Our space-faring PS5 is halfway repaired. Even better, we have another lead on the next part. So Let’s Go GAMBLING!
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
I wish more platformers took a page from Astro Bot’s book when it comes to handling gimmicks in their level design. Something I noticed while replaying many of the PS1 and PS2-era platformers on this channel is that whenever they introduce a “gimmick” level, usually they complete replace whatever their core mechanics are with the gimmick. We’ll have a whole skateboarding level, or a turret level, or one where we ride a wild animal: All of those are fundamentally different and new mechanics for the games that use them.
Meanwhile, instead of swapping our kit out with a brand new one, the gimmicks we’ve played with so far augment the existing mechanics. Tools like a long jump, time stop, or the ability to soak up water to become big still allow us to use the fundamental tools we’ve already spent the rest of the game learning. Running and jumping are such fundamentally, intrinsically entertaining movements that Astro Bot doesn’t want to take them away for us.
With another boss down, we’re ready to impersonate another legendary PlayStation hero. Today, we are the Dad of Boy!
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
Given that Astro Bot traffics heavily in nostalgia for the old PlayStation brands, I sometimes wonder if Team Asobi floated the idea of doing a riff on “classic” David Jaffe-era God of War instead of the contemporary iteration. I imagine it would fit better as an exploration of Sony’s “Greatest Hits”.
And yet, the Dad of Boy arc is probably still a smarter choice ultimately. Not only is Sony more likely to greenlight it because it works better for the brand, but the newer games are easier to “en-cute-ify” for a children’s game.
That said, either way it’s quite the stark contrast to more whimsical Ape Escape level we played in the previous hub. As we march forward, you’ll notice that trend continues, but I’ll discuss that in more depth later.
Soon it will be upon us: The second boss fight in Astro Bot!
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
You can tell that Astro Bot hearkens back to the old school gaming platforming traditions because all of it’s major boss fights adhere to the Rule of Three. Once the player is able to demonstrate mastery by completely the same task three times, they’ve proven themselves. Thus, bosses have three phases.
It’s a detail most players won’t even notice, but it informs and defines so much of the genre that it would be strange if boss fights weren’t like this.
In the process of recording this episode, my chat and I got to talking about Sony’s gaming division and some of the current and former power players inside of it. So if you want that sweet, sweet industry dish, join us for a run of Astro Bot!
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
I’m amused at this game’s ability to summon up all of my opinions about games and gaming from throughout my life. It exists in this nexus where it touches so many of the things that were fundamental in shaping my opinions and the person I am today, and for that reason I find myself speaking about all of these subjects.
Now that we’ve finished our first boss fight, it’s time to play a very special level in Astro Bot!
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
Around the same time Astro Bot was released, a story broke regarding a statement from a Sony executive, who claimed that the company was lacking in intellectual property. As the IGN article on it points out (and I incorrectly cited in the episode), this wasn’t in reference to just games, but their entire mass media operation. Nonetheless, the juxtaposition of that statement with all the IPs, cameos, and references contained within Astro Bot was enough to spur the discourse(tm)(C)(R).
It’s not difficult to understand why. There are many properties in Sony’s gaming portfolio specifically that fans have been begging for new entries in for a long time. One such example, pertinent to the section from the start of this episode, is Ape Escape.
As much I love the old Ape Escape games, they were products of their time, before we established the “left stick move character, right stick moves camera” convention most modern games adhere. Since Ape Escape’s core gimmick was that the gadgets were controlled by the right stick, I don’t honestly know if one even could go back and make another one of those games without losing a fundamental part of what makes them what they are. Astro Bot may be able to wear it’s skin, and do a very strong impression, but it’s fundamentally not the same game.
We’ve broached similar conversations multiple times before, like when we finished the Sly Cooper trilogy here on this blog. Is it true that Sony doesn’t need to acquire more properties, it already enough and arguable already has too much (albeit no where near to the same degree as Microsoft). Is it also true that there a place in my heart for another Ape Escape game. Many of my generation hold similar candles for worlds and games that were once Sony-mainstays and have since languished in obscurity.
And yet, I think this conversation underscores a more fundamental problem with the IP machine that churns and churns. At the risk of sounding like an angry old man, “back in my day” we would have a trilogy of games in a series, and then the developer would move on, free to do something else: Something different. While there are certainly games I have nostalgia for, what I really miss is that sense of novelty and newness that came with a develop I respected moving onto a different project. I miss when stories had discreet beginnings, middles, and ends. I miss when developers didn’t need to intentionally lie loose threads dangling in the wind so that there was room for yet another sequel.
We can talk about the mine of IPs that Sony is ignoring, and we can talk about how they never made that sequel to that one game everyone loved, but that desire to bask in empty nostalgia inhibits the ability for creative teams to work on bold, new, interesting concepts. I don’t want to date this piece, but this is especially relevant to me now, since I’m currently playing through Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is one of the coolest and most unique games I’ve played in a long time.
It’s something you couldn’t get from milking existing ideas.
My PS5 overheating issues are a thing of the past, and I’m ready to take on a full session of Astro Bot!
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
For those of you who are curious, the issue that was causing my console to overheat was… dust. Specifically, dust in the cooling fan that was causing it to slow down. I took the time to pop off the covers and give the whole system good dusting, and once I did the issue quickly corrected itself. My machine is now working at full capacity.
Let this be a lesson to all you PS5 owners out there: It’s important to go in and clean your console out every now and then. A little bit of routine maintenance will go a long way.
My PS5 appears to be having issues after Mr. Alien so rudely took so many parts from it, but the show must go on. Astro Bot continues!
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
Or it doesn’t… at least for now.
In the time since this recording, I have given my PS5 a good cleaning and dusting since the issue was most likely dust clogging up the cooling fan and power supply. I’ll be monitoring the device to make sure it’s healthy again, but for now at least the issue appears to be resolved.
Next time, the stream won’t be cut short if I have my way!
We’ve off to a joyful, brilliant start with Astro Bot. But that mean nasty Mr. Alien still has all the parts of our PS5, and we need to get them back!
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
A lot has been said about the cameos in Astro Bot, and a lot more will be said (especially by me) as we continue the Let’s Play. But something critics have pointed out (positively) is that they are well-integrated into the game, without detracting or distracting from the other elements of it.
It would be so simple to just cite the character and the game they’re from when we collect them. Instead, Team Asobi chose to playfully hint at both with a punny, clever name and description. People in the know will obviously have everything they need to guess at who it is, but those who don’t won’t feel like they’re missing out if they don’t immediately get it. “Guess the reference” becomes a fun little mini-game we play when we find a new bot, not something that we need to sit down and dissect.
They lend to the joy of exploring and traversing these worlds with their presence.
Now that’s we’ve completed the Desmond “trilogy” of Assassin’s Creed games, I’m in the mood to do something completely different, and yet completely on brand. That’s right. We’re playing the hit Game of the Year from 2024: Astro Bot!
While I usually tackle far older games than this on my channel, this is solidly in my wheelhouse, such that it’s strange it took me as long as it did to making a series on it. In many ways, Astro Bot leans heavily on the nostalgia that I and many people my age have for 3D platformers from back in the PS1 and Nintendo 64 era of game consoles.
To that end, like old-school Crash and Spyro, it’s more focused on mechanics and execution that it is trying to tell a story or immerse us in a world. It’s a children’s toy, which is exactly the space it wants to inhabit. The goal is purely to present a joyful experience to its audience, of all ages.
And these early levels do exact that, using bright colorful palettes and whimsical imagery, tinted through the lens of little toy robots, to draw the player in immediately.
Now that we’ve finally wrapped up Assassin’s Creed 3 and related DLC, it’s time for Acharky and I to have a chat about the experience.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
Thank you so much for watching, and be sure to join me next time for Astro Bot. It was one of my favorite games last year, and I can’t wait to replay it.
