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Well, don’t I feel silly after sleeping on a PlayStation 5 launch title for three long years. If you’re a PlayStation 5 owner, you’ll know that your console comes with Astro’s Playroom pre-installed. That’s not the game in question, by the way. This delightful platformer isn’t just heaps of fun. It also acts as a tech demo, showcasing what the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller is capable of.
Ever since I played Astro’s Playroom, I’ve been churning out the same complaint. While, yes, this game was quite literally tailored to highlight the DualSense’s functionalities, I’ve been disappointed at just how underused the controller feels in so many games since. Major exclusives like God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, and The Last of Us Part I contain the occasional nice utilisation in relation to weather effects and weapon resistance. Ragnarök’s Norns’ whispers particularly stood out, taunting you through the DualSense’s speaker. It is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart that, in my mind, has thus far come the closest to attempting to match the level of immersion seen in Astro’s Playroom. That was until I realised I’d been totally overlooking Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Oops.
Take a look at Sackboy: A Big Adventure in action below.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure has everything you could possibly want if Astro’s Playroom also left you screaming “more” at the screen. Given that it was a PlayStation 5 launch title, it’s a game that I’ve always been aware of but perhaps, rather stupidly, didn’t dive into because I wasn’t at all familiar with other LittleBigPlanet entries. My recent discovery? You don’t need to be.
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On the whole, platformers are hardly known for their heavy hitting narratives, although there are naturally exceptions (please go and play Celeste). Sackboy: A Big Adventure isn’t one of those exceptions though. The opening scene introduces you to Craftworld, the home of our titular hero. It’s not long before evil villain Vex appears, kidnapping all of the Sackpeople and enslaving them at his Topsy-Turver machine factory. Thankfully, Sackboy gets away with the Topsy-Turver plans in tow, setting us up on our journey to save Craftworld.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure doesn’t have the most complex of narratives, but it is nicely put together with the voice talents of Richard E Grant as Vex and Dawn French as your guide Scarlet breathing warmth and life into the simple script. Before long, you’ll find yourself jumping, gliding, swinging, and sliding through a series of biomes, each filled with a variety of levels that contain everything you could possibly hope to find in a platformer, but what I really want to talk about is how that translates through your controller.
While we’re all used to feeling the occasional rumble via the DualSense, Sackboy: A Big Adventure is far more detailed than that. You can tell that Sumo Digital paid close attention to how they could utilise this fantastic bit of technology. If you fall to your death, you’ll hear poor Sackboy’s fading cry sound from your DualSense’s speaker, which sounds far more morbid on paper than it is actually in the game itself. Likewise, the controller’s speaker will sound out the zingy hubbubs of various in-game machines adding an audible sense of depth to the world.
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Elsewhere, the DualSense will convey the steady rumble of your hover boots (called Plasma Pumps), or the tautness of your grapple line as you swing across a hefty gap. You can feel the easing tension as you undo a giant screw or pull out a plug, each movement translating to a specific sensation on the DualSense. Even in the game’s start menu, the immersion begins.
The controller’s utilisation perhaps best stands out during the game’s rhythm-based levels - the first of which is set to Bruno Mars’ ‘Uptown Funk’. It’s one thing to see the game’s colourful world totally come alive, all of its creatures dancing in time with the song’s beat. It’s another to feel every thump in your hands, guiding you through the level with impeccable timing as you bop and hop your way to the finish line.
While Sackboy: A Big Adventure is far from being the PlayStation 5’s definitive experience, it’s still one worth undertaking. It’s a welcomed reminder of what the console is technically capable of with its DualSense controller, a standout component of the PlayStation 5 that I’m certainly hoping to see wholly utilised as the console enters the so-called “latter stages” of its life cycle. Given that it’s featured on PlayStation Plus’ extra tier and was previously an essential title, I’m imagining plenty of you can dive in, so do give it a go. You won’t regret it.
Topics: PlayStation, Playstation Plus, Sony