This is the first PlayStation 5 game I’ve played in ages. It feels like I’ve barely used the console. I did love the small pack-in game though, Astro’s PlayRoom. This is the full game based in that series, and it is excellent. It is absolutely full of joy, graphically beautiful with controls that are just perfect. The game is full of new ideas. Each world and each level is throwing new things at you. For instance, one pick-up gives you frog gloves allowing you to punch enemies from a great distance, and swing off of red surfaces.
One disappointing thing I felt is not really the fault of the game. Throughout the levels are lots of homages to previous PlayStation games, from Ape Escape to Gravity Rush, ICO, Jak and Daxter, Vib-Ribbon, PaRappa the Rapper, and even Jumping Flash!. At first these filled me with joy, but over time it felt like these are all things we have lost. The PlayStation of today does not have this colour and joy. They seem to only really produce large cinematic action shooters, and remakes of them.