When it comes to PlayStation exclusives, my eyes tend to glaze over. Though I can certainly see how they’re good games worthy of praise, when it comes to the likes of God of War, Spider-Man, or Uncharted, I struggle to get on board the hype-mobile to the same degree as everyone else. Prestige puts me off, and no one does prestige like Sony.
Astro Botis different, though. An earnest celebration of PlayStation, that little guy has sucked me in and dragged me across the cosmos, and I’ve loved every second of it. But one level in particular makes me wonder if Astro Bot could be what I need to get into its bigger, more suave console mates.
Dude Raidingis Astro Bot’s take on the Uncharted series. Near the start, you pick up robo-Nathan Drake’s gun and start blasting your way through jungles and ruins, hunting for his friends and maybe some treasure along the way.
As others have pointed out already,Astro Bot has the vibes of the Lego series. It takes often heavy source material and gives it a light-hearted, kid-friendly tone that’s underpinned with utterly killer gameplay.
Having played all of the first Uncharted game and about half of Among Thieves before giving up, the first sign Asobi was onto a winner with Dude Raiding was how quickly I locked back into the cover-based shootouts and precariously dangling from ropes. I was taken aback at just how faithful Astro Bot was to its source material.
Of course, it’s more simplistic than Naughty Dog’s Uncharted. There are no grenades, melee takedowns, or Nolan North blabbering away at you, but that helps Dude Raiding become a distillation of Uncharted.
The shooting feels fantastic despite being a single button with no aiming needed, the platforming is stellar and often combines with the shooting to add more difficulty to both, and, in its far-too-short runtime, it has a great range of set pieces, arenas to fight in, and puzzles to solve that Drake’s adventures are known for.
But it still feels like there’s more it could do with the foundations Dude Raiding introduces. We only got a taster of what Astro Bot: Uncharted could be. A whole game could be full of bigger setpieces, more complex platforming sections, more involved puzzles, larger combat encounters, and even a great focus on characters and story beats, all without losing any of the Astro Bot charm that carries it so far.
Vehicle sections with the tactility of how Astro Bot uses the DualSense controller would be wild.
Astro Bot Remembers When Uncharted Used To Be Fun
Astro Bot feels like it only scratches the surface of what it could do in homage to Uncharted, but that’s only part of why I’m so interested in seeing a full Astro Bot remake of it. Dude Raiding is Uncharted without the bulging budgets and triple-A gumph, and it’s fun as hell.
As I mentioned before, the perfect sheen of Sony’s brand of prestige gaming has never grabbed me. Whether it’s Christopher Judge constantly making nods to playing Kratos at the Future Game Show, or arguments abouthow much of a twink Peter Parker is, it’s always felt like there’s a self-important smarm surrounding not just Sony, but big-budget gaming in general.
Astro Bot isn’t like that. There’s unabashed earnestness to it that isn’t trying to capture the conversation or become an icon, even though it probably will become that anyway. It cuts through the pomp and preening Sony’s known for and just enjoys being a video game, rather than a media property.
I don’t care about how many rays are traced, or how many hours Nolan North and Troy Baker spent strapped into a mocap suit. With Astro Bot, all of the big reasons I bounced so hard off the Uncharted series are gone. I want the joy of being Nathan Drake, or a cute robot approximation of him, shooting up mercenaries in an incredibly structurally insecure jungle, and Astro Bot is how I get that.
Asobi has already proved the mechanics are there for an Uncharted Astro Bot game, and the result is one of the best levels in one of the best games of the year. Give Robo-Drake his own outing, and I’d be there day one. Which isn’t something I can say about A Thief’s End or any of the games that came before it.
Astro Bot
WHERE TO PLAY
JOIN ASTRO IN A BRAND-NEW, SUPERSIZED SPACE ADVENTUREThe PS5® mothership has been wrecked, leaving ASTRO and the bot crew scattered all over the galaxies. Time to ride your trusty Dual Speeder across more than 50 planets full of fun, danger and surprises. On your journey, make the most of ASTRO’s new powers and reunite with many iconic heroes from the PlayStation universe!Blast off on a supersized adventureFrom sandy beaches to lush jungles and piping-hot volcanoes, explore a myriad of memorable planets in search of Astro’s lost crew!Power up your platformingWith your new powers, battle out a whole new roster of quirky baddies and huge bosses. Feel every hop, punch and crack through your DualSense wireless controller.Join the PlayStation celebrationReunite with over 150 iconic PlayStation heroes and celebrate 30 years of PlayStation history!
