Japan Studio has had their hands on a lot of great games. Playing through Astro Bot and seeing the IP return via special bots and even-more-special levels was neat to see because of how it paid homage to the recently shuttered studio. Team Asobi absorbed some of the folks who made Japan Studio what it was, and their fingerprints were all over Astro Bot. It must have been something for those devs to bring back works like Ape Escape and Loco Roco in those signature levels—and to bring Kat from their game Gravity Rush into the game via bot cameo.

Kat quickly became a bot costume in Astro Bot that my daughter…gravitated…to. (Thanks, I’ll be here all week!) She loved that she could dress up in a female-presenting costume, and she became curious about the game. I downloaded it to my library, intending to check it out with her, but the rating is T. We don’t do too many T games unless I check them out first, and this review for the Backlog Binge is a great opportunity.

Nothing I saw in the first bit of the game I played would be inappropriate for her—though I’m not a huge fan of the was the character is dressed. We tend to shy away from games/media that play female characters for sexy. Not that there is much wrong with that kind of characterization, but for our seven year old, we like to make other choices.

Immediately, what I enjoyed about the game was its storytelling. Unlike previous games for this series, this one got to the story quickly and didn’t linger. A lot of the story is told through comic book panel type scenes, and there is not a ton of text—mostly the pictures tell the story. When characters interact, they do so through comic panels as well, but there is a bit more text.

Alongside from the story, the gameplay stands out. The main idea is that you can manipulate gravity because of the powers you get from your cat familiar. As you do, you can zip around the map, both near the ground and in the sky, and accomplish tasks—collect gems, defeat enemies, etc. The camera works well, and the movement paths (both the one you may be on and the one you’re intended to follow) are easy to read.

As I progressed through the relatively brief episodes (there are 21 in total, it seems), I unlocked or upgraded abilities, fought monsters called Devi, and found furniture for my new home in the sewers. For this latter task, I had to levitate the furniture into the air and get it back to my home. It was an unusual story element that was mainly used to tutorialize how to move around the map, but I enjoyed the idea of Kat building a little life in this strange (to her) world she found herself in.

Overall, I found the game engaging, the missions quick to get into (and out of), and the tutorials expertly integrated into the early gameplay. Such an easy game to get into.

Verdict: Excellent first impression and a game I am likely to return to.