Fantastic platformer that was very immersive and interactive. It put the controller into the spotlight, which was novel. Using your controller with different attachments was satisfying and felt like I was in that world. I began to grow a connection to this little robot buddy. If you look at him he waves at you and you want to prevent any deaths to your new buddy.
The major issue was there wasn’t enough enemy diversity. Too much repetition. Using your head to interact with the environment was one of the coolest features; use your head to bash breakable objects and enemies and head the soccer ball back to the goalie enemies. It accurately changed the direction of the ball depending on how you headed it. Extremely satisfying! The highlight for sure was the boss fights. A lot of variety and actual difficulty. I think they nailed the difficulty of the experience overall. The music was good but kinda went unnoticed and only accompanied the action.
Some standout one off levels were the graveyard that was chockful of some cool easter eggs and the Japanese medieval era level. Very cool level design with new concepts that weren’t repeated. It’s the best psvr game and needs to be brought to psvr2.
The major issue was there wasn’t enough enemy diversity. Too much repetition. Using your head to interact with the environment was one of the coolest features; use your head to bash breakable objects and enemies and head the soccer ball back to the goalie enemies. It accurately changed the direction of the ball depending on how you headed it. Extremely satisfying! The highlight for sure was the boss fights. A lot of variety and actual difficulty. I think they nailed the difficulty of the experience overall. The music was good but kinda went unnoticed and only accompanied the action.
Some standout one off levels were the graveyard that was chockful of some cool easter eggs and the Japanese medieval era level. Very cool level design with new concepts that weren’t repeated. It’s the best psvr game and needs to be brought to psvr2.
Astrobot (2018): La mayor virtud de este juego es a su vez su maldición. Es un juego perfecto para VR, pero es que la PSVR es una basura. Por lo demás, muy buen plataformas clásico, adaptado a los 360º que me ha sorprendido gratamente y que demuestra que la inmersión es más que ponerte una pistola y una cámara en primera persona (8,85)
I understand now why this was such a killer app for the PlayStation VR. It's absolutely oozing with charm and uses VR to a highly effective and accessible degree. Each stage is sharply designed and the level design is highly varied. It's a joy to actually have to look around the world to find hidden bots and the various "powerups" with the controller were all enjoyable additions. It's impossible to not be charmed by Astro Bot, I'm glad to have picked up a PlayStation VR even if it's just to experience this lovely treat.
Astrobot is so good it feels like a B tier Nintendo platformer (which is A tier for anyone else).
Really cool vr game
A perfect platformer, making great use of some fantastic VR gimmicks. It's a lot of fun, with a variety of creative and beautiful levels and powerups for you, the floating buddy hanging with Astro through the game. I still don't love that Astro Bot and its little pals feel more like a stand-in tech demo character design aesthetic, but much like in Astro's Playroom for ps5, they do quite a bit to try to inject some personality in him and some great cartoony personality into the bosses, especially. The music is also fantastic. It does get a bit repetitive, but by breaking up levels between worlds into different themes, you're typically not in them for too long. Plus the core gameplay and "hidden object" mechanics are a neat way to really make you observe your surroundings. The difficulty is also paced wonderfully, mostly easy but with a few segments that do pose a challenge. And I love the crane game. This is the most I've wanted to 100 percent a platformer.
I’ll never forgive Sony for putting their best platformer from the last 10 years in PSVR jail
It's peak cinema.
This is cinema
This game is astounding. I love everything about it. It is simple, almost Nintendo-like in its perfection. The levels were so much fun and I loved the different abilities in the game too. The platforming was spectacular and done really well for the virtual reality experience. I adored the music as well as the graphical style of the game as well.
One of the nicest VR experiences there are. Fun platformer with lots of variety and never frustrating gameplay.
Good game to showcase what PS VR is about, surprising platforming sequences and relatively straightforward challenges.
Astro Bot does what its supposed to do very well, but it doesn't hold up to other VR games or other platformers.
Astro Bot does what its supposed to do very well, but it doesn't hold up to other VR games or other platformers.
This is my favorite Nintendo game.
Sony, I will never forgive you for what you've done to Japan Studio.
Sony, I will never forgive you for what you've done to Japan Studio.
Best PSVR game
One of the most charming games I've ever played. And a killer app for VR, I'd honestly say it was almost worth the price of admission by itself. A very fun and unique platformer with a lot of creative ideas, and a delightful visual design. I really hope they make more of these, PlayStation has had at least one iconic first-party platformer series since the PS3, but with PS4 to now, its been very hit or miss. But this and Astro's Playroom are a sign that at least one Sony team still knows the art of the platformer.
Much was said about Astro Bot: Rescue Mission back when it released. Countless "Mario 64 of VR" comparisons were made from both reviewers and players alike, and to this day it still stands amongst the most critically acclaimed VR games ever, and for good reason!
The key to making Rescue Mission work, and how it leverages VR, is the sense of presence - you might not know this if you've only seen a few snippets of it, but the game actually has a first person perspective. The real character you're controlling is a much bigger robot than Astro, which in-game has a controller and follows him around throughout the levels. I'm aware this all sounds like some pointless technicality, but the game will remind you of this, and utilize it very well, constantly
These reminders range from pretty much just set dressing (for example, from the very first level there are some TV screens with cameras which show Astro and yourself from that perspective), to gameplay related things. One very common one used throughout the game is having to headbutt different structures to make paths for Astro or allow you to continue, there are also enemies that won't target Astro at all but will attack you instead, secret areas that will make you lean and turn to get a good view of them, with the most important one being the usage of the in-game controller which I'll go into more detail later.
Another thing that always impressed me about the game's use of VR, is how incredibly polished and smartly designed it feels. One example could be the loading screens, which are always the worst part of any VR game as you're pretty much forced to sit down staring at a logo or a loading icon without due to the nature of wearing a VR headset - not in Rescue Mission though! The game doesn't really have particularly long loading screens to begin with, but they're made nearly imperceptible due to how they're presented.
When you select a level, you will see it condense into a floating orb in front of you while Astro jumps inside your controller. This floating orb (which is really the loading icon) can be pushed around with your controller without any real purpose other than offering some interaction as the game loads, then after a few seconds it will change into the shape of said controller and prompt you to put it inside, after which you will see the word "digitalize" around you in this matrix-looking effect. This will give you as much time as you want to properly begin the level, letting you take in the view as you look around, and then to finally start the level you just have to flick Astro out of your controller (he had jumped inside, remember!)
Another smartly designed feature of the game is how each level has a unique Chameleon hidden within for you to find and collect. However, unlike a typical collectible, the way to collect these Chameleons is by staring at them for a few seconds. They have a sound cue that plays when one is nearby, so once you hear it you will start looking around every corner of the area you're on to try and find it until you finally do, likely spotting a Bot or two that needs rescuing along the way.
What amazes me is that they're just the kinds of things you would expect through refinement and iteration, and while it's true that Rescue Mission itself is an expanded version of the Robots Rescue mini-game from Playroom VR, this is still not only their first attempt at a game of this scope, but also one of the first in general to utilize VR in this way. To knock it out of the park in this way is nothing short of incredible.
All of these features really make it easy to get lost and immersed into the game's world, which even when taken as a traditional platformer is no slouch either. There is some great variety in its' levels themes, with some traditional platformer tropes such as Forest, Beach and Volcano themes but also some original ones like the Ninja, Graveyard and Ruins levels - with every level having new gimmicks and ideas to keep them fresh. This is a good time to talk about one of the central mechanics of Rescue Mission: the controller.
As I mentioned before, the character you play as in the game has a controller they're holding on to at all times. This controller is obviously a stand-in for the one you're holding yourself (a DualShock 4), which has a light on the back of it that allows for not only its rotation to be tracked but also its position. At first, this seems like just a neat little detail to increase immersion a bit and maybe offer some grounding to reality (which has been shown to help reduce VR sickness), but a few levels in you will find out the real reason for its inclusion... the gadgets!
Throughout the game's levels, Astro will come across chests which when interacted with will float up in front of you and prompt you to place the controller in a controller-shaped slot. Once you do, this will modify your controller with a gadget that you will be required to use until the end of the level. These gadgets have different purposes depending on the level, for example one of the first ones you get is a water gun which is used to water plants and cause them to grow, spin, move, etc., but then in one of the Volcano levels it's used to temporarily cool down metal platforms so that Astro can walk on top of them or freeze lava to create a path. Another one is a rope that can be launched and attached to hooks placed around the world to create a tightrope for Astro to either walk on or bounce off from if you jank it upwards as he's walking on it, while if you jank it towards you it can break walls, pull bridges and other gizmos.
As a platforming character Astro doesn't really have a lot of abilities - he can jump, punch and hover in the air for a few secons with a laser attack, but the key to keeping it fun throughout the whole game is that he feels great to control, and the inclusion of these controller mechanics. They are what ends up fully fleshing out the gameplay loop, and Astro's simple moveset ends up working perfectly with them as multitasking these gadgets with a much more complex platforming character could get frustrating quick.
In terms of overall content on offer it's pretty damn solid too, especially taking into account it wasn't sold for full price. The game is split up in five worlds, each with 5 levels (with the last one of a world being a bossfight), plus the final boss which is its own separate level. Each level has 8 Bots for you to rescue (hence the "Rescue Mission" title), and while there are progression gates that will force you to have rescued a minimum amount of Bots to progress, unless you've been totally ignoring them it's unlikely you will be stopped and forced to go back. Assuming you're just playing through the levels casually and rescuing a few bots you can certainly finish this game pretty quickly, say 7-8 hours, but if you wanna fully complete it and collect everything you can extend that a bunch.
The main side content is unlocked through the Chameleons I mentioned previously - finding a level's Chameleon will unlock a Challenge for you to play. These Challenge levels vary in objective, some will put you in a race to the finish across a tricky level, while others will be score-based and require you to defeat enemies as Astro or with a gadget, and finally there's boss rematches where you have to defeat the boss without getting hit (these are unlocked automatically after defeating a boss). Depending on how well you completed the objective you will either get nothing, a silver Bot, or both a silver and a gold Bot that will get sent to the ship.
This ship is where every rescued Bot gets sent to, and you can visit it at any time. The main attraction here is the Gacha machine, where spending coins will get you a small figures based on the game's levels, characters, enemies and bosses which will then decorate one of the Ship's enviroments. For example, one of the bosses of the game is a fire octopus, and once you get its figure on the gacha machine, you'll be able to see him outside the Ship's window when you switch to the fire enviroment. Unlocking everything in an enviroment then results in turning the ship into a mini playground with a few gimmicks here and there, and while there's not really any objective or much to do in them, running around as Astro with a hundred plus bots following you around is pretty fun.
One last thing I'd like to mention about this game is the Bossfights. There's few 3D platformers where I would consider the bossfights to be a highlight of the game, but Rescue Mission absolutely qualifies! These bosses are all giant enemies (which coupled with the sense of scale VR allows gives them a very impressive look), and they're so lively and well animated that you can't help but look forwards to each boss encounter. In typical Rescue Mission fashion, all of them also require cooperation between Astro and yourself with the controller in order to defeat them, making you feel like a proper team once you finally see those huge beasts defeated.
While I loved Astro's Playroom on PS5 and am beyond excited for the upcoming-and-weirdly-named "Astro Bot" full standalone game, I can't help but be a bit sad that we're unlikely to ever see an evolution of this VR Astro Bot formula. However, it's really a miracle that it was even made to begin with (let alone that it turned out so good), and it managed to save Team Asobi so that they could keep creating games so I'll always be grateful that such a special game released at all. My only fear at this point is that the game is stuck in aging VR hardware, so hopefully it can one day be ported or emulated on a platform where it can be preserved long-term. But yeah, any platformer fan owes it to themselves to try this if they ever get the chance!
The key to making Rescue Mission work, and how it leverages VR, is the sense of presence - you might not know this if you've only seen a few snippets of it, but the game actually has a first person perspective. The real character you're controlling is a much bigger robot than Astro, which in-game has a controller and follows him around throughout the levels. I'm aware this all sounds like some pointless technicality, but the game will remind you of this, and utilize it very well, constantly
These reminders range from pretty much just set dressing (for example, from the very first level there are some TV screens with cameras which show Astro and yourself from that perspective), to gameplay related things. One very common one used throughout the game is having to headbutt different structures to make paths for Astro or allow you to continue, there are also enemies that won't target Astro at all but will attack you instead, secret areas that will make you lean and turn to get a good view of them, with the most important one being the usage of the in-game controller which I'll go into more detail later.
Another thing that always impressed me about the game's use of VR, is how incredibly polished and smartly designed it feels. One example could be the loading screens, which are always the worst part of any VR game as you're pretty much forced to sit down staring at a logo or a loading icon without due to the nature of wearing a VR headset - not in Rescue Mission though! The game doesn't really have particularly long loading screens to begin with, but they're made nearly imperceptible due to how they're presented.
When you select a level, you will see it condense into a floating orb in front of you while Astro jumps inside your controller. This floating orb (which is really the loading icon) can be pushed around with your controller without any real purpose other than offering some interaction as the game loads, then after a few seconds it will change into the shape of said controller and prompt you to put it inside, after which you will see the word "digitalize" around you in this matrix-looking effect. This will give you as much time as you want to properly begin the level, letting you take in the view as you look around, and then to finally start the level you just have to flick Astro out of your controller (he had jumped inside, remember!)
Another smartly designed feature of the game is how each level has a unique Chameleon hidden within for you to find and collect. However, unlike a typical collectible, the way to collect these Chameleons is by staring at them for a few seconds. They have a sound cue that plays when one is nearby, so once you hear it you will start looking around every corner of the area you're on to try and find it until you finally do, likely spotting a Bot or two that needs rescuing along the way.
What amazes me is that they're just the kinds of things you would expect through refinement and iteration, and while it's true that Rescue Mission itself is an expanded version of the Robots Rescue mini-game from Playroom VR, this is still not only their first attempt at a game of this scope, but also one of the first in general to utilize VR in this way. To knock it out of the park in this way is nothing short of incredible.
All of these features really make it easy to get lost and immersed into the game's world, which even when taken as a traditional platformer is no slouch either. There is some great variety in its' levels themes, with some traditional platformer tropes such as Forest, Beach and Volcano themes but also some original ones like the Ninja, Graveyard and Ruins levels - with every level having new gimmicks and ideas to keep them fresh. This is a good time to talk about one of the central mechanics of Rescue Mission: the controller.
As I mentioned before, the character you play as in the game has a controller they're holding on to at all times. This controller is obviously a stand-in for the one you're holding yourself (a DualShock 4), which has a light on the back of it that allows for not only its rotation to be tracked but also its position. At first, this seems like just a neat little detail to increase immersion a bit and maybe offer some grounding to reality (which has been shown to help reduce VR sickness), but a few levels in you will find out the real reason for its inclusion... the gadgets!
Throughout the game's levels, Astro will come across chests which when interacted with will float up in front of you and prompt you to place the controller in a controller-shaped slot. Once you do, this will modify your controller with a gadget that you will be required to use until the end of the level. These gadgets have different purposes depending on the level, for example one of the first ones you get is a water gun which is used to water plants and cause them to grow, spin, move, etc., but then in one of the Volcano levels it's used to temporarily cool down metal platforms so that Astro can walk on top of them or freeze lava to create a path. Another one is a rope that can be launched and attached to hooks placed around the world to create a tightrope for Astro to either walk on or bounce off from if you jank it upwards as he's walking on it, while if you jank it towards you it can break walls, pull bridges and other gizmos.
As a platforming character Astro doesn't really have a lot of abilities - he can jump, punch and hover in the air for a few secons with a laser attack, but the key to keeping it fun throughout the whole game is that he feels great to control, and the inclusion of these controller mechanics. They are what ends up fully fleshing out the gameplay loop, and Astro's simple moveset ends up working perfectly with them as multitasking these gadgets with a much more complex platforming character could get frustrating quick.
In terms of overall content on offer it's pretty damn solid too, especially taking into account it wasn't sold for full price. The game is split up in five worlds, each with 5 levels (with the last one of a world being a bossfight), plus the final boss which is its own separate level. Each level has 8 Bots for you to rescue (hence the "Rescue Mission" title), and while there are progression gates that will force you to have rescued a minimum amount of Bots to progress, unless you've been totally ignoring them it's unlikely you will be stopped and forced to go back. Assuming you're just playing through the levels casually and rescuing a few bots you can certainly finish this game pretty quickly, say 7-8 hours, but if you wanna fully complete it and collect everything you can extend that a bunch.
The main side content is unlocked through the Chameleons I mentioned previously - finding a level's Chameleon will unlock a Challenge for you to play. These Challenge levels vary in objective, some will put you in a race to the finish across a tricky level, while others will be score-based and require you to defeat enemies as Astro or with a gadget, and finally there's boss rematches where you have to defeat the boss without getting hit (these are unlocked automatically after defeating a boss). Depending on how well you completed the objective you will either get nothing, a silver Bot, or both a silver and a gold Bot that will get sent to the ship.
This ship is where every rescued Bot gets sent to, and you can visit it at any time. The main attraction here is the Gacha machine, where spending coins will get you a small figures based on the game's levels, characters, enemies and bosses which will then decorate one of the Ship's enviroments. For example, one of the bosses of the game is a fire octopus, and once you get its figure on the gacha machine, you'll be able to see him outside the Ship's window when you switch to the fire enviroment. Unlocking everything in an enviroment then results in turning the ship into a mini playground with a few gimmicks here and there, and while there's not really any objective or much to do in them, running around as Astro with a hundred plus bots following you around is pretty fun.
One last thing I'd like to mention about this game is the Bossfights. There's few 3D platformers where I would consider the bossfights to be a highlight of the game, but Rescue Mission absolutely qualifies! These bosses are all giant enemies (which coupled with the sense of scale VR allows gives them a very impressive look), and they're so lively and well animated that you can't help but look forwards to each boss encounter. In typical Rescue Mission fashion, all of them also require cooperation between Astro and yourself with the controller in order to defeat them, making you feel like a proper team once you finally see those huge beasts defeated.
While I loved Astro's Playroom on PS5 and am beyond excited for the upcoming-and-weirdly-named "Astro Bot" full standalone game, I can't help but be a bit sad that we're unlikely to ever see an evolution of this VR Astro Bot formula. However, it's really a miracle that it was even made to begin with (let alone that it turned out so good), and it managed to save Team Asobi so that they could keep creating games so I'll always be grateful that such a special game released at all. My only fear at this point is that the game is stuck in aging VR hardware, so hopefully it can one day be ported or emulated on a platform where it can be preserved long-term. But yeah, any platformer fan owes it to themselves to try this if they ever get the chance!
probably the best 3D platformer since mario galaxy 2 100% unironically
also the best VR game I've ever played by far
also the best VR game I've ever played by far
killer title for the psvr and it’s a platformer
The BEST PlayStation VR game, hands down. A must play. I would say even worthy buying a used PSVR1 if you have PSVR2 only for this game. The campaign mode is very nice, though going for platinum requires a bit more effort than I am willing to spend.
Team Asobi's debut title that originates from a 10 minute long tech demo in a free downloadable PSVR game gets an upgrade to a full priced (for VR) and length VR game that delivers on every front. It may have taken me nearly 6 years to play this game, and while this is my first VR title, I don't think I could have chosen a better title to play than this one. The fact that this team was able to execute a 3D Platformer in VR so perfectly is astounding. Such relatively simple gameplay and controls, but so perfectly amplified by the fact its being done in VR. It's hard to describe, but the game is able to really perfectly throw you into this environment where you have full 360 movement to look ahead, behind, and to the side of you as you help guide astro through 26 relatively short, but packed levels. What really helps this game is that no one world has a certain theme. Each world gives you so many different themes. You could start the world in a relatively simple city level, and then over into a lush forest followed by an underground cavern lit by mushrooms and then followed up by a lush beach that takes you to the bottom of the ocean floor. Even when some of the levels feel like they're repeating at first, this game always finds a really clever way of doing something new with it and surprising you out of left field. If you ever have access to a PSVR, this is a MUST PLAY. Do not pass up the chance to play one of the best VR games to date. This only makes me hope that whatever Team Asobi is working on post Astros Playroom isn't related to PSVR2. I'm sure it'll be fantastic, but I don't want to wait another 6-8 years until PSVR2 is in my price range to be able to play it. I'd rather slap $40-$70 down for an Astros Playroom that's double the length of what Playroom was. Whatever it is, I'm glad Team Asobi seemed to make it out of Jim Ryan's insane Playstation Layoffs unscathed and can't wait to see what they're planning next.
Mario was the undisputed king of 3D platformers since the N64 days. But every king has to fall someday and a new one has to arise. The new king is Astro Bot. A super cute little robot that is already known from the free Playroom Demo. Astro Bot: Rescue Mission is basically Mario 64 where you travel to small worlds, collect coins and – instead of stars – missing crew members to unlock new levels. The design of the five worlds is outstanding, the controls are tight and the graphics are fantastic. There is a lot of charm, colour, unique art-style and an amazing soundtrack. Astro Bot jumps across chasms, on moving platforms, dodges deadly obstacles and jumps on or smashes a good range of quirky enemies. But what really takes it to the next level is the way the developer implemented VR-technology. Instead of just “watching” the screen the player and its controller are entities inside the game world that can alter the levels. You have to look around obstacles, follow Astro Bot’s path with head movement and help him out with several virtual tools for your controller. For example you can shoot ropes that Astro Bot can balance on or you extinguish fire enemies with a water gun. Head tracking and gyro controls are masterly woven into the gameplay and provide a lot of change during the course of the game. All this especially comes into effect during the fantastic boss fights at the end of every world. You really feel like a part of the game instead of a disconnected observer that only controls the protagonist. Trust me on this: You have to experience it for yourself. Words, screenshots and videos don’t do this game any justice. Absolutely try it for yourself! Astro Bot: Rescue Mission is pretty much the perfect VR game. It’s easy to learn, perfectly showcases the capabilities of VR technology and is immensely fun to play with minimal risk for motion sickness. One could argue about the lengths of the game though. The 26 main levels can be finished in six to eight hours. There are 26 additional challenge levels which can get pretty hard, especially when going for gold medals. These add several more hours to the play time. And then there is a beautiful panorama level where you can collect little animated figures with your collected coins through a claw machine.
num tem vr :)
Genuinely would've been an amazing time if the PSVR was at all decent. The controller tracking is just god awful on the Dualshock 4 and the overreliance on the motion control was impossible to work with. I went from wanting to get the platinum on this because I loved Playroom so much, to just clawing my way to the end. And it sucks, because if it weren't for that then the game would be amazing. Astro is so fun to control. I love this little guy. I really tried to put in the time, I 100%ed the first 2 worlds, but man I just can't handle the motion controls. I hope that new rumored Astro game is not a VR2 game.
achei o jogo apenas bom, eu tenho ps vr mas morro de preguiça de concluir esse jogo, acho que nunca mais vou jogar ele.
I very innovative platformer. Its shame most won't be able to play it.
When PlayStation VR launched in October 2016 VR had an exciting and promising future ahead of it. The new tech ushered in fascinating titles and immersive ports, with PSVR growing to be the best-selling VR platform in 2017. The launch also posed a host of challenges to both developers and gamers, and even today it remains difficult to demo and convey the content to those that don’t have a headset. At its inception, Sony understood that PSVR was generation one hardware, and with it would come all of the experimentation, successes, and misfires of an introductory piece of tech. The promised land of VR wasn’t going to arrive right away. Rather, it would take quite some time for rich experiences exclusive to the platform to hit store shelves. While all of the VR platforms have some excellent software now, there’s not a single PSVR exclusive that I could recommend without some caveats. While Super Hot, Resident Evil 7, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in PSVR offer engaging ways to play older titles, they are games that can be played without a headset. Like many early adopters of PSVR I’ve been waiting for something truly exceptional that can only be played in PSVR and nowhere else – a title that takes the platform to new heights, and one that becomes an easy recommendation for any PSVR owner, both currently and in the future. Astro Bot Rescue Mission is that game.
Full Review: https://neoncloudff.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/astro-bot-rescue-mission-review-breakthrough-vr-platforming/
Full Review: https://neoncloudff.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/astro-bot-rescue-mission-review-breakthrough-vr-platforming/
Literally everything I wanted in a VR game, please sequel for PSVR2
Edit: Just say you hate us, Sony. Be for real with us man. It’s okay, I just wanna hear you admit it. I’ve already accepted it. Still gonna play the new Astro game regardless though
9.8/10
Edit: Just say you hate us, Sony. Be for real with us man. It’s okay, I just wanna hear you admit it. I’ve already accepted it. Still gonna play the new Astro game regardless though
9.8/10
Astro is my son