When Astro Bot: Rescue Mission landed on the original PlayStation VR, it was a breath of fresh air for platforming due to its freedom of vision and some of the most unique interactions to be had with platforming levels. However, PlayStation VR2 is rather conspicuously missing an Astro Bot title, not even featuring a conversion of the original adventure. Rising to fill the gap is developer and publisher Toast Interactive. Having seen a successful run on Meta Quest, it has brought its platforming adventure Max Mustard to Sony’s latest headset. Will it live up to the name Mustard or will it be more ketchup water?
Players step into an overview role, joining Max on their journey through a vibrant set of floating islands as they take on the (as the description on the box puts it) “unscrupulous businessman, Stubbins” who is causing trouble by caging mudpups to sell them to the super rich. This simple plot is more than enough to quantify Max’s rescue mission, and it keeps the action and direction focused in a satisfying way. The story plays out in fully VR cutscenes that help put you in a front seat to the world, making sure that immersion is continuous. For the most part, this is unbroken in story moments, but there are still loading breaks or transition points between levels.
The adventure opens right into a level without even dropping a title screen, and one short intro later, the ones in control…have control. Using the DualSense controllers, Max can move around, jump and attack very intuitively. It feels great, with Max being smooth and responsive, which is very important to a platformer where precision matters just as much as speed. As this progresses, players gain access to a variety of gadgets, which are usually directly controlled by them, offering a greater level of interactions with the environment. The first of these gadgets offers some shooting mechanics, which feel really satisfying and have great controller feedback.
Between levels you get to discover the hub of Max’s van, which has all sorts of interactive elements, including, as of the latest update, an eject button for those who think they can stomach it! The van also holds the 3D level map, which is nice and intuitive, offering an almost Donkey Kong Country style traversal, and it’s visually fascinating to boot. Levels themselves are interesting beasts with a real eye for scale and penchant for excellent verticality in the design. Similar to the aforementioned Astro Bot, the camera follows Max’s progress through the level, offering a good overview of the upcoming obstacles, while deliberately obscure collectables till one looks around.
During typical gameplay Max will be below, above, in front and behind the player viewpoint depending on the level itself. Tracking them as they bounce around and planning some perspective defying jumps is really a fun way to play and offers a good amount of challenge in later levels. Surprisingly, the player can purchase new abilities with currency found during levels, which range from the first attack move to increasing item drop rate. In a way, it offers a very light RPG element that was somewhat unexpected.
A standout is definitely how boss stages have a reasonable step up in difficulty. These and optional challenge stages offer what feels like the most synergy between the player and Max, with some real juggling of the platforming elements and the VR interactivity. Their designs tend to require an almost Legend of Zelda-esque approach to finding the weaknesses, and once again have a great feeling of scale that comes with the art style. It helps make Max’s adventure memorable and worth a replay.
Visually, the world Max adventures through is great. It incorporates lots of colours, with fabulous water running through that is situated in many segments of the levels. A mix of flying islands, industrial locales, caves, and more ensure the stages are distinct across the journey and don’t get visually fatiguing. One of the most impressive things is that scale is portrayed really well, using the vertical space afforded by full head movement. Max and the other characters and enemies all look great; foes are varied and often fit their location; and Max has a cool androgynous character design, with their yellow overalls and red gloves making them pop out of the backgrounds.
Finally, the audio work is also pretty good, with a bouncing soundtrack that keeps the happy vibes going throughout the entire adventure. Sound effects keep you engaged with it, making all the right bloops and beeps in the right directions to make one look in the right direction. It’s utterly charming.
