Astro Bot Rescue Mission - PS4

Since virtual reality has gone mainstream there have been certain types of games that have lent themselves well to the format (anything that puts you inside a mech suit springs to mind) and others that have seen developers struggling to know what to do with a fully immersive environment. All too often you're left hovering above the action instead of getting immersed in it. Platformers are one of those tricky genres.

While Astro Bot Rescue Mission doesn't try to reinvent the platforming genre for VR, it does offer a new way to play it. Mercifully, it dodges putting you right in the leaping shoes of the titular hero and instead opts to have you controlling him with your DualShock 4, but you're present in the game as well. He'll interact with you and baddies will even try to blind you with projectile ink, and you can peer round corners and take in full 360 degree views, but you're still controlling the little guy with the pad.

What you end up with is a very classic-feeling 3D plaftormer, complete with coins to collect, hover jumps, tricky floating platforms and all the other good stuff you've come to expect from the genre, but played out from a fun new angle.

There are gameplay mechanics that make full use of your abilities as a character in the game, too, such as points where you have to headbutt through walls or use your controller to fire throwing stars.

At its heart, though, Astro Bot Rescue Mission is still a charming 3D platformer that fans of series like Crash Bandicoot or Ratchet and Clank will feel right at home with. more