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Instead of looking up the definition of “joy” in the dictionary, you can just play Astro Bot. One of our best games of 2024, Astro Bot is an ingeniously innovative take on platformers – filled with creative levels, wild power-ups, and big set pieces.
But the game is built upon another central pillar: nostalgia. It’s a grand celebration of PlayStation’s history and all the games and characters that have made up those decades. While those little nods may provide instant delight, it’s something holding Astro Bot, and developer Team Asobi, from reaching the true heights they can. The little platformer has proven Astro Bot has a bright future, and he doesn’t need to be chained down by the past of PlayStation.
Taking off
Astro Bot review: "Soars above and beyond to serve up a near-perfect platformer"
Saying Astro Bot is bound to PlayStation's past has a double meaning – both on an obvious superficial level and on a deeper, more structural one. Astro Bot, right now, simply doesn't exist without the PlayStation, the brand. The bot's entire world is designed after the iconic four symbols (X,O, Square, and Triangle), the story has you literally rebuilding your PS5 mothership, and key levels are themed after franchises like Uncharted and God of War. And, of course, the actual platforming is built on the foundations established by Jak & Daxter, Spyro, and so many others.
The game ingeniously throws all of these inspirations into a blender, creating an intoxicating mixture that doubles as a piece to show off the PS5 itself. In fact, there's not a single game to date that does a better job of showing off the PS5 features – gyro controls, immersive audio, haptic feedback, instantaneous loading, the whole package. Of course, the free Astro's Playroom that came with PS5 did the same thing, but Astro Bot blows it up on a much bigger scale.
But it's frustrating that the game has to be so intrinsically linked to that whole identity of PlayStation as a brand, like one big advertisement packed into one of the best games of the year. Outside of the basic structure, this manifests as the collectible Bots you can find scattered throughout the game. These all wear costumes from iconic PlayStation characters, like Solid Snake or the Helldivers.
The Bots are a charming distraction, letting you relive the nostalgic memories that you have of past experiences – but they simultaneously feel like a graveyard. A reminder of all the series and studios that Sony has let languish and pass. Gravity Rush and Japan Studio aren't around anymore. Sly Cooper and Jak are in disrepair. Legend of the Dragoon was a one-hit wonder. Ape Escape hasn't had a new game in almost 15 years.
While the intent was surely to celebrate PlayStation, it's an inadvertent reminder of the bizarre spot the company is in right now, with a serious lack of middle-range franchises that can fill in the gaps between big releases. The PS5 is hurting for first-party games, so much so that its very best game, Astro Bot, can't escape the shadow of PlayStation woes, even when the game succeeds wildly.
Astro Bot's best moments are when the game deviates from that PlayStation veneer and does something wildly creative. A chipper Toy Story-esque stage that swaps between night and day. A stage that plays out like a musical as you travel up a singing tree. Or another where you can shrink into a tiny little mouse to solve a bunch of imaginative size-based puzzles. Team Asobi captures the charm of what so many people have come to love about PlayStation – the whimsy that so many older games used to embody. It's tantalizing to think of the experience we could have gotten with the likes of Sly Cooper or Sackboy if there were games released today, given that same polish and care.
But Team Asobi also shouldn't be stuck in the box of having to create winks and nods to the past, it should be free to create vibrant new ideas. Astro Bot manages to feel distinctly exciting and fresh despite the nostalgia it shovels onto players constantly – but if its developer had free reign to create absolutely anything it wanted, that could be something exceptional. Let Astro Bot be his own bot, with grand adventures that are all about him, not his duties as a mascot.
As much as it might be a cliche, Mario is the perfect example to look to. Nintendo's franchise consistently finds a way to reinvent itself and break new ground, retaining the core soul of Mario while not feeling bound to the past. Look at experimental games like Mario + Rabbids, or even Super Mario Sunshine, a game that looks and feels like Mario, but introduces a wildly unique water mechanic that makes it feel unlike any other platformer out there.
Astro Bot is one of the only platformers out there that feels as joyful to experience as a new Mario game – constantly bombarding players with new ideas that force you to think differently, and unique gimmicks that completely alter how you play. Team Asobi has created the defining game of the PS5, and should be given a blank check to do it again.
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