Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (2018): The Review

Overview

Astro Bot Rescue Mission doesn’t just tweak the platforming formula, it straight-up flips it on its head by changing where you stand in the world. PSVR’s sense of depth turns simple jumps into little spectacles, like watching Astro drop from your eye level to some distant trampoline and then rocket back up past your face like it’s showing off.

Score: 9 out of 10

The Positives ✅

When Sony wanted to show off the original DualShock, they gave us Ape Escape. When they wanted to show off PSVR, Japan Studio gave us Astro Bot Rescue Mission. And honestly? It’s the best “this is why you bought this hardware” game PSVR ever got. From the very first seconds, it’s clear this isn’t just a normal platformer with VR slapped on, it’s built for it. The opening cutscene alone, with characters flying from far away straight into your face, immediately messes with your sense of space in the best way possible.

The core idea is simple but brilliant: you control Captain Astro like a normal platformer character, but you are also a character inside the world, acting as the camera robot. You’re constantly moving your head, leaning, peeking around corners, and physically repositioning yourself to see where the path goes. It takes a bit to unlearn normal camera habits, but once it clicks, it feels magical. Levels aren’t just spaces you run through, they’re little 3D dioramas you explore with your whole upper body.

The level design is where the game really flexes. Sometimes the path goes above and behind you and you literally have to turn around in your chair. Other times, the solution is hidden until you lean to the side or stick your face into a wall to smash it open. It’s playful, clever, and constantly surprising. The controls are tight, the difficulty ramps up nicely, and it never stops feeling fair.

The gadgets are another highlight. Your DualShock becomes part of the world: a grappling hook, a ninja star launcher, a magic multitool of joy. Swiping the touchpad to throw shuriken, moving the controller in space to aim, or flicking it to launch Astro into the air all feels intuitive and extremely satisfying. It’s gimmicky in theory, but in practice it’s just… fun.

And then there’s the charm. Rescuing the little robots never gets old, especially when they fly into your controller and the rest pop up to cheer. The 3D audio helps you locate hidden ones, the animations are adorable, and the whole game radiates that rare “Nintendo-level” polish and warmth Sony doesn’t always go for.

The Negatives ⚠️

Not everything about being a human periscope is perfect. The game loves making you shake your head to clear goo off your visor, and while that’s cute in concept, in practice it sometimes means shaking the PSVR headset slightly out of place and having to pause to fix it. Immersion: broken. Hair: ruined.

Some of the more hectic sections also ask you to do too many things at once: dodging projectiles with your body while doing precise platforming with Astro feels like patting your head and rubbing your stomach while riding a unicycle. It’s not impossible, but it can get a bit stressful.

Gadget-wise, most things work great, but the grappling hook can be a little finicky, sometimes confusing “pull the wall” with “bounce Astro,” which leads to a few accidental deaths and some light swearing.

Enemy variety is also pretty limited. Combat feels good, but you’re mostly fighting the same kinds of things over and over, and it’s clearly not the main focus of the experience anyway.

Finally, the late-game bosses spike in difficulty. They’re spectacular, but replaying the same early phases over and over after failing near the end is one of the few times the game genuinely frustrated me.

The Experience 🎮

Playing Astro Bot Rescue Mission feels like rediscovering what “video game magic” is supposed to be. I spent most of the time with a stupid grin on my face, leaning around corners, sticking my head into walls, and occasionally walking Captain Astro straight off a cliff because I was too busy sightseeing.

There’s something incredibly satisfying about how physical the whole thing feels. You’re not just pressing buttons, you’re there. You’re ducking, peeking, shaking your head, turning around in your chair like an idiot, and loving every second of it. Finding the hidden chameleons made me slow down and actually appreciate the levels instead of just rushing through them, and the challenge stages were the perfect “okay, now prove you actually learned how to play” tests.

Rescuing the crew never stopped being fun, and the bosses, especially the spider and the gorilla, were some of the most “holy crap” moments I’ve had in VR. Even when the game got tough, it never felt unfair, just demanding.

By the end, it was painfully clear: this is what PSVR was made for. Not tech demos. Not half-baked ports. Astro Bot Rescue Mission is pure joy, clever design, and genuine wonder wrapped into one of the most charming platformers Sony has ever published. And yeah, my neck was a little tired, but totally worth it. 😌