[ad_1]
Astro’s Playroom arrives pre-installed on every PlayStation 5 and essentially serves as an introduction to Sony’s new DualSense controller, brilliantly showcasing its resistive triggers and amazing haptic feedback. The game is not just a love letter to the PlayStation generation, it is a powerful statement of Sony’s vision for the future of gaming. We went into this one not sure what to expect from the new driver, but it really is something really exciting. In some respects, Astro’s Playroom is the Wii Sports for PlayStation 5 – the control system feels new and special and the game does a great job selling the perks to new PS5 owners.
The game itself is also commendable; It may well be a free inclusion with all consoles, but this is not a simple tutorial or demo – here’s a real game, and it’s a lot of fun. And beyond the remarkable controller response, the main aspect that really grabs my attention is the creativity on display. By making innovative use of the controller, Playroom really introduces a host of ingenious mechanics and concepts into the mix that instantly help you understand what DualSense brings to the table. The development team is really good at this – Astro Bot helped introduce players to PSVR and eventually got their own game, which is one of the best VR experiences ever made. It’s perhaps not surprising that the developer channels a lot of that work into this new game.
What’s perhaps ironic about Astro’s Playroom as a next-gen showcase is that visually, this isn’t a boundary-pushing game, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s still a great game to behold, with clean 4K output running at 60 frames per second with support for HDR. Beyond that, it’s packed with little details around every corner: water reacting and rippling as you move through it, physics-driven objects often litter your way, spinning around when you meet them and all the little enemies and objects are extremely well designed. .
You’ll also discover some beautifully modeled peripherals from the PlayStation past: an EyeToy camera, for example, with realistic plastic and even the little logos on the base. There’s even a real PlayStation 3 complete with a working card bay flap. This really ties in to one of my favorite things about the game: all the callbacks to classic PlayStation hardware. At one point, you emerge to the sound of the PS3 booting up and then you turn around, with the XMB filling the sky around you, it’s a wonderful moment. In fact, the entire game is packed with fan services – it’s a celebration of the entire PlayStation era.
This content is hosted on an external platform, which will only show it if you accept targeting cookies. Please enable cookies to view.
A first look at Astro’s Playroom running on PlayStation 5. And indeed the first PS5 title we’ve ever engaged and captured with!
But really, this is all about the DualSense controller. This new pad is bigger, heavier, and feels more premium than its predecessor, but the next-gen factor comes down to feedback. It starts with adaptive triggers: essentially, the controller can apply varying levels of resistance to the triggers that change the feel and tension required to pull them. During Astro’s arcade, you don a ‘spring outfit’ (for lack of a better name), and the control system changes accordingly. You pull the trigger to charge and release it to jump. The way these triggers can vary resistance so dramatically based on the action currently being taken really amazed me. It has the same sense of force that you might get from a force feedback flywheel that is only applied to the triggers. This simple tension can have a big impact on the feel of performing individual mechanics; in this case, you can “feel” the potential energy in the coil spring.
This is also coupled with the return of a gyroscope feature – you use it to control certain mechanics in this game, just like it did on PS3 and PS4. However, it doesn’t feel the same and that’s due to another change: the new haptic vibration feature. So we’ve seen something like this with HD Rumble on the Switch but frankly, it feels like a next-gen attempt. The level of precision and the possible variations is simply unreal. By moving the controller, the developers really give you the impression of a physical object rolling inside the platform.
There are so many subtle vibrations and sensations that it’s almost difficult to describe – you can genuinely feel the difference in Astro Bot’s steps depending on the surface you’re walking on. You can feel a difference when you jump into the water and swim instead of walking on land. When Astro gets stuck in wet mud, you can feel the resistance as it goes. When it rains, you can feel the drops falling. All of this is backed up by the driver’s internal speaker – sound and feel work together to produce a remarkable effect.
And this is why Astro Bot is a great add-on for the PS5. It plays wonderfully and is infused with the same level of creativity you expect from the Asobi team, but it also shows off each controller function in a fun way that immediately makes sense. It’s honestly the best introduction to a new system since Wii Sports – it has the same quality that it’s fun and immediately accessible, while also showing what the system can do. Our game preview is limited to a single level and there is more to tell, but after playing this, I really hope more users can come back to see Astro Bot Rescue Mission on PlayStation VR. Without a doubt, it is one of the best 3D platform games ever made.
[ad_2]
