Game Info
Game Name: Astro’s Playroom
Developer(s): Japan Studio (Team Asobi)
Publisher(s): Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform(s): PS5
Genre(s): Platformer
Release Date(s): November 12, 2020
ESRB Rating: E10+
Fly, roll, and dip…explore the world!
Astro-Bot has entered a world of fun. As he dives deep into the past of the PlayStation by entering each system, Astro-Bot will visit the world of PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 while looking at different versions of the Sony’s gaming creation. The keys of creations are just out of reach. Jump, roll, swing, bounce, and slide your way to the end…Astro-Bot can do it all!
Astro’s Playroom (stylistically ASTRO’s PLAYLAND) is a 3D platformer adventure. Packaged with the PlayStation 5, the game is a follow-up to Astro-Bot: Rescue Mission for the PlayStation VR in 2018. The game was included with the PlayStation 5 and was the final game of Japan Studio.
Dive into the past of the PlayStation!!!
When you used to get game systems, you got a game…it often was to both highlight the system and encourage you to buy the system. That has generally kind of ended except with custom consoles and package deals. While Astro’s Playroom isn’t a reason to get the PS5, it does serve as a means to demonstrate some of the controls and abilities of the system…while being a rather simple but entertaining game.
The game feels like a throwback. It is a rather typical Mario 64 style platformer with a solid camera and built to utilize the PS5 DualShock controller. You make your way through the different systems and collect puzzle pieces, buy rewards, and try to find hidden artifacts that relate to the past of the PlayStation. It is blatant advertising, but it is also kind of fun.
The controls of the game are very intuitive. Astro-Bot gets a number of suits and add-on in specific levels that do change up the gameplay and try out different controls from blowing on the control to tilting to trigger release jumping. It is light and easy and with multiple save points, there isn’t much you can do wrong…and no consequences for experimenting and playing.
The PS1 wants to kill you!
The graphics also play with the different games and styles through the PlayStation’s past, but it is also a bit of a missed opportunity. While there is some throwback style and art to the levels, I feel it could even be greater and really explore PlayStation history…even through controls and gameplay. The game gets it right for the most part, but it could have even been better.
For a free game, Astro’s Playroom isn’t a bad time. It is a game that if you are limited to your initial purchase of a PS5, you can enjoy…but with games becoming more and more affordable and the PS5 being backwards compatible, it is probably more worthwhile to get an older game with more range. Astro’s Playroom is rather short…but it keeps you involved.
