Image credit: Team Asobi
Think you’ve seen everything imaginable in video games? If so, you might want to read Harold Goldberg’s review of Sony’s Astro Bot. Goldberg speaks as an expert who has been playing, analyzing, and reviewing video games for over 15 years, most recently in this regular column for the New York Times that was launched in 2024. Let’s see if he intrigues you enough to give this game a try!
Read it here.
EXPLORE, REFLECT, SPEAK UP.
1. Harold Goldberg doesn’t hold back, telling us in the opening paragraph that Astro Bot is not only a “generally exceptional, imaginative game” but that it is nothing less than “a mammoth, interactive pop culture history.” From there he flashes back to provide some history of the game rather than offering support for the wildly enthusiastic claim he has just made. But the support is there if you look for it: Can you find it? List all the reasons and evidence Goldberg gives to support the claim that Astro Bot is exceptional and imaginative, and that it constitutes “interactive pop culture history.”
2. Goldberg notes several things that others might not like in the game. What are those things, and how does he respond? If you yourself have played Astro Bot, was there anything you didn’t like, or found difficult? If you haven’t played it, has Goldberg’s review got you thinking about trying it? Or are their aspects that he describes that don’t sound appealing to you (and if so, what are they)?
3. Goldberg describes the Astro Bot plot as a “simple sci-fi rescue story” that succeeds even though its characters communicate only through eye expressions and “verbal exclamations” (ones that remind him of sounds made by Curly in The Three Stooges TV series—look it up!). Why do you suppose the creators made this choice? What has been gained by not giving the characters language?
4. LET’S TALK. Get together with a couple of classmates to discuss your own experiences playing video games and come up with a list of 3 to 5 criteria you think characterize the most enjoyable games. Then study Goldberg’s review, looking for any criteria he seemed to use for evaluating Astro Bot. How do his criteria compare with yours? Has this task changed your mind in any way about what makes for a really good video game?
5. AND NOW WRITE. Imagine you and a partner have been hired to create a poster to advertise Astro Bot. Decide on the overall message you want to send, and design it to show just how imaginative and fun the game is. Then go for it—create a poster, using hand drawings, collage, or digital tools. Show your poster to a classmate and ask for feedback about how well it would work to publicize Astro Bot.
LetsTalkLibrary 