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Read our full article Astro Bot review

Astro Bot It’s a fantastic 3D platformer that features a great protagonist, dozens of planets to explore, and a wide range of extremely satisfying mechanics to master. It requires patience, awareness and a high degree of platforming skill, although resets are generous and failure costs nothing but your time. The main character, Astro, is endlessly charming as he flies between galaxies on a mission to rescue 300 of his friends, many of whom embody characters from Sony’s library and the wider gaming world – robots from Capcom, Konami and Sega abound.

Many of the planets that Astro lands on introduce new mechanics, such as spring-loaded boxing gloves that look like frog faces, an octopus that inflates Astro like a balloon, a mouse backpack that shrinks his size at will, a penguin-propelled swimming booster, and a stopwatch that temporarily freezes time . The stages are designed around these unique mechanics and the variety on offer is impressive.

Beyond pure gravity, Astro Bot Beautiful. Its landscapes are precise and vivid with interactive detail, and every pixel appears to have been polished to perfection. But it’s the game’s physics that energizes everything – when Astro lands on top of a giant inflatable daisy, the material flexes beneath his tiny feet, cracking with every step and swing, making the entire scene feel completely compressed. When rain hits Astro’s umbrella hat, the sound reflects perfectly off the DualSense, along with the feel of raindrops on the grips. Astro BotSound effects, haptics, graphics and physics combine flawlessly, turning every surface into a playground. It’s magical.

Astro Bot It seems to be designed specifically for video game enthusiasts. It’s a skill-based celebration of everything that makes the format fun and memorable, and at the same time, it’s an excellent introduction to the language of gaming. With precise and responsive controls, lovable characters, and an exciting variety of mechanics and environments, Astro Bot It is easily one of the best games Sony has ever produced. —Jessica Condit, Senior Reporter