1 player
Available on PS5
The PlayStation brand is not exactly renowned for its child-friendly games. Yet the exclusive Astro Bot has just poked the tip of its pixels out and will easily delight young and old. It is a veritable festival of good ideas.
Astro Bot is a 3D action-platformer. You control a little robot that was travelling in a PlayStation-shaped spaceship with a multitude of its fellow bots, until an alien attack scattered them to the four corners of the galaxy. The task now is to find the pieces of the dismantled ship, as well as the 300 other robots.
The hidden Bots are actually iconic characters from PlayStation history (here, Ratchet & Clank)
Each level is very short, but above all they represent very specific worlds (beach, jungle, haunted mansion, building under construction, etc.), with superb settings teeming with detail. The difficulty is not very high, and the most seasoned players will take a good ten hours to reach the end. However, the interest also lies in the careful exploration of these settings, since Astro Bot’s companions are well hidden and it sometimes takes tenacity to flush them out.
What gives the feeling of walking through an amusement park with Astro Bot is first its game mechanics, which are constantly renewed as you discover new abilities. These are put to use to solve environmental puzzles and progress towards the exit. But also its many nods to the PlayStation brand’s iconic franchises and to the history of video games in general.
Bonus levels raise the difficulty in a rewarding way
This year, PlayStation celebrates its 30th anniversary, and Astro Bot is a fiery love letter to this page of history, to its culture and its creativity. The inspiration draws on the greatest platform games. Think Super Mario Galaxy or Rayman Legends, for example. It is the kind of game that immediately reminds me why I love video games. Everything in it is colourful, dynamic, playful, funny, clever and festive. The game is meant to be accessible to the youngest, but parents will enjoy rediscovering all the mascots from the games of their own childhood. That’s a good topic of conversation, isn’t it?
The short levels allow quick play sessions, and going through them together is a perfect opportunity to share a good time.
Each world has its own atmosphere, and the musical themes are little gems
It almost makes you want to go on holiday again, doesn’t it ?
Let’s also take the opportunity to point out that the PlayStation 5 Pro that Sony has just announced is of very limited interest, and even less of a necessity if your children already have a PS5. Its technical specifications only make games a little bit “prettier”. But this meagre argument, which is pure marketing, must not make us forget its exorbitant price (800 euros for a version without a disc drive). Spend your time instead exploring Astro Bot as a family!
Hard to play without a big smile on your face almost the whole time
