EDGE gives Astro Bot rare 10, plus other scores

[Quad Damage 2,006]

 

 

 

Astro Bot
"The cost of all this momentum and polish is that Astro Bot can be a near-frictionless experience. So eager is it to show you its selection box of surprises, it's zealous with checkpoints and stuffed with enemies that can be brushed aside, even some larger ones keeling over in a scant few strikes. In many cases, if you're unsure what to do, simply activating your current gadget is halfway to a solution, or if not, finding a power cord that you can heave out of the ground or a zip you can pull down – pleasant sensations in themselves – will trigger the next step. Even end-of-galaxy bosses, while spectacular, will likely force one or two retries at most before you've sussed their patterns.

Somehow this never feels like a deal-breaker. It helps that some of the lost bots and puzzle pieces you're hunting are cleverly tucked away, asking you to poke the boundaries of each level, and that the optional mini-planets are devious, removing checkpoints to extract a faultless performance. But more than that, remember, Astro Bot isn't a matter of life and death. While arriving at the destination is all but a foregone conclusion, the pleasure is in getting there, a journey that never stops serving up extraordinary moments and sequences and details. Ultimately, it's almost a footnote that this is an ode to PlayStation and, yes, the primary justification to own a PS5. Take away the branding and there remains a core of irrepressible imagination, the fuel of so many great games, that is anything but robotic." [10]

The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom
"Where once upon a time this series might have built an entire dungeon around a single gadget, here it's possible to pick up new inventions every few minutes, for hours on end. Naturally, each is not as fully fledged in its design (our beloved bed aside) and there's considerably more crossover, something that does become an issue as the selection really begins to swell. With your echoes arranged in a TOTK-style horizontal quick menu, offering the same options for sorting but no filters, it's hard not to wonder if three separate, mechanically identical pots were strictly necessary. But this a trade-off we're more than happy to accept in exchange for a sweeping adventure that has us constantly wondering what new little idea we'll find around the next corner, and what we might do with it afterwards. You don't get that with a sword." [9]

Frostpunk 2
"Where Frostpunk was painfully intimate, the sequel takes a bird's-eye view, but this distance serves it just as well. When you're the only person who can see the overlapping factors leading to disease, squalor and cold, and the complex steps to unravel them, you'll know when someone is offering you half a solution, and when those patchworked halves are causing tensions to boil. Over the length of its five-part campaign, Frostpunk 2 demonstrates that it doesn't only have new mechanical tricks for the survival city builder, but explores uncomfortable questions about whether you can ever build a fair world. Fair, it asks, for whom?" [9]

Star Wars: Outlaws
"The synth warble of a TIE fighter, the sight of the wreck of an Imperial cruiser poking through the jungle, the John Williams-style growl of a horn section, followed by a flutter of flutes: it all carries that magical charge. Even the most oversaturated Star Wars fan will feel a tremor of childlike glee during the game's most slickly presented moments. And peel back the billion-dollar IP and there is much here to like. Some early forced stealth aside, the game is well-structured and welcoming. The benefits and drawbacks of allying with factions' feels dynamic and meaningful, and there's a genuine thrill as your team begins to swell in size and ability. It's in the intimate details that the game falters. On the ground, there is a persistent coarseness that invites unflattering comparisons both with the open-world games Outlaws is up against and Massive's own previous work. The sights and sounds of the Star Wars universe, delivered with enthusiasm and authenticity throughout, at least make it easy enough to be swept along." [7]

The Plucky Squire
"Crucially, this sense of being herded around doesn't gel with a plot about a story blown wide open or an overriding theme about the value of creativity. All along, in fact, it seems like you're destined to win after all. Standard combat, a simple, pleasant retread of that in A Link To The Past, spits out hearts to repair damage almost as quickly as you can lose them, while some minigame duels are stacked so heavily in your favour that it's harder to fail. You could argue that this is a game aimed at kids, but all but the youngest would hardly bemoan more pushback, and there's also an easier difficulty level, a hint system and generous accessibility options, so there was surely scope to release the handbrake a little. As it is, Jot can't truly escape that casting as the hero who eases to victory.

It's a testament to the strength of the core concept, then, that The Plucky Squire remains as entertaining as it does. Even when you feel like a passenger, it's quite the ride, smart and surprising from start to finish. Indeed, the game's final stretch saves the day somewhat, with an amusing narrative shift and a few hands-off puzzles that finally ask you to combine your powers. It leaves us more upbeat about what's gone before, but also curious how this special idea might have been pushed to greater heights with just a little more pluck." [7]

Deathsprint '66
"Glitches in our review code will need polishing out – we have to terminate a few races, for example, because the game keeps putting runners back on the track in spots where they're instantly killed, and the framerate can splutter during player collisions. More than anything, though, the issue of whether the game can attract a regular sustained audience hovers over it like the smog that obscures the sky in its irradiated courses. An inescapable concern is that it might be a touch too niche to earn the playerbase it needs if it wants to keep the fun flowing through its meat-grinding tracks over the long term. DeathSprint 66 has delightfully wicked ideas and the intelligence to push what feels like a limited budget further than you might expect. But as brutal as its buzz-saw races can be, they pale compared to the marketplace for online multiplayer into which it's throwing itself." [7]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
"Again, though, it's the repetition that really grinds, as the dozen hours of Space Marine 2's campaign alternate between corridor fights and set-pieces in larger open arenas. You catch your breath, resupply and do it all over again. The relentless surge is broken up in a few places by the addition of jump-packs that allow you to leap high into the air and hover for a few moments, raining death upon the heretics, before slamming down to continue the melee. These sections are entertaining, but also serve to highlight the issues with the core combat loop, with your greater manoeuvrability making the work that much simpler.

40K fans know that one of the cornerstones of the hobby is being able to make everything your own. Pick which space marine chapter colours to paint your little guys with, or make up one of your own. Operations lets you do that, hinting at greater possibilities of infiltrations and armoured assaults, how every mission could have been distinguished without sacrificing the core power fantasy. But since none of that is found in the campaign, solo players are likely to be left wondering what happened over all those years." [6]

 

 

[poopy_butt 44]

I played it for a couple hours. It's definitely solid. It almost feels like it has soul which i think is where nintendo first party shit usually dominates. I will probably pick it back up again at some point. Sony has a contender and a solid ip. 

[David P 209]

Edge is so fucking pretentious. 

[Long Ball Larry 1,397]

I have it. It’s not even better than the worst Mario. How many trophies are you on?

Edited October 6 by Long Ball Larry

[lynux3 2,508]

1 hour ago, Long Ball Larry said:

I have it. It’s not even better than the worst Mario. How many trophies are you on?

Rofl, you’re so full of shit.

[-GD-X★ 8,461]

2 hours ago, Long Ball Larry said:

I have it. It’s not even better than the worst Mario. How many trophies are you on?

Mario Wonder is garbage in comparison. Stfu retard  

[-GD-X★ 8,461]

27 minutes ago, lynux3 said:

Rofl, you’re so full of shit.

His tongue is so far up Ninty’s ass, he can  practically wrap tongues with them. 

[Cooke 2,068]

Astrobof is basically Mario 3dworld and Mario Galaxy combined. 

[kaz 2,518]

TCHBFR lmfao gay ass fisher price garbage

[MalaXmaS 717]

lmfao game magazines in 2024.

Who gives a shit about them, its gamer's reviews that matter.

[Ike★ 2,981]

1 hour ago, MalaXmaS said:

lmfao game magazines in 2024.

Who gives a shit about them, its gamer's reviews that matter.

Goddamn still a AAA