The PSVR has been out for over two years and it has given us some unforgettable memories. From wandering around in evil houses to guiding a cute mouse to safety, if you played a game in Virtual Reality, it’s hard to forget the experience. Astro Bot Rescue Mission is the newest PSVR exclusive game and might even be the best on one the market. Why? Let me explain that to you.
Save those cute robots
If you bought your PlayStation VR a couple of months ago, you might remember the cute little Astro Bot as part of the PlayRoom demo. In this free demo, you could play a couple of extremely cute mini-games with the adorable little robot. The fans liked Astro Bot and Sony certainly paid attention. Now, months later, Astro Bot Rescue Mission lands in stores and marks the start of Astro Bot’s first big adventure. An adventure filled with colorful environments, cute robots, and smart VR tricks. Yes, this game is without a doubt one of the best VR games on the market and right from the start, you’ll understand why.
At the start of the game, you’re floating around in space, a gorgeous sight in VR but things get a lot more interesting when there’s a spacecraft with hundreds of little robots dancing in front of your face. As if this scene was too cute, it got interrupted by a giant monster (you can take this quite literally since it’s huge in VR) that destroyed most of the spaceship and threw hundreds of small robots into space, separating them on six different planets. One brave little guy survived, the captain of the Astro Bots and together with him, you’ll start your quest to save his friends!
Discover the world together
What the game does best is its immersion, right from the start, you’ll feel a connection to the characters and their world. Besides the small robot running around, you’ll constantly see a virtual controller floating in the air. This functioning controller serves as the house of the captain and all his little friends you’ll rescue. At the start of each level, our cute little friend jumps off to the ground while happily waving at you while he’s on the move. It’s such a cute sight, you’ll immediately feel love for the small robot and you’ll immediately feel responsible. If something bad happens to him, you’ll feel guilty. It’s an extremely smart way of pushing the gamer to do his or best to clear the platforms as good as possible.
At its core, Astro Bot Rescue Mission is a platforming game like Super Mario Bros. It’s clear that the game took inspiration from other platform games but thanks to Virtual Reality, it really feels different. Astro Bot itself isn’t that powerful, he can jump, hover, and punch his enemies. The buttons used are limited, resulting in a game that the entire family can enjoy. No, clearing all the levels and defeating all the bosses isn’t that hard. It will take you around eight hours to complete every level but you’ll enjoy every second of it, thanks to the variation, the game keeps surprising you until the very end.
Surprise after surprise
The way the levels are created is truly admirable. At one point, you’re racing in a mine cart while at another moment, you’ve been eaten alive by a giant sea-monster. It’s nothing really that innovating but you’ve never seen a game like this in VR. It really demands a lot of interaction and you’ll literally need to move around in order to keep track of the little robot. Standing up, sitting down, looking behind you, looking over a ledge, destroying objects by headbutting them, it’s all in the game. Thanks to this, the worlds are lifted to a new level of immersion and it all looks amazing in VR. I especially liked moments where water was running down my face or when a giant soccer ball created a crack in my virtual headset.
It’s amazing to see how creative the team actually is, this is by far the most original and most enjoyable VR game in my collection and that says a lot. It’s a game that will suck you into its cute world the moment you start it and it will only let you go once you’ve cleared the entire game. As said before, the levels aren’t that challenging but finding all those hidden robots is. If you want to find them all, you’ll need to spend a lot of extra hours in the gorgeous levels, which isn’t a punishment at all.
Oh little one, where art thou?
As said in the introduction, Astro Bot’s friends have all been catapulted to one of the six planets, finding them all is your true goal of the game but it won’t be easy! In the first levels, it’s rather obvious where those little guys are located. You’ll always hear them cry for help and thanks to their orange vests, you’ll immediately recognize them. The more you advance, the harder it all gets. Not all of those small robots are waiting to be rescued, some are just chilling under a rock, making it a lot harder for the gamer to spot them. If you want to find them, you’ll need to use all the tricks correctly and even then, you can still easily miss one.
To make it even more fun, you’ll get special items from time to time. Those items are always connected to your controller and you can use them by using the touchpad. From a grappling hook to a water hose and even ninja stars, those extra tools will definitely come in handy when you’re looking for all the secrets in the levels. In other games, you wouldn’t care this much to find everything but since those cute little guys jump into your virtual controller, you’ll want to have them all before the level is over. Still not challenging enough? Well, if you find the chameleon in the level, you’ll unlock an extra difficult challenge level afterward. As you can see, the game is literally packed with great content!
Conclusion:
Astro Bot Rescue Mission is the perfect example of what Virtual Reality can add to your gameplay. What would have been a great platforming game without VR transforms into an unforgettable journey thanks to the VR headset. It’s filled with amazing moments and the characters are so cute you simply can’t stop playing it. If you own a PSVR, this one is a must-have. If you don’t own a PSVR, this is the game you’ve all been waiting for!
