Going Platinum #13: Astro Bot Rescue Mission 1
Image: Push Square

Platinum Trophy #13: Astro Bot Rescue Mission

Date Earned: 3rd March 2019

Dopamine Index:

Look, I messed up, didn't I? This was meant to go out last Saturday, and I straight up forgot to write it.

If you were worried I'd lost interest, or run out of platinums to vaguely talk about, I'm afraid it's just my tired brain more concerned with what to make for dinner. Well, it won't happen again*.

I can't believe I forgot when the game I had lined up was Astro Bot Rescue Mission, still to this day one of the finest virtual reality games available.

For as much as I truly adore the more recent PS5 platformer Astro Bot, there's something so special about the PSVR exclusive.

On the face of it, it's a charming, very straightforward 3D platformer, but words cannot describe the difference virtual reality makes.

PSVR's definitely past it at this point; we're sure the image quality doesn't hold up to modern tech, and obviously it's a pain to get it operating on PS5. A port to PSVR2 would be nice, Sony.

However, it's so worth playing. The depth and sense of perspective and scale is something only virtual reality can provide, and Team Asobi put it to immaculate use in Rescue Mission.

Finding the Bots in each level is fun because, sometimes, they're completely out of view unless you physically move to see them. This also applies to collectibles — it adds a whole new layer to a genre that's been more or less perfected over the last 30 years.

Nabbing the platinum Trophy for this game was a sheer pleasure. It's not a tough one, really — it's another one of those "do everything" lists — but when the game is this engaging and charming and fun, it doesn't really matter.

Unfortunately, it feels unlikely that we'll get another Astro Bot game designed for headsets, but I'm very glad I played Rescue Mission; I've still yet to play anything better in VR. The silver lining is that the character has gone on to become even bigger and better, and is nearing PlayStation mascot status, if he isn't there already.

Cheers, Astro Bot Rescue Mission.

Do you have the platinum Trophy for Astro Bot Rescue Mission? Tell us in the comments section below.

*It might.