Review: I'm eight and I love Astro Bot on the PlayStation - and this controller holder is just great
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Take it from me, an eight-year-old boy can adore a PlayStation almost too much.
After being lucky enough to receive one as a birthday present a couple of months back, my son Eddie is in love: it’s been a necessity to put a one-hour limit on the machine for the days when he is allowed to play it - and one game in particular stands out.
That game is Astro Bot, in which you have to rescue lost bots and find parts for your PlayStation 5 mothership. It also involves fighting the Space Bully Nebulax... all action, as you can see. It started off as a pre-installed feature on the PlayStation to show off some of its features but last year saw it become a proper standalone game. From a parent’s point of view it is reassuringly “safe” - the bold, bright colours and simple storylines put you in mind of Super Mario. There are no nasties here.
And so, imagine Eddie’s delight to discover that his newfound gaming hero/avatar was available to accompany him in his living room on his travels around various worlds.
It’s made by The Cable Guys, who have a range of similar stands including familiar faces such as Stitch, Sonic the Hedgehog, Spider-Man and Darth Vader (what a dinner party that would be). They are not essential, by any means, as your controller will sit quite happily on a table instead and the stand doesn’t have a charging function. However, given that most controllers now are wireless, it’s a good way of not losing a handset if you are prone to absentmindedly walking off with it and leaving it elsewhere in the house. If you are the kind of person who finds themselves using the “Find My Phone” option rather too often in your own house then the stand will work well as a regular place to leave your phone so you at least have a chance of remembering where you put it.
And, to be honest, the stand is a good-looking little model anyway. Anyone who enjoys playing the role of Astro Bot and zooming around looking for bots may well appreciate it just as a little piece of gaming decoration in its own right. The holder is about 21cm high and about 11cm wide, so not too intrusive.
As Eddie puts it: “Astro Bot is my favourite game. When I got this Astro Bot controller holder, it really helped me get my living room tidy.”
The Cable Guys Astro Bot handset and phone holder is £29.99 and available from the company directly here and it’s also in Smyth’s Toys at a cheaper price. It’s listed on Amazon but not available there yet.