Move over, Mario! PlayStation’s Astro Bot is adorable enough to take over the world. And the game is pretty special too, writes PETER HOSKIN

Astro Bot (PlayStation, £59.99)

Verdict: There’s a new pet in town

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Sony’s PlayStation has never had trouble making good games, but it has had trouble making good mascots.

Nintendo has Mario, Link and Zelda. Microsoft’s Xbox has the imposing figure of Halo’s Master Chief. While the PlayStation has whatever-it-is, that bundle of threads from the Little Big Planet games. Until now.

Now, the PlayStation has the little robot Astro… and he is sublime.

Astro has actually been around for some time, in smaller games designed to show off what the latest PlayStation hardware can do.

For example, 2020’s Astro’s Playroom came bundled with the PS5 and demonstrated the full expressive range of the DualSense controller’s buzzes and beeps.

Astro Bot is a lot like Playroom, except the experience has been elevated to the level of a full game, with new powers, a story, and everything.

One day, Astro is speeding through the cosmos in a spaceship that looks like a PS5 when suddenly an evil alien appears and scatters him and his robotic friends across the galaxy. Your mission: rescue them all, repair the ship, and defeat the bad guys.

What follows are dozens of stages packed with as much invention, color, and charm as some of the best 3D Mario titles.

Astro Bot is a game that not only celebrates PlayStation’s past (although it certainly does that, with plenty of adorable references sprinkled throughout), but also gaming in general. It feels like a joy in the hands, particularly with one of those DualSense controllers.

In fact, it might just be the best argument for buying a PlayStation right now. And if you already have such a console and want to convince others of its technical brilliance, Astro is definitely the robot for you.

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions

(PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, £24.99)

Verdict: Look for it

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Why hasn’t anyone done this before? A full-blown adaptation of the sport of Quidditch into video game form, so you can join Harry Potter and his friends on broomsticks, catching Quaffles, dodging Bludgers and chasing the elusive Snitch? It would surely make enough money to fill a vault at Gringotts.

There’s actually a good answer to that question: Quidditch is complicated.

There are at least three different games in one, and different team roles associated with each of them. Between keepers and chasers, beaters and seekers, it’s a lot for a single video game to handle.

But now a new game has come along that has given it a go – and a very good one at that. In fact, the best thing about Quidditch Champions is how it handles the different parts of this fictional sport. After an interesting tutorial section, set in the fields behind the Weasley residence, it’s pretty easy to quickly switch roles and do everything Quidditch has to offer, even as a solo player.

And I imagine it will be even better when online multiplayer is fully operational, allowing you to focus on just one role while other players take on the others. You too can become a hit-maker, like Potter himself.

There are other things I would recommend about this game. Its cartoonish look is appealing and welcoming. It lets you upgrade your teams’ appearance, uniforms, and equipment, but (as far as I could tell) without resorting to the real-life card payments that plague other sports games, such as EA FC.

The only problem, really, is the lack of Quidditch Champions. Its creators have managed to increase the variety in each Quidditch match, but they haven’t added much more variety. Once you’ve played a few matches, you’ve seen pretty much everything on offer.

But isn’t that what sport is? The same basic game repeated over and over again in pursuit of victory and maybe even perfection?

So watch out, I’m getting good at catching those snitches. 150 points for Hufflepuff!