Why Astro Bot has become one of the best games of 2024, plus thoughts on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and Emio – The Smiling Man.
Every now and again a game appears that makes you fall in love with video games again, reminding you what’s so great about the medium. Astro Bot is one of those games. The rare PS5 exclusive is filled to the brim with joy, charm and creativity. It’s not afraid to buck the trend of Sony’s usual slate of story-focused dramas and it’s all the better for it. It’s also one of the best games of the year and you should absolutely play it.
In what feels like a nod to classic platformers, you will zip from world to world collecting coins, puzzles pieces and all manner of bots. But just to step it up another notch, some of those bots are fun riffs of popular PlayStation characters from the company’s historic back catalogue – ranging from Crash bandicoot to the hunter in bloodborne. It’s a hell of a way to honour the legacy of PlayStation, especially many of the deep cuts that have made the roster and it makes the search for each friend all the more appealing.
That’s not to say Astro Bot needed more appeal, because the game is just an absolute treat to play, each level presenting its own one-and-done hook. During one moment you’ll be inflating yourself like a balloon to reach higher platforms, just for that to be tossed away and handed elongated robot arms instead. The biggest compliment I can provide though is that each new mechanic feels incredibly considered and polished, the likes of which we only really see with Mario games. Truly the whole experience is breathtaking.
If there’s one complaint to the whole experience it’s that it’s a little on the easy side, but that hardly feels like the point here. Astro Bot wants to lure you in with its humour, it’s nostalgia and its positively pumping soundtrack (somebody please make a vinyl).
Astro Bot is a game that captures your attention and leaves you with a grin from ear to ear.
A must-play.
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Astro Bot is out now for PS5. You can pick it up from Amazon here.
Also out now…
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC)
Acting as a complete change of pace to pace to the glee wonder of Astro Bot is Space Marine. On the contrary, this surprisingly excellent third-person shooter is dark, bleak and full of despair. That’s all by design, of course and it’s all the better for it.
The sequel to 2011’s Space Marine, round two ratchets things up on almost every level. The game, for example is an absolute beaut’ to look at and is a marvel for the PlayStation 5. I stuck to the performance mode and the game ran-buttery smooth (though you can boost things a little more if you’re prepared to cop a reduced framerate.
The campaign is also a highlight, picking up over 100 years after the last game and once again focusing on Demetrian Titus, but despite the fact that I missed the PS3 original, Space Marine 2 does well to bring you relatively up to speed. Long story short is that dastardly alien Tyranids are trying to put an end to humanity and it’s your job to hack slash and shoot them to bits.
The good news for you is that all three of those things feel exceptional – reminiscent to Gears of War, especially when you have some squad mates alongside you. There’s just so much refinement at play here and a bevy of options to employ, be it parries, combos and a whole lot of weapons to test out.
If you have some mates to play co-op, Space Marine 2 will be a blast. But even solo it’s highly recommended.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club (Switch)
Emio – The Smiling Man is a game that’s equal parts unsettling, engaging and unique. It’s also a game that cannot be wholesale recommended to everybody, and that’s perfectly okay.
Though the original marketing may have hinted otherwise, Emio – The Smiling Man is a visual novel through and through. That means you’re in for plenty of reading, as you work your way around a number of different areas to meet people and uncover various clues to help explain crime scenes. And you’ll want to learn as much as you can, because Emio’s story is its real highlight.
It all kicks off when a junior high school is found dead with a smiley-faced paper bag over his head. To make matters worse, it bears a striking resemblance to a series of murders almost two decades prior – linked to the urban legend of the Smiling Man.
It’s a pretty dark tale for a Nintendo Game, but Emio – The Smiling Man uses the thematic inspiration widely, and the whole tale never feels like a gimmick. Even though it was sometimes frustrating trying to work out how exactly to progress the narrative forward, it’s well-written yarn and is bound to keep fans of visual novels on the hook.
It’s been about 30-odd years since the last Famicom Detective Club title, but if Emio – The Smiling Man is anything to go by, I’d be interested to see more.
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