Astro Boy [PS2]

After much waiting, the original kid robot has landed on the PlayStation 2. Developer Sonic Team's Astro Boy puts players in the 3D sci-fi world of manga legend Osamu Tezuka. The game allows Astro Boy to revel in his old-school glory, while incorporating the visual style of the newer animated TV series.

Our plucky robotic hero doesn't start out at full strength. Rather, he must gain some of his powers, beyond rocket-feet and supersensitive hearing. One by one, players can unlock and improve his unique robot abilities, including supervision, Arm Cannons, high-energy Digibeams, 100,000-horsepower strength, and so on (although beams and beating stuff up quickly become the predominant skillsets).

Astro Boy perfectly captures that wonderfully innocent, cheesy "'50s future" look. Metro City, which acts as a hub to other locales, is a sprawling sci-fi scape of rings and flying vehicles. Astro Boy himself can boost into the air, his direction and altitude handled by the left and right analog sticks; there's also a single-button attack for the classic "flying punch." Metro City looks really massive and cool, almost too good to be true. Turns out it is too good to be true; it's less a place to explore than an impressive-looking terminal to other worlds.

The levels themselves are notably smaller -- all the more so for the arbitrary invisible barriers that funnel you along to your destination. Thankfully, most enemies can be dispatched with punch attacks, but Astro Boy can also pick up chunks of scenery and employ them as wielded or thrown weapons, which is a nice touch. When you don't want to get too close to your foes, you can use beam attacks.

Combining combat with aerial movement takes some getting used to, and in tense situations it's easy to start rocketing around the environments and bouncing off stuff, even to the point where you outmaneuver the camera (just remember that when you do, it's your fault, not the game's).

It's not all about fighting, however -- the designers have put in some different approaches variety's sake, and while such variations can't carry the game, they're nice touches. At one point, you'll need to track an invisible, bomb-packing target with your enhanced vision. Even the oft-ignored cognitive aspect gets a nod or two. For example, Astro Boy's superior robotic brain lets players tackle alien/mechanical languages and other code-breaking puzzles (before that hurdle is passed, some characters will seem to speak nothing but gibberish).

The game plays out in a linear fashion, with only a few minor deviations that don't ultimately change anything -- which is not to say they aren't neat, especially for fans. There are mini-games, and more importantly a series of 60 collector's cards scattered throughout the levels, or received as mission rewards, that give essential data on the characters. The game also offers a good amount of cinematic sequences, wherein you'll meet characters like Atlas, The Blue Knight, and Magnamite. Those boss battles rock, requiring Astro Boy to fluidly combine his accrued skills and upgrades, each one managing to "top" the one before it.

There are some flaws. Astro Boy is a relatively short game, occasionally repetitive, and has a few poorly structured missions. And we would've liked to see more anime sequences woven in between missions, too.

Astro Boy is a worthwhile if unexceptional homage to the rockety-legged robot kid, offering some fun, frantic, and good-natured combat. Old-school fans of the franchise may hanker for something more, but there are always the sequels.