Concerning today’s State of Play event, the general consensus among the HG writers that saw it was that it was a bit of a disappointment, with a couple of exceptions. One of those exceptions was the final game revealed in the presentation, which confirmedsome recent rumors.Yes, a new Astro Bot game is finally coming, this time being the self-titled Astro Bot. It’s the adorable little bot’s second game on the PlayStation 5, after 2020’s pack-in gameAstro’s Playroom,but things appear to be more massive this time around. And the whole shebang is coming out sooner than you might think…
Astro-Nomical
The Astro Bot series hasn’t exactly been one that’s heavy on plot, so the initial reveal trailer –which you can view at the link here– just features our titular hero being woken up in a desert before hooking up with a giant robot PS5 controller (called the Dual Speeder) and setting out for adventure. We get a bit of gyro action with the controller as we soar through a few Star Fox-esque levels, before heading straight into some traditional 3D platforming showcasing a variety of locales like construction zones and casinos, along with new skills like frog gloves that act as grappling hooks and sponges that soak up water, then showing off a few cameo bots, before giving us a good look at massive bosses.
The PlayStation Blog gives us more info,saying that the game will have over eighty levels, fifteen abilities, seventy types of enemies and much more. lt all looks beautiful and fun, especially for fans of the previous games and classic platforming.
That said, while the game looks fantastic, this writer would be lying if there weren’t a few eyebrow-raising things about this reveal. For one, there’s the fact while the original Astro Bot: Rescue Mission game was a VR title for the PlayStation 4, and easily one of its best titles, easily winningour award for VR Game of the Year back then,Astro Bot is notably skipping PSVR2 this time around, which feels like it says something. Second, there are numerous cameos by bots dressed up as characters from other PlayStation games.
While this was cute in Astro’s Playroom, and made sense given that it was the pack-in game for a new console, and thus doubled as a history of PlayStation to celebrate its new chapter and its then-25th anniversary in North America, here these cameos come at a time where these types of crossovers are more and more common, to the point where some audiences are tiring of them. Finally, back in February,Sony stated through a financial reportthat it had no plans for any major franchise titles this year…and yet here they are with a new Astro Bot title, which makes one wonder where the franchise stands in PlayStation’s lineup.
Review: Astro’s Playroom
Astro’s Playroom is a competent platformer that perfectly demonstrates the PlayStation 5 and DualSense’s capabilities.
Of course, none of that actually gets in the way of Astro Bot looking like pure platforming fun, it’s just a little food for thought (plus, seeing a little PaRappa the Rapper robot is cute, it just makes one wonder where an actual new PaRappa game is). Considering the track record of the previous two games, Astro Bot easily looks like it should be a success, and with a rather surprising and sudden release date of September 6, with pre-orders beginning on June 7. It should hopefully be a rather delightful treat for PS5 owners that caps off a summer of gaming, and consider us excited for it.
