won’t mention any of the other games that are given this kind of treatment in Astro Bot as part of the fun is getting to the end of the galaxy and seeing what’s next, but trust that each one of these stages is incredible.

And for those who would like to face an even higher difficulty, already announced DLCs will be adding more challenge levels and speed trials along with some new special bots. After the player defeats the boss of each galaxy, the Bot they unlock is a classic PlayStation character. This Bot will then open up a new world based on their respective game. Everything from Kratos’ critically-acclaimed soft reboot is used in its Astro Bot level, like the environment or Bear McCreary’s score. These convey the God of War experience, but there’s an added twist. This is Team Asobi’s take on God of War, and the developers add a good bit of humor and fun.