Puzzle Piece 3/4 – When you see the electrical hazards, continue to the right where you see the purple webs instead of continuing up. Artifact 1/2 “PS Move Motion Controller” – From the start of the area, go to the right and drop down to a lower area. In the back corner, there will be a curtain of plants you need to blow out of the way with the microphone. Puzzle Piece 4/4 – Directly after the above, this puzzle piece is basically in your way.
Head back to the teeter-totter and Beam Glide on the left side of it to raise it up to the right. Jump onto the platform with the Coin, then jump up to the Wires and tug them to reveal yet more platforms. Other players view this game as a culmination of the PlayStation legacy after Astro’s Playroom featured almost every console generation, accessories, characters, and iconic locations. There are environmental puzzles that must be solved by pulling certain wires to open new platforms to jump on to make the ascent much more convenient. The main boss for this level is the Demo 1 Dinosaur, more commonly known as the Demo 1 T. This fellow was in the Dinosaur Tech demo to show the power of the PlayStation at rendering a single character.
Until the Wii U, the PS3 was the only system using optical storage with more capacity than a DVD, meaning many games that were on multiple discs elsewhere could be on one PS3 disc. The EyeToy camera was a webcam that allowed the player to participate in mixed-reality minigames, where their body is able to interact with the games on-screen. This makes it a precursor of sorts to Xbox’s Kinect seven years later.
The trophies range from story completion to collectible-based achievements and unique in-game challenges. Notably‚ none of the trophies are missable‚ allowing players to enjoy the game without pressure. The system is designed to be accessible‚ with an estimated completion time of 5-7 hours for the Platinum trophy. Every function and feature of the controller gets a little time in the spotlight. Pervasive and distinct rumble effects steal the show, from the tiny sensation of Astro’s footsteps to thundering moments like an Indiana Jones-style boulder chase.
Artifact 2/2 “DUALSHOCK 2 Controller” – When you reach the rocket ship, stay on the ground level and run to the back of the platform. Knock the pile of colored crates out of the way to find a wire pull, which reveals this artifact. Puzzle Piece 1/4 – After jumping past the first cannon, this puzzle piece is to the left of the handholds above. Puzzle Piece 4/4 – After defeating the boss, go halfway across the newly revealed tightrope and look to the right. In a hole in the wall, you can see a spot to shoot, and when you do it reveals a new platform that has this puzzle piece at the end.
Game Details
The strapline used in Astro’s Playroom is a cheeky reference to media confusion regarding what the Processor Unit actually did, initially thought to give the PS4 extra processing power for VR titles. The PS Move Controller was Sony’s answer to the Nintendo Wiimotes. Instead of using an infrared light bar, movement was tracked using the soft light ball on top via the PS Eye Camera, and rotation by the internal SIXAXIS. This made it slightly more advanced than a Wiimote, until the Wii MotionPlus released. The PS Move controller later made a comeback as the hand tracking method for the PlayStation VR. The colloquially titled “Super Slim” marked the PlayStation 3 as the second PlayStation to receive more than one exterior design revision, after the PSP (which had five).
Rescuing Special Bots
After going through a small round room with Shock Orbs in it, you’ll go up a tall shaft with fans trying to push you into Shock Walls. When you get to the very top, look in the background to spot two bots playing “Bot Fighter”. This is a reference to Street Fighter, Capcom’s famous fighting game franchise that debuted in 1987. While the original Street Fighter never came to PS1, Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter did.
The only unknown one is the one with the Ethernet port, which doesn’t match any PlayStation system. These icons were displayed on the back of PS1 game boxes to show what features the game supported. The icons on the monitor are, from left to right, Memory Card block requirement, Dual Analog support, Link Cable support, DualShock support, PlayStation Mouse support, Player count, and Multi-Tap support.
The game is a fantastic tech demo for the DualSense controller while also being an enjoyable platformer in its own right. g28 has been described as a love letter to PlayStation, as the game is full of references to past and present Sony franchises. As you’re exploring Playroom’s levels you’ll also stumble across Astro Bots wearing a blue cap and holding a camera. They’re mostly there for the fun of it all rather than to accumulate anything, but every single one of them made me smile, even the few that I had to take a moment to try and guess at. I won’t spoil any more here so as to not rob anyone of the joy of first discovering them.
Ghost of Tsushima was the last first-party PlayStation game developed exclusively for the PS4, after which the PS5 released. What this means is that if you, say, reach a Checkpoint with 10 Coins, then pick up 5 more Coins, then die, you’ll respawn at the Checkpoint back at 10 Coins, and need to collect the other 5 Coins again. What this means is that holding X to jump will make Astro jump higher compared to just tapping X, which will only give a short hop.