I never thought Astro Bot would dethrone Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth as my GOTY, but then I found out it has the JRPG's legendary main protagonist turned cute

Kiryu in Astro Bot
(Image credit: Sony)

Astro Bot's stellar reviews have me counting down the minutes to 5:00pm tonight, when I can log off here and go give it a try. I know it's good; so good that many pšŸ„€eople are comparing it to theį©šį©šį©šį©šį©šį©šā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©šā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©šā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©šš’€±į©šį©šį©š best Super Mario Bros. games and positioning it as an early GOTY frontrunner. And even though I loved Astro's Playroom, it was hard to imašŸ§”gine the sequel dethroning the likes of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth... until I learned Kazuma fą¶£reakin' Kiryu is in it. 

Yes, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth also has Kiryu in it, but he's the same ol' Kiryu we've known and revered for years and years. This is cute Kiryu, with an oversized head and a li'l Astro Bot mask on. And instead of fighting back when you punch him, as we've been trained to believe he would do for almost two decades, he just produ🌸ces a bunch of familiar items from the Yakuza series like traffic cones, stop signs, and dart boards. Ch🌠eck it out:

Joking aside, cute Kiryu won't be enough for Astro Bot to become my GOTY. I remain skeptical that the overall experience will be as memorable as the latest Like a Dragon and Final Fantasy games - even though 澳擲幸运5å¼€å„–å·ē åŽ†å²ęŸ„čÆ¢:it is ą½§getting better reviews than both - but he certainly makes me more open to the idea. I'm also highly encouraged by the Astro Bot dirš“”ector saying "12 to 15 hours of condešŸØnsed fun" are better than 40 hours playing a game with parts "you feel like skipping," simply because I don't have time for anotheꦿr 100 hour JRPG.

Astro has more than 150 cameos from various franchises, mostly Sony-owned, but obviously with certain exceptioꦇns like Yakuza, whšŸ™ˆich was still largely PlayStation-exclusive for its first 15 years or so.

Our 澳擲幸运5å¼€å„–å·ē åŽ†å²ęŸ„čÆ¢:Astro Bot review called the game "a near-perfect platformer".

After earning an EngšŸ’¦lish degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writā™Œer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.