Sony has always had a pretty interesting involvement with video games. Who was once going to be partners with Nintendo, after that deal fell apart, became the company after Sega to give Nintendo a taste of their own medicine with their own PlayStation. On paper, you'd expect it to, at best, do only kind of well and not get close to what Nintendo put out.
However, as we all know, the exact opposite happened in that, while the N64 didn't do bad at all, it failed to capture more than 33% of what the first PlayStation (now known as the PS1) sold. It was a stunner to see, and would continue to lead to one of, if not the most consistently successful video game console lineages of all time with each home console iteration selling very well; all with its own unique and amazing variety of games and features that still remain timeless. And to think this all blossomed from a failed deal with Nintendo is still wild.
That all leads to now (or as of me writing this in December 2024), where the PS5 is the latest iteration with about 65 million units sold so far in the 4 years since it's release, so it has definitely continued the good selling console trend; already doubling the aforementioned N64 in sales numbers. You could be reading all of this and think "okay, but what does all of this have to do with this game?". And to answer that, we'll start getting into the game itself now.
"Astro's Playroom" is a celebration of the history of all things PlayStation, where each generation of PS is wonderfully represented and showcased in a way that's really engaging and charming from start to finish. That, and the way it showcases the abilities of the PS5 DualSense controller is genius and creative. That latter sentence may make it seem like this is just a tech demo, but surprisingly, that is only a small sliver of what this game has.
"Astro's Playroom" is a full blown collectathon platformer that takes place in an entire PS5 where each world is based in each major component of the console: GPU, SSD, RAM, and cooling fan, and every single level within each world is so creative and wonderfully designed; each with pretty fun boss battles in the end as well. Each of the worlds also having collectible artifacts (real life consoles and their accessories) to find, and as a PS fan, it was almost magical.
Another thing that could be described as such is the presentation. This game looks, sounds, and feels absolutely incredible. Everything is colorful, detailed, wonderfully themed, and memorable with an almost overwhelmingly good attention to detail; as you will come across things that will happen based on what you do in otherwise mundane situations, and that transfers to the entire game in a fun way. The game almost feels alive. The music, also, is phenomenal. It's bouncy, hooky, wonderfully executed, and memorable thanks to its wonderful and diverse composition that will never fail to stick in your head. Honestly, I could go on and on about how great this game looks and sounds, because there's really not much to complain about, if at all.
As mentioned previously: the game showcases the awesomeness of the PS5 DualSense controller and its adaptive triggers, crazy accurate rumble motors, accurate motion sensors, and the touchpad. Each time one of those is utilized, it's not only creative, but also a nice reminder of how well the PS5 controller works with each section. I guess the only flaw I can think of in this whole game is that sometimes, a few of these sections can sometimes overstay their welcome at times and drag on a bit, but it's never to the point where the game is really ruined by any means. Honestly, in my pursuit of being objective, it was tough to muster up any real big complaints since this game does most things near perfectly. But that is one thing I noticed about the game that I may have done differently, though again, with them still being well executed and the majority of them being great, I can't complain too much.
I guess one could point out the short length of this game (in that it takes around 5-7 hours at most to fully complete it 100%) is also a flaw, but honestly, with how dense and great each world and idea were executed, it still felt like a grand experience; plus, PlayStation Labo and the mural being completed helped with it feeling more than all worth it. And plus, this game is FREE. You read that right. If you have a PS5 and if you haven't played this adorable, wonderfully executed, and just fun game yet, then it's right there on your PS5 to play, and it's absolutely wonderful. Team ASOBI really pulled out all of the stops to make one hell of a first impression on the PS5. Even 4 years later, it's still one of the consoles most essential. If you have a PS5 and you haven't played this yet, do yourself a favor and change that. For what it is, it's way better than it has any right to be, as it's a great time from start to finish.
