Astro Bot review – Is it worth the money?

With the recent release of Astro Bot on the PS5, Sony PlayStation got back to the wonderful world of 3D platform gaming in a big way. The good news is that the end result is brilliant from start to finish, but with a price tag of $59.99 in the US (£59.99 UK) is it worth the money?

The long answer is that it depends on you as a gamer. If you’re a huge fan of 3D platform adventures then it’s a straight yes, especially if you plan to get a physical copy and trade it in after you complete it. However, if you’re heart isn’t really in it and you’re just curious about the hype you might want to wait for a price drop, PS Plus deal or try it at a friend’s first.

Bot of War

The game itself is pure fun for platform fans, with incredible level design, attention to detail, stunning graphics and quality gameplay. Movement is sharp and the combat system works pretty well, especially when you take on the various character levels, which switch things up a little and make the game way more interesting.

There’s a God of War Level, one for Horizon, another for Uncharted, and all of these are absolute belters. However, it would have been good to see even more of these to boost out the size of the game. It’s not that it’s terribly short, it’s just that it could have been longer and a few more character journeys would have been a good way to do this.

The biggest negative is that it doesn’t have that much replay value or post game content to keep coming back to. So once you complete it and pick up all of the bots and jigsaws there really isn’t anything to do unless you’re a speedrun buff and want to see if you can do the levels better than your last time.

It’s a similar story for other comparable games, but if would be cool if they threw in some cool unlocks at the end. There is one or two things, but they’re not going to keep you going for that long, so don’t expect this to be a long play for years to come.

That being said, the sheer variety of the levels is very clever, so when you are in your first run through they constantly surprise you with the different mechanics that you get to play with. At different points, Astro Bot picks up different power-ups that allow him to do new moves, like spring-loaded punching gloves like in Arms and a chicken rocket pack.

These help to keep the action fresh and every new level a delight to play. They repeat rarely and when they do it’s a lot of fun trying them out again, especially the bullet-time slo motion power-up from levels like Slo-Mo Casino, which you can see in the video below.

A trunk load of funk

In addition to everything else that Astro Bot has got going for it, there’s also the ridiculously genius music that runs through the entire game. Every level has its own theme song and it amounts to hit after hit after hit.

From catchy electronica in Sky Garden to ear-worm funk on a grand stage in Trunk of Funk, it never fails to impress musically. Every track is perfectly suited to its level with the two twisting arm-in-arm to deliver memorable moments that will stay with you forever.

The Easter Eggs and PlayStation nostalgia hits are full force and it’s great to try to pick everything out as you play. A lot of this surrounds the Bots that you collect throughout each of the stages, but there are also nods all around to look out for.

In fact, the story sees Astro Bot on a galactic quest flying his PlayStation 5 ship only to get waylaid by a alien space bully. The ship gets trashed and his bot buddies get scattered in different galaxies, so it’s up to you to fix it all.

It’s pretty simple, but at the same time, it’s a clever take on the story setup for a platform title. It doesn’t get any deeper than that, apart from some emotional bits towards the end, but in all fairness it really doesn’t need a serious plot to work.

To sum up our review, Astro Bot is a whole heap of condensed fun with more than enough reasons to play for anyone who loves 3D platformers. It’s definitely up there in terms of quality with classics like Mario, but it isn’t quite as long as your average Nintendo offering. We recommend getting the physical version so that you can sell it on or trade it in at a later date when you’ve finished it all, but other than that it’s a winner.

Astro Bot review: 90%