BEST TECH DEMO EVER?
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At the dawn of this console generation, Sony took off flying with
Team Asobi's tech demo Astro's Playroom, a delightful 3D
platformer that comes pre-installed on every unit. It not only shows off the
PS5:s technical capabilities, it also guides us through the history of the
Playstation, generation by generation. Boatloads of iconic characters make cameos,
albeit in bot form. An attentive player will recognize heroes and heroines like Aloy,
Nathan Drake, Kratos and the hunter from Bloodborne, plus many lesser
known references scattered all over.
But above all else, the game demonstrates the possibilities of the new Dualsense
controller. By utilizing the gyroscope, touchscreen and built-in microphone it
brings the player closer to the experience. As Astro, the robot with the expressive screen eyes, you navigate through
four short platforming stages, all taking place within the architecture of a
PS5. The adaptive triggers convey the strain of pulling a bowstring and the
haptic feedback tickles your fingers as rain begins to fall . This elevates the
experience - if ever so little - in a way that can only be felt by playing, rather than watching a gameplay stream.
Starting in a hub world, the CPU Plaza, you can enter four different hardware components to
play a stage. They all offer varied and unique gameplay challenges, and
end with you grabbing one of the older PS-consoles. You can play them in
any order, but to get the chronology right, you might want to start in the pretty green and
purple Memory Meadows, with the PS1-related artefacts found therein.
From there on, you go through each PS-generation accordingly: The PS2
SSD-stage is a thematically apt speed lane. Next, the Cooling Springs goes
from a warm beach resort into the arctic interiors of the cool console, all
laden with PS3 artefacts. And finally, the GPU Jungle has you monkeying around
trees and cliffs, looking for PS4 stuff. It's all topped off with the last
hidden stage dedicated to a scary final boss, who's guarding the PS5.
The four levels vary in platforming design and theme, sometimes incorporating
experimental Super Mario Galaxy-inspired controls. Different Astro
suits alter the conditions completely. One turns you into a spring, as you aim
with the gyroscope and leapfrog across a short sidescrolling section. Another
requires you to blow into your microphone to fly. These interludes, and
others, sure are gimmicky but fun nonetheless. The level design is forgiving
and short, ending the offshoot before you get frustrated.
Overall, the camera-and-movement dance is flawless, especially so in the
ordinary platforming stages. Astro responds to your input with a finely
calibrated acceleration and directness. Combat consists of simply punching an
enemy once or twice, or stunning grounded enemies and following up by
uprooting them. By double-jumping you can utilize a jet stream and glide for a
bit. The level design is on the easier side, with multiple checkpoints and
"safety nets" in place, to keep you from falling off the stage. Astro's
Playroom isn't about challenge as much as the joy of innocent escapism.
True to platforming conventions, Astro's Playroom is also an unabashed
collectathon. To reach full completion, you need to find puzzle pieces and the
aforementioned console-related artefacts in buried treasure chests. Some can
be unlocked by spending coin-pickups in a vending machine within the
Playstation Labo subsection of the hub world. Such things don't matter to me,
but the nice thing about Astro's Playroom is that completionists will be able
to get the platinum trophy in only 6-7 hours (they say). And because of the
overall quality, they'll have a great time doing so.
Being short also allows for a lot of detail. Using a clear and colorful visual design, Team Asobi uses contrast and simple shapes to point out important things in the surroundings. Each level is full of visual gags. You can interact with
every conceivable detail in the environment. Other bots, frolicking all around, respond to interaction in different ways. Try to punch someone,
and they'll start fuming or lament it through chipmunk gibberish. The
constantly upbeat, robotic disco tracks - especially the cute "Astro
Bot"-theme - adds nostalgic charm. It's childish, and it's impossible to not love.
Astro's Playroom is miniature 3D Mario for Playstation, and not afraid to
admit it. Only its shortness keeps it from getting the highest mark. But what little it does, it does tremendously. The genre has become niche - heck, almost extinct in the AAA
industry - but sometimes niche titles find universal appeal by just being
flawless. This game revitalizes a genre many believed they'd outgrown. They're
probably extatic to be proven wrong.
My playthrough and review serves as an appetizer for an upcoming playthrough
of Astro Bot. As I write this, it won the Game of the Year-award just
days ago, and judging by my enjoyment of this prologue, my expectations are
off the charts.
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