E2 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2020 LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR
Today’s games provide
many wonders, including
complex stories with multi-
ple quests and missions that
provide the illusion of letting
us stitch together a linear
story. But they are also big,
and sometimes overwhelm-
ing to start. I enjoyed my
first hour with “Assassin’s
Creed Valhalla,” a massive
Viking-themed addition to
the long-running open-
world franchise, but stopped
the game, knowing I
wouldn’t be able to fully ex-
plore its seemingly go-any-
where universe for a couple
weeks.
I found instead that I was
craving more bite-size
games. At least I thought I
was.
That desire doesn’t ex-
plain why I’m on my second
tour of “Astro’s Playroom,” a
game included with the
PlayStation 5 and which
many believed would be lit-
tle more than a tech show-
case for the new console. Or
why, at a time when giant,
flashy games such as “Gears
5” or “Ghost of Tsushima”
are receiving significant
graphical upgrades for the
Xbox Series X or the PS5, all
I want for an hour or two
each evening is the ridicu-
lousness of “Bugsnax,” a
game with fruity critters who
endlessly repeat their name
in the most adorable fash-
ion.
I’ve even found myself
playing the original “Super
Mario Bros.,” repackaged in
mini, hand-held form as a
$50 collectible for nostalgia
hunters, a nod to its pocket
Game & Watch devices.
It may be a rescue-the-
princess tale, but its narra-
tive is one that is told via
wonder and imagination.
What happens if we walk
into this mushroom-like cre-
ature? Maybe we should
jump on it? Can we interact
with these blinking boxes?
Oh, that one unleashed an-
other mushroom! Should we
grab it?
Throughout the start of
“Super Mario Bros.” we’re
constantly asking ques-
tions, and the game provides
answers rather than road-
blocks. It may appear sim-
ple, but it’s mostly just ele-
gant, a pure expression of
play as a storytelling device
that never gets old.
While playing the PS5’s
“Sackboy: A Big Adventure,”
another bright, approach-
able game where silliness
takes prominence over plot,
I had a revelation. It was one
that seemed to explain why I
was bringing Nintendo’s
“Super Mario Bros.” to bed
with me for my pandemic-
timed insomnia, despite
having played that game
regularly for 30 years acrossmultiple devices. It’s not
only relatively rare to have
this many major family-fo-
cused games released at
once, but they all, in varying
ways, leave the storytelling
to the player.
In other words, they pro-
vide a space for us to ask, “I
wonder if I can do this?”
“Astro’s Playroom,” if re-views and social media are
any indication, seems to sur-
prise and delight just about
everyone. Boot it up, and it
appears on the surface to
simply be a showcase for the
PS5 controller, which has en-
hanced, more realistic vi-
brating sensations as well
the ability to increase or de-
crease the level of resistanceplayers feel when pressing
certain buttons.
That’s all fun, but the
game actually provides four
fully fleshed out sections de-
signed to mimic the innards
of a powerful game console,
complete with ridiculous
music to match (if you play,
expect to be humming a
song that’s an ode to a con-
sole’s GPU while doing daily
errands).
The titular character
Astro, a rather corporate-
looking toy robot, doesn’t
have the inviting personality
of Mario, but certainly has
versatility. One particular
area of the game, for in-
stance, has Astro zipping up
into a ball suit, then be-
comes a modern mash-up of
pinball, bowling and “Mar-
ble Madness.” Another joy-
ful area has Astro donning a
spring suit and bouncing
around a beachy spa, only
it’s less about relaxation
than it is bounding up,
around and among plat-
forms. There’s challenge
here, especially in aiming
Astro and using the PS5’s
motion controls, but noth-
ing is too taxing as long as we
stop looking for rules and
start wondering what’s pos-
sible.
Such a frame of mind
comes in handy when Astro
dons ice skates and triple-
axel-like jumps become
more important than knock-
ing out foes, or when rolling
along pink poppy fields,
where every bump in the gar-
den brings an unexpected
sound or reaction. It invites
replays — and replay I have
— because it encourages us
to imagine how such a uni-
verse came into being.
Likewise, “Sackboy: A
Big Adventure,” starring the
handcrafted character first
introduced in the “LittleBig-
Planet” series, a pivotal fran-
chise in establishing and fur-
thering games that encour-
age player creation, a genre
dominated today by
“Minecraft.” There’s no play-
er creation mode here, and
“A Big Adventure” simplifies
things a bit with a vague vil-
lain and quests to collect
orbs, but I didn’t mind the
abstraction, at least not
when it’s this artfully drawn.
“A Big Adventure” is de-
signed to look as if its words
were all created by kids
dreaming up a giant game of
make-believe. Even when we
get moments of back story,
they’re delivered by a narra-
tor who plays with toy ver-
sions of the characters we
encounter throughout the
game.
An abominable snow-
man is actually a furry,
leather-looking ball that
looks fit for backyard ama-
teur sports. Elsewhere, afairy tale kingdom feels as if
it’s constructed in a closet,
amid resources such as toi-
let paper and bath towels.
And always surrounding us
are large, carnival-like cari-
catures smiling, taunting
and rocking back and forth
as we bound through levels.
It reminded me most of Dis-
neyland’s It’s a Small World,
as characters move to a beat
and hidden delights are al-
ternately cutesy and weird.
Take, for instance, an arctic
shark dressed as a sushi chef
demanding hot peppers or
demonic shadow puppets
dancing to “Uptown Funk”
in an Arabian-styled palace
designed out of cardboard. If
a level seems too short,
that’s because you didn’t go
off the beaten path. There’s
almost always something
hidden above, below or in
front of our Sackboy.
“Bugsnax,” available for
the PS4/5 and home com-
puters, has a clearer story
than “Astro’s Playroom” or
“Sackboy: A Big Adventure.”
It has us playing a Muppet-
like creature in the role of a
journalist sent to track the
expedition of Lizbert, an ad-
venturer who has stumbled
upon some mysterious cre-
atures who are part bug,
part produce, but all sorts of
lovable. There’s the fan fa-
vorite Bunger, a sort of bee-
tle-meets-burger, or the
Shishkabug, an ant that’s
also a shish kebab.
Lizbert has gone missing,
so we’re trying to find her
and her secrets, but we’re
mostly capturing Bugsnax.
Doing so, while not neces-
sarily difficult, involves mini
puzzles. Some follow trails of
ketchup. A hot dog worm
loves mustard. A tiny straw-
berry (Stabby) — just 400
calories — is easy to lure into
a trap.
All the characters we en-
counter are going through
some sort of existential cri-
sis, which should provide
fodder for conversation for
those not playing alone.
Some of it is, admittedly, full
of grown-up sadness, such
as unrequited crushes or a
farmer whose spouse has
left him, leaving him to con-
struct a look-alike cactus to
keep him company.
None of it is heavy-han-
ded, though. It’s mostly a
game about seeing what
happens when we’re inquisi-
tive. We, as a reporter, go off
to wander and learn about a
new world full of odd cre-
atures. And that feels, as we
head toward the end of
what’s been a stressful year
for many, worth celebrating.
It’s also what ties all
these games together: a re-
minder that, when it comes
games, sometimes the most
powerful tool is curiosity.VIDEO GAME REVIEWS
Family-friendly spaces for creating
In these fun games,
players of all ages can
tell the stories as they
figure things out.
TODD MARTENS
GAME CRITIC
“BUGSNAX”:They’re bugs. They’re produce. They’re comically mysterious.Young Horses“ASTRO’S PLAYROOM”is just that. Its versatile robot gets you to romp along.Team Asobi / Sony Japan“SACKBOY: A Big Adventure” embraces silliness as it races hither and yon.Sumo Digitalbox musical. “Even if it’s just
for a few minutes, we got to
get back into our characters
and tried to make it feel as
magical as it does when we
do the show eight times a
week. To get a taste of that
energy again was really spe-
cial.”
Airing Thursday at 9 a.m.
on NBC and Telemundo, the
pandemic edition of the Ma-
cy’s Thanksgiving Day Pa-
rade is a socially distanced
mix of live and pretaped seg-
ments. Marching bands and
musical guests have been
limited to those from the tri-
state area to lessen travel
risks, giant character bal-
loons will be flown using spe-
cialty vehicles instead of the
usual hundreds of handlers,
and there will be no in-per-
son spectators.
Additional measures
have been implemented be-
cause of New York City’s
current spike in COVID-19
cases, such as putting more
physical distance between
the parade’s elements and
further reducing the volun-
teer staff. Their ranks, which
usually number between
8,000 and 10,000 people, are
down by 88% this year, to 950.
“We’re taking every single
precaution necessary to en-
sure the safety of every-
body,” said Susan Tercero,
executive producer of Ma-
cy’s Thanksgiving Day Pa-
rade.
For Broadway musical
stars, the gig has become a
rite of passage that requires
late-night, postshow re-
hearsals and making the
earliest — and possibly cold-
est — call time of one’s ca-
reer. But since singing as a
group is a way in which
COVID-19 can spread
quickly, all participants
were tested before meeting
in person and stayed
masked when brushing up
on the numbers indoors.
“It was surreal in so many
ways, mostly because we
could see people in person,
outside of a box on a screen,”
said “Jagged Little Pill” ac-
tress Elizabeth Stanley, in
the parade for the third
time. “And because we’ve all
been singing alone in our
homes, to be in the same
physical space and harmo-
nizing together — hearing
these voices you’ve come to
know on that line or that vo-
cal part — was really power-
ful.”
The cast of “Jagged Little
Pill,” as well as those from
“Hamilton,” “Ain’t Too
Proud — The Life and Times
of the Temptations” and
“Mean Girls,” rehearsed and
filmed their performances in
New York’s Herald Square.
(Because “Jagged’s” cos-
tumes could not be retrieved
for the taping, the cast wore
their own clothes, selected
by costume designer Emily
Rebholz over video chat.)
Though they sang and
danced without the usual
crowds lining the sidewalks,
their efforts were still re-
warded with applause. “We
finished a song and saw peo-
ple in the apartment build-
ings around us clapping,”
said Joshua Henry, who took
a break from filming Lin-
Manuel Miranda’s movie
“Tick, Tick ... Boom” for the“Hamilton” medley. “I’ve
really missed that feeling —
the collective effort that
goes into putting on a piece
of art for an audience to im-mediately feel something.”
As much as Gooding
misses performing for large
audiences in a theater, she
says, “I also know that by notdoing it, I’m keeping every-
body else healthy and safe,
and that is more important
than any show, than any con-
tract, than anything else.”
Although those at home
will see only the actors on-
screen, she says the per-
formances also represent
the industry’s designers,
stage managers and other
crew members: “The peoplewho we cannot do shows
without, and who are often
the people who are last to be
looked after.”
The NBC/Telemundo
event also will feature the
Radio City Rockettes and
the New York City Ballet,
and the casts of “Dear Evan
Hansen” and “Come From
Away” are taking part in
CBS’ Thanksgiving parade.
Henry hopes the festivities
will remind viewers of a key
“Hamilton” lyric.
“‘Look around, look
around, how lucky we are to
be alive right now,’ ” he sang.
“In this moment of giving
thanks, I hope people can
really look at these perform-
ances and be grateful for
what we do have, the things
that we can do, that we’re
still able to breathe. There’s
been a lot of loss during this
time, but the theater is still
here. And we’ll be back.”CELIA ROSE GOODING, left, reunites with her castmates from the Broadway musical “Jagged Little Pill”
to perform in Herald Square for this year’s somewhat truncated Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.Photographs by Virginia SherwoodNBCMacy’s parade
is still musical
[Parade,from E1]
“HAMILTON” cast members rehearse their number
from the musical in front of Macy’s Herald Square.‘The 94th
Annual Macy’s
Thanksgiving
Day Parade’
Where:NBC
When:9 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Rating:TV-PG (may be
unsuitable for young
children)