How long is it?

I'm too busy burrowing through my pile of shame like a Hackneyed Moleman at the moment. Definitely want this but not in the mood for it right now.

Astrobot on the other hand, that would be a queue jumper. Only Silksong and Mario Golf would remain unleapfrogged.

afgavinstan wrote:

Jon, did you find the colour palette/architecture of the game make it troublesome to keep your bearings and know where you are? Watching a let's play, I found it hard to keep up. I know there's that mini map but I'd find constantly having to check might ruin immersion? I'm probably explaining this very badly.

It varies. Some areas are more dense and it helps to use the mini map to find everything. Some are more open. It's not all dark, either. And anything you can interact with really stands out.

DrewMerson wrote:

Blocks100 wrote:

Astrobot is a tech demo that's pre-loaded on the console?

Astro's Playroom was pre-loaded on to PS5 which is what I meant like.

Jon has successfully bought us all tickets to the hype train choo choo!!!!

[7]

My PS5 is saying 4 days 22 hours

Didn’t realise I had £41 on my GAME card...pre-ordered. Hopefully get it done and it won’t be a keeper then trade towards Resi 8.

DrewMerson wrote:

Blocks100 wrote:

Astro's Playroom was pre-loaded on to PS5 which is what I meant like.

Yup, it just seems unfair to dismiss it as a tech demo. Even if you remove the stuff ‘just’ showing off the DualSense features, it’s a great, inventive platformer. I don’t believe that a game must be bought separately from the console for it to be one of the experiences worth buying the console for.

To be honest, I’m also not sure what it is that you’re looking for. This isn’t the first generation where we’ve seen lots of titles available on both the incoming and departing platforms. I suspect, though, that we’ve been spoiled by growing up through a period when technological advances were rising sharply enough that there were more obvious differences between generations of consoles. That line graph had to start levelling out at some point.

As it is, though, I think there are still some significant steps. We’re now six days away from Returnal and seven weeks away from Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart, both of which look like they are delivering experiences which would be more than just graphically impaired on PS4. Yes, it’s been almost six months but, as Yoss pointed out, there’s been a pandemic. Look at what’s going on with cinema, where new releases have massively thinned out and what has been released has been spread across a bewildering array of streaming services. Once things start to adjust and we return to something more recognisable as ‘normality’, I think there are going to be yet more exciting things coming our way.

Be positive.

Nobody buys a console because it comes with a free pre-installed cutesy platformer, no matter what gimmicks it has. People buy them for AAA games that announce the dawning of a new gaming age. Like Halo, remember that one? Of course this gen is different because people have been hoodwinked into thinking that running their old games a bit faster with a few extra shinies constitutes the next generation of gaming. Newsflash: it doesn't.

What I'm looking for is really simple: a new generation of consoles that play a new generation of games, straight out of the box to justify the £450 price tag. Apologists for the current laughably shit situation of no new games can point to 'the flatlining of technology' or the covid pandemic for the absence of said games, but I think it goes beyond that. I think the last gen was so successful that Sony et al are quite happy to keep pushing cross gen products because it leads to the maximisation of income. It feels like a deliberate strategy at this point. If consumers are willing to buy the nice new shiny boxes to play their old games at 60 FPS, then why bother investing right now in new development tools to produce genuinely new and inventive products? Milk that dumb cow for all its worth.

Comparison with cinema is redundant. I don't pay £450 to sit in an auditorium and watch an old film I've seen dozens of times before, but at a slightly faster frame rate. But the gaming masses are currently doing exactly the same thing and I find it utterly bewildering.

Yes, change is on the way and actual new gen titles are now finally around the corner. But it has been frustrating sitting on the sidelines, wanting a nice new shiny box under my telly, but pulling myself back from purchasing on multiple occasions now after a moment of clarity: there's nothing that can't be played elsewhere.

Be outraged.

Astro is really ace, apart from all the waving the pad about shite. Which unfortunately was more than 50% of it.

Felt like it.

It was about 13%

regmcfly wrote:

It was about 13%

Nah. At least 36.6% but I suspect way more.

@Blocks100. You’re dismissing legitimate reasons that people have for buying a PS5, because they’re not your reasons for wanting a PS5.

Astro was absolutely something that Reg was excited about. As a Souls fan, I wanted one for Demon’s - and I couldn’t care a jot that it’s a remake or reimagining (or whatever people want to classify it as) of a game I finished years ago.

I’ve had the PS5 since launch and I’ve played through Demon’s, Miles Morales, and Fenyx Rising. All of which I’ve loved/enjoyed. I’ve also played a few of the PS+ Collection games that I didn’t have on my PS4. All of this has made it worthwhile for me. I also liked Astro Bot too.

That may not be the case for you, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been hoodwinked.