Mario was the undisputed king of 3D platformers since the N64 days. But every king has to fall someday and a new one has to arise. The new king is Astro Bot. A super cute little robot that is already known from the free Playroom Demo. Astro Bot: Rescue Mission is basically Mario 64 where you travel to small worlds, collect coins and – instead of stars – missing crew members to unlock new levels. The design of the five worlds is outstanding, the controls are tight and the graphics are fantastic. There is a lot of charm, colour, unique art-style and an amazing soundtrack. Astro Bot jumps across chasms, on moving platforms, dodges deadly obstacles and jumps on or smashes a good range of quirky enemies. But what really takes it to the next level is the way the developer implemented VR-technology. Instead of just “watching” the screen the player and its controller are entities inside the game world that can alter the levels. You have to look around obstacles, follow Astro Bot’s path with head movement and help him out with several virtual tools for your controller. For example you can shoot ropes that Astro Bot can balance on or you extinguish fire enemies with a water gun. Head tracking and gyro controls are masterly woven into the gameplay and provide a lot of change during the course of the game. All this especially comes into effect during the fantastic boss fights at the end of every world. You really feel like a part of the game instead of a disconnected observer that only controls the protagonist. Trust me on this: You have to experience it for yourself. Words, screenshots and videos don’t do this game any justice. Absolutely try it for yourself! Astro Bot: Rescue Mission is pretty much the perfect VR game. It’s easy to learn, perfectly showcases the capabilities of VR technology and is immensely fun to play with minimal risk for motion sickness. One could argue about the lengths of the game though. The 26 main levels can be finished in six to eight hours. There are 26 additional challenge levels which can get pretty hard, especially when going for gold medals. These add several more hours to the play time. And then there is a beautiful panorama level where you can collect little animated figures with your collected coins through a claw machine.