On the subject of PlayStation exclusives, my eyes are inclined to glaze over. Although I can definitely see how they’re good video games worthy of reward, in the case of the likes of God of Struggle, Spider-Man, or Uncharted, I wrestle to get on board the hype-mobile to the identical diploma as everybody else. Status places me off, and nobody does status like Sony.
Astro Bot is totally different, although. An earnest celebration of PlayStation, that little man has sucked me in and dragged me throughout the cosmos, and I’ve beloved each second of it. However one degree particularly makes me surprise if Astro Bot could possibly be what I must get into its larger, extra suave console mates.
Dude Raiding is Astro Bot’s tackle the Uncharted sequence. Close to the beginning, you choose up robo-Nathan Drake’s gun and begin blasting your approach by means of jungles and ruins, trying to find his associates and possibly some treasure alongside the best way.
As others have identified already, Astro Bot has the vibes of the Lego sequence. It takes usually heavy supply materials and offers it a light-hearted, kid-friendly tone that’s underpinned with completely killer gameplay.
Having performed all the first Uncharted recreation and about half of Amongst Thieves earlier than giving up, the primary signal Asobi was onto a winner with Dude Raiding was how rapidly I locked again into the cover-based shootouts and precariously dangling from ropes. I used to be greatly surprised at simply how devoted Astro Bot was to its supply materials.
After all, it’s extra simplistic than Naughty Canine’s Uncharted. There aren’t any grenades, melee takedowns, or Nolan North blabbering away at you, however that helps Dude Raiding turn into a distillation of Uncharted.
The taking pictures feels implausible regardless of being a single button with no aiming wanted, the platforming is stellar and infrequently combines with the taking pictures so as to add extra problem to each, and, in its far-too-short runtime, it has an amazing vary of set items, arenas to combat in, and puzzles to unravel that Drake’s adventures are recognized for.
Nevertheless it nonetheless looks like there’s extra it may do with the foundations Dude Raiding introduces. We solely acquired a taster of what Astro Bot: Uncharted could possibly be. An entire recreation could possibly be full of larger setpieces, extra complicated platforming sections, extra concerned puzzles, bigger fight encounters, and even an amazing deal with characters and story beats, all with out dropping any of the Astro Bot appeal that carries it thus far.
Automobile sections with the tactility of how Astro Bot makes use of the DualSense controller can be wild.
Astro Bot Remembers When Uncharted Used To Be Enjoyable
Astro Bot feels prefer it solely scratches the floor of what it may do in homage to Uncharted, however that’s solely a part of why I’m so concerned about seeing a full Astro Bot remake of it. Dude Raiding is Uncharted with out the bulging budgets and triple-A gumph, and it’s enjoyable as hell.
As I discussed earlier than, the proper sheen of Sony’s model of status gaming has by no means grabbed me. Whether or not it’s Christopher Decide continuously making nods to taking part in Kratos on the Future Recreation Present, or arguments about how a lot of a twink Peter Parker is, it’s all the time felt like there’s a self-important smarm surrounding not simply Sony, however big-budget gaming on the whole.
Astro Bot isn’t like that. There’s unabashed earnestness to it that isn’t attempting to seize the dialog or turn into an icon, despite the fact that it in all probability will turn into that anyway. It cuts by means of the pomp and preening Sony’s recognized for and simply enjoys being a online game, relatively than a media property.
I don’t care about what number of rays are traced, or what number of hours Nolan North and Troy Baker spent strapped right into a mocap swimsuit. With Astro Bot, all the large causes I bounced so exhausting off the Uncharted sequence are gone. I need the enjoyment of being Nathan Drake, or a cute robotic approximation of him, taking pictures up mercenaries in an extremely structurally insecure jungle, and Astro Bot is how I get that.
Asobi has already proved the mechanics are there for an Uncharted Astro Bot recreation, and the end result is without doubt one of the finest ranges in the most effective video games of the 12 months. Give Robo-Drake his personal outing, and I’d be there day one. Which isn’t one thing I can say about A Thief’s Finish or any of the video games that got here earlier than it.
