Astro Boy: Hands-On, Screens, Videos

Flying through the air without the aide of a breeze, Mighty Mouse, er, Astro Boy dispatches his enemies with ease. We go hands-on with Sega's latest PS2 offering.

From Sega's Yuji Naka and the critically acclaimed Sonic Team comes their newest airborne offering, Astro Boy - Tetsuwan Atom. Join Astro Boy as he sweeps through the skies of Metro City and battles the forces of evil in an all-new PS2 adventure. We've been playing the final version of the game, to bring you these first impressions and media.

Originally created by famous Japanese manga writer, animator, and illustrator, Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy (aka Atom) is a robot boy who flies using rocket propulsion and is equipped with some powerful capabilities to kick enemy ass into next week.

Both analog sticks are used while flying - the left stick controls his forward, back, and side movements, the right stick allows him to climb and dive during flight, as well as land and resume flying. His moves include a "quick dash" that you can use to dodge attacks, a "spin attack" that makes him fly faster, while our man - er, boy can also punch, use his sub-weapons, and interact with airborne vehicles flying around the city.

It's a lot of fun to just grab a light pole and beat the hell out of bosses with them or grab a hold of some of the larger enemies or bosses, swing them around and fling them into other objects and blast them with Astro Boy's formidable laser. The game's targeting system is implemented quite well and allows you to zero in with ease.

When flying through the rings throughout the city it's just a simple matter of locking on to each one and letting your spin attack guide you through them. Battling enemies works the same way except that you're able to use all of your offensive moves to unleash some devastating short- and long-range attacks.

So far the experience had with Astro Boy has been pretty engaging stuff. From flying around a futuristic Jetson-like metropolis to the cool boss encounters, the gameplay is filled with many great elements. The enemy encounters in particular are a lot of fun, and readers or viewers of the manga/anime series should have no problem recognizing the characters throughout the game.

The graphics are not exactly pushing the capabilities of the PS2, but it's colorful, the character and level designs are fairly good, and the lighting effects are your standard Sonic Team fare of bright lights and lots of lens flares. On the downside there's some pop-up and the frame rate tends to stutter quite a bit. Hardly surprisning after the visually inferior PS2 version of Sonic Heroes.

Fortunately, Astro Boy isn't staying in the Land of the Rising Sun, it's on its way to the US and European stores this Summer. Stay tuned for more.

Joseph Jackson
Staff Writer, Kikizo Games