This will take a total of 64 Puzzle Pieces, or four groups of 16. Music is an important part of pretty much every video game, but these titles take their soundtracks to a whole new level. The most refreshing thing about the PlayStation Bots is that they’re not used as often as one would expect.

Everyone should be able to play this masterpiece, but maybe the PS5 should actually get more games to play. Special Bots can be found as you progress through Astro Bot, each one dressed as a character from PlayStation’s long history. There are hundreds of them to collect, appearing in each level of the game. As part of our Astro Bot guide, we’re going to reveal all Special Bots, who they are, and where to find them. To start the year on a good note, we are delighted to announce new Astro Bot content is coming starting today.

Knocking a Rescued Bot out of a Bot Wall will unlock the Wall Buster trophy in Astro Bot. At the Crash Site, you can call on your Rescued Bots to help unlock new areas or find new Bots and Puzzle Pieces. Sometimes the Rescued Bots will stack on top of each other to transform into a Bot Wall that you can walk up. Press down on the D-Pad to emote while standing in front of Crash Bandicoot. Give Astro Bot a chance to complete a full dance with Crash Bandicoot to collect the Let’s Twist Again trophy. If you give Kratos Bot a friendly punch at your Crash Site, he’ll use his axe to freeze you into an ice cube.

Astro Bot: New Speedrun Level And Special Bots Opens An External Website

This walkthrough shows all collectibles in each level for 100% game completion and all trophies. Master Onion is the secret 301st bot, the last one you’ll unlock in the game. 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.

It’s a riot of collectibles and hub world distractions, and it’s thought about your time, too, and how to make the best of it. It looks absolutely stunning and perfect for a family-friendly platformer. The whole aesthetic and atmosphere of the game are enhanced by its distinct and recognizable designs. To add to this, the game’s callbacks to its older and other IPs by integrating character designs into Astro Bot are amazing as well, since they’re instantly recognizable the moment you see them. The animations are also a work of art since they took time to make unique interactions for the special bots.

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One track that stands out is the music at the Luna Sola level. Its gimmick focuses on a day/night cycle, and the way Young composed it is genius. The day portion has music that’s a lot more jazzy, while the switch to nighttime sounds more like a lullaby. There are many touches like this throughout the game, but the best and most stellar music is reserved for the boss battles. As fun as the gameplay and nostalgic references are, what really makes Astro Bot’s gameplay so great is the accompanying music.

Normally, a game like this would be quite a chore for players seeking to polish off all of its optional items to 100% completion, but Astro Bot offers a special tool that makes this process much faster and more enjoyable. There are over 300 bots to collect with 173 advertised as special bots, all dressed as characters from the PlayStation family past and present. Finding these bots felt like collecting Waddle Dees in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, but with nostalgic excitement every time a special bot is recognized. Every bot collected throughout the levels gets sent to a hub world called The Crash Site.

This game is in my stocking ($33 US from Costco last month), so I probably won’t get to play that level this year. It’s a refreshing change of pace that means you end up spending much more time here than in the more straightforward levels. However, Winter Wonder doesn’t just stand out for its immaculate festive vibes. It also happens to be one of the best (if not the best) levels in the entire game. TG88 of seven Special Bots await rescue, each the reward for solving puzzles and exploring the level fully.

We have added the first four to the bottom of this list and will continue adding them as the levels are released. A whirl of bots to rescue, of loving Playstation references, of deep cuts like Ape Escape and more recent stars, who get outings I don’t really want to ruin. It’s boss fights when you expected them and boss fights when you absolutely didn’t. An entire level set on a dream of 1930’s skyscraper construction sites! Many of these things are platformer standards, but that’s kind of the point, because the game always chucks something in to warp it and make it fresh.

Astro Bot’s Hub World Will Make You Want To Collect Everything

However, the way it presents itself and the way it integrates its older titles into the game make it a unique experience. Astro Bot is nothing short of a masterpiece, an ingenious platformer filled with vibrant worlds and ingenious design. It’s a game that oozes creativity, consistently delighting and surprising the player with new mechanics, gameplay twists, smart boss battles, and jaw-dropping set-piece moments. But past that, it’s also a grand celebration of PlayStation and video game history as a whole — the only game that’s been able to rival Super Smash Bros. in that regard.

There are a few different reasons for this, the first of which is that Astro Bot’s core gameplay is as solid as titanium. If you’ve played any other Mario-esque platformer, you know what to expect here, but Team Asobo has really created a game that feels astoundingly satisfying to play, even in the most minute ways. You have absolute control of Astro’s jumps and punches, with smart features like lasers that come out of his feet opening up even more options for gameplay. Astro Bot received universal acclaim from both critics and players. Game8 rated it 96/100, calling it the best platformer of the year, praising its stunning visuals, great design, and fun, simple controls.