This was a genius move from Sony.
I played the Astro Bot Rescue Mission for PSVR and it was marvelous, a top notch platformer, but I don’t think that many got to experience it as the game required a VR headset. So Sony gave the studio behind Astro Bot Rescue Mission the opportunity to create the PlayStation 5 showcase, and boy, they did.
They didn’t just create a showcase. They created a really good game that will be preinstalled into every PlayStation 5 sold for free. Think about it, you spend $500 on a console and buy maybe one new game. You will mostly use it to play your old PlayStation 4 games in the beginning, which are all backwards compatible. And here, you get a free game that is really fun and show all the capabilities of the new console. Which game do you think you will start when friends coming over to checkout the new PlayStation 5? Yeah, it’s this one.
In ASTRO’s PLAYROOM you play a little robot called ASTRO (go figure) and you shall traverse 4 levels + 1 boss level that are each part of the PlayStation 5 hardware. In these levels you get to know all of the gimmicks of the new control while bashing cute monsters and solving puzzles. Everything about this is such high quality that it doesn’t feel like you’re playing a showcase but more like a real game.
Jumping, bashing, pulling things, swinging and everything feels really good and natural in its setting. The graphics are awesome and there is not enough credit I can give to the soundtrack that I find myself go humming when I’m not playing the game.
The only criticism I have about this is that it is too short. I finished it in 2-3 hours, but I don’t think one can expect much more from a console showcase. It was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward seeing more of ASTRO in the future.
Mikael rate this game as EXCELLENT!
Replay 