Dodge the pig and then grab its tail to spin it around and around. But instead of throwing the big at the big block of ice blocking your path, turn around and aim at the ice seal you just passed. The secret exit in Creamy Canyon is relatively early in the level. The iconic marsupial is none other than PlayStation’s Crash Bandicoot!
That mothership crash lands on a desert planet after an evil alien attack, and Astro must now travel the galaxy searching for its missing parts and crewmates. Even powers from previous Astro adventures are reinvented to great effect. For example, the Monkey Climber is an evolution of Playroom’s climbing ability, but the assistance of a small robotic ape with huge hands this time means rocks can be hurled and ground pounded to great delight. Laurels are never rested on either, with new ideas and gadgets introduced right up to the final encore. Although some mechanics are reused a little more than I’d like, when such powers are recycled in later levels they’re thankfully recontextualised and given slightly new uses. If 2020’s Astro’s Playroom was like a museum – albeit one with fun playable exhibits – Astro Bot is like a theme park, throwing a new thrill at you around every corner and after every double-jumped gap.
All Special Bots
Players take on the role of the lovable Astro Bot, embarking on a space-faring adventure through diverse environments, including waves of sandy beaches, lush jungles, and fiery volcanoes. Along the way, Astro gains new powers and transformations to aid in the journey. Released in celebration of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, the game pays homage to the brand’s legacy by allowing players to find and reunite with over 150 iconic PlayStation characters.
Astro Bot Rescue Mission (vr) Demo
You can find the Golden Butterfly at the very back of the Apes On The Loose level, in a bush to the right of the sky bridge where you find Sky-Walking Ape Special Bot. Papa Tree will start singing, but you’re still technically on the Dual Speeder. So, hold down the right and left triggers (R2 and L2) to continue spraying water onto Papa Tree’s face during his song.
Astro Bot contains 430 Collectible Locations (300 Bots, 120 Puzzle Pieces, 10 Lost Galaxy Secret Levels). This walkthrough shows all collectibles in each level for 100% game completion and all trophies. 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. Detailed in a PlayStation Blog post, Tick-Tock Shock is the first level available now.
To put it simply, Astro Bot is quite literally a complete package. Each aspect of the game is superb and should be taken as the gold standard of how to release a game. The stunning visuals, great sound design, interesting story, and amazing gameplay round out a near perfect release of a game.
Alongside the new content, Team Asobi has also released a PlayStation 5 Pro patch for Astro Bot, “featuring a constant best resolution while still running at 60 frames per second.” So that’s nice. Astro Bot’s Digital Deluxe edition also has several exclusive items, including 10 more PSN avatars, a digital art gallery, and a digital soundtrack. It also lets you unlock Astro’s Yharnam Tourist outfit, Golden outfit, and two more Dual Speeder paint colors early (all the outfits and paint colors are available in the base game, too).
A lot of modern entertainment, including video games, has a real problem with nostalgia bait, playing off people’s memories and trying to capitalize on that, without making anything new or original in the process. That’s why we keep seeing so many remakes and remasters, but Astro Bot doesn’t fall into the same trap. It feels like a celebration, with deep meaningful references that truly understand the quirks of the series it’s featuring.
You’ll need a minimum of 15,000 Coins to unlock a total of 150 prizes, and that’s not including any duds you get from the Gatcha Machine. To open the Changing Room on your Crash Site, you will need to collect 16 Puzzle Pieces to unlock it, or a total of 48 overall. To open the Dual Speeder Garage on your Crash Site, you will need to collect 16 Puzzle Pieces to unlock it, or a total of 32 overall. Once you have completed the puzzle for the Gatcha Lab (total of 16 Puzzle Pieces), the next 16 you collect will automatically fill in the Dual Speeder Garage puzzle and the Dual Speeder Garage will appear at your Crash Site. To open the Safari Park on your Crash Site, you will need to collect 16 Puzzle Pieces to unlock it, or a total of 64 overall.
They even announced that the game will be receiving free DLC in the near future. If there’s one thing to criticize, it’s the exclusivity and the need to buy a PS5 to experience this masterpiece. Everyone should be able to experience this kind of fun, as with the amount of games there are, it’s only a few games that really go the distance. As a platformer, Astro Bot is definitely the best to come this year. The fun factor is unparalleled for a game of this genre, despite it’s obvious simplicity.
If this, alongside new titles like Lego Horizon Adventures, signals a new and less stuffy direction for Sony, then I’m excited to see what the future holds. For now though, you’ll find me trying to 100-percent Astro Bot, cursing and laughing the whole way through. gg88 is also meant to be a DualSense showcase, and it certainly does a lot there, though I continue to feel like the controller’s most passionate fans are within the company itself. In the few instances where the hero isn’t wearing an ability, the game still finds ways to reinvent itself. But once that awesome level was finished, I never saw the mechanic used again. Astro Bot feels like it’s showing off at times, but never in a way that pats itself on its back.
At the top, you’ll see a train of enemies and another hourglass. Kill the enemy train and pop the hourglass open to get the second puzzle piece. The first puzzle piece in “Trapped In Time” appears before you even land in the hourglass. As you’re flying in on your DualSense ship, you’ll pass some coin containers and then a large sand dune on your left. [newline]On this sand dune, you’ll see a golden snake with a familiar glow emerge as you get close. Hit the snake with your ship and it’ll release the puzzle piece ahead of you. The final bot is near the exit, so proceed forward until you boost into the upper part of the level.
When the PS5 mothership is attacked by ASTRO’s long-standing galactic nemesis, scrambling its wires and scattering the crew throughout space, only ASTRO can make things right! Setting off on his biggest mission yet, he needs your help to rescue the stranded crew and rebuild the mothership. Pay the 200-coin fee, then pull on the wires to reveal a robot bird. This bird, which seems to be nameless, actually pings any remaining collectibles in the level. This includes all undiscovered bots, puzzle pieces, and Void levels, which are the secret levels found within other levels (as opposed to those found in the space map). The bird pings collectibles from quite far away, and the pinging intensifies as you get closer.
I won’t spoil who gets the star treatment here, aside from one – the previously revealed Kratos. His introduction sees you wield his ice-infused Leviathan axe and take on the role of the exiled Spartan himself in a thrilling change of pace, the frosty blade boomeranging around the level. It’s here where Astro Bot becomes truly magical, elegantly blending nostalgia with new ideas. Such moments essentially let you play these iconic games in miniature, lending Astro their powers and letting him loose in a level entirely built around familiar stories and settings, soundtracked by remixes of heroic themes. They’re charming and often the real highlight of the experience.