Astro Bot has proved incredibly popular for PlayStation, having sold 1.5 million units in its first two months on sale and earned a 9/10 in IGN’s review. “A fantastically inventive platformer in its own right, Astro Bot is particularly special for anyone with a place in their heart for PlayStation,” we said. “Unlike our last update Winter Wonder, which was a walk through the Xmas park, this new update features harder levels to test your jumping skills,” said director of developer Team Asobi, Nicolas Doucet. While it may seem simple enough, there are a lot of things to do in the over fifty levels Astro Bot has to offer. Check every corner, hit every object or look below every platform and you may find a secret cord or passageway to a Puzzle Piece, Bot or even a Vortex to a secret world! vz88 is the secret 301st bot, the last one you’ll unlock in the game.

The developers at Team Asobi didn’t reinvent the platforming wheel here, but like any good platformer, it’s the unique ways the powers are used that make them special. Instead of water, that F.L.U.D.D. power-up sucks up a green goo it then spits out to create platforms of grass. I giggled like a toddler using it to defeat a special enemy by literally sucking its green, goopy brains out.

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The game is soaked through with PlayStation branding and fan service, almost to a fault. Four of the bots at the Crash Site will only appear once players have rescued them in Astro’s Playroom. The Great Master Challenge can only be accessed once players have found every Puzzle Piece in the game and rescued 300 Bots. Astro Bot’s win for Best Family Game is probably the least surprising of the bunch. Put simply, just about anyone can appreciate Astro Bot’s strengths, not just seasoned gamers or astute, wizened audiences.

Astro Bot hides over 300 secret bots, including 195 cameo bots from other games spanning PlayStation’s long history. What’s amazing is despite how wide-reaching the references are in Astro Bot, this isn’t just a celebration of PlayStation’s first-party stuff but so much of what’s defined gaming for decades. Monster Hunter, Space Channel 5, Wipeout, Legend of Dragoon, Tony Hawk, the list goes on and on.

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However, collecting all 300 bots, finding all secrets, and achieving 100% completion can extend playtime to 18+ hours. Unlike ASTRO’s Playroom, ASTRO BOT is a standalone, full-sized adventure that offers over four times more worlds, 300 bots to rescue and dozens of new powers and features to discover. And now, four years later, Sony released a full sequel simply titled “Astro Bot” — and it just won the Game Award for Game of the Year.

Still, why the Mouse ability is only used a single time is bizarre, given that some abilities are used nearly a dozen times. There are 200 cameo characters in Astro Bot, most of whom first appeared in iconic PlayStation franchises. Unlocking all of them can be incredibly difficult, but not half as challenging as trying to figure out which games and series all of the cameo bots are from. Jigsaw pieces can also be discovered if you’re skilled and/or keen eyed, which eventually open up a variety of features that enrich the entire experience. There’s a safari you can unlock, too, allowing you to take pictures with the many animals found on the game. What makes Astro Bot such a genuine treat to play, however, is the fact that you never know what to expect from any given level.

We’ll have more information to share soon, so be on the lookout for future updates. It has been a real delight to continue offering you, our valued fans, an extended Astro Bot experience at no additional cost. Free from the now-standard PlayStation Studios themes of threatening apocalypses, familial woe, and coming-of-age pains, Astro Bot is all about following a cheery little metal bloke around on his adventures.

I never lose my momentum because of a mistimed jump and can usually recover if I misjudge a spinning platform’s trajectory. In addition to a punch and spin attack, the jets from my boosters can fry enemies below me. That means that I rarely need to stop moving to take care of a few pesky bots.

That love and heart that the developers bled into the game, left me with a smile on my face the entire time. And after obtaining the game’s coveted platinum trophy and moving on to something new, I couldn’t help but feel as if I had said goodbye to a dear friend. As I reflect on the memories shared with the bot, I could not view Astro Bot as anything other than a masterpiece.

However, two of these levels are based on dormant Sony franchises and if you can avoid having it spoiled for you what they are beforehand, they’re amongst the highlights of the game. They both replicate the mechanics, and audio, of the original games exactly and are an absolute joy, that will instantly have you wishing that they’d get full-blown sequels on the PlayStation 5. Since what you’re actually after is the stolen pieces of the PlayStation 5 there’s always an extra level after each of the main bosses that is inspired by a first party Sony game. You can probably imagine what these are already, with the God Of War one giving you Kratos’ ice axe and the Uncharted one having Nate shooting what looks like foam balls at enemies.

This became The Playroom, Team Asobi’s first game.The Playroom came preloaded with the PS4 when it launched back in 2013 and functioned as a showcase of what the PlayStation Camera and DualShock 4 controller could do. One of the mini games featured was AR Bots, a tech demo-like experience that made it seem as if 40 little robots were inside the DualShock 4. By swiping the touchpad you could throw them into the room and interact with them through the PlayStation Camera in AR, before sucking them back into the controller. It really feels like the developers thought of everything, and thanks to their efforts, Astro Bot is pure joy in video game form. I went into it with high expectations thanks to Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Astro’s Playroom, and it not only met my expectations, but completely exceeded them.