1nfirmi
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Astro's Playroom
2020
This will be more of a comment on the Playstation division today and how Team Asobi fits into its context, rather than a review itself. And what game is better than that than a Playstation 5 tech demo that pays homage to the entire legacy and history of Playstation games?
The massive westernization that has been affecting Playstation first party games over the last 10 years really disgusts me. The Playstation studios games, that was so remarkable and present in my life, I no longer recognize. At least the most part of them.
Ready-made formulas for triple A games, whether cinematic experiences, sandboxes with generic exploration that look more like Ubisoft games, or just games as a service, are far from what was Sony's peak in this industry. And dont get me wrong, I absolutely have nothing against these kind of games, in fact, I believe that Naughty Dog, Santa Monica and Insomniac games are among the best and most talented game developers in the world. And that's exactly where I want to get to. Having a library of games that are very similar in design and formula is not a good thing, even if the games were good. But when you uses The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn as benchmarks to be followed for a big part of your games, well...the result doesn't please me at all.
Sure, there are exceptions: Returnal, Ratchet and Clank, Death Stranding are really cool games with a great vision and originality, but as I said, exceptions.
Playstation studios had a vast and diverse library of games. We don't need to go that far, let's take the Ps3 and Vita era, as an example. Demon's Souls, Uncharted, Gravity Rush, Infamous, Little Big Planet, Killzone, Resistance and God of War are just a few examples of first party games from that time that were not only very good, but also had a high degree of dissimilarity between them.
Now, lets rewind the time. Unprecedented experimentation, absurd creativity, unique games that marked an era in their own and irreplicable way, are a great hallmark of Japan Studios, which I consider to be the best Playstation developer of all time. Astro's Playroom, a charismatic and inventive 3d platformer game, was developed by Team Asobi, a new division that was spun off from within Japan Studios. The thing is, games like this are less and less requested by the company directors. The recent announcement of the Astro Bot game, (which looks amazing) seems more like a miracle, and makes it clear that it is very different from the current wave of first party games on Playstation. Yes, let's not be naive, I am fully aware that games like this are not that profitable in the current triple A scenario. That's the reality, and that's the way it is, but yeah, it sucks. And the thought that we probably will have to await years to another game like that just makes me sad.
We are in a nebulous and uncertain moment in the gaming industry, where Playstation is losing its original identity every year with fewer and fewer first party games released, the Xbox division changes strategies with the same regularity as someone changes clothes and seems to have no confidence or certainty in its own future, and Nintendo... it continues to deliver incredible games as it has always done, but it means that it is the same Nintendo as always, a big rubbish anti-consumer company.
However, games like Astro's Playroom give me that spark of hope, especially placing them as the antithesis of current PlayStation studios, and I really hope and wish all the success in the world for Team Asobi.
The massive westernization that has been affecting Playstation first party games over the last 10 years really disgusts me. The Playstation studios games, that was so remarkable and present in my life, I no longer recognize. At least the most part of them.
Ready-made formulas for triple A games, whether cinematic experiences, sandboxes with generic exploration that look more like Ubisoft games, or just games as a service, are far from what was Sony's peak in this industry. And dont get me wrong, I absolutely have nothing against these kind of games, in fact, I believe that Naughty Dog, Santa Monica and Insomniac games are among the best and most talented game developers in the world. And that's exactly where I want to get to. Having a library of games that are very similar in design and formula is not a good thing, even if the games were good. But when you uses The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn as benchmarks to be followed for a big part of your games, well...the result doesn't please me at all.
Sure, there are exceptions: Returnal, Ratchet and Clank, Death Stranding are really cool games with a great vision and originality, but as I said, exceptions.
Playstation studios had a vast and diverse library of games. We don't need to go that far, let's take the Ps3 and Vita era, as an example. Demon's Souls, Uncharted, Gravity Rush, Infamous, Little Big Planet, Killzone, Resistance and God of War are just a few examples of first party games from that time that were not only very good, but also had a high degree of dissimilarity between them.
Now, lets rewind the time. Unprecedented experimentation, absurd creativity, unique games that marked an era in their own and irreplicable way, are a great hallmark of Japan Studios, which I consider to be the best Playstation developer of all time. Astro's Playroom, a charismatic and inventive 3d platformer game, was developed by Team Asobi, a new division that was spun off from within Japan Studios. The thing is, games like this are less and less requested by the company directors. The recent announcement of the Astro Bot game, (which looks amazing) seems more like a miracle, and makes it clear that it is very different from the current wave of first party games on Playstation. Yes, let's not be naive, I am fully aware that games like this are not that profitable in the current triple A scenario. That's the reality, and that's the way it is, but yeah, it sucks. And the thought that we probably will have to await years to another game like that just makes me sad.
We are in a nebulous and uncertain moment in the gaming industry, where Playstation is losing its original identity every year with fewer and fewer first party games released, the Xbox division changes strategies with the same regularity as someone changes clothes and seems to have no confidence or certainty in its own future, and Nintendo... it continues to deliver incredible games as it has always done, but it means that it is the same Nintendo as always, a big rubbish anti-consumer company.
However, games like Astro's Playroom give me that spark of hope, especially placing them as the antithesis of current PlayStation studios, and I really hope and wish all the success in the world for Team Asobi.