This picture taken on August 29, 2024 shows the dolls for the upcoming game "Astro Bot" during a media event by the Team Asobi studio at the offices of Sony Interactive Entertainment in Tokyo. Photo by Philip FONG / AFP
Tokyo: Cute and colourful "Astro Bot", a hotly anticipated game released by Sony on Friday, shows how PlayStation has become too reliant on dark cinematic titles, fans and critics say.
The 3D platformer pays homage to three decades of the Japanese console in a "magic" universe "inspired by the games I grew up with", its creator Nicolas Doucet told AFP.
Players take a mini robot with a bobbling antenna on whimsical adventures to dozens of planets, fighting unusual enemies including a mean octopus wearing a snorkel.
But the contrast with PlayStation hits such as "God of War Ragnarok" and "Spider-Man 2" highlights Sony's recent focus on serious storylines and hyper-realistic graphics, which several players and reviewers feel has gone too far.
"Astro Bot on PS5 looks great, a much-needed taste of Nintendo whimsy on a console usually dominated by the realistic, gritty, and grounded," gaming podcaster Colin Moriarty wrote on X.
"Buy and support Astro Bot if you want more fun type games," another user wrote, one of many comments bemoaning the high cost and long development times of other releases.
The new game, developed in just three years by Doucet's team, is "finally injecting some variety into a library that has long grown oversaturated by cinematic narrative blockbusters", specialist outlet The Gamer said.
The game is the first full-length "Astro Bot" title, following a virtual reality game featuring the main character and the shorter release "Astro's Playroom", which came preinstalled on the PlayStation 5.
Cameos from other PlayStation games are plentiful in the latest game, whose release comes ahead of PlayStation's 30th anniversary later this year.
Rumours have also been swirling about an upgraded "PS5 Pro" model, with industry media speculating that an announcement of the new console could be made this month.
The ranks of Team Asobi, the studio behind the "Astro Bot" titles, have almost doubled in the past four years.
But it's important that "each person works on the game directly", Doucet said, an attempt to keep teamwork tight by ensuring everyone "gets their hands dirty".
The studio is an international place, with staff of 16 different nationalities -- but it "makes sense" for Team Asobi to be based in Japan's capital Tokyo, he added.
"It's a country where historically the quality and precision of the gameplay has always been number one, from arcade games to fighting," Doucet said.
