The (incomplete) series of Ratchet and Clank essays:
A proper compilation of my time with the series.
This is a full collection of my time with the Ratchet and Clank franchise on this webpage, during the lead up to and eventually following the release of its most recent entry, 2021’s, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.
The majority of which are very, very rough.
The only games I’ve yet to review so far are the PSP and mobile phone spin offs as well as Ratchet: Deadlocked and Ratchet and Clank: Full Frontal Assault, as those aren’t relevant to what happens in Rift Apart.
The reviews now follow…
Review of Ratchet and Clank (2002)
A rusty tool but still useful
Reader,
pause for a moment and think to yourself about something you grew up with that’s ongoing now.
What did you feel when you first discovered it?
Where was it when you first heard or saw it?
Why did you like it?
Now compare it to how it’s going lately.
How has the series been lately?
Do you still like it?
Or do you nihilsitically believe that things were way better when you were younger and anyone who disagrees is a bunch of stupid poopy heads?
That’s a bit of a tangent I’m aware of but I think you get what I’m asking in relation to this series.
I know I like Ratchet and Clank through its nearly 20 year history of many sequels, adventures, highs and lows. But I wanted to find why younger me fell in love with Lombax and tiny robot all those years ago and how this series has evolved overtime.
And that’s where this series of articles came from. In celebration of the duo’s return to the PlayStation Nation after a 5 year absence, just how has the series changed from an uncertain idea to not really one of the most celebrated franchises worldwide, but certainly one of the most unique that has charmed people for two decades.
Now before I get into this personal retrospective on the series, I should lay some ground rules before we get into details.
This isn’t meant to be a academic essay (this is honestly something I’m doing for the fun of it) but should you be interested, I will be using a variety of sources to refer to to both the history of this series through the years but also to further back up some of my opinions on this series as well.
I should say as well, for now, I will be focusing on eight games in this series from 2002 to 2013. If you’re a casual reader just stopping by, you’ll be introduced to them gradually, but these titles I felt are necessary to getting the most enjoyment possible to this series in time for its eventual return.
And quickly, I will be talking about spoilers with all of these titles but I’ll generally be formating these articles into the production/ pre production phases, onto the major events of the story (including spoilers), gameplay, issues with the title and finally my overall takeaway from this entry.
So with that established, let’s not waste any haste and get on with the chase!
Prologue: About a Lizard and his friends
November 2000. I’m 5 months old, U2 made one of the best albums of the last decade the previous month and the PlayStation 2 has officially launched in Europe and North America.
While it had come out initially in February, exclusive to the Japanese Market, the successor to the little CD player that could was being given much media attention at this time. With its natural ability to play the then brand new DVDs that were starting to catch on, impressive hardware specs and great first year of titles like Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Devil May Cry, the system was well and truly on its way to greatness even as Nintendo and Microsoft started showing off their next gen plans with the Gamecube and Xbox both releasing in 2001.
At this time, California based studio Insomniac Games had just finished their three game deal with Universal Interactive Studios, who had helped publish the studios first four main titles for the original PlayStation. Disruptor, a first person shooter inspired by Doom (then compared to other titles as being seen as a “Doom Clone”), Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage and Spyro: Year of the Dragon with Sony Computer Entertainment being a lea-way between the two companies.
Now free from the giant earth and its gravitational pull, the studio was now working full time on PS2 dev kits which, despite being harder to develop for when compared to the PS1, still gave them plenty of opportunities to work with on their first main project for the system, codenamed: I5.
Also known as “Girl with a Stick” by some staff members, this was a fantasy themed game similar to Spyro but with a learning towards more older, 12+ crowds. And it was cancelled early on.
Not much remains of the product now apart from an early build of the game and some concept art of the various creatures and factions that were to be featured in this story but internally, the team didn’t feel confident about their new idea.
At this time, an artist for the studio came up with a new idea for a game, showing a sketch of a lizard/reptile looking creature that, with the help of an army of different functioning robots and a variety of weapons, would travel a galaxy to stop evil and save the day.
Still bummed out from their previous attempt but still having some doubts on this new idea, they (with some encouragement from Sony who said they’d publish anything they had with no complaints) began work on this new project.
With some help from their former Universal Studios friends Naughty Dog studios who allowed them to borrow the game engine from their 2001 title, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, as well some tweaking of the games elements, like turning the lizard into a cat looking creature and simplifying the army of robot helpers to one all in one helper, The Adventures of Ratchet and Clank was created. Which was shortened to just Ratchet and Clank when it came out in late 2002.
Now if this was a game I particularly liked, I’d be going on and on about when I got this as a kid, played it and loved it from the moon and back. But for me personally, I got this title initially as a preowned copy at the new defunct retail store GAME back in 2010 for the PS2. It was in very poor condition since in-game cutscenes were very slow and the gameplay just as much.
But since I’ve lost this copy all those years ago, I now have a remastered digital copy of this title for my PlayStation 3 which according to my last save file, I last played back in 2016, just as the remake for this title was coming out.
So have my opinions changed on this title? If at all?
Well, no. And I’ll show you why very soon.
Story: A Solana Way From Here To There
Set in the fictional Solana Galaxy, our adventure starts with a mechanic named Ratchet, living on the totally not Tatooine inspired planet of Veldin. After starting a subscription with Gadgetron Industrious which contained ship parts, a helpdesk voice and a complimentary Bomb Glove, the little cat is preparing to take off to parts unknown… I guess out of sheer boredom. It’s never explained why Ratchet wants to leave but, as of now he can’t, since the final piece he’s missing is a “robotic ignition system”. Why the kit didn’t include one is beyond me but whatever.
Conveniently though, around that same time another ship crashlands onto the planet, which Ratchet investigates, finding nothing but a small robot about the size of a backpack. When it comes to theto, the robot, designated serial number XJ0461, shows Ratchet a video of Chairman Drek.
A representative of the alien race the Blarg, Drek explains in a prerecorded video to the planet of Novalis that his species homeworld has become polluted and overpopulated forcing the Blarg with his leadership to begin creating a new world for them. This he plans by using a lot of high tech excavator equipment to remove large chunks of crust off of the surface of planets like Novalis and applying it directly into their new world. While also acknowledging that once they do, Novalis will be put completely out of orbit and slowly drift and erupt in the sun’s heat but, as he sees it, “sacrifices must be made.” To which he also says almost immediately afterwards: “And if you don’t like it you can take your whiny, snivelling, snot nosed population, form a line behind me and KISS MY-! We’re still on? Well turn it off you idiot!”
The robot, after seeing this, now asks for the cat’s help, believing that a resident hero and galaxy wide celebrity named Captain Quark is the only person that can stop Drek’s plans.
Using his own built in Robotic Ignition System, the robot, dubbed Clank by Ratchet because of the clanky sound he makes whenever he gets hit, the duo take off, with Drek seemingly aware of their presence.
After getting in the Chairman’s way on the drilling planet of Aridia and surviving nearly drowning in Planet Rigler’s sewer system, the two eventually meet Quark who has also been following the duo’s progress closely. Because Aa As it’s revealed after a brief obstacle course on his secret HQ, the captain betrays their trust saying that he is actually one of the main sponsors of Drek’s plant popping plan and leaves them for dead.
This marks the second third of the game where the relationships between the two main characters change. While Ratchet was generally snarky towards Clank’s childlike wonder and misdirection, after Quark’s turncoat he effectively turns into a total dick to Clank for being so gullible and is now only interested in getting his own back on Quark.
More planet hopping later Quark is eventually confronted by Ratchet and after a dogfight in outer space, Quark is shot down and spirals towards the planet surface below them.
Now with his bucket list free, Ratchet comes across a new recording showing that while he was focused on getting revenge, Drek has still been terrorising the galaxy, making him the real threat all along.
Realising this and with some extra encouragement from the news that Drek plans on blowing up Veldin for having the perfect orbit for his new planet, the team eventually hunts down the Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman (as he’s referred to by then), who reveals that he intentionally polluted the Blarg homeworld of Orxon for profit, making his people rely on him and even states that he plans on making New Orxon polluted later on to continue his Ponzi scheme.
To which the duo respond by launching him to the then finished planet and using his own tech against him, blowing up the surface of New Orxon with him still on it.
So immediately I can say a handful of things about how this story plays out. Firstly, the majority of the opening scene minus the duo’s first time together and Dreks introduction is all done without dialogue. This could be seen as a show of the PS2 emotion engine which allowed for natural facial expression without the use of dialogue, allowing characters to more physically show their moods rather than saying it.
Plus as well the fact that Bothboth Thisthis introduction, and the following two games that were made for the PS2 start off very simplistic, which I don’t mean as an insult. We as an audience can already tell that this galaxy is far ahead in progress compared to ours with the seemingly large amount of robots shown in the first few cutscenes and the main players and what defines them personality wise. Ratchet being the good hearted, if self assured adventurer, Clank a very calculated but determined think tank and Drek as the main enemy that needs dealing with.
And, as Drek’s little monologue to himself earlier will tell you, this series has a very crude sense of humour. Not South Park levels of that, since it would most likely bump up the age rating significantly ,if it were, but there are a few not so suitable jabs at this kind of comedy, even more so as we see in our next two entries.
However, for as much as this setup is engaging, it also leaves a few questions unanswered. Why does Clank believe Quark to be his hope of defeating Drek? He was only created a few minutes ago at that point and likely had no knowledge of Quark in those few fleeting minutes.
I do have a couple of more gripes with the story but as is, it’s definitely one way of setting the scene and a good way of leading the player along with a clear goal in mind.
But while that goal itself is easier said than done obviously thankfully, the journey ends up making the destination a little more fulfilling.
Gameplay: Throwing a wrench into standard platforming. And good game design.
Now however I feel I should mention the main bulk of the title. Ratchet and Clank is a 3D platformer comparable to games like Super Mario 64 and Insomniac’s own Spyro but with the obvious inclusion of a sci-fi theme with the title characters travelling across 19 largely distinct planets in the Solana Galaxy.
Once arriving at a planet, the game camera usually shows off a wide shot of the environment around you just as you step off your ship. This is actually a way of introducing the planet that has been included in almost every game in the series and I honestly never noticed it for myself as I usually just immediately ran off in the nearest direction without a second thought.
And though we have long since moved on from the days of the PS2, for a game that came out within the first two years of the console, Ratchet and Clank managed to showcase a level of detail that couldn’t really be seen before anywhere else hadn’t been seen anywhere else. Whether it be Metropolis on the planet Kerwan with hordes of aerial traffic and adverts for Quark soaring high above yellow and cream looking buildings to the war torn, desolate city ruins of Planet Batalia, the artists and level designers at Insomniac manage to make each location distinct from each other through different paths, times of day and how the planet is projected even when locations like Eudora’s dense forests or Novalis’s lush green fields can be easily compared to each other.
Each planet usually contains about 2 to 3 branching paths for the player, ranging from platforming challenges, waves of enemies to deal with or a mixture of both. With the rewards at the end of each route usually offering you an optional item rewarding your curiosity, an item needed to progress the story on another planet or an infobot which includes coordinates to the next unlockable planet as well as a brief short introducing the planet and its relevance to the story.
How you gain that necessary story information though is another issue and… well we’ll touch on that later.
As standard Ratchet is actually very versatile as gaming characters go. He can double jump, swim, cling and jump off of ledges, side flip or backflip from a crouching position and wall jump off of marked walls when applicable. But on top of that through discovery and story progression, his skills can be upgraded even further through items like the O2 Mask to breath in harmful environments like deep water or poisonous gas and the Gravity Boots to walk on metal surfaces and essentially walk on the ceiling though he is extremely imobile in doing so.
Clank has a starring role in the gameplay as well. While he does start off as essentially just a robot looking backpack for Ratchet, through upgrades he can use the helipack to jump up to and across large gaps while slowly gliding while in the air, the thruster pack to glide much quicker and use a slam attack to open specific gates at the cost of a less effective long jump or high jump and the hydro pack to swim faster while under water.
But at certain points (and I mean, only two points in the game) Clank will be required to get something for Ratchet to progress the story in a area that he can’t breath in like on the Blarg homeworld of Orxon that is so polluted that Clank is the only person who can travel outside in the harmful chemical environment.
These sections see Clank walk around a small environment and use Gadgebots. These little robots that are actually smaller than Clank himself, can be seen as recycling the multiple robots for different purposes from preproduction and by holding down the triangle button, Clank can give one of four orders to them. Follow, Wait, Attack and Enter. The last option refers to specific gates where a certain number of Gadgebots need to go through a small door in order for Clank to continue alone.
Now though, aside from the sci-fi influences, you might be thinking to yourself what exactly this series offers to the play that separates it from other platformers of its kind.
And it’s simple friend. Guns. Lots of guns.
When Ratchet defeats an enemy or conveniently placed wooden crate, a form of currency, bolts, spew out of the subject. The player is then allowed to spend at a weapon vendor hosted by the distributor Gadgetron. These bolts are then used to buy a new weapon for the player to use or can also buy ammunition for that tool if it runs out.
There’s roughly 20 weapons that the player can obtain over the course of the game and range from standard archetypical es for weapons such as the Blaster, being a machine pistol that can lock and unload on a opponent, or the aforementioned Bomb Glove which allows the wielder to throw a AOE grenade at a opponent, to more out there concepts, like the Glove of Doom which when thrown, releases a army of tiny kamikaze robots that charge headlong at a target and explode on contact, or the Suck Cannon which can suck in small enemies and then allow Ratchet to shoot them back out at a high velocity.
Each weapon generally speaking serves a set purpose and can be used to take care of a particular opponent such as the Decoy Glove creating a inflatable lookalike of Ratchet that enemies will immediately begin attacking or the Devastator, a rocket launch with a nifty lock on feature and incredible damage on each hit.
It should be said as well that when Ratchet doesn’t have or wants to conserve ammo, the player can always retreat on his melee weapon, the Omniwrench 800, which is mapped entirely to the square button, to wack targets that are in a close enough range.
You can kind of say that the weapons, in a general sense resemble the weaponry featured in Value’s Half-Life series as well, starting off with weapons that are familiar to everyone even outside of games to more outlandish and otherworldly equipment that would certainly be more scarier if they did exist in real life. But I think the Omniwrench should be given more praise over Gordon Freeman’s crowbar seeing how it has a three hit combo, a jump slam called the meteor strike which does two hits on a target and can be thrown like a boomerang towards an enemy from a safe distance with the comet throw. Not exactly a very civilised weapon I know but who said anything about being civil?
Now overall, I think for a first entry in a series, this is arguably one of the best ways to launch a franishce. Not only does it have its own unique concept of gunplay but mixing it in with 3D platforming mechanics on top of that in an era where kid friendly platformers were believed to be a dying breed, makes for such a natural pairing then you would think otherwise.
Problems: Baby kitten steps
However, for as much as I think this game succeeds in creating a great impression as a whole, there are some issues that I have that really take away my enjoyment of the series. Thankfully the majority of these gripes would later be fixed in future entries but they’re still troublesome for this game specifically.
Going back to the look of each planet, while I still think many of the planets all have something that makes them distinct from the other, there were times on planets that were set at night such as Ardia where I felt the landscape was too dark to see anything. This could be because I was playing the HD remaster of this game through an AV cable on my PS3 but I think it is something that can be pretty confusing especially in a panic situation.
And speaking of panics, let’s talk about the health system. When Ratchet takes damage, he loses a piece of Nanotech (his health basically), 1 of 4 bars that he can have. When that does happen the player can find small breakable cases of Nanotech which can restore that one quarter of health back to normal. Now the health system itself isn’t my issue, it makes things very simplistic to the player as it helps them realise that everything will do one quarter of a hit against your base health.
However this does not pair well with how slow the camera moves in this game. For a title that features a lot of enemies ranging from robots that can shoot electricity or the Ambiodes, a alien species that shrinks down from 1 to 2 to 4 to 6 with each hit, you can easily get blindsided by a enemies programming because all they have to do is shoot/attack on sight compared to what you have to you finding the enemy, pulling out the right tool then going to town. I know this is overly explaining it but it’s very easy to become overwhelmed especially when you’re on death’s door. And whenever that happens “spray and pray” basically becomes the phrase of the day.
Thirdly and this is something that really bugs me about this game is that when you do eventually reach a goal to help progress the story, you’ll often be asked to pay the person offering the story required gadget or tool in order to use them. As in using your hard earned bolts that you’d likely be holding onto for a really useful gun, just to progress the story. Thankfully these instances are very small and I think the highest I was charged was 2,000 bolts near the end of the game but it still feels like an incredibly inconvenient move.
And as for the guns themselves, while I have expressed that some of these weapons are very useful some are…. Well they aren’t.
The Taunter for example is an air horn shaped weapon designed to attract and annoy enemies towards you. And that’s it. Like realistically you could try and be creative with this like in the few instances where there’s a enemy behind a electrified barricade and you can use the Taunter to ram their stupid heads into it but its extremely situational and not very useful.
And then you have the other end of the spectrum with weapons like the Visibomb Gun, a rocket launcher that allows Ratchet to remote control the missile and launch it into anyone from an obscene distance. Both the range it has and the damage it can deal is incredibly overpowered and when used properly, can make the final few areas of the game that have wide open spaces a breeze.
Finally And fifthly and my final point, while the game does have a great amount of focus on Ratchet’s platforming, the game will often try to shake things up in as many ways as it can, with some being more fun than others. The most common shakeup comes with gadgets. These basically operate similarly to Weapons yet they don’t do any damage and the player has to acquire these by exploring one of the paths on different planets. Many of these gimmicks though actually compliment the platforming nature of this series though such as the swingshot being used to swing and zip on or towards specific floating targets or the grind boots allowling Ratchet to essentially ride down specially marked grind rails like the world’s most immersive Thunder Mountain Roller Coaster.
However, some of these gadgets feel very situational and are generally just used for one specific puzzle and are quickly abandoned after a while because of just how many there are.
For example, the Hydrodisplacer is a gadget that when used at a specific terminal, allows the player to drain an entire pool of water and pour it straight out into a similar terminal to fill up said pool. And at the top of my head, only 3 planets ever need this gimmick.
When you’re not using other tools for the job, the main two ways that the game tries to add variety are in the aforementioned Clank only sections and flight battles.
Late into the game, Ratchet can acquire the Pilots Helmet which allows him to control a fully automated gunship flying around an open skybox taking down specific targets such as on Pokitaru where the Blarg are trying to steal the Hawaii like planets natural ocean water. These sections are definitely engaging but I feel that the way the ship control has a winding tug to it whenever I try to pull a hard right is a bit tricky to steer exactly, making these sections drag on a bit too much. Plus there’s only three points in the game’s length where the ship is used, which does mean it has more use than the two Clank sections in the game, but that’s not saying much.
Now look, I know I came across as very hard and judgemental through all of those issues that I had. But that’s because, there’s little reason for me to want to go back to this entry freely.
Sure it laid the groundwork for an amazing series but in my eyes, that’s all I see it as. The groundwork. Something that helped set the standard for a great series going forward yet giving very little reason to return to the progenitor aside from mild curiosity at most.
I still respect how it was able to get the foundation of this series identity so well and how future entries would take some of the ideas and characters that started out here and improve or refine them over time. But out of all of the other entries in this series, this one ranks pretty low all things considered.
Conclusion: A beautiful friendship is born
So after visiting the first game in one of my most beloved series of all time, what’s my takeaway impressions from this first step?
It’s alright. Yeah it’s fine.
While I’m still not the biggest fan of the sheer emphasis on variety present, the confusing counterproductive paywalls for story progression and certain aspects of the story itself, this is still a great starting point to what would help solidify Insomniac’s presence even after they were done with Spyro. And at the time, critics thought so too. With a really great blend of two opposing genres, a unique sci-fi setting and weapons too dangerous for this small earth, it was clear that for being their first foot into the PS2 that it was not only a critically good one but a commercially great one at that.
By today’s standards though and when compared with the rest of the series however, this feels like the one that’s aged the most. Even with entries in this franchise that I’m not the biggest fan of, there is still fun to be had in those other games either by the improvements they made to the formula or by its own unique gimmick.
I know people do really like the story and how it can be argued that this game has a very strong anti-capitalist message (which I don’t really agree with but that’s a complaint for another time) but apart from that, there’s no real reason to ever want to go back to this.
But before I leave, I should mention one brief scene near the end of the story.
After blowing up New Orxon the pair face an immediate meteor shower from the devastated planet with Clank saving Ratchet twice at the cost of damaging his right arm. Shrugging both his pals’ heroics and the broken arm, Ratchet walks back to his garage, leaving Clank to assume that their friendship is over, now they’ve done everything together.
That is until a voice calls not to far behind:
“Hey hey tin can! Where do you think you’re going? We uh… still need to fix that arm.”
And while I still don’t like the majority that this game had to offer, I like that little scene as an allegory for my takeaway of this game.
Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but still the start of greater things soon to come.
Review of Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando (also known as Locked and Locked or simply Ratchet and Clank 2 in parts of europe)
Improvements galore, yet more of the same problems
Reader, this particular game I have a very strange relationship with. But to best explain that let me take you back to the year 2001.
Now this is more something my oldest brother can tell you but over the years we got our Playstation 2 with a handful of games. These included SSX Tricky, Sly 2: Band of Thieves and the above title.
I still can’t exactly remember when I saw it but I remember coming across him playing the title on our old CRT mini TV in our playroom with him playing this game clear as day. And it seemed my three year old self took a very keen interest, to the point that I took the game discs for both it and Sly 2 and hid them somewhere in our old house that I presume is still lost to this day.
But this was it. My introduction to what would effectively make up a large chunk of my childhood and help mould me into the person that I am today.
And with that in mind, let me ask you something. Why is it that I can’t stand this game?!
Well to understand exactly that it’s time we once more get Locked and Loaded as I’m Going Commando!…. 2 (I couldn’t fit all of the alternate titles in a cleverer way).
Production: Kitty with Claws
So January of 2002. 9 months before Ratchet and Clank is set to ship. And it’s already been green lit for a sequel. Seriously.
I mean fair play to both Insomniac and Sony for having so much faith in the future of this IP but I feel like because of that, and the fact that this game launched one year later in the winter of 2003, it makes me wonder if this is partly the reason why the original felt very undercooked.
Well either way, with the reception for the title in mind it was decided earlier on to change a significant part about the series franchise going forward.
David Ageiler, who was the creative director of all Ratchet and Clank titles until 2016 noted this himself in a policy he liked to call “evolve or die”.
Both he and his team knew that the platformer genre was falling off the reigns in gaming culture as more mature oriented titles such as Grand Theft Auto III and Halo: Combat Evolved were coming out near the end of the original’s development. And in response to this, Ageiler shifted focus.
While the original game was a platformer first and foremost with some elements of shooters with the use of gunplay in the mix, this game and the series going forward shifted priorities. That being to a shooter first and foremost with some elements of platformers included.
And in some ways, that’s reflected in the opening of this title.
I didn’t mention this in the previous article because I thought it wasn’t important to my analysis but I really liked how humble the original Ratchet and Clank title screen was. It’s supposed to be set I presume the night before Ratchet attempts to blast off with him grabbing and wielding various parts together in his garage against the backdrop of nighttime crickets.
Yet in this game, the bigger focus on gunplay has affected even the title roll itself.
With a small trumpet sequence near the start of the piece to slowly reveal the Insomniac Games it then gets quickly followed by a militant esque drum pattern, followed by the title of this adventure revealed as an adventurous sounding orchestra is heard accompanying its reveal. And throw in an explosion as well, why not?
After this though we actually get a pretty interesting main menu screen. While the game asks us to press the start button to begin, we can actually see Ratchet and Clank lounging around in the mechanic’s garage with Ratchet playing a video game ironically enough. And everytime you start a new game 4 possible titles will be shown being played by our lombax. Ratchet and Clank, Ratchet and Clank 2 (which I find a little eerie seeing how this takes place before the events of the main story), or in a more rare instance, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.
I know this is a pretty significant deviation from my points but I should mention briefly why I really love this easter egg.
So during the PS2 era, Sony had three different mascots created during the system’s life that all had an element of platforming to them by their second party devs at Insomniac, the previously mentioned Naughty Dog and then fairly new studio Sucker Punch. And if the fact that all three of these games are platformers isn’t enough, there are several easter eggs referencing each other throughout the PS2 system including this one.
There is concept art for Jak 2 hidden in Ratchet and Clank 2 and vice versa in Jak 2, there was a bonus Sly 2 demo that could be unlocked in Ratchet and Clank 3 through a cheat code and the same code can also unlock a demo for R&C 3 in Sly 2, Both Jak and Ratchet would appear in each others multiple mode for Ratchet: Deadlocked and Jak X: Combat Racing as well as in Hotshots Golf 4 and all three would make a playable appearance in the PlayStation 3 titles Playstation Move Heroes and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
I know it may not sound like the most incredible thing to you but I honestly love the level of comradery that these three had during this period, even when both Sly and Jak were eventually disconnected near the end of the PS2’s cycle as their companies moved onto more mature content. I do wish that R&C would try to reference its brothers since then but the fact that this level of bromance and the fact that with Insomniac games being bought by Sony in 2019, along with ND and SP a few years prior, that these three still have that level of mutual respect for each other.
Okay, now where was I? Oh right, let’s move onto the actual story.
Story: So Long Solana, behold Bogon!
1 year has passed since Drek’s defeat at the end of the previous instalment and as a result, both Clank and Ratchet became overnight celebrities for their heroics, being championed as heroes of the galaxy.
Now however, very little has seemingly happened in that time and their chance in the spotlight has slowly faded away as the months went by leading Ratchet in a live interview with “Behind the Hero” to reluctantly say: “I guess… No one needs a hero right now.”
Conveniently enough however, someone does actually need a hero right now. That person is Abercrombie Fizzwidget, the president of Megacorp, the only weapons manufacturer of the Bogon galaxy.
As a result both Ratchet and Clank are teleported I assume lightyears away to a entirely separate galaxy in a matter of seconds (I honestly love how that makes no sense) where Fizzwidget explains that a new experiment being tested on by Megacorp was stolen by a unnamed thief and Fizzy is naturally requesting that they must pursue the thief and reclaim the stolen experiment, with Ratchet accepting without hesitation.
In exchange, the duo are given an expensive apartment in the city of Megapolis, a job as an employee at Megacorp as well as personal health for Clank, while offering Ratchet two weeks worth of training as part of the company’s commando programme. There he was trained to be a master of such talents like martial arts, heavy weaponry, survival skills, stealth, ballroom dancing and origami.
It’s a bit of a shame we don’t see those last two in action, I must admit.
Eventually with a new set of commando body armour provided by Megacorp, Ratchet starts his pursuit of the creature stealer. Along the way the thief hires a mercenary group, “Thugs 4 Less”, as security for thief, he kidnaps Clank at one point requiring Ratchet to help him out, joining him in the process and eventually cornering the thief and stopping him from using a rocket to launch the experiment into orbit.
The target secured, the duo hand the possession back to Fizzwidget but during a flight in the president’s ship are seemingly ejected and left for dead (sounding familiar?). It’s at that time as well that the thief reappears revealing herself to be Angela Cross, a former employee at Megacorp and interestingly a Lombax like Ratchet (the name of their species isn’t actually revealed in this game but both characters do share a similar fur pattern and fur colour as well).
For a few more planets they agree to team up with both parties going doing their own thing, all while Thugs 4 Less are now hired as protection for Megacorp with a specific goal to stop Ratchet and Clank.
Some more stuff happens including fighting in a gladiator arena, the two groups being captured and imprisoned for a little bit and learning that the experiment, now called the Protopet, is being sold by Megacorp to the people of Bogon and in a archive video from the MC testing teams, is revealed to be extremely hostile and violent towards anything, yet is seemingly being sold to the public market, with devastating consequences.
When the Thugs are eventually defeated, both Angela and the duo both plan one all out attack on Megacorp’s HQ to stop the manufacture of the Protopet project while they can. Oh wait, the other small robot! Sorry I didn’t know how to incorporate this into the summary but a few times in the game, an unnamed pink robot is seen watching the duo even as far as the first cutscene and helping them escape from custody when they are captured.
Now near the manufacturing plant of the Protopet, the robot plays a small video but is promptly blown up by… Mr. Fizzwidget. Who is actually the returning Captain Qwark. That’s actually something I really like about this story and something that is connected to the first game as well.
When Quark was defeated in the last game, his ship was sent spiralling down to the planet surface below and in the next mission after that, you travel down to that planet’s surface and can find Captain Qu-. I mean, Steve McQuark (it’s literally Quark, green spandex and all just with a name change), a Gadgetron sales rep and in a post credits scene at the end of the game, a tv ad can be seen showing McQuark promoting the Personal Hydronator with… unusual results.
That’s actually carried over in this game where in between travelling to a few new planets, a three part doc on Quark’s time after the first game done by “Behind the Hero” highlights how the Hydronator product got Quark into a lot of legal trouble for causing severe damage to all of its users. After a failed court hearing and attempting to flee to Pokitoru, he’s apprehended and thrown into prison, yet the next day escapes by…. Flushing himself down the prison toilet. I honestly don’t know how that would work given his size and even if I could do that I wouldn’t (seriously can you imagine the smell?)
Anyway, this summary is getting too long, Quark is the main bad guy after all and reveals that he took over Megacorp and intentionally pushed the Protopet to the mass market to create a new galactic threat for him to solve and pinning the blame on Ratchet, Clank and Angela for starting it.
However his plans go awry when a device prepared but not fully finished by Angela to make the Protopet harmless, ends up creating a mutated version of the creature that eats Quark whole. One final boss fight later, the MegaProtopet (as I’m calling it) is defeated and the real Fizzwidget shows up, having been tied up by Quark before the game started and Angela adjusts the device Quark was using to make the Protopet harmless for good, spitting a defeated Quark out in the process.
The day is saved again and the duo, Angela and the repaired robot friend all hang out in Clank’s new apartment, with some hints of romantic tensions between Ratchet and Angela. While Quark becomes a volunteer at Megacorp’s testing facility, specifically for their newest invention, “The Crotchitizer”. And uh, it’s about as painful as you can imagine.
I mean… this is a massive, massive leap up when compared to the story of the previous game, helped by the fact that the game itself is about twice as long as the length of its predecessor.
That opening cutscene establishing the plot while still appealing to the very simple story telling from the last game, is arguably one of the best scenes in the series just from how quickly everything from characters to the tone of this story is established, especially if you’re a new player who missed out on the previous title.
Not to mention the fact that the plot makes a very significant turn during the first third of the story and basically goes against what it was setting up in a very clever way I felt.
However, for as much as this is an improvement over the narrative seen last time, there are still some issues with it that I can’t shake.
Firstly, why does Clank stay behind near the start of the game? I can buy Ratchet wanting to eagerly go on another adventure to regain some of his lost fame (even if we never see that fame put to use outside of the opening cutscene which I think was a bit of a missed opportunity but whatever) Clank’s decision to stay behind I don’t get.
It could be argued that Clank basically fulfilled his prime objective and didn’t feel the need to given his luxurious as a Megacorp employee but seeing how he was just as crucial to the fight against Drek as Ratchet, his time off seems unusual, especially since in the last game after the first planet, Clank tagged along with Ratchet.
But here, if you go straight and rescue him, he’s absent for at least three straight planets, four if you don’t go immediately. Just a very clumsy way to introduce him I think given he also retains both the Helipack and Thruster Pack upgrades from the last game, and you’d think Ratchet would want him along for that reason.
Secondly, why does Megacorp hire the thugs? This is a weapons manufacturer and to my knowledge, the only weapons manufacturer in the Bogon galaxy with various lines of defensive robots that the Thief initially uses and are fightable enemies in the arena, alongside a series of what I assume are commando styled droids in a lot of their major plant operations and their HQ so what’s the need? Extra security I suppose but again, what’s the need given how they have their own army of killer robots?
Thirdly, late into the game, Angela is able to help herself and the duo break into Megacorp using her old ID card that she had back when she was an employee. You’d honestly think knowing who the culprit behind the theft of the Protopet was that they’d cancel her card but apparently not.
And on top of that, why doesn’t Megacorp try and bar Ratchet for buying weapons and ammo from Megacorp vendors? Both he and Clank are recognised employees of Megacorp so surely it wouldn’t be that hard to just purchase Megacorp made weapons against the head of Megacorp.
I’m also not a fan of how the final battle is against just some random Protopet and not Quark himself. It does make sense later in this series, as Quark basically becomes more and more of an idiot overtime but previously, Drek was the final boss and his presence and actions makes players hate the gruby opportunist.
Maybe the change of narrative to a secret reveal near the end instead of the slow burn last time had something to do with it but it still feels very underwhelming not giving Quark personal karma.
I mean the plot overall is a substantial expansion over the previous story but when I look into the finer details, there are certain elements of the story that just really don’t make any sense.
Well anyway, the plot may have its cracks in between but at least the game makes up for it once more in how it looks.
Presentation: “Second verse, [largely the] same as the first.”
If we’re talking about looks when it comes to this entry over its original, we’re about looking the same as before really. Playing as Ratchet you travel across a entire new galaxy of planets ranging from the Maktar Casino orbiting a asteroid belt to the desolated swamps of Planet Ozoola, the team help to manage to once more create a visually unique design for each of the planets that the player comes across over the course of the game’s lengthy campaign.
A couple of improvements have been made since then however. Firstly, it looks like the team at Insomniac managed to place further emphasis on that wide shot camera technique from the previous game used to establish each planet and because of that, we get a lot of interesting sights to help establish just what kind of planet we are currently on.
Planet Barlow is easily one of my favourites as the first shot shows a dilapidated sign of Gagetron on a desert planet. And that does make my mind work thinking about it. Gagetron used to operate in the Bogon Galaxy? What forced them out? Did Megacorp have a hand in it?
Then by comparison, Yeedil, the Megacorp HQ, has a towering Megacorp tower that dominates high above the player when they first step onto the planet’s surface. I may not be the biggest fan of this mindset but I think this game is responsible for fans of both this and the previous game for people thinking that there is a very capitalist driven society at play in these two titles. Personally I disagree but hey that’s just my stupid opinion and you should tweet me that I’m wrong because I’m different. Besides I don’t use Twitter so ha!
The music is pretty good too. I remembered I forgot to discuss this last time with the previous game but I personally thought Ratchet 1’s soundtrack was fine, in a sense. It definitely has a unique bopping feel to it with the use of audio samples and a primary focus on the synthesiser I think but personally I don’t think it’s as good as something like a traditional orchestra. Again, that’s just an opinion, you’re welcome to disagree.
Here however, much like the opening title reel alluded to, there’s a bigger emphasis placed on the orchestra for this piece and there are certainly a lot of songs that I think are pretty cool all things considered.
Tabora is a great planet that comes to mind. A planet that was once a natural forest landscape turned into a desert ridden Megacorp mining plan, I think the bass guitar rhythm at the start of this piece fits the very desolate atmosphere of the place all while there’s what sounds like a voice sample played on loop which does add enough of a beat to it to make it not completely boring.
Speaking of sound, there’s actually a bit of an interesting change in the voice department. Not really something that’s really important in the grand scheme of things but the voice of Ratchet was recast in between the end of the original game and the development of this one, replacing Mikkey Kelley with James Arnold Taylor. David Ardmann explained this decision at GDC where both he and the rest of the team thought that for as good as Kelley’s performance was in 2002, they felt that he sounded a bit too “mean” as Ardmann described it as and I can see their point.
It’s obvious that they wanted Ratchet to be a snarky character with a lot of bite but still ultimately doing the right thing and I guess they felt that Kelley’s voice was part of the issue with it. James’s voice definitely feels a lot more confident in its delivery when compared to his predecessor and he still has that same level of snark but with an injection of goofiness to him in certain cutscenes that makes him, in my opinion, a much better fit for the role. Or that could be my Star Wars bias seeing how he’s also voiced General Kenobi in both the hand drawn and CGI animated iterations of the Clone Wars TV series which I really need to get around to watching at some point.
Apart from a few minor characters like the black market salesman from Planet Rilgar returning to offer a plot important item at a cost and the illusive Plumber still living the dream cleaning pipes, the only returning voices from the original are David Kay’s Clank and Jim Ward’s Quark which, I’m fine with. It helps that since 2003 James, David and Jim have been voicing their respected characters in almost every appearance the series has had for nearly 20 years (jesus christ) and kind of like Charles Martina as the voice of Mario, Lugi, Wario and Walugi, they’ve been playing their roles for so long that it’s hard for me to imagine anyone else doing a better job then them.
Now however, let’s move onto the gameplay. And…. where do I even begin this one…?
Well with a beginning I guess.
Gameplay: Ratcheting up the fun. At the cost of a weird Clanking sound
So with the change of direction to more direct action, it’s pretty obvious that it can be felt most in its gameplay. And while I have major issues with what they did here, likely thanks to them still figuring out how to make the direction change work, I’ve got to commend a handful of great inclusions and tweaks to the formula. The most useful of which is strafing.
In the previous entry you could technically strafe but you needed the thruster pack upgrade equipped, double tap R1 and then hold L2 or R2 to strafe and at the cost of not being able to jump. Here however strafing is included as standard. All you need to do is hold L2 or R2 and Ratchet will immediately face solely the direction the camera is facing, allowing for him to focus fire when using a weapon that requires or benefits from a direct line of sight and thanks to the retooled level design which features some barricades destructible and indestructible, your encouraged to combat in a lot of firefights while still having enough tools for the job.
While on the topic of the environment, there’s actually a bigger sense of interaction with how Ratchet can smash parts of the world such as pipes and TVs with his wrench like the hypocrite that he is and get rewarded with bolts for doing so. My favourite of which is on the planet Notak where there’s a revolving statue that you can come across that rotates at a frequency that a music note of some kind can be heard. And if you destroy certain parts of the structure the pitch rises and rises until you destroy it. It’s such a small detail and easy to miss but I honestly adore that little inclusion despite its irrelevance to the plot.
When Ratchet isn’t vandalising the planets he’s supposed to be saving (but there’s a damn good reason why should but, I’ll save it for later), he’s battling enemies with his returning Omniwrench or many of the new weapons he has Up his Arsenal (no, wait that’s the next game nevermind).
This is also a substantial improvement in that Ratchet now starts off with two weapons instead of one. The Lancer, a fast firing but weak blaster and the Gravity Bomb which has a very slow rate of fire but dishes out the damage big time. Going back to my point last time that each weapon has a specific purpose, this system helps reinforce that subtly to the player. Is there an enemy that walks up to you and strikes? Maybe use the Omniwrench. Is there a target that’s using a flamethrower? Try the Lancer at a safe distance. Are there a group of enemies that can also gang up on you? Then switch to the Gravity Bomb to take them all out once. It’s a great system encouraging players to use their tools wisely without telling them how to play and the pistol and bomb combo as your starting weapons has become a major aspect of the series from this game onwards.
As for the weapons themselves,
But there’s more to it than that. On the previously mentioned ex-Gadgetron planet Barlow, Ratchet can come across a weapons vendor selling old Gadgetron products, the Bomb Glove, Visibomb Gun, Decoy Glove, Walloper and Tesla Claw for 8,000 bolts each which is a little bit expensive but there’s a work around. If you have saved data for Ratchet and Clank 1 on your PS2/Vita Memory Card or PS3 system storage you can unlock all of the weapons above for free! How cool is that? They’re next to worthless however as they don’t do nearly as much damage as the Megacorp offering but the inclusion of them is nice.
It’s here where you can also buy the two superweapons of the game. The R.Y.N.O II which works about the same as before but with a much faster firing rate and the Zodiac II which is basically a screen nuke and also a callback to Insomniac’s first game Disruptor. A 1996 Doom Clone that was published in conjunction with Universal Interactive two years before Spyro 1 released and one that I hear getting compared to Ratchet a lot given its emphasis on weaponry.
I’ll probably not get around to playing it for myself as I’m not really a fan of the PS1 era of games minus the original Crash and I think early 3D games tend to age the worst when stacked up to 16 or even 8 bit games. Plus the game features FMV (full motion video, basically filming real actors) which was a product of the time I’m aware of but the scenes in Disruptor were apparently directed by the woman who also directed the Twilight films. No thanks!
Anyway, the superweapons are out of your price range for your first playthrough so you’re still better off relying on the Megacorp gear instead. And you’ll want to use the new guns often as well because weapons are…. Upgradeable! When an enemy is defeated using one of the weapons made by the tech giant, they drop what are called Nanobites, basically this series version of experience points. When enough enemies have been bitten into Nanodust, the weapon you use gets upgraded, offering a new design, name and improvement upon the original. The Chopper for example, a weapon which allows Ratchet to throw shuriken like stars that ricochet off of walls and enemies into the Multi-Star which breaks into two additional stars upon hitting an opponent. While the already discussed Gravity Bomb can become the Mini-Nuke which doubles both the damage and AOE with the bonus inclusion of a small mushroom cloud being seen near the bombs epicentre.
And interestingly enough, your health can also be improved upon too. Once by beating enemies, Ratchet can collect Nanomites which are also lured into a separate gauge near the bottom of the health bar. And much like before, we start off with 4 hit points until we run and die. Gaining enough of these mites will eventually cause a small enough screen nuke, replenish your entire health and also give you one additional hitpoint with each upgrade. I wasn’t able to maximise it out for this review but I think you can get upwards of 200 health at max, which you will certainly need as the damage an enemy can inflict will scale with each new level.
Small quality of life changes have been made as well such as the Quick Select, a weapon wheel allowing the player to map 10 of their favourite weapons and gadgets by holding the triangle button down, now pausing the game while making your choice whereas in the original the game would move in real time if you had the wheel open, making it useless in a panic situation.
Much like before however, if the core platforming and shooting get you down, there’s plenty more variety in the form of new and returning side attractions that you can play through over the course of the game.
From last time, the Clank only sections return but with Clank now being able to command three unique different forms of Gadgebots, I mean Megabots to do his bidding. The bridge bot which constructs a large bridge over a big crevice, the lifter bot to lift open large doors and the hammer bot to destroy hazards blocking the path and launch a catapult to get Clank and the normal sized Megabots to new heights. These missions do generally work about the same as before and are bitesize enough that on the two occasions where you need to play as him, you’ll find yourself back to playing as the lombax before you know it.
Then there’s the hoverbike races, replacing the previous games’ hoverboard contests. These are naturally much faster compared to the hoverboard racing but because of that, it’s very easy to crash into anything mainly this time from the environment rather than specific boxes dotted around just to get in your way. You also only need to complete one race when it’s introduced to progress through the story but there are other racing events which reward you with bolts for winning.
New however to this formula are in the introduction of Gladiator arenas. Here Ratchet can compete in a gauntlet of enemies or face off against a unique boss to win even more bolts as well as two story specific gadgets, the returning Gravity Boots and the Infiltrator, Megacorps version of the Trespasser (the description of the tool itself even nearly lets sleep that Megacorp stole it from Gadgetron and renamed it).
On top of that as well is the introduction of ship combat. At 4 intervals in the story the player will need to face off against Thugs 4 Less fighter ships in a fully open environment and should the player want to, they can take part in specific races for that specific region and earn more bolts as a result.
And that’s not even scratching the surface with items like the Electrolyzer to help unlock even more specific doors, grind rail sections and the Swingshot now with the added ability to use the Swingshot to pull down specific targets to make a new path, Giant Clank battles with a duel between another large scale opponent on a moon, sections where you control a chain gun loaded robot, a hang glider that’s only used three times over the story and hunting for gems in two completely different planets.
Okay… Let’s take a break here… If that all sounds too much for you I completely understand and it’s why now I want to move onto my grievances with the title. And sadly, for as much as I think this is a massive improvement over its predecessor, Going Commando makes so many unnecessary or even baffling design choices that it makes it harder for me to choose one over the other.
Focusing again on the variety on offer, excluding the main portion of the game where you travel to different planets as Ratchet, travel down a linear path destroying bad guys etc., there are two different types of locked door puzzles, grind railing, swingshot swinging, 2 completely different gameplay sections where you play as Clank, 2 planets dedicated to gem hunting and arena fights, the hang glide, mind controlled robots and dogfights, you have a total of 10 different side attractions on offer!
Now that may sound like one of the best experiences to be made, cramming variety into every corner and crevice they can but in this case, there is such a thing as too much variety. And because of that, as someone who’s just playing through the game normally, all of this extra fluff isn’t really up my alley. Especially when both space battles and the hang glider can be incredibly painful to deal with either due to level design or the current objective.
But unfortunately if you want to be at the very least prepared for what this game has on offer, you’re going to need all of those bolts.
I don’t know whether or not this is because Megacorp is essentially the Disney of the Bogon Galaxy, but whoever’s been charging this amount for some of the weapons here needs to have his salary cut.
Despite Going Commando’s variety of weapons easily trumping the original in terms of originality and quantity, some of the price tags being asked for certain weapons is just ludicrous!
Like on Planet Notak, near the end of the game’s first third, I walk over to the Megacorp vendor and see these prices being plastered in front of me.
I honestly couldn’t believe this for myself when I first saw this and that’s not even compared to other price hikes and declines the game makes at several points in the game.
However the biggest and most annoying issue I have with this title above all else is one returning, annoying and repugnant feature from the previous title. PayWalls.
Like previously, at several points in the game Ratchet will need to pay a NPC a certain level of bolts in order to either acquire a new gadget to use for platforming or to gain access to info and coordinates to a new planet in order to progress the story.
And much like before, I hate this system.
Not just because of the already steep prices on weapons this time around but also for a new introduction to the game in the form of amour. Amour can be purchased in specific vendors at several points in the story and these provide the player with more protective layering to endure tougher hits, as enemies will progressively hit much harder in later planets. And unless you want to try an extremely risky no hit run, it’s in your best interest to buy new armour upgrades when you can.
Meaning that with the bolts you pick up, not only do you need to be conscious about buying certain weapons to fit a given scenario and amour to better endure some of the damage you’ll likely take as the difficulty scales, but also pay an assortment of characters a fee just to progress the story naturally.
And someone must really not be good with finances because the first item the player is required to buy to progress the story, the Tractor Beam costs 2,000 bolts. The gadget after that, the Thermanator, costs 1,000 bolts. And on top of that one section where you need to pay bolts to progress costs 6,000 while in another, it’s 8’000! From a computer! Even Ratchet hates this system when he finds this out:
“What? Even the machines are charging us now?! That’s it, this galaxy blows!” But does this entire system justify a very relatable note? A clear cut no in my opinion. And you want to know how bad this system gets? The highest I was charged just to progress the story was on Planet Smolg where Ratchet needed to pay a “meger” fee to a character that holds the new piece in their journey.
The price for that? 40,000 bolts, what the actually fuck?!
I get that some may argue that it’s because the devs wanted players to explore their landscapes with optional activities like the aforementioned hoverbike, gem hunting and arena battles or as a means to get players to spend their income wisely or that it could be a representation of the stinky bourgeois society that I hear people not shut up about when talking about this game and its predecessor.
But here’s my counterpoint:
World building or not, money management or not, encouraging you to explore or not, if it impacts the natural flow of gameplay THIS badly, it deserves to be criticised and criticised hard!
Okay… I know throughout most of this series so far that it actually makes me sound like I hate this franchise and this game in particular. But I’m honestly hurt by what’s on display here.
I know Insomniac are a very talented studio and have been for well over 20 years and the jump in standard gameplay from Ratchet 1 to Ratchet 2 is seen on full display here. Yet somehow they put focus into the wrong areas of the game to create a game that’s brilliant in selected parts of the adventure but collectively is just so poorly compiled that it made it my least favourite entry to revisit.
I can forgive 1’s slow camera controls and its own variety problems for being the first game in the series but when so many well known franchises are usually peaked or improved so dramatically that you wouldn’t want to play the original like Uncharted 2 or Titanfall 2, that makes this game with all its wrinkles and cracks more annoying as a result.
Conclusion: Proving even college degrees have some value
So…. to wrap up this…. Salty look at Going Commando, what are my actual thoughts?
Well if I were to compare this to the original title, the shift in direction is something that is clear and present with this sequel thanks to the bigger emphasis on more outlandish weaponry and a bigger emphasis on combat over platforming as a whole, which I can commend the team at Insomniac for pulling off so well.
But like I said before, due to issues with income management, some pretty odd plot holes in the narrative, clashing price differences and a bit too much focus on variety, it makes it hard for me to recommend this title above the original and especially when compared to other entries in this series.
Play it to see the progression of the series, but that’s all I can really say about it.
Review of Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal (or simply Ratchet and Clank 3 in europe)
Chaos Perfected
Before my family had to move house for storage issue reasons, we just lived beside a very friendly parent couple and their two children who both went to the same primary school as me and my siblings did.
If I recall, this was still a good few years before the PS3/XBOX 360 generation so it was natural at that time for a lot of the people I was familiar with to all have a PlayStation 2. And me and the oldest of the two children, when we weren’t playing Mario Galaxy or Smash Bros Brawl on the Wii, would usually share a handful of games from the PS2 with each other regularly enough.
On one occasion I noticed him play a game that looked oddly similar to that one game my oldest brother had also for the PS2. So I tried it out all while I died over and over again while I explained excitedly to my mom that it looked like the one we have at home.
That, as far as I’m concerned was the first video game I ever played, Ratchet and Clank: 3 (or Up Your Arsenal as you silly Americans may call it)
Now lately I’m not entirely sure of that as it seems to clash closely with Super Mario Bros. Deluxe which I remember playing a handful of times on my oldest brother’s Gameboy Colour. But either way, this is my introduction to the series as a whole and one that I would follow with great interest for the majority of my life from then onwards.
But that was well over a decade ago and I haven’t finished the title since 2012 or so if I remember correctly. And seeing how we still have 5 games to cover after this entry, why is it that this entry is remembered so fondly both when it first came out and even now, 16 years after it first released?
Well I know the answer to that. But I’m not telling you. At least not yet.
Preproduction: Ratcheting up the mayhem
When it comes to learning about the development history of this particular entry, there’s actually not a whole lot that’s there unfortunately.
The main two distinctions that this entry would have over its two predecessors was that a dedicated writer was hired to write the script for the game, as opposed to the script previously being written and by the animators and programmers at Insomniac and that it would be the first game to ever feature both offline and online multiplayer after a request from Sony.
And really… That’s about it.
There’s no troubled development history from what I can tell, no new direction shifts or pritorites to be made. I think it can be down to the 3rd entry in a video game series like Sly 3 or Uncharted 3 usually mastering what both the original and its sequel attempted to do while removing elements that were seen as pace breakers or unnecessary in the previous titles.
I believe according to one old interview with a former insomniac dev that there were some concerns over there not being enough new elements being thrown into the mix when put into contrast but as I’ll later go on to explain, changes aren’t actually needed unless the gameplay proves itself tenfold.
But for now though, let’s get onto the narrative. And you’d think with the introduction of a lead writer for this entry that there’d be a bit of a shift away from previous storytelling.
And you’d be right, but also wrong at the same time.
Story: Begone Bogon, Hola Solana!
About a year has passed since the ending of Going Commando. And despite living in a new galaxy, nothing has really changed for the duo in that time. Well except for one small thing.
Clank is now a movie star. Seriously.
It’s never really explained why anyone would want to hire Clank for a starring role but he’s the main actor in his own TV show Secret Agent Clank, with Ratchet ironically playing his personal butler Jeeves.
After one such episode of the show, Ratchet ends up switching channels and comes across a live news feed of his homeworld, Planet Veldin under attack from a new galactic threat, the Tyranoids. The attack is believed to have been placed on Dr. Nefarious, a mad robotic scientist with a pension for screaming.
Not wasting any time, the pair decide to travel back home and in doing so, aid the Galactic Rangers on Veldin who mistake Ratchet as their new Sargenet. Why exactly these guys were nowhere to be seen in Ratchet 1 I have no idea but they’re here now and they at least do a serviceable job.
After stopping the invasion, the President Phyronix of the Solana Galaxy (who is based on and has a similar accent to Bill Clinton for some reason) tasks the pair with finding the only man who has ever beaten Dr. Nefarious who now lies somewhere in the deep jungles of the Planet Florana.
One trip through the planet and surviving a gauntlet later, the mysterious man is revealed to be Captain Quark who has seemingly lost his memory in between the series and thinks himself as a monkey. Eventually though the pair bring the monkey nuts Captain to the Starship Phoenix, the largest ship in the galactic fleet and commanded by Phyronix’s daughter Sasha.
When Quark eventually gets his memory back he orders several strikes against his old nemesis through the help of the Q-Force, consisting of returning characters Al, Helga, Skidd McMarx for some reason, our duo and Quark’s new pet monkey Skrunch. Soon though Clank decides to come up with the idea of getting close to Nefarious through one of his supporters, the female pop star Courtney Gears (get it? Because it sounds like Britany Spears? I wish I could be that clever.)
However after allowing her to appear on his TV show Clank is seemingly abducted by Gears and personally given to Nefarious who idolises the little robot and his adventures. And believing that robots are a heavily discriminated aspect of society, offers Clank to join him by his side. When he refuses, a doppelganger of Clank, nicknamed Klunk by Nefarious, is created and the duplicate ends up reuniting with Ratchet.
Some more stuff happens including Skid being abducted by Courtney and being used to test out the doctor’s Bioblitorator which can turn people into robots, defeat the pop star in a duel and with Captain Qwark, attempt a raid on Nefarious flagship with Qwark unfortunately being deemed KIA after the flagship self-destructs.
Clank is eventually found after Klunk shows his true colours in the returning Metropolis but both he and Ratchet are unable to stop Nefarious using his Bioblitorator to turn all of the city’s inhabitants, including the invading Teranoids, into robots.
Eventually though Quark is believed to be alive after all and after travelling to his secret base, reveals that’s done with saving the galaxy after realising that he nearly died and couldn’t accept a galaxy living without him. Even if a couple of people turn into robots.
With not enough time left on the clock though and the reveal that Veldin is the next target on Nefarious hitlist, the duo eventually blow up one copy of a biobliterator and eventually a second copy with the help of Captain Qwark saving the day.
The day is saved and they, alongside literally the rest of the NPC cast from both this title and the previous two (no seriously, there’s a literal shot showcasing all of the characters you met over three games and I honestly love seeing this tie in with the other instalments so far) watch the premier of the new Secret Agent Clank film co-starring Scrunch the monkey. Or so it’s believed as in a post credit scene, Nefarious alongside his butler Lawerence are now both left to drift on an Asteroid seemingly forever, with no help likely to arrive anytime soon.
So, this story is… peculiar to say the least.
If we’re comparing it to the narratives we’ve seen so far it’s about the same grounds of surface level enjoyment that could be shown last time.
And in terms of personal likes I will say firstly that Dr. Nefarious, as a character, is brillant.
The overthetop mad scientist trope might not be entirely new per se, but Armin Shimerman practically steals each scene his character is featured in by his unrelenting drive for his objective. That’s not to say that I think Drek in 1 or Qwark in 2 were armchair villains, they were certainly characters you’d learn to hate overtime like Drek’s unrelenting drive for profit and Qwark trying desperately to prove his heroics but both if we’re talking personality wise felt very dry in comparison to Nefarious.
It kind of felt like both had their goal in mind but not much in the way of what they were like before their scheme or the time they spent in between personal gain (maybe except Qwark when he posed as Fizzwidget but you get the idea).
Nefarious, by comparison, doesn’t have that much of a logical goal given his backstory but his insane yelling antics are enough to make him love every scene he’s in. And one way that’s done is by his literal mental breakdowns.
When Nefarious ends up losing himself completely he’ll often completely freeze in place all while audio files from a really popular romantic drama in this series, Lance and Janice, plays in his head before someone eventually slaps him back to reality.
My favourite moment happens during the mission where Clank is abducted by Nefarious where he explains that he’s been watching Clank’s Holo-video show for years. Upon spending some time with his biggest fan, Clank ends up breaking the news for him:
Clank: I believe there has been a misunderstanding. Secret Agent Clank is merely a fictional character I play on the HoloVid-…
Nefarious (screaming): Lies! Squishy lie..!
Janice: Oh Lance. I can’t. It’s not right! You’re my cousin’s uncle’s son!
Nefarious: …ies!
It’s hard to describe it in an article but seeing Nefarious absolutely lose his shit, the gears inside his head literally jammed and playing a crony romance scene is so bizarre but something that has become ingrained as part of his character.
While talking about characters, Quark eventually deciding to give up his ego after how badly it’s affected everyone is pretty nice to see as well and it’s also here where we see more of Qwark as being defined more and more as a complete idiot who draws up battle plans in crayon and has this conversation with Skrunch before assaulting the flagship belonging to Nefarious:
Skrunch: (monkey noises)
Qwark: I thought we agreed to put that jungle business behind us.
Skrunch: (monkey noises)
Qwark: It was mating season! How could I have known she was your sister? Er, heh. Ah, how long have you two been standing there?
Klunk: Too long.
And on that note, if you can’t tell, this is arguably one of the funniest entries in the series so far.
Again that’s not to say that 1 or 2 had mostly lame or flat jokes but I think most of the commentary that is featured in this game ranging from cutscene interactions, short films introducing many of the locations you battle across, dialogue between the Galactic Rangers and even some of the overhead announcements you can hear in the Starship Phoenix, Annihilation Nation or the numerous Nefarious armoury facilities are very fun to say the least.
Some of them like the AN announcer can be a little repetitive for my liking and can be repeated enough to be ear grading over time but I still think these lines are very well written, especially for the first in the series to have a dedicated writer.
However, as is tradition right now, there’s a couple of issues I have with this story.
Firstly for as funny as I think the idea of Clank being seen as the hero according to both President Phyronix and Nefarious but it does become a bit of a tired gag later on when Ratchet is constantly sidelined for his actions over Clank. It’s not bad but it does run out of steam very early on unfortunately.
Secondly, though it is confirmed that the Tyranoids are a race that Nefarious has partnered with for his plan, we never really learn much about the species or why they even collaborated alongside him to begin with. It especially makes it all the more confusing on why Nefarious would even consider it when his main ideology is the destruction of all organic lifeforms in existence. I mean these guys aren’t really the smartest in the class and seem more interested in war more than anything else but I think some details would have helped.
And finally, the goal set by Nefarious. I know I didn’t mention it much in my story summary but the mad doctor’s ultimate objective is to make robots the dominant species in the universe believing them to be superior to organic life (or “squishes” as he calls them) in every way and that robots are oppressed despite that fact.
That’s fine if you ask me but in a somewhat relevant to the plot series of backstory missions it’s revealed that Nefarious was actually once a human and classmates with Captain Qwark as they were in 9th Grade Biology class when Qwark was 26 (jesus christ). However, after initially believing to have stopped Nefarious by accidentally pushing him over a balinster Jack Napier style, Nefarious is revived as he falls into some kind of… electrical… machine pit, it’s not exactly explained what it is, but that’s what converts him into the robot we know him as today.
Now I’m not really sure if this was intentional or not but it does feel slightly hypocritical that his entire goal is devised as justice for machine life when he himself was once an organic scum that he dispeases. I’m sure there could be an argument that Nefarious was never respected as a scientist before his turn and especially thanks to the mental bullying of Qwark but it feels like something that’s lacking. So instead of being all objective and no character, Nefarious is kind of the reverse of that, which I’m fine with, but it feels slightly underdeveloped.
And that’s all I can really say about the story. It’s still not the greatest thing in the world and certainly not one of the best this series has offered through the years but I feel that for as basic as it is, the charm of the writing honestly helps elevate it to something more despite its simplicity.
Now however, let’s move onto the presentation.
Presentation: Platute of Perilous Planets to ‘plore.
Once more unto a new game and we must yet again explore the worlds given out to us but this time, on familiar soil.
That’s basically another way of saying that things still look about the same as before with the first two games, however this title does distinct itself from the others by the fact that well firstly and most obviously, we’re going back to some old planets from Ratchet 1.
However much to my surprise, only 4 planets from the original returned. There’s the obvious tutorial level on Veldin where you essentially fight your back to Ratchet’s now destroyed garage from the original, Kerwan and its iconic capital Metropolis including a brief run through Helga’s obstacle course now in 2D (more on that later), Ardia now in the day instead of night which made it hard for me to recognise it during my playthroughs years ago and Riglar now set during a bright if misty day.
Every other planet, space station and collection of celestial bodies are all brand new which definitely helps to elevate some signs of fatigue by returning to a previous galaxy. There’s still some planets that appeal to the standard fire, grass and ice format of platformer varieties but you do have locations like planet Daxx that hosts a grass plane alongside one of Nefarious’s research facilities that contains a lot of pleasant if hostile waters, Thyranois, the homeworld of the Tyranoids which features a massive sandbox where Ratchet can pilot a massive dune buggy with Scrunch firing a turret above and new to the series, our first hubworld the Starship Phoenix.
The Phoenix is essentially the mission briefing room in the story where Ratchet will regularly be snubbed by Quark and his colleagues after moving the plot along for them uncredited alongside a bunch of other activities. A small training room where Ratchet can face off multiple Gadgetron testing robots all funnily enough sporting weapons from Ratchet 1, a small cage where Quark and later Skid spend some time in before they return to normal, a trophy room for various collectables that the player can find hidden or unlocked by finishing certain challenges, a armour vendor to provide new armour for Ratchet, a VG-9000 Game System to play Vid-Comics (more on that later), a command centre where you can hear the various supporting cast give orders and ask requests to each other and a Gadgetron vendor that you can also use to test out any weapons you haven’t bought yet (a feature that we sadly haven’t seen since then).
And the other thing that helps mask the various locations you travel to is the backdrop of war. While Drek’s blarg were more so like vikings stealing everything that isn’t nailed down, Nefarious alongside his robots and Tyranoid friends are usually trying to destroy the planet like on Arcadia, the home of the president’s compound which they attempt to set a siege on or at the Holostar Studios (its planet name seemingly never given) where they attempt to abush Ratchet after a bad shooting session for Clank’s show.
This kind of feeling then whether it be the forces of the mad doctor or the Galactic Rangers helps to reinforce his presence on this galaxy even when he’s not in camera. And I think there’s a reason why either the ‘noids or Nefarious’s various Bluecoat resembling henchmen are some of the first things I think of when it comes to enemy variety.
That’s not to say you won’t be facing against his army always, often it can something like the hostile wildlife and locals of Florana or the various unlucky challengers in Annihilation Nation but despite some frequent enough variety in enemies, it helps again make you feel the constant threat of this series most loved bigitrious genocider.
Gameplay: New Tools of the Trade
If we’re talking about gameplay as a whole, there’s not a whole lot to this entry in the series that 3 has. In other words, the leap of focus was achieved in 2 and now Up Your Arsenal essentially polishes that shift up by making a few smart design changes.
And to give some praise to it, remember that paywall system from the past 2 games? Where they ask you to pay a random NPC a randomly chosen fee just to progress the story? That’s gone now, and man oh man does it feel good!
Playing through both 1 and 2 was definitely one of the most frustrating experiences of this franchise as I knew there was always a chance that I’d be saving up for a really useful or fun weapon only for the game to slap me in the face and ask me to pay this amount just to continue having fun.
Now though and from this entry onwards, I can comfortably decide for myself what weapons or armour I want to buy to help make my life easier and that’s even on top of the returning save transfer system.
Like previously, if you have saved data for Ratchet 1 and or 2 on your memory card or internal storage, you get access to a collection of benefits as a result. Owners of the first game will get a 10% discount on a selection of the starting weapons as well as a unlockable skin to have Ratchet wear his original threads from that game, while Going Commando players will get access to 5 returning weapons for free if you bought them on that save file. The Lava Gun, Plasma Coil, Miniturret Glove, Bouncer and Shield Charger and all essentially acting the way they did before.
And as for the weapons themselves we have another case where there’s more new weapons compared to older concepts. Not including the weapons from Going Commando there’s also the Suck Cannon and Glove of Doom returning both getting major perks since they were last featured, with the Cannon allowing to swallow many bolt,nanotech and ammo crates around it and use that as ammo on top of smaller enemies as well.
The levelling system using Nanomites works about the same as last time as well, however for weapons they can be upgraded a total of 5 individual times with some weapons gaining new abilities before they max out fully. The Shock Cannon for example, one of the starting weapons for Ratchet, starts out as a very reliable shotgun styled weapon that can later be charged to double its damage, a lock on mod to show how much health is left on a given target and later doing electrical damage that can harm both the target and other enemies in range.
Variety has actually been toned down by a sizable amount since previously but I honestly think this works to the games benefit even if some of the things that it tries to do differently are a little repetitive.
Clank still gets his missions to himself with the returning Gadgebot system and is new to this game, collaborating with Scrunch, Quark’s monkey. With the help of a special gun that Clank can fire bananas out of, you can use it to lure Scrunch to do some pretty basic puzzle solving, usually requiring him to climb on a large pole across a pit or serve as a distraction for several sentries guarding the path ahead.
On top of that there’s the Hacker which serves as a new version of the Trespasser and Infiltrator gadgets before it for some more puzzles, the arena challenges in the form of Annihilation Nation that now also feature some fun if repetitive Wipeout style obstacle courses and the Hypershot, combining the Swingshot and Dynamo gadgets into one to help cross large pits.
Now for the new stuff and the most prominent of which is the new command missions. Because of Ratchet’s mistaken role as the new Sarge for the GR, Ratchet will often have the choice to help the Rangers out with some operations taking care of the Tyranoids on a variety of different planets.
These missions are passable as is but most do have a similar, hold the line, defend the rangers, stay in a vehicle or activate the turrets stick, on top of all of them reusing maps made for the games multiplayer mode. Plus it’s required on both Rilgar and Aridia to help progress the story but you do get some bolts for doing them so it helps you at least.
And then, for a bit of an interesting spin, there are dedicated sidescroller platformer levels in the Qwark Vid-Comics minigames. These are essentially interactive tales of Solana’s favourite pretend hero during his early days, primarily delving further into his connection with Nefarious. These missions are necessary for the story however they break things up a bit by the obvious perspective change, the usage of comic book panels before and after each issue and for being decent if basic throwbacks to the days of Megaman and other pre-2000s platformers.
But other than that… there’s really not a whole lot this game adds to the formula, without going into the fine enough multiplayer mode. Which, I’m actually fine with.
If you recall back in my Going Commando review, I felt that the foundation that title was built on was excellent and one that I could have some genuine fun with its weapons and varied level design. However, because of elements like the paywall system and gruelling emphasis on unnecessary variety that took the majority of focus away from elements like weapon price progression and aspects critical to just playing the game normally.
Conclusion: All filler no killer?
So… A bit of a confession here but out of the three titles I’ve covered in this series so far, this is the only one I’ve actually beaten for this review. I’ve beaten Ratchet 1 a good four times and 2 only once before these reviews but for both titles, they both had their own elements whether it be camera control or difficulty scaling that made me not want to play them any longer than I needed to. I mainly just got up to the last planet of the game and stopped there, my opinion fully formed.
Your Arsenal isn’t like that. It may not have the most varied gameplay out there and some issues in the story are prevalent despite its great dialogue, but I feel like with this game in particular, the Ratchet and Clank formula was finally set in stone. It has great weapons, a wealth of entertaining writing and distinct enough level and variety design to make the overall pacing, not perfect, but certainly better as a complete package over 2 and certainly a step up from 1’s baby steps.
Is my opinion biassed? Maybe. But if you want to find out why a great number of people love this series or just have a great time in general, then you should definitely consider trying it out. It helped me get into it after all, and if it can rope me into the series, I think it should work for you.
Review of Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (or simply known as Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction in Europe)
Lombax to the Future series
Reader,
Let me set the scene for you.
It’s late March 2007.
Me and my family skip school and work that morning to help my oldest brother collect his brand new, agonisingly saved up PlayStation 3 system, fresh on the market. Don’t ask me how he could afford a €499.99 machine at the age of 13 but low and behold, he did.
For a while me and him gradually learned how to best make use of it’s then brand new nifty Network store. And since he obviously spent half a million on a generally unpopular machine, he didn’t really have enough games to spend online. So demos of games it was.
I do remember the days of demo discs on the PS2 with them serving as an introduction to games like Ape Escape 2 or Lego Star Wars: The Video Game alongside a small handful of others. But, for the first few months of our ownership of the system, we mainly tried out demos of what the system was capable of handling.
The Simpsons Game, Sid Mier’s Civilisation Revolution, Resistance: Fall of Man, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, all of them demo’s I and or my brother played multiple times for the little black box.
But amidst all of them, he then showcases a brand new Ratchet and Clank game being made exclusively for the system. Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction.
If we’re talking demos, it’s very basic as is allowing the player to watch and play the opening level set in a wartorn Metropolis, try out 2 brand new weapons and 2 new devices as well and just marvel at the new scale and heights the series had reached since jumping from the PS2.
It’s still one of the most nostalgic things from my youth, watching the little cutscene of Ratchet (rocking a new design that I wasn’t a big fan of at first) and Clank dash across the busy Kerwan streets in a scene that could well and truly belong in a oscar nominated Pixar film, to the amount of destruction and energy placed into the Meteor Pads as the camera pans around showing the level of chaos being put on full display. It was truly magnificent.
So you know I had to have that game as my Christmas present that year. And it was certainly quite a wait until then. While I believe we did have a Nintendo Wii in the house at this time (or possibly the christmas I eventually got it), my brother was primarily enjoying games that absolutely scared me for life like Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Call of Duty: World at War’s Nazi Zombie mode, all of it either way, was leading up to christmas day.
And sure enough, it was there. The game case in all its luxurious glory. We didn’t get to properly try out our gifts until after we’d been to mass but when I got I opened the blu-ray box with all of my might and…
There was no disc. I had the case itself but not the disc to play it!
Needless to say that’s one Christmas I’ve certainly not gotten over even to this day and thankfully my mom did eventually get that fixed after St. Stephen’s Day. Yet somehow I never questioned the little Smyths tape that the disc was sealed by when I eventually got it back. And I still believed in Santa at this point.
Well childhood trauma aside, Tools of Destruction was still one of those games I loved back in my youth. It was really the only game I owned for my brother’s PS3 for a while, even if I often found him finishing entire levels for me whenever I reloaded my save file.
I didn’t care because it was fun and yes, if you can’t tell, it’s exactly why I’m warning you now that this particular lookback will be somewhat biassed like the R&C 3 review.
Similar to before however, that doesn’t mean that it gets a pass from criticism and I’ve grown up in the 14 years since this game was released. Or at least, I like to think that.
Anyway, without further ado let’s see what the cat and silver bot’s HD debut led from.
Production: Bigger, Faster, Stronger
With the jump to new hardware, it was clear that Insomniac had their work cut out for them. Not only were they learning to develop for the PlayStation 3 for the first time but in another first for the company, they were also working on another series for the console, the previously mentioned Resistance series.
Adding to that being the fact that this generation marked the end of the platformer’s prominence in gaming culture, it’s fair to have doubts now that the studio was in uneven ground and waters ahead.
The first showcase of their talents however would be displayed at the Game Developers Conference in 2006 where a 3 minute long demo of the city Metropolis from Ratchet 1 and 3 was shown working on PS3 hardwire.
It was again, nothing more than a simple proof of concept of what a new title would look like running on the system and for a while not much was known about this little project, simply called: “Ratchet and Clank: Future” according to the end of the demo.
In the background however new steps were being made to fix the new audience they would have by something that was to be a much bigger emphasis with this new start.
Story. Or more rather, lore.
This was, you could say, coming off of the lessons that Insomniac took from Ratchet: Deadlocked which released one year after 3 in 2005 and was the last PS2 game made by the company before Fall of Man came to the PS3 the following year.
Now if that’s the case, some of you might be wondering why I haven’t bothered mentioning it up until now.
I have my reasons, yet something for a future project I think.
Basically to give you the bullet points of Deadlocked, there was much that it tried to do to make a 4th entry in a series that was releasing year after year to remain fresh. And to the team, that involved two things.
Firstly, removing Clank and most of the platforming the series was known for with it and being gritty. Not early Call of Duty levels of grim but from what I remember about the cutscenes with this game, they were certainly more… nihilistic when the first 3 games were relatively more tongue and cheek when it came to references to our culture.
Either way, feeling the need to make up for what one reviewer called “senseless gun porn”, the team felt that returning to the more familiar aspects of the series and essentially created an entire book about the mythology and history of this universe.
This was mainly handled by one T. J. Fixman, who became the lead writer for the rest of the series up until 2016, and encouraged all of his peers whether it be the weapons team or location artists to “embrace world building”, and to more importantly, start asking questions about this world that were often asked by fans.
So yeah, story was taking a major precedent with this series going forward and this was likely put to its extreme a bit too much as the team originally planned for more than an hour of cutscenes as well both a offline and online mode similar to Up Your Aresenal’s multiplayer alongside way more planets and side content.
All of which had to be scrapped or scaled back early on however because of their equal focus on Resistance, and essentially meant they had to rush the remaining development of TOD in order to be released a few months before the PS3 turned one in 2007.
It also didn’t help as well that this was the PlayStation 3 they were working with here. Without going into details, Mark Cenry the lead architect for the PlayStation Vita, 4 and 5 best summaries this in his “Road to PlayStation 5” presentation in March last year.
Getting a game to run on the original PlayStation took about 1–2 months. The PS2? 3–6 months. But the PlayStation 3? 6 months to a year at most. You see the problem?
But despite a hard learned lesson, a new focus for the series and nearly rushing the game out to stores, how did their new direction ultimately fare?
Story: So long Solana, Presenting Po-. You get the idea…
High above the buzzling streets of Kerwan’s Metropolis (with a music cue that always makes me smile nostalgically), Ratchet is seen testing out his new creation, the nuclear powered rocket sled with Clank reluctantly choosing to come along.
While running tests and readjusting the engines, Clank receives a call from Quark from Kerwan’s Planetary Defence Centre, warning that he has seen a large number of “heavily armed robotic commandos” roaming around the city with him basically saying he needs help.
One death-defying trip and somehow surviving a nuclear powered bike being crashed (it’s almost like they don’t care about realism) the two eventually go on foot through the city, encountering a lot of the same commando’s that Quark was so scared of.
They’re eventually cornered by the army and are personally greeted by one Emperor Percival Tachyon hailing from the Polaris Galaxy.
He tells the pair, but mainly Ratchet, that he has chosen to invade Kerwan after learning that Ratchet is the last lombax in the entire universe and wants him deader than dead. And though they eventually hijack the Emperor’s personal shuttle, both Clank and Ratchet eventually wake up on the planet Cobalia, right in Tachyon’s domain in the Polaris Galaxy.
After making a deal with a shifty smuggler named… The Smuggler, being dropped by the character in an attempt to escape Imperial pursication and finding an escape pod, they end up landing on the Planet Fastoon once owned by the Lombax’s.
And using a long abandoned ship called the Aphelion, reunite with Quark who has now become the Emperor’s representative after he was abducted.
Not even a few minutes later, the team end up encountering three new party members, Talwin Apogee and her retired warbots Cronk and Zephyr.
Talwin’s father, the famed explorer Max Apogee, was a collector of ancient Lombax artefacts but disappeared after getting into some trouble with Space Pirates and his interest in the fabled “Lombax Secret”.
Some more stuff happens including meeting Captain Romulus Slag (voiced by Metal Gear and No More Heroes VA Robert Atkin Downes, that was pretty cool to find out a few years back) which eventually leads the party of 6, excluding Quark, to learning of this massive secret. The Dimensantor.
See, centuries prior the Cragmites, the species that Tachyon identifies as, were responsible for polluting and destroying most of the planets in Polaris until the Lombax’s challenged them into what became known as the “Great War ‘’ between the two specisis.
With the war entering a stalemate however, the Dimensantor was created by 8 of the smartest minds the Lombax race had ever known with the ability to open up interdimensional rifts. This helped secure the war when the Lombax’s used the device to banish the Cragmites to a far off dimension where no one could reach them.
But some time afterwards, a Cragmite egg was found on the Kreeli Comet by Lombax Miners, frozen after being long forgotten. And despite their best intentions, when they eventually chose to help foster this young Cragmite they would inadvertently end up being exterminated by their own adopted son,
Tachyon, after learning of what happened to the rest of his kind, then chose to exterminate the entire Lombax race, with most accounts ending there. And Tachyon is revealed to be looking for the Dimensantor for his own personal gain.
Some more stuff happens until the team finally locate the contraption… which is immediately stolen by Captain Slag, he’s blown up by Ratchet after a long pursuit then Quark shows up out of nowhere and accidentally ends up handing the Dimensantor to Tacoyn allowing him to bring back his murderous species from their banishment.
Eventually though the party, excluding Quark again, tracks the Emperor back to Fastoon where he reveals that the Lombax’s also used the Dimensantor on themselves as refuge away from Tacoyn’s purge.
But the only way that could work would be for the keeper of the device to stay behind. That was Ratchet’s father with Ratchet himself being sent off to Solana just in time while his dad… wasn’t so lucky.
After trying and failing to coerce Ratchet into joining the rest of his tribe, Tacoyn is eventually defeated and sent flying down a black hole in another far off dimension.
The day is saved, again again again again. But seemingly out of nowhere the Zoni shows up and-. Wait, do I need to talk about these guys two?! <sigh> One moment…
Basically, in between the duo’s galvatating across Polaris, Clank regularly receives guidance from a mysterious group of aliens called the Zoni. They have the ability to time travel, give visions of the future and upgrades to Clank such as a pair of wings known as the Gyro-Wings and a laser beam to cut through surfaces through the Geo-Laser.
But up until now, they are only seen by Clank with Ratchet being very sceptical about his friend’s new knowledge.
Anyway, the Zoni properly make themselves known to everyone and seemingly snatch Clank right in front of Ratchet with him unable to break the hold they have in him. Clank is teleported away without any word or warning. Leaving Ratchet and the rest of the crew speechless and mournful.
I mean…. Phew! That took me way longer than I needed to. When I was thinking of the plot inside of my head it sounded coherent enough but when I considered all the little intercracies and important elements of the story, I think I can safely say the team’s focus on expanding the history of this universe was put on full force.
And thankfully, for as long as that summary took me to make, new elements of lore are introduced gradually to help flesh out a lot of motivations between the cast.
While Ratchet may not want to know much about the Lombax Secret at first, we learn through character relations and tidbits here and there of the motivation for characters like Talwin and Percival, what they want and what upbringing they had that defines them as the characters of this story.
And that extends to a small gameplay feature the team included with this title in the form of dialogue trees. Up unto this point the series certainly had elements of Role Playing Games built into its core like the use of economy, weapons made for certain scenarios as well as upgradable health and weapons in a style similar to RPG Experience Points (EXP).
Here now, at certain points in the story the player will have the option to ask several NPCs over the game questions about the Polaris galaxy and some of the other aspects around it. Such as early rumours about how Tachyon was born, the Emperor’s personal guard, the Droploids that Ratchet fights against throughout the story and different races like the Kerchu.
They kind of look like pissed off squirrels and are mentioned early on by The Smuggler in one such dialogue option for their great building skills but also a strong level of distrust and hoarding of technology from outsiders.
This also extends to the fate of certain characters like how the Aphelion was shot down during the Emperor’s purge while her pilot was defending the Court of Azimuth or how despite being mentioned several times over the story, the whereabouts of Max Apogee is still largely unconfirmed to this day. Which I’m actually fine with.
While it would have been nice for Talwin to get some finality on the relationship with her long missing father, I think there was a chance that it could have hijacked the narrative given how famed he is in this galaxy.
Maybe like a Uncharted Lost Legacy styled side-game over that with Talwin as the main character? I’d be down for that.
On the topic of characters as well, there’s a part of me that isn’t quite sure what to make of Tacogyn. One half makes me think that he has a goofy personality and hysterics that makes him a bit too similar to Nefarious while another thinks he makes up for that by his utter hatred for the Lombax species and unlike the robotic doctor, it’s given actual meaning when you consider his backstory and what happened to the rest of his Cragmite brethren.
Now as for Ratchet and Clank individually, we get new aspects to their backstory that we had not seen previously in this series. Ratchet’s is mainly that around his identity and where the location of his kind is which I can understand.
We were essentially told the bare minimum about him in the first game as simply being “he’s a cat looking creature called a Lombax who lives in the Solana galaxy” and that’s about it.
Here though we actually see the level of impact the Lombax race had on the rest of the Polaris galaxy. I think personally that I wouldn’t mind seeing characters reacting more surprised to Ratchet’s presence, being the last of a persecuted specisis.
Almost everyone he interacts with behaves as if seeing one like Ratchet is a regular occurrence, which feels contradictory to the lore I think.
And as for Clank, well, the Zoni see him as a sort of messiah and want to protect him with their lives. For what reason though, is never given (gotta leave some lore threads for the sequel) but the fact that the Zoni are seen only to Clank causes some tension with Ratchet.
Seeing how Clank cites a mysterious time travelling race that others can’t see, I can understand his judgement but he somehow takes his visions and improvements given to Clunk from the time benders as illogical.
This is really the first time since Ratchet 1 where the core duo have a falling out with each other but it feels slightly undeveloped and something that could have had a bit more effort placed in.
But as is tradition, it’s time to talk about plot holes with this story.
Firstly, it’s stated by Tacogyn before his final showdown that Ratchet’s father was the keeper of the Dimensonator and was required to stay behind to make sure the rest of his kind would be able to escape to another dimension, with Ratchet being sent off to Solana… some time before then.
Right, I don’t mind this scene but it feels a little bit counterproductive doesn’t it? If Ratchet’s father wanted to protect his son then why not send him off with the rest of the Lombax’s in that other dimension? Wouldn’t he put his son in more jeopardy by keeping him in the same universe as a genocidal maniac?
And on that, what happened to the Dimensonator after its protector was killed? We aren’t told anything about this before the massive fight and it still feels like a bit of plot inconsistency. What would have stopped Tacogyn from using the Dimensonator then and there?
But really, that’s all I have with the story. For as expansive as it is, I have to give credit to both Fixman and Insomniac for going down this lore centric route. It may have knocked a few weeks off of my life trying to best summarise the events but I still think it’s a valiant,well made effort and the start of this series’ future.
Okay… I’m done talking about the story… For now at least. Let’s just talk about the gameplay.
Gameplay: The tools! The destruction! The… of!
Once more we control a walking cat with a robot to his back travelling across another new galaxy in the form of Polaris.
There was the prelude level set in Metropolis that I mentioned previously by starting with Planet Cobala, all of the locations in this new slice of the universe are naturally brand new. And to give the team credit, while 5 games in a series is likely to cause some feeling of deja vu, many of the new locations are actually pretty distinct from both each other and previous planets seen in Solana or Bogon.
Mukow is one such destination that comes to mind. Not just because it’s home to this game’s version of the arena, The Imperial Fight Festival, but also there’s something strange but appropriate about the arena being held on a planet that’s always raining that also has a carnival atmosphere with large bridges and ferris wheels in the background and foreground.
It does seem a little bit jarring putting the two together but I think it reflects a lot of what the Emperor’s rule largely embodies. But yeah, the contrast is pretty strange.
Following that the Nundac Asteroid Ring is an interesting location in that, as the name implies, we aren’t on a single planet but rather a collection of loosely strung together rocks floating in space.
Here we get the opportunity to also use teleporter cannons dotted along each rock which Ratchet can use to warp from one to the next all while fighting Leviathan Beasts (more on those later).
It’s also noteworthy for having the Apogee Space Station at the centre of its orbit which not only has a difficult walkway to get there but inside, the more homely look of the station with lush green planets, dense water and allocated security droids patrol the corridors is in stark contrast to the journey to get there. An interesting design choice.
There’s a couple more I could mention like Sargasso home to a former Advanced Lombax Research Facility during the days of the Great War, now overrun with it’s own Leviathan’s to deal with, to the various pirate controlled locations like Ardolis or the Kreeli Comet but hopefully you can get an idea of the variety on display here.
To follow up from that, I also appreciate how the devs were able to wove dialogue between characters in between gameplay. This was something seen previously with Helpdesk messages and tutorials given by other characters in past games but there feels like a lot more dialogue in general made for these in between journeys before or after a cutscene.
These can range from police chatter by Tacgyon’s army tracking Ratchet’s progress in a planet controlled by the imperialis, allies like Quark or Cronk exposing personal history or helping to set up the next encounter to something as small as Ratchet and Clank having a casual conversation in between missions.
Whether that be Clank remarking that teleportation devices make him feel ticklish to the pair commenting on the Apogee Space Station’s fondness for easy to dodge laser grids, seeing Clank simply talk in a casual way to Ratchet with him glancing to face his backpack is a small detail that’s easy to overlook but one I do so enjoy. It helps solidify their relationship as friends without us being told how close they are, which I really like.
Plus much like Nefarious, even when a level doesn’t feature much in Tacoyn as a whole, his presence is felt on a lot of the planets that Ratchet travels through. On several levels, large monitors showing Tacoyn speaking personally will address his response to Ratchet’s progress and I honestly couldn’t see myself enduring that in real life.
Like one of his broadcasts has him share a haiku he made about how much Ratchet will die by his hand.
And as a former poet myself, he may need to improve on that messaging a bit more.
My only issue with these brief dialogue cues though is that there’s no option for subtitles in between normal gameplay. And I don’t know about you but I would rather not stop what I’m doing in the middle of a firefight just to hear some minor character development. The option to have it during these sections would have been nice at the very least.
Now, the weapons and gadgets. These have certainly been given an upgrade.
Well firstly, since this is a new galaxy, we naturally have a new provider of weapons this go around in the form of Gummelnet. They serve about the same purpose as previous vendors in the series but with the inclusion of voice over with an oddly comforting or reassuring Boston accent and the ability to add further upgrades to weapons.
Raritanium is a resource that Ratchet could acquire previously in other games like a side quest in Ratchet 1 or ship upgrades for its sequel but you can gather it by defeating certain enemies which can then be used to buy specific upgrades to your various guns.
The upgrades available vary depending on the item but they can include more damage, increased fire rate, larger ammo clip or more bolts or raritanium with each enemy beaten.
When you have enough upgrades purchased on a specific tree of the upgrade list, you’ll have the option to buy a weapon specific mod for that gun.
Weapons like the Fusion Grenade (one of the first two weapons Ratchet starts with) can have the Concussion Detonators upgrade that causes smaller cluster bombs to form with each thrown grenade or with the Razor Claws, a new melee weapon that basically allows Ratchet to go all Wolverine on someone with the ability to do more damage with each successfully landed attack, can have it’s same combo potential increased further with the Fission Accelerator upgrade.
While on the topic of vendors, the armour vendors return as usual but new to the series are device vendors. These sellers offer similar weapons to the main weapons vendors with the major catch being that these can’t be acquired normally through ammo crates and can’t be upgraded with continuous use. They are essentially seen as free passes designed to make your life a little easier while encouraging you to use them wisely.
However personally, there feels to be no real reason to use these particular tools. Don’t get me wrong devices like the Groveitron which allows you to throw out a disco ball that can cause enemies to dance uncontrollably and leave them open for pot shots or Mr. Zurkon being a trash talking bodyguard that simply wants everyone around him dead are both great, but because of their scarcity and their inability to be upgraded, I find myself asking why would I use them often unless I really need to. Making it feel like experimentation that didn’t quite pan out well.
Now, there is a particular hurdle I want to address right now. And while I think this game is great as is, there’s definitely some issues that I have with it.
Mainly, the gimmicks.
Compared to the variety in 1 or 2, TOD is aware of how best to bring or space out a new system into the mix such as the returning space battles, which are now kind of like Star Fox meets Disneyland Shooting Galleries against space pirates but there are some gadgets that are just… pointless in the grand scheme of things.
Firstly, for story reasons you need to fight two separate battles in the arena on two occasions to gain some new gadgets for the job. The heli-pods which can be thrown onto specifically marked doors or targets to them up and pirate Holo-guise used for unlocking pirate locked doors. And both are dropped pretty early on.
I mean the Holo-guise is used on two separate planets but the Heli-pods? After the tutorial, they are only used for one level in the entire game and that is it. Variety isn’t bad in my view but if it’s going to take up a necessary slot in my inventory it better prove it’s worth throughout the story.
Then there’s the unpolished nature of the title. Now I don’t know if this is due to the age of the disc, but my copy of this game had a lot of unusual graphical oddities surrounding it.
Stacked bolt crates suspended in mid air after their base was destroyed, spare ammo rounds vibrating rapidly against a hard wall, the pricing of some weapons early on jumping considerably, the line of the returning Swingshot gadget glitching up after I latch onto a successful target to some enemies like the raiders on Planet Fastoon or the lower ranking Cragmites getting stuck in walls after they’re killed and essentially stuck in their last frame like they’re in suspended animation.
Thankfully there wasn’t an instance where enemies getting stuck after dying caused a softlock on my progress but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of these bugs were the result of Tools of Destruction’s rushed development near the end of production.
But finally, there’s the new tech gimmicks. Mainly, the Six-Axis controller.
So as I already stated, this game launched just on time near the end of the PlayStation 3’s first fiscal year in the US market while the original Ratchet and Clank launched on the PS2’s second year.
Meaning, as a short of unwritten rules for game’s early on in the console’s life, there’s some forced implementation of gimmicks. In this case, the brand new Six-Axis controller which essentially allowed you to control items or entire games by tilting the actual controller in the desired direction.
I should state though that emphasising a gimmick isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Flower, a digital title for the PS3 store released one year after Tools of Destruction and you play the entire game including its PS4 and Vita re-releases by tilting the controller to guide a collection of flower pelts. Yet despite the unorthodox method of control, it’s still one of my favourite games ever for its atmosphere, music and accurate ability to direct the gush of pelts.
However, in a game like Ratchet, the moments it tries to include motion controls such as the returning halo jump sections, the inclusion of the Decryptor (the trespasser/hacker styled gadget of the week), both of Clank’s Zoni upgrades and on top of that, the Tornado Launcher and Visi-Copter a weapon and device that the player can use, were all made with the express interest that they be controlled by tilting the controller.
And I don’t know about you but suddenly needing to swirl my controller around for the Decryptor puzzles or worry about the direction of a portable tornado is very unusual for a title primarily played using analog sticks. Thankfully, and I kind of wish the game told me about this, but there’s an option to turn off Six-Axis support in the game’s options menu and control all of the previously mentioned gimmicks with the analog stick (except the Tornado Launcher and one other thing I’ve forgotten about). But I still feel their inclusion felt very forced and unnecessary.
Conclusion: Roadmap of what’s to come…
Okay, there’s a couple of things I want to ramble on about but this lookback needs to end at some point so I’ll just summarise now.
In conclusion, it’s actually been very fascinating getting to revisit one of my favourite games as a child with a slightly unbiased eye.
Back then, I’m willing to bet that I would have glanced over a lot of the issues I have with it now like some of the plot holes, the forced motion controls and the sometimes buggy presentation of the title but I still think that for what was essentially a soft reboot of the entire series, Insomniac delivered on that and then some.
Not only did it give the franchise a new interconnected outlook with how creatures, culture and creations of carnage are all related to each other, it makes this universe feel a lot more lived in and that almost everything was planned for expansion. And in the case of the Zoni, The Court of Azimuth and the Technoids, they were most certainly made for further development later on.
It may have its problems but for essentially the first part in a new trilogy for the series going forward, it was certainly able to lay a strong foundation for the remaining titles in the future saga and titles to look at with glowing respect.
Which is exactly the complete opposite about what I feel with our next entry.
Review of Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty
All that glitters ain’t gold
Reader, my relationship with this title, much like its development is… peculiar to say the least.
My only known memory of seeing Quest for Booty during its initial run was at a Game retailer that no longer exists selling the game brand new. I picked it up, looked at it, saw it was a continuation of the ending of Tools of Destruction, then immediately put it back down and walked away.
I’m not entirely sure why I forgot about both it and the series for the longest time but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a combination of me feeling a bit cheated by the ending of TOD, my interest towards games like Sonic Unleashed for the Wii, constantly borrowing Super Mario Galaxy from a friends house and just Mario, Sonic and Wii games in general. On top of the fact that my oldest brother regularly used the PS3 to play massive time sink games like the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Call of Duty: World at War (that Nazi Zombies mode still gives me chills remembering it all).
It wasn’t until faith or something that one day that same brother told me that the PS3 store was hacked a few months back, and as an apology, allowed PS3 users to download 2 PS3 games from the digital store out of a list of 10 or so. And seemingly enough, that was how I eventually managed to finish this little side adventure.
Now you may be asking yourself, if you’re as well versed in the Ratchet and Clank series as I am, why am I giving a dedicated slot to this downloadable epilogue of Tools of Destruction over a more risky idea with something like Deadlocked?
Well two things:
Firstly, it’s my website so my rules.
Secondly, while this is a wholly unoriginal title, it still brings with it a catalogue of interesting ideas that are certainly… experimental to say the very least.
But I’m sure we’ll figure that out together as we make one quick stop to finish this trilogy. And pillage someone’s loot in the process.
Production: Half sail through the storm
So shortly after the publication of Tools of Destruction, Insomniac ran into a bit of trouble.
The main issue was because, if you remember from last time, Insomniac had planned on including both a co-op and online mode for the series debut on the PlayStation 3 but due to time constraints had to remove them early on. Even after promising Sony Computer Entertainment that they would be included.
The other issue was with regards to the cliffhanger ending. And if there is one thing almost everyone can agree upon is that while the story itself was fine, the way the title shoved in a “to be continued” ending at the last minute definitely came across as sloopy in execution and because of that, fans were clamouring for the next entry in the series to find what out what happened to Clank and what plans the Zoni had for him.
Now around this time pre-production on the next major Ratchet and Clank instalment was in the works but wouldn’t be ready for another while longer. So to help keep fans hopeful about this new era for the series and as a compromise for their undelivered multiplayer promise to Sony, the team decided to create a semi-brand new instalment reusing the basis of TOD at its core, at a much shorter length, and uploading the newest episode as a PlayStation Network exclusive. At least in most regions other than Europe where it was also given a small physical run as well.
And I suppose the other thing of note in development was that the small team working on the project, composed mostly of team members from TOD, had an interest in the Space Pirate faction introduced in the last game and wanted to use the smaller scope to experiment new ideas for the series.
And that’s pretty much it. One year after TOD launched, Quest for Booty would find itself making a port at the PSN store. And this digital only exclusivity is pretty interesting for those living outside of europe (which BTW, refers to the game as Quest for Booty like in the other regions. Out of all the sexual innuendos made with each title Europe never bothered to censor the most blatantly obvious joke of the entire series.) .
As some of you are likely aware, starting July 2nd of this year (2021 for those in the future), the PSN digital store for both the PlayStation 3 and Portable will be shut down permanently with the PS Vita store set to make its own closure on the 27th of August this same year. It’s certainly a very bizarre move given that the PSN store for the PS3 has been up since late 2006 at the earliest and has remained active, if largely deserted for nearly 15 years. And it also means that for those same non-european players, you won’t be able to play this little experimental title normally.
Now thankfully PlayStation Now, the company’s gaming streaming service, has Quest for Booty up for all regions and can be streamed to your PS4, PS5 or Windows laptop should you wish. But I do find it odd that all of the Ratchet and Clank titles from Quest of Booty onwards (with the exception of the 2016 remake for some reason) are all fully streamable but not Tools of Destruction.
As I’ll demonstrate later on, there’s nothing really special about Quest for Booty when but against its brethren but I do find the absence of the first part of this mini saga to be very unusual. That’s like a burger and bun pair except the top bun is missing for some reason.
Either way, the main thing you need to know is that this is in essence a tie in game. And that applies to the story as well.
Story: Treasure chest? More like a fetch quest.
Almost immediately after Clank’s abduction by the Zoni at the end of our previous adventure, Ratchet with the aid of Talwin decides to pick up the trail for his lost friend by first consulting the IRIS Supercomputer on the Kreeli Comet for info on the Zoni.
While his research does not lead him to any details on the race as is, he is able to learn of a man who was close friends with the mythical beings known as Captain Angstrom Dakwater, with their exploits leading them to the planet Murtagra.
After learning from a band of pirates that Darkwater has been dead for years and dealing with their unsupportive hosts, both adventurers are shot out of cannon and land on the more pleasant and friendly Hoolefar Island. With the aid of the Hooleforian’s, the pair learn that Darkwater once used the island to house the Obsidian Eye. One of many ancient telescopes designed to directly communicate with the Zoni but one that is unfortunately missing its rare source of power, a Fulgrim Star.
Conveniently though, Rusty Pete, Captain Slag’s first mate who was in the background of his overseer but was largely inconsequential to the previous story, lands on the island’s shores with a guide. The head of his former captain on a magnetic stick that can talk freely and remembers everything that happened last time he calls “Slag on a Stick”.
In any other series I’m sure that this description would be pretty macabre but thankfully it’s not as brutal as you think.
Anyway, Pete who once served under Dark Water knows the location of the captain’s ship, since the deceased pirate’s first mate, the very same Slag, killed him and the other crew members who didn’t pledge allegiance to him as their new captain.
One trip through the dark Morrow Cavern’s, Pete eventually betray’s Ratchet by sticking Slag on top of Darkwater decapitated body, releasing a old pirate curse that Darkwater had placed resurrecting both himself and the rest of his crew as undead warriors. And also meaning that he must share a body with the man who killed him, occasionally bickering and swapping control of the reigns as a result.
After they survive the caverns and defend Hoolefar Island from Darkwater’s army, the pair, with the assistance of the returning Smuggler, travel to Darkwater Cove using a map that once belonged to Darkwater discovered on his ship (before the whole curse was brought of course). And though they do find Darkwater’s treasure room with the Fulcrum Star intact, Ratchet is left for dead thanks to a trap door in the vault, with Talwin kidnapped by the waiting Slag/Darkwater taking the Star with them.
Finally escaping the cave system beneath the island, Ratchet pursues Darkwater with the Smuggler’s driving skills and after rescuing Talwin, the pair are, in no time at all, able to lay the dead pirates to rest in a fight above the Azorean Sea. With Pete throwing Ratchet the Star just before he dives in after Slag.
Prize in hand, they bring the star back to the Obsidian Eye and for a brief moment are able to see what became of Clank after his capture. In a suspension chamber surrounded by Zoni, the creatures state that a “doctor” would soon be able to fix him up soon.
That doctor? Nefarious.
Yep. The mad scientist from Up Your Arsenal finally makes his long awaited return seemingly with a pack with the Zoni.
The story ends with Ratchet blasting off to the stars, not knowing that the adventure of a lifetime would await him ahead. And Pete, who was actually narrating the story the whole time with the head of Slag stuck to a floating wooden crate, both rowing off together into the distance.
Now I know that that summary felt very patchwork of me to describe, but with a few exceptions, that’s basically the entire plot in a nutshell. And while I’m certainly glad that I don’t have to over explain things to you again, I also can’t help but feel that this narrative was very thin.
Because of the short length of the story, we never really learn about Darkwater as a character except that he’s familiar with the Zoni and heavily distrusted his former first mate Slag. It’s also pretty disappointing as well that, because of the length, we never really see Slag and Darkwater adjust to sharing the exact same body as each other.
In their first scene together after their rebirth, we can clearly see that both harbour a very strong hatred for each other. Darkwater for living with the man who backstabbed him many moons again and Slag having his chance of pirate glory once more being halted by a man who refuses to go quietly. And I really think the two bouncing off of each other like that over who rightfully controls the body of the captain would have been interesting if they fleshed out a bit more.
However, in the very next mission of the story, the siege of Hoolefar Island, we seemingly hear the two actually agreeing on each other, and Slag can even be heard briefly complementing Darkwater for the impressive crew that the captain has in the afterlife. You know, the crew that Slag personally butchered so he could become captain.
To be fair, Pete does eventually force the two landlubbers to co-exist during their first scene together, but it seems like a rather quick turn around if you take into account the possibility that Darkwater would have been dead for years up until this.
On a different topic, part of me gets why they chose to make a smaller adventure to explain what happened to Clank after his capture, but I actually feel the development actually left more questions than answers unintentionally.
Nefarious is back? How? Where is he holding Clank hostage? Why is he working with the Zoni? What’s in it for him?
Thankfully, all of the questions I mentioned above would be answered in our topic for next time but I think it also doesn’t help as well that after watching the credits, this shows up near the end:
“The quest continues in Fall 2008…”? Really?
I mean the ending is definitely enticing and seeing Nefarious finally return after a 4 long absence in Up Your Arsenal (3 if you count a small nod to him in Deadlocked, which I don’t) is still pretty magical. And though I actually learned of Nefarious’ return by this game’s sequel, I can imagine the response would be overwhelmingly excited at the time.
But it still feels very unusual how they decided to treat this particular side story.
Now though, onto the presentation.
Presentation: <Space> Pirates life for me
So, no surprise really, because of the reuse of game assets from Tools of Destruction, Quest for Booty looks remarkably similar to its predecessor.
Same user interface, same character models, same (sort of) pirate models and essentially a look that certainly doesn’t try to do a whole lot to stand out from it’s older sibling.
At this point I could just as easily ramble on about how this game is terrible because of that, but I’m willing to give this little boy a chance to prove its worth when faced with its much bigger and lengthy family members.
Firstly, world design. For the first time in the series Ratchet is confined to one singular planet, Merdegrew. And I won’t lie that while the loss of space traversal is definitely a massive hole in it’s heart, I actually think the decision to set the scene on one planet helps flesh it out a bit more than previous destinations.
In previous games whenever we travelled to a new planet, we’d only stop on one particular destination on the little sphere and it could essentially lead people to think “oh so the entire planet is like this then?”
Now though since we’re confined to one singular planet, we see a lot more of the different kinds of people that Merdagraw has. Mainly the residents of Hoolefar Island against Darkwater and his dead crew. I mean it does kind of suck that the Hoolefarians are the only noticeably new character models made for the game alongside one new variation of a pirate enemy but the effort to signify a longer history here then what is told is still admirable if you ask me.
Then there’s the music. This was the last soundtrack composed by the then main composer of the series, David Bergeurd, and while it doesn’t feel climatic enough for his final project with this studio, it’s still pretty impressive either way.
Obviously, previous tracks from the last game were reused to help fill out development time (even the main theme composed exclusively for this game uses a section that’s a direct riff of a track that plays on Planet Ardolis from TOD), but I still think that while there aren’t many original songs recorded here, that they when paired with the look of the game, fit perfectly well into creating a cohesive and dynamic environment.
Plus, it’s interesting when the game decides to be very careful with the use of music like Morrow Caverns. For the first half of the mission Ratchet is helping Pete and Slag find Darkwater’s long abandoned ship in a dark underground system with space bats (another reused model from previously) reacting to anything that dares waddle in the dark. And up until the mad dash away from the Caverns there’s actually little to no music at all, helping to bring the eerie atmosphere alive without feeling the need to signify that through its score.
And… oh that’s all this game brings to the table visual wise? I mean it’s still good but there’s not a whole lot that’s visually new so to speak.
Which is actually a compliment when you consider how the gameplay goes.
Gameplay: A ship in need of TLC
So with Clank out of the picture and the already stated recycling of game assets from last time, how does that impact the game itself?
Well, unfortunately, very uninspired comes to mind.
Once more we control Ratchet as we guide him from location to location taking out bad guys or parts of the environment with the goal this time of finding a long lost friend. Only this time, with as few new ideas as seen previously in the franchise.
Not to say that there aren’t new concepts brought to the table but if this series was at risk of becoming “too long in the tooth” for the 6th title in the series since 2002, this game helps embody that.
Well, before we get to that we might as well detail some positives first.
For starters, Ratchet has decided to upgrade his classic Omniwrench in between games to the Omniwrench Millennium 12, not only sporting a unique and striking blue finish to it but with the ability to use two new abilities that can derive from it.
First, there’s the wrench tether. For certain marked targets, Ratchet can sling the top of the Omniwrench at a target and pull it in any desired direction like a multidirectional whip. This can range from dragging floating platforms into a pattern that will allow you to cross a massive gap beneath your feet or lowering a catapult to launch you to a new location, replacing the meteor pads used previously.
These sequences definitely feel pretty unique all things considered with the challenge rambing up gradually from simply tugging opponents to lowering bridges while using the returning gravity boots for some puzzles.
On top of that, Ratchet also has the ability to pick up items using his wrench and use for some more puzzle solving. Early on, Ratchet has to rely on molten hot rocks to help blow up several gates that block his progress but later on, the ability is used to grab Heliogrubs. These little green, crab-like things are found in dark caverns and Ratchet can use them to scare off enemies like those space bats that lure in the dark as well allow you to see obscured by the dark paths or across extremely narrow walkways in the aforementioned dark.
Both the wrench tether and grabbing puzzles are very interesting in their own way but I do feel like the devs created multiple puzzles in the story as they went along to see how far they could test their concept.
And… that’s all. Like literally that’s the only addition Quest makes to the formula. I mean maybe I shouldn’t have expected much from the short length of this game but it still feels pretty lacklustre that there aren’t any major improvements to the gameplay.
“But what about the weapons?” you may be asking “Surely they came up with at least some new weapons to fit the pirate mood?”
Well that’s the thing viewer, they didn’t.
Seven weapons are available for you to use over the course of the game. The combustor, fusion grenade, shock ravager, tornado launcher, predator launcher, nano swarmers and alpha disruptor. And all of them are taking blatantly from Tools of Destruction with no changes.
That’s a lie actually because all of them now start at weapon power level 3 instead of 1 and because of the lack of vendors to apply raritanium upgrades, the best improvements to your guns can be found scattered throughout the 5 locations you visit over the story. But really, I don’t think actively making our weapon miniscule is not a compliment.
You do start with all 5 weapons (minus the Alpha Disruptor) at the beginning of your journey but all of them end up being taken from you after your first fight thanks to the tides of Merdagraw. And by progressing through the story, you’re just randomly given your guns back by characters who happened to come across them conveniently. But again, that’s not a compliment, it just means I need to rely on my Omniwrench way more than I did previously for the first third of the game.
Bolts do have their value as usual but since vendors and buying new weapons are out of the question, the game had to justify their inclusion again right?
That’s where the Smuggler makes his grand reappearance. He shows up on Hoolefar around the same time as we do for his own personal business and generally stands on the island’s shore waiting for someone to talk to him.
What’s his reason for being here? Being a cheapskate.
On Ratchet’s arrival both he and Talwin attempt to try and get a signal raised for backup but find that communications were sabotaged recently, leaving Ratchet to do their maintenance work. Eventually when everything’s wired and working properly, we can’t use the generator just yet as the bolt crank needed to activate the power is missing. With someone having apparently stolen it at some point while no one was looking.
And oh, look who just so happens to have one on hand that fits conveniently in the slot given?
Mercifully, there’s only this incident and one other occasion where you need to pay the Smuggler to move the plot forward (and a optional third if you want to buy the Alpha Disruptor) and if you basically smash any boxes or enemies every time you come across one, you should have more than enough to buy the requirement to progress. But it still feels very cheap having to move the story forward. I honestly think the bolt economy should have been cut and no one would have blamed Insomniac for doing so.
And I mean… that’s it really. Again, this feels a lot like “just another Ratchet and Clank game” more than any other entry in the series and I don’t know how deep I can dig before I reach the same conclusion that I’ve already made up. Alphaeon is seen in the opening cutscene, disappears for most of the story and shows up near the end of the game again but… I mean what else do you want me to add?
Conclusion: “What do you do with a disha-point-ing game?” <I’m not a professional lyricist, don’t @ me
So, have we now reached the bottom of the barrel of this series so far?
If we’re talking about gameplay, it’s still Ratchet and Clank. Shooting fun, occasional puzzle platforming and sharp wit as ever. But really I can say that about any other entry in this series.
For its time, I can definitely say that it fulfilled its purpose of being an appetiser for the next instalment coming next year but I also feel that you could literally play any other title I’ve reviewed for this series so far and find more enjoyment in gameplay and variety then here.
And with that covered, it’s time to set sail once more to the great beyond. Not knowing that the greatest adventure of a lifetime is about to happen very soon…
The journey continues… um… whenever I get the next article drafted, I don’t care…
Review of Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
The time of my life
Reader,
It’s fair to say that this may be the most interesting of all of the titles to revisit in some time.
I first heard about A Crack in Time through an online trailer, still before I would later play Quest for Booty for myself. And I will say that seeing Nefarious pop out of nowhere in it was certainly very special, yet much like Quest for Booty, I wouldn’t eventually play A Crack in Time for myself until the months leading up to the release of the next game I’ll be covering after this article.
However, when I did manage to purchase a preowned copy of the title for my PS3 off the now defunct retailer GAME, the person who previously owned my version wasn’t exactly very careful towards it, as it came with two separate discs. They are the same game by default but for some reason, one of the discs no longer works properly which I had to learn the hard way when I first played it, as two cutscenes near the endgame apparently forze for no explained reason, with the other disc working just fine.
So when I decided to return to A Crack in Time 10 years after I first played it, I’d forgotten in all that time which of the two discs was the broken one and which one actually worked. Thankfully, I chose the correct disc for my playthrough and I’m sure that if I accidentally went with the broken one, this review would be way more spiteful as a result.
But even so, this game is… really something special.
While I’m not willing to say it’s the best out of the lot already, I will definitively say that the technically two year gap between Tools of Destruction and this entry paid off tenfold with how many new ideas, concepts and elements were all thrown together in the space of just two years. Like it improves so much on the identity of the series so much all in simply one entry, which is just simply mind boggling.
And how was that all achieved in just two years? Well I’ll tell you.
Preproduction: Time for the real work to begin
So as I stated previously, A Crack in Time was in development for two years after Tools of Destruction was released, with the introduction of Quest for Booty helping mask a lot of the early development behind the scenes.
And for this entry in the series, the studio felt like this would not only be the final entry in both the Future trilogy but also for the entire franchise itself, and so decided to go bigger and bolder than they had ever done before. Cut ideas like space exploration would finally be released alongside many of the plot points from previous games such as Clank’s connection with the Zoni.
Eventually though the game would finally be unveiled at the 2009 edition of the Games Developer Conference with the full title and logo being revealed too.
And really… that’s about it.
Seriously, I thought Quest for Booty was a simple summary but here, for as ambitious as many of the gameplay improvements are to the series formula that I’ll get into later, it’s very strange that there’s not a whole lot of trivia surrounding the game’s development.
Well except for the fact that roughly 10’000 lines of dialogue were written with another 10’000 cut early on due to the space exploration feature, the inclusion of a weapons contest held by Insomniac to allow fans to submit their own weapon ideas to have the chance of it turning into a full weapon and the subtitle for this game originally going to be called Ratchet and Clank Future: Clock Blockers. And as much as I love that pun, it does seem very counterproductive to the story.
And I guess with no segway whatsoever, let’s talk about that plot.
Story: Unblocking those Clocks
Okay, for the sake of clarity, A Crack in Time has two stories running parallel to each other. Ratchet with his journey to find Clank and Clank with him learning about the intention of his creation. Every time Ratchet jumps to a new sector of the Polaris Galaxy, we then cut back to Clank until we traverse through a new floor of his sections. So for the sake of making my life easier, I’ll go over Clank’s story first followed by Ratchet’s.
But before that, there’s actually an optional recap video that the player can watch if this is their first time playing. It’s essentially an interview with Quark to an unnamed journalist while on the set of his new holofilm, My Blaster Runs Hot, explaining why he didn’t show up in the last game. I mean that doesn’t explain why Cronk and Zephyr didn’t but that’s getting ahead of myself.
We don’t really learn anything new about this sequence apart from what those caught up in the story would know, and is primarily there to show Quark’s completely biassed outlook on his involvement in the story and reconfirming his status as the universe’s favourite idiot.
Right, now the real story.
Somewhere deep in outer space Nefarious, with the help of his bored butler Lawerence alongside the Zoni, are running maintenance on Clank, trying to get into the little backpack’s brain. With Nefarious’ reason being for something called the Orvius Chamber, which the Zoni heavily forbid him from doing.
In no time at all, Nefarious terminates his relationship to the time travelling creatures using a Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler, knocking out the lights and (I think) reactivating Clank in the process.
One quick chase through the facility, with Clank being helped by the “junior caretaker” of the place, he’s eventually cornered over a bottomless cliff with Nefarious’ catching up with him.
It’s here where we learn that the place we are at is called The Great Clock. This next section isn’t explained at this point but while we’re on the subject, we might as well cover it.
Thousands and thousands of years ago, the Zoni chose to visit a humble specisis called the Fungoides and gifted them the ability to travel through time at will, hoping that by sharing their power that they would be humbled by their powers just as the Zoni were. However after about 4 thousand years of it being used (which Orvius, I love the fact that he calls them “short”), they began to further abuse the gift and ultimately one fatal day, a small rip in the space time continuum resulted in the complete annihilation of 83 different planets.
Realising his mistake, Orvius constructed the Clock to heal the damage caused by both the fracture and to repair any time anomalies that would have spread to other planets. Ultimately creating the world’s most complex working environment (that yes, sounds like a massive clock ticking away as it works) in the exact centre of the universe! Give or take fifty feet.
However, with the creation of the Clock, Orvius made sure to create two specific rules for using it. The first, is that the Clock is not meant to be used as a time machine, since it’s meant to keep time as a whole functioning. And two, if you ever want to use the clock as a time machine, consult the first rule-. Oh I see what he meant by that joke now…
Back to the main story, Lawrence, using an Orb of Gratitus Immobilization (basically an EMP) to subdue Clank and the pair chucks him near the start of floor 2 of the Clock. Some time later the Junior Caretaker of the Clock Sigmund 062A (voiced by Uncharted lead voice actor Nolan North) is given a proper tour of the Clock.
There, Clank is revealed to actually be the creation of Orvius (voiced by the voice of Mario himself Charles Martinee, two famous VA’s in one game goddamn!) who created the little guy to serve as the Senior Caretaker of the clock.
Through the help of some lessons given by a digital copy of Orvius including learning how to use his new Chronoscepter and looking after the clock, Clank stumbles upon Sigmund watching a old recording made by Orvius, stating that he was visiting a fellow scientist on the Planet Zanifar.
Not soon after Ratchet, with the help of a new Obsidian Eye and a fellow lombax (we’ll touch up on that later), with Clank asking Ratchet to find out what happened on Zanifar two years ago.
Some more stuff happens until during a routine test of Mnemonic Station Iota, where Clank goes deep into his subconscious, he runs into the Plum-. Oh right, I haven’t mentioned this guy have I?
So a recurring joke within the series is that in almost every single Ratchet and Clank game, both of them run into a mysterious plumber. It doesn’t matter which galaxy or war is happening, he’s always fixing something away with no explanation given on how he got there.
He shows up on Planet Novalis and Batelia in 1 during two separate invasions, is a factor of a side quest in 2, he’s the buyer of the Sewer Crystal side mission in 3 and gives the pair a 3 ¾ Centicubit Hexagonal Washer which they use to repair the Dimensonator after beating Tachyon (he even states that he didn’t recognise them at first since they’re now in HD).
In CIT however, he’s seen digging through Clank’s memories while pulling out various items from a pipe like the Nuclear Powered Rocket Sled, Tachyon’s old crown and Ratchet’s Omiwrench from his memory banks. After a brief talk about finding your own place in the universe, the Plumber then briefly mentions that “I wouldn’t risk any more than six minutes.” and pushes Clank down his own brain, waking him up for some reason.
Finally though, Clank makes it to the fables Orvius Chamber where he sees the master switch of the entire universe at its centre as well as a recording left by Orvius. However, before he could finish watching it, Lawrence show’s up again and uses the Orb once more to subdue Clank as it was part of Nefarious’ plan to let Clank unintentionally lead them to the chamber.
<Phew>. Okay, now that that’s over, let’s focus on the other side of this coin.
While flying through the Breegus system of the Polaris Galaxy, Ratchet alongside a tightly squished Quark are caught up in an empassing time anomaly, resulting in them crashing down onto the Planet Quantos below them.
After exploring the planet they notice several destroyed monuments either being frozen in time or repeatedly flip flopping between it’s original and destroyed self (it’s also what prevents the pair from falling down a bottomless pit during the Aphaleon’s crash).
Eventually though, they run into the Fongoids, who despite having a complicated status with the Zoni after they nearly destroyed the universe, still hold a strong connection to the little guys and even allow Ratchet to collect the Zoni Vessel. A mini food flask sort of container that allows Ratchet to collect lost Zoni.
And just in time, for after Ratchet brings the flask out from the Temple of Zahn, Lord Vorselon, a mercenary hired by Nefarious abducts Quark and several of the villagers of Quantos, while mistaking Ratchet for a man named “Azimuth”.
Using the help of the Zoni to repair the Alphaeon and after recusing Quark and the others (while subduing Vorselon on his way out), Ratchet eventually learns with the help of Quark who Azimuth is. A rebel that has regularly made attacks against Nefarious and Vorselon’s patrols near the planet of Torren IV (which is funnily enough shown in a flashback in Clank’s section to be the ancient homeworld of the Fongoids, long abandoned after they felt they couldn’t be trusted with tech).
Ratchet eventually seeks out the rebel and after a brief chase near his hideout, he eventually lets up after recognising him to resemble a lot like Ratchet’s father, which naturally makes Ratchet trust him.
Now friends with the General of the Lombax Praetorian Guard, Alister Azimuth details that he’s long been looking for a way to access the clock, and while it’s not told in this scene, his reasoning being to use the powers of the station to undo Tacoyn’s genocide of the lombaxs. And thanks to Ratchet having a close contact inside the clock, he gives him his father’s old hover boots and the two begin searching.
During a brief trip to Planet Terachnos to find a new Obsidian Eye to track Clank (bumping into Nefarious once more in the process), they travel to Planet Lumos to ultimately find the Eye. But not without the pair being intercepted by the Valkyries, a band of female mercenaries hired by Nefarious, saving Quark from the Agorian Battleplex and preventing a raid on Lumos by the Agorian’s.
After the call with Clank both head to Zanifar for Orvius’s last known location. Out of orbit though, Azimuth reveals that if their current plan works, the current timeline will no longer exist, meaning that Ratchet would never meet Clank, with Ratchet willing to accept the consequences. Then Azimuth, recognising Vorselon’s signal nearby, acts as bait for him while Ratchet travels to Zanifar.
There after freeing the long imprisoned Fongoids of the planet and using a time rift established by Sigmund travels two years into the past to save Orvius. Unfortunately though he’s too late with Orvius seemingly evaporating to parts unknown but is able to throw a grenade at Nefarious’ face, leaving him with a massive scar across his left eye in the present day.
Then after rescuing Azimuth from the returning Vorselon, they both travel to Vapedia, the current homeworld of the Valkyries after being tricked by Nefarious that Clank was on the planet’s surface. Eventually though after dealing with the two remaining leaders of the Valkyries, Ratchet is able to rescue Clank, with Azimuth choosing to leave the two behind after Ratchet choses to not risk existence for the sake of the lombaxes.
Okay nearly there now so bear with me.
With Clank by his side they rendezvous with Quark outside of Nefarious’ Space Station and successfully stop the doctor from launching a large armada planned for the Clock, but getting trapped in the process. Here the mad scientist reveals just how he managed to survive his previous encounter since Up Your Arsenal.
After his plans for turning squishies into non-squishies, Nefarious and Lawrence drifted on an asteroid for a good few years, with Nefarious spending all of that time reflecting on the humiliation caused by Ratchet and his two friends. Even after eventually crashing onto planet Zanifar, Nefarious was essentially a blubbering mess after his defeat and was determined to do whatever he could to get his own back.
Through studying the ancient practices of Fongoid culture, Nefarious would later take a spirit walk on Planet Quantos and learn of the Great Clock through old Fongoid wall paintings. With that motivation in mind and still bearing a massive chip on his shoulder Nefarious made it his mission to control the clock so with its new power, he’d write a new timeline where the heroes always lose.
His plan finally detailed, he ends up sending Ratchet and Clank on a one way trip through space on (ironically enough) an asteroid, but that’s short lived as they end up eventually crashing on the planet Morklon. With the help of Sigmund back in the Clock, they establish a time rift on the backwater planet to redo the events of the planet’s past and secure them a ship to get back in the fight.
Finally catching up with Nefarious, they have one final showdown with the mad doctor, ending with the pair being saved by the returning Azimuth just before a saucer with Nefarious on it crashes into the space station, blowing it up in the process.
The day is saved, except not quite. Now back in the Clock, Ratchet reluctantly accepts Clank’s decision to stay as the facility’s senior caretaker, which does not sit well with the General since Ratchet is still not interested in changing the past.
Enraged by this, Azimuth fires a bolt of lightning from his version of the Omniwrench, killing Ratchet and racing Clank to the Orvius Chamber. Clank ends up locking Azimith just outside the chamber and has a brief pause on if he should use the Clock to reverse time just to save his friend, but with the advice of the old plumber in mind (“I wouldn’t risk anymore than six minutes.”), he travels back just in time to save Ratchet but gives Azimuth just enough time to get to the chamber and use the clock to time travel, despite the best efforts of Sigmund to stop him.
One final, final battle is held inside the chamber as it crumbles inside with Ratchet ending up as the victor. However, because of the handle for the Clock breaking and Azimuth realising the error of his ways, he ends up using his omniwrench to undo his mistake, sacrificing himself in the process.
The Clock is restored and the Zoni returning to their natural habitat, Ratchet then leaves Clank to watch the rest of Orvius’s recording for him as he prepares to leave. That is until Clank realises that he can’t leave his best friend behind, promotes Sigmund to the rank of Senior Caretaker and catches Ratchet just in time before he takes off, with Orvius wanting only what’s best for his son and supporting him in any endeavour he’s in.
Oh and Quark survived the explosion of Nefarious’ Space Station but left him to drift on a floating rock alongside his now blood hungry pet wargrock Snowball.
… Am I done… ? I’m done! Okay, okay,… just one moment…
I mean, the summary speaks for itself. This is a massive, massive story but thankfully, much like Tools of Destruction, I feel that despite how long it took me to explain it, the events of the story are detailed very naturally, with new plot developments introduced at a frequent basis to up the stakes of the story.
What originally started as a straightforward rescue mission for Ratchet ends up in becoming a battle for the universe itself against two separate ideologies. And while the mechanic is about the same as usual, Clank is the character that’s given more backstory and history which makes total sense.
Tools of Destruction was essentially about Ratchet learning about his past with Clank reacting to him so having that outlook switched makes for a interesting story especially as we learn more about how Clank is connected to the Clock and why it is one of the most important pieces of machinery in the universe.
There also feels like a lot less busy work when it comes to the pacing (with only two or three real issues added in to lengthen the games story a bit longer) meaning that while still not perfect, it’s definitely structure wise, the most well thought out of all of the games so far.
Azimuth is probably the most interesting out of the new faces. I do like Sigmund and Orvius in their own way but I feel the General is a lot more interesting in his impact on the series. I didn’t mention this in the summary but there’s a brief flashback scene where Azimuth reveals that he actually approved of Tachyn’s weaponry, despite the warning given to him by Kaiden, Ratchet’s father.
So we have a character that not only feels responsible for the death of his best friend but also the majority of his specisis, after he was exiled for causing most of the mess left by the last Cragmite, which I think is very interesting as far as tragic backstory’s go.
And speaking of tragedy, a part of me dreaded the battle with Azimuth in the clock. Not that it was bad or anything, he hits you like a truck with the amount of damage that he does and for his wide variety of attack patterns over the fight. But mostly because of this exchange near the halfway point of the fight:
Clock: Quantum tunnelling initiated.
Azimuth: You hear that? In a few moments, we will be able to prevent the greatest injustice in Lombax history!
Ratchet: I can’t let you do this!
Azimuth: YOU DON’T HAVE A CHOICE!
Ratchet: So you’re just gonna kill me?!
Azimuth: Kill you now, save you in the past!
That is heartbreaking! You can tell that neither of them want to fight each other during this battle as indicated by Azimuth trying to reason with Ratchet and expressing how betrayed he is by the unwillingness to do what’s right. I mean, Azimuth is ultimately the villain of this fight given his inability to let go but it still hits hard when you consider the dynamics at play and contrast them with how both Lombaxes treated each other in the story. Especially since the music that plays in this fight is actually a leitmotif rendition of the music that originally played during the first chase between them.
I know that last section is a slight spoiler towards the presentation but really, when else would bringing it up be appropriate?
However, as great as this game is, it isn’t immune to some of the trappings that can come with a massive story like this. And while not entirely running the story, when put into consideration, they do feel particularly odd.
So as I stated earlier, Quark at one point ends up fighting in the Agorian Battleplex after he overstates how good he is at combat. Then after freeing Quark, Ratchet goes on to fight the Agorian’s on an additional two separate occasions during an attempted raid on the planet Lumos and another 10 years in the past with the Battle of Gimlick valley on Morklon. And you’d think that with these two incidents in mind, why wouldn’t they try to personally hunt Ratchet after humiliating them in not only the Battleplex but in two separate invasions? Especially given how they are essentially the Great Roman Empire in touch with the personality of College American Football athletes.
On the topic of Lumos, when Ratchet hears that Azimuth is looking for a Obsidian Eye to talk to Clank, in response, he mentions that the people of Hoolefar Island had their own version of the Eye back in Quest for Booty but since shut it down after Ratchet got what he needed. So… what’s exactly stopping the pair simply going back to Hoolefar? Maybe a lack of time I suppose, but I feel that the justification could have been explained better than just “there’s another Eye nearby”.
Fourthly the time travel aspects within the story are a nice pace when they occur on Zanifar and Morklon, especially on Zanifar where in the present, the location is a cold and scary prisoner camp while in the past, it’s very sunny and the citizens actively greeting Ratchet with “Praise Nefarious!”. However I feel that this kind of creates a bit of a contrast in the main purpose of the clock.
Not to sound like a broken record but the clock is not meant to be used as a time machine yet here we are, travelling years into the past. And even when we do, the incidents tend to not compliment each other. With Ratchet failing to save Orvius in the past yet is able to completely stop an invasion on his own during his time at Morklon.
So can you actually change the past? Is it morally good or bad to do so? These combined with the strict purpose of the Clock seem to contradict each other, even if these sequences are very interesting in their own ways.
While talking about Morklon, as I mentioned in the summary, the pair end up crashing onto the surface after failing to stop Nefarious’ before he could launch a full invasion on the Clock. Now I’m not really sure if this was again because of the game needing to be just a bit while longer but I feel this one final mission before Nefarious is beaten once and for all could have been implemented into the story a lot better than simply being added near the end of the game.
And just for one more criticism, where is Angela Cross at this time? I haven’t mentioned the third other known alive lombax for a while because after her debut in Going Commando, she’s largely been missing since then. I can somewhat understand that with TOD so as to not confuse matters but in CIT, they flat out reference Angela at one point and that she has been missing for quite some time.
I wasn’t able to trigger the exchange in my playthrough due to time but according to the R&C wikia, Cross was last seen accompanying Max Apogee (Talwin’s father from TOD) while they were being pursued by Tacyn and his forces. Okay, that sounds like a good if rushed explanation on why she’s no longer a part of this series, but I also have to agree with some critics that just forgetting about her all together and redconning her from the canon would have worked too.
Okay! Okay, I’m done talking about the story for real this time. I mean at the end of the day, this certainly feels like the climax of a long journey in terms of the scale and density of the plot and despite my niggles with some minor elements of the mitosis, it’s still one of the most impressive sequels I’ve seen in some time.
And while not nearly as impressive, the presentation isn’t anything to scoff at either.
Presentation: The universe, time travel and you
So much like before, things are about the same in terms of looks. Not bad mind you but nothing of note is striking more than previously. Like before, we as a walking cat music travel to different planets across a science fiction galaxy but with a bit more flare this time.
Firstly, if we’re talking just visuals for a moment I’d forgotten how bright A Crack in Time was until I started playing it for myself. The bloom effect on almost every planet whether it be a floor of the Great Clock to the dark streets of Axiom City all have very strong light reflection going on with not only these locations look by even the way both Clank and Ratchet stand out in their different environments.
Like even in something as desolate as Torren IV, one of the cities that the Fongooids occupied when they used tech and the hiding place of Azimuth near the games start, has striking levels of blinding sun dwarfing the obvious ruins of a long forgotten past.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I want this game to be desaturated in colours but I think Tools of Destruction and it’s sequel best handle the use of environmental shading to make it so that on something like Planet Mukow, it’s supposed to be a miserable rainy environment. And I think using too much bloom on that world would have brought a bit too much focus on small background details like the ferris wheel rather than the path ahead.
Thankfully when it comes to space travel, things are a little bit more normal but on smaller planetoids like one that contains an icy surface that will freeze anything it touches, I think it’s made again, a bit too bright for my liking.
Now if we’re talking auditory, this I feel is in some ways both really great and somewhat okay at best.
Let’s start with the positives though with the voice acting. While previous titles in the series didn’t have bad performances at all, it’s very clear that there was a bigger emphasis given to the way characters were personified not only by their animations in game and in cutscenes but by their respected actors and actresses.
Armin Shimerman, the voice of Dr. Nefarious from Up Your Arsenal returns to reprise his character for his grand return and… well grand is a very fitting word to describe his involvement in this game. I think it makes sense given how fans were waiting for 6 years to see the madman return and… well again mad is a very apt description.
There’s definitely a feeling that Nefarious is a lot more nuts in this title more than anything, and while you could say that about his debut, I think a lot of it comes down to how Shimerman is given a bit more free range with his character. We already know his portrayal and motivations previously so that definitely helps in getting us to appreciate how shouthy he can be.
Jim Ward as Quark is also pretty good as well but you can tell that this game cements the Captain’s now recognizable goofiness. And though a part of me does find it slightly jarring when he’s compared with his more greedy and manipulative incarnation in Ratchet 1, I think seeing how stupider and stupider he keeps getting with each new entry helps me forgive it.
The rest of the cast are very good in their own way too but strangely, one of my least favourite characters in this new Ratchet and Clank game… is Ratchet.
I probably should have mentioned this last time but starting with Quest for Booty there was a feeling that Ratchet was starting to become a bit more stoic as a character and less about him bouncing off of weird characters with questions and quips.
Now I think given how his best friend was seemingly stolen from him I think it makes him more determined to find Clank and during the pair’s first actual scene together through the Obsidian Eye, I could tell that Ratchet saying “You kidding me? You think I’d leave my best pal out here alone?” does convince me of that view and when the two reunite, there is some small banter with how long they’ve been apart but because it’s near the end of the game, not nearly enough for me to chew on.
Like why not have Ratchet explain the depths he reached just to find Clank let alone rescue him or the impact Nefarious’ meddling has had on multiple planets such as Quantos? They could have easily been fitted in to reinforce their connection and would help catch Clank up to speed with how bad things have been since they were last together
Now unfortunately, the music is the aspect of the game that’s left the most unfulfilled. We have Boris Salchow, the composer of Resistance 2 now doing the official score replacing longtime composer David Bergeaud and while I think his music is serviceable, some of it just isn’t.
I can’t really think of a few standouts from the official soundtrack at the top of my head but I can think of the games main theme which plays during the game’s boot up, the music of Planet Quantos, Trechanois and the Agorian battle music but not much more. Oh and also the Great Clock and Clank’s subconscious music but it’s unfortunately the same track played throughout all three occasions you are diverted from playing as Ratchet and they do get a bit too repetitive after a while.
That’s still not to say that it’s bad, I obviously prattled over the final boss theme with Azimuth earlier but also a lot of the best music comes from the tracks composed entirely for the space exploration sequences. They’re all instrumentals I’m afraid, meaning none of them come to mind when they are played at a certain loop but the variety is still pretty good during those moments, especially since many of them have a lot of nice rock songs that I’m sure ACDC would be impressed by.
But yeah, unfortunately the music isn’t that good by my standards.
However, for what the game somewhat falters in presentation it more than makes up for in seer gameplay. And let me tell you, if I’m just talking about gameplay, this is easily one of the best playing games in the series by far.
Gameplay: And they don’t stop coming, and they don’t stop coming, and they don’t stop coming…
So in a similar manner to the story, Crack in Time features two gameplay styles running parallels against each other. Those being Ratchet’s planet hopping adventures against Clank’s maintenance work at the Great Clock. And to keep things simple, I focus on Ratchet’s gameplay first.
Much like the presentation, on the surface, things are about the same as normal for our favourite gun toting Lombax but just enough new improvements made to make this particular version of Ratchet the best he’s ever been by far.
To start off simple, Ratchet still has the Omniwrench Millennium 12 from Quest for Booty but it’s not really improved when seen previously, minus the inclusion to pick and throw battery bots (glorified living keys) to unlock certain doors and being able to use the Wrench tether to pull shields off of a Agorian bomber but not much more new to then that.
What is pretty new though is that Ratchet can now throw his wrench (aka, the comet strike) without needing to stop. In every other entry, the player essentially needed to pause for a brief moment to watch Ratchet throw his omniwrench before you were allowed to move around again. It’s a small change I’m aware of, and it did take them about 5 games to fix this issue but it’s here now and I comfortably move at a consistent pace without stopping all too much except for the various Wrench puzzles like the aforementioned battery bots.
And speaking of pacing, that has been amped up tremendously through the introduction of a new gadget for Ratchet to use. The hoverboots. Reserved for the Lombax Praetorian Guard, this particular pair once belonged to Ratchet’s father Kaidan, and was gifted to him by Azimuth after earning his trust.
At first these in standard platforming act as the supplement to Clank’s helipack for the first 3 quarters of the game but their A game is brought out by the fact that with the press of the right D-Pad, Ratchet can hover off of the ground for a moment and using the R2 trigger can speed off in any direction ahead of him and also with the help of certain bolts, ramps and launch pads can spring off of multiple surfaces without stopping.
It does have its limitations since you can’t fire any weapons while they’re on (meaning you can only use your wrench while they’re powered on) and by comparison, Azimuth can essentially fly off of the ground to allow him to skip entire segments of a level. The reason why Ratchet can’t do that is because, according to the General, the “Ion coils must be rusty.”.
Okay… then get some oil for it. Oil deals with rust right? It’s especially strange seeing how in this same game, Ratchet can use oil for some puzzle solving to get certain gears working again. I don’t know, I think they could have explained the reasoning behind this hindrance a bit better.
On the subject of oil let’s talk about the remodified gadget system. Previously, depending on the game, Ratchet would need to equip a certain gadget for a short sequence or to help solve a peculiar puzzle. But here, all 4 gadgets that the player acquires throughout the game can be accessed with a corresponding press on the Dualshock 3’s D-pad. Up for the returning Swingshot, right to turn on the Hover Boots, down to use the Omnisoaker and when Clank eventually reunites, left allowing you to throw Time Bombs (but we’ll get into that at some point).
The Omnisoaker is pretty great as far as gadgets go seeing how it’s mainly used to inhale three types of liquid. Water mainly useful for cooling incredibly hot platforms and soaking Hydroplant’s to use as a makeshift spring pad, the previously mentioned oil to unrust bolt cranks and very unique to this game, nectar.
At certain points Ratchet will need to cross an area overrun with Tetramites. Essentially tiny piaranas that pursue anyone that comes near their nest except if the person is in water. Using the Omnisoaker, Ratchet can absorb Nectar from a special plant to plob massive chunks of in the environment to keep the Tetramites busy or be used to get past certain walls using their combined might.
The gadget in a way actually reminds me of the Hydrodisplacer from Ratchet 1 except way more versatile and because of the aforementioned gadgets on the D-pad, doesn’t take a crucial slot of your quick select wheel.
But now, let’s talk about gadgets, more destructive equivalents, weapons. And let’s just say, there’s a whole lot to say about them.
Well firstly, in a small detail whenever a new weapon becomes available to purchase, the player can watch a small video showcasing the weapon in a 1950s-60s style cartoon, summing the nifty thing while being humorous in its own way.
As for the weapons themselves, Ratchet can buy 6 weapons that originally showed up in Tools of Destruction, including the Buzz Blades, Groovitron and Mr. Zurkon (the last two being the short lived devices mechanic from TOD now turned into fully upgradable weapons!). Raritanium upgrades may have been removed since then but if you have a save file from Tools of Destruction on your console you can actually buy all 6 classic weapons at a discount (Quest for Booty players just get a small cosmetic skin that has Ratchet wear a pirate hat).
And if we are talking about returning weapons, the general archetypes for weapons like Pistols and Grenades return but those two alongside the Shotgun are reinvented for a brand new gameplay feature. Constructo Weapons.
While exploring planets Ratchet can come across multiple constructo mods that can then be attached to the approved constructo weapon. And some of the changes you can make helps personally your gameplay experience from another player if you search hard enough for them.
Want a rapid fire Constructo Pistol that shoots explosive rounds? Or a Constructo Bomb Glove that has specially designed skyburst shells (for airborne enemies) that can spray acid with each impact? How about a Constructo Shotgun that’s double barreled and can fire stun rounds? There is a lot of mods available for Ratchet to acquire for all three weapons (56 in total I think) but a part of me does find it a bit underwhelming that I can’t mix and match all of mods between the Constructo weapons, even if a Shotgun that fires timed rounds (like a mod that for Bombs that puts them on a timer) wouldn’t make sense logically or strategically.
Now after Ratchet does the important mission, you’d expect that he’d be given the coordinates for the next story centric event and to get there soon. And for this game you’d be right and wrong.
After leaving a planet, the player will essentially be taken to that planet’s sector and travel around it. From there you have the option of travelling to either the next location to move the plot forward or a multitude of smaller planetoids, space stations and hail fellow pilots in a mini open world.
In between you can also tune into multiple radio stations using the D-pad again to listen to some pretty good original tracks, adverts for fictional businesses of the Ratchet Universe, news flashes and dialogue behind the radio DJ’s. The fact that they put so much effort into a easily glanceable part of the game honestly amazes me especially since one of the stations, Pirate Radio, features Slag and Rusty Pete from TOD and QFB hosting a radio show while talking about their exploits or lack thereof.
That actually reminds me, this game has a lot of references to previous titles in the story. And since it was planned as the last game in the series, I think it helps pay homage to almost every mainline Ratchet game.
There’s obviously general references like character names or events from other titles brought up at certain points but there’s also a advert for Big Al’s Roboshack (a location from 1 where Clank could buy the Heli-Pack upgrade), the explorable planetoid feature originally being tested in several levels for Ratchet 2, the obvious return of Nefarious, the Rift Inducer 500 (named after the Rift Inducer) and occasional large scale warfare sections from Up Your Arsenal and returning weapons and elaborated details from both TOD and QFB.
I honestly think these combined references help give a celebratory feel to this particular entry and it feels most rewarding as a long time fan of the series.
Now where was I? Oh right, these little activities in between planets can then have the player be rewarded for their divergence be it in bolts, constructo mods, gold bolts or the new plot progression device, Zoni.
After Nefarious’ meddling near the start of the game he inadvertently scarred most of the Zoni off of the Great Clock, leading them to wander aimlessly around multiple planets and moons. If Ratchet collects enough of them he’ll unlock new ship upgrades for the Alphaeon such as better weapons, a deflect barrier or thrusters.
My only problem is that, minus two boss fights against two Valkyrie captains, the ship upgrades are never useful for actual story progression. The only time they became a bother was when certain planets required an upgrade to help access. And while they’re not nearly as bad as the paywall system from 1 and 2, I do feel that they break up the flow a bit too much if you’re playing the game normally (not going after side activities and the like).
Okay, now let’s move onto Clank’s involvement in the story. As mentioned before, whenever Ratchet jumps to a new sector of Polaris for plot reasons, the game will shift focus back to Clank as he starts to work on maintaining the Great Clock alongside Sigmund.
These segments play about the same as Clank’s other solo points in the series but with the distinct exclusion of gadgebots but the significant inclusion of a quadruple jump thanks to his Heli-Pack, his brand new tool the Chronoscepter and the unique inclusion of time pads.
Estimated to be 1 million years old (according to Sigmund), the Chronoscepter is essentially a massive rod that can be used for battling enemies of the Clock, deflecting projectiles lodged at Clank as well as for puzzle purposes.
The most useful of which are Time Bombs which allow Clank to slow down time on an area of enemies or environment with him unaffected because of his Zoni heritage. Only one bomb can be thrown at a time due to how unstable Quantum Energy is but it’s versatile use allows for some interesting ideas.
Not quite as useful as slowing down time, the Sceptre can be used to solve time anomalies. Thanks in part to the mess Nefarious made, multiple planets can experience dangerous time anomalies. And when that happens, Clank using his Chronoscepter as a beam can undo the damage made by time anomalies and return it back to its natural state. I can’t really say much about these as they’re more short little shooters where you point the beam to fix the problem but with enough new power ups introduced to make things fresh everytime.
Side note, several planets that Ratchet explores like Quantos and Torren IV suffer from Time Anomalies when he first lands on them but if you take care of them and return to them as Ratchet, you can find new secrets that you couldn’t access previously. It’s not much but a nice incentive for replayability and discovery.
Then the most significant are Time Pads.
For security reasons the Clock has multiple locked doors like a large button that can’t be opened unless you stand on a specific switch. To help navigate this, Time Pads will essentially allow Clank to make multiple versions of him to help get past locked doors.
So in this case, Clank will record himself standing on the lock for the door. Then with the press of a button, he can then travel back to the start of the sequence and activate another Time Pad. The previous recording of Clank will stand on the switch for the door, leaving the real Clank access to the rest of the level from there.
It’s honestly a very clever concept and later puzzles will get more intense by the requirement to redo several recordings and add new steps to eventually allow Clank to get past. This is a bit over explained but I really didn’t know how best to summarise it and they do serve as an interesting pace breaker from direct combat.
Clank’s gameplay sequences as a whole are pretty good for adding variety to the game’s pacing and showing the contrast in his strengths over Ratchet’s. But I think the Time Anomaly minigame is a bit of a mess to comprehend without just beaming things wildly.
Conclusion: The Testament of Friendship
So after 16 pages of descriptions (8 of which was dedicated just for the plot summary), what do I think of the finished product as a whole?
Well, going on the basis that this was the last Ratchet and Clank game when it was being developed, it certainly feels both climatic and ambitious in its nature. And while it doesn’t quite stick the landing with them, it’s still a very enjoyable affair from start to end.
The story is arguably the most intercit of the entire series but still understandable with how new plot points and reasoning behind certain decisions like the creation of the Clock and Azimuth’s betrayal both offer really solid explanations for this story, on top of the returning Dr. Nefarious and reinstating why the Lombax and Robot’s relationship is essentially inseparable at this point.
Gameplay wise it’s one of the most varied and experimental of every other entry with the introduction of the Hover Boots, the space exploration system and Clank’s Clock duties which helps make it arguably one of the rare incidents that almost everything experimented and tested for this game is able to nailed on their first try.
And while the presentation isn’t exactly the best, it’s honestly incredible how much my opinion has changed since I first tried it out years ago where I just thought of it as generally okay, but now see it as a complete marvel in almost everything it set out to do.
But here’s the thing:
The series didn’t end with just this game. And in my next article, we’re about to see what happens when the story inevitably continues.
Review of Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One
Some things are really better together…
Reader,
I still remember the day I came across this game in a random issue of Game Master. Back in 2010 when the internet wasn’t quite as readily available as it is now, gaming news was still circulated regularly on print just as much as online journalism.
And when I found the announcement of a brand new Ratchet and Clank game coming next October, I knew where my priorities lay from there. But what’s this? “All 4 One”? A co-op Ratchet and Clank themed game? Sounds interesting.
So after spending the spring and summer of 2011 getting back up to speed with the series by playing through Quest for Booty and A Crack in Time for the first time, I managed to get the game brand new when it released later that October. And it also holds the benefit of the first game I ever pre ordered, coming from the retailer Smyths.
I got the special edition of the game myself and still have a copy that I keep growling in my PlayStation 3 physical library. Even after I lost the password and email to my old PSN account years ago, meaning I can’t download any of the special bonuses like an exclusive dynamic theme for the PS3’s main menu, additional animals from the Critter Strike and costumes for the game.
Either way I heavily enjoyed this entry in the series back then but looking back on it now, I do find myself questioning, why did I enjoy this game so much?
But enough about my history with it, let’s move onto how this fresh attempt came to be. And much like my history with the title, it’s pretty rocky to say the least.
Preproduction: Much needed help
Around the time that A Crack in Time was finishing production, two developers working at Insomniac came up with the idea for a couch co-op Ratchet and Clank game to Sony, in response to the growing popularity of games like Little Big Planet.
And while Sony did approve of the idea during its initial pitch, they also had one key recommendation for the project. Dr. Nefarious had to be a playable character.
Now you might be wondering what’s the big deal behind this and if you recall, the last time the mad scientist was seen in ACT, he was stuck on a saucer as it flew towards his massive space station and exploded alongside the station as a result!
And naturally because, T. J. Fixman, still the lead writer since Tools of Destruction, was panicking on how best to bring Nefarious into the story. And a part of me loved it when one of his colleagues simply said “Maybe it was a flesh wound?”
Well either way, using the companies brand new North Carolina studio, a full on co-op adventure featuring the dynamic duo went into production. With the only real difficulty early being that the team’s original titles for the game “Ratchet and Clank: Multiple Organisms” and “Ratchet and Clank: 4-Play” were both quickly declined by Sony.
And just as a quick side note, if you think those sexual references are too explicit, Quark’s first scene in the story has him sleeping on a desk before waking up startledly saying: “She was just taking a memo!” Let’s just say I’m very glad I never got those references up until only recently.
Because of the new focus in four players, an entirely new mindset had to be adopted using the acronym of C.A.K.E. during pre production. Which basically meant that all elements added to the game be Co-op, Active for all players, Kinetic, and Easy to understand, while Fixman used a opportunity for a Ratchet and Clank comic series with DC Comics to explain more intricately how Nefarious managed to survive his presumed death.
And that’s largely it if we’re talking production. Aside from the obvious brief panic the team felt near the start of development, I can imagine at this point that everyone at Insomniac knew what consisted of a Ratchet and Clank game. Just now having to worry about how to get that formula working for a co-op focused adventure.
And if we’re talking about a story, the formula was still pretty well executed for such a focus.
Story: A pair of robots and Squishes walk into a bar…
2 years have passed since the ending of A Crack in Time and a lot has surprisingly happened since then. Both Ratchet and Clank officially deem themselves as retired heroes, now more focused on enjoying a quite life in company, rumours about Nefarious still being at large have persisted in recent memory and Captain Quark is now the Galactic President.
Yes, Quark, a media opposed, scandalous, stupidity ridden public figure is the head of the most important office in the universe. And he’s only the third most unfit leader for such a position in the past decade. And if you think I’m being harsh here, Fixman himself stated at a GDC presentation that that decision by him “didn’t age so well.”
Anyway, one day Quark is called by an anonymous person wanting to give the esteemed president a “Intergalactic Tool of Justice Award” with Ratchet and Clank choosing to accompany him for… reasons. It’s never explained why they joined unless Quark brought them along or if they felt they needed to act as his bodyguards but I’m not really sure how else you would force them into the plot given how untrusty Quark has been in the past.
When they touch down on the city of Luminopolis on Planet Igliak they find a Light Eating Z-Grute suspended in cryosleep and the ceremony itself a ploy by, who else, Dr. Nefarious and his returning butler Lawerence from a floating soap box of sorts. With, and this is a small favourite of mine Ratchet noting that the little platform “Is that your new space station? Looks a little smaller than the last one.”
As it turns out Nefarious lured the President into the city so he could… tear up the city, this part is also unexplained I think. But either way, Nefarious’ plan goes awry when the Z-Grute is revived from its slumber and using its ability to harness electricity, turns on him and Lawerence scampering off in the background.
During an uneasy alliance with his arch nemeses they are able to subdue the hulking beast but not without him getting scolded by Quark for attempting to assassinate him and cause trouble for the 5th or so time now.
However from the clouds a large machine is seen entering the city with Nefarious seemingly stating that it’s actually not one of his contraptions before all four are captured by one of its massive arms.
When the team eventually awakens thanks to the help of a Galactic Scout named Susie, they find themselves stuck in a research facility on the planet Magnus, seemingly standard for the foreseeable future.
Thankfully though Cronk and Zephyr were able to track the navunit of the president to Magnus but got caught up in an asteroid field along the way. But from their position they’re able to send down Apogee Communications Pods that allows them to communicate about Magnus’ history and locations with the unlikely band alongside the ability to transfer new weapons to them as part of a deal with Grummelnet.
After exploring the fractured floating Aladaros Plains, they learn that they were abducted by a large mech called Ephemeris (otherwise known as the Creature Collector). It’s existed for decades as a abductor of wild and dangerous animals with it always bringing them back for cataloguing to Magnus.
Though Ratchet is hesitant on helping the residents given his early retirement, he agrees to do so after learning that Susie is a orphan because of a massive army that Ephemeris has of fully automated robots and leads the team past the Deadgrove and North Exterersital Sorting Terminal (N.E.S.T) to confront the main head of the minions Commander Spog. I think one of the writers fell asleep during a Star Trek rerun when they came up with that name.
After subduing Spog and helping repair the damage done thanks to Nefarious’ mechanic skills, they are eventually directed toward Terrawood Forest where the creator of the Creature Collector now resides.
Along their journey the team recover various holo-diaries recorded by one Dr. Frumpus Croid who created the Collector decades ago to help track the connection that the residents of Magnus have with their pets, in particular a strange energy emitting from his pet Mr. Dinkles.
However, on the morning he plans to find out the energy source, Croid’s lab partner Nevo Binkleminor steals Dinkles for himself and apparently Ephemeris as well for his personal use. And despite his attempts at warning the citizens of Magnus, Nevo ultimately lays waste to the planet turning it into a post-apocalyptic style wasteland.
When the team eventually reach Terrawood they actually need to travel to Magnus’ moon to find the good doctor’s hideout, only to find him seemingly mad and delusional. Yet they are able to find out through Croids’ computer that the Collector needs an excess power slot and that it’s currently resting at Uzo city.
Taking the escape pod in the lab, they are unfortunately found by Epherimus and crash down in the Polar Sea but with help from the returning Plumber (and seemingly no advice to help them this time for some reason), they eventually travel to Uzo City and invade the Collector.
Inside though they manage to locate Nevo who actually isn’t in charge, but rather Croid’s pet Mr. Dinkles. The energy pattern that Croid found inside of him is actually a mysterious race called the Loki that can essentially possess anyone it pleases. And using the energy extractor that Croid planned to use decades ago, the Loki is able to transfer its conconciseness into a Rankin V Girvealnox.
But thankfully, with the help of the returning Croid, the unlikely alliance are able to pull the living soul out of the host’s body with, and possibly my favourite moment of the entire franchise, Nefarious seemingly saves Quark from one final strike by the Loki until it evaporates into dust.
With the day saved once more, both Ratchet and Clank reflect on how their retirement plans are doing lately just as Cronk and Zephyr with the help of Lawrenece are able to touch down on Magnus. With Nefarious using Quark’s big companion speech near the end to hijack the ship and take off to orbit. And Ratchet gets the idea to fly Ephemeris back to Luminopolis.
Back with Lawrence once more, the butler starts reminding his master of the additional weaponry they have stockpiled away with Nefarious staying quiet and mournfully looking at a photo that he shared between his least likely of allies.
Woah boy, that was certainly a lot. Even if a lot of the time the trail generally feels a lot like “busy work” so to speak.
Don’t get me wrong in terms of story this is probably one of the most interesting given the unusual team up scenario and the fact that once more we are stuck to largely one planet for the adventure. But I feel the goal post of eventually getting off of Magnus gets moved around a bit too much for my liking.
I will say though that I really like the theme of companionship and comradery in the story. While that’s not to say that games like TOD didn’t have a clear theme in mind, usually revolving around identity, it feels a lot more prominent here given both the circumstances of this adventure and the history of Magnus as a whole.
I mean Ratchet and Clank teaming up together isn’t really anything new, it’s basically another Tuesday for them but given the strong history that Magnus has with its wildlife and the fact that our main helpers over the story are an old pair as well helps reinforce that theme.
And I especially love how you could parallel Quark and Nefarious’ long and troubled history with that of Croid and Nevo given the level of strong history that both parties share but ultimately able to find a common ground between each other.
My favourite moment from this comes just before they head to the Phonica Moon where Croid is hiding out and Nefarious attempts to push Quark into a bottomless pit with him just missing and being saved by Quark himself. And this being said after Nefarious is pulled up.
Nefarious: Why did you save me?
Quark: Well, you would have done the same.
Nefarious: <awkward pause> Yeahhh…
My only real complaint with the story as a whole isn’t so much with plot holes but more rather with the fact that, because of the story’s main focus on the team of 4, almost all of the new characters introduced feel very underdeveloped as a result.
I didn’t mention this during the summary but Susie shows up just before the team lead their assault on Ephermius with Ratchet asking her and her own team to stay behind. And I feel like she should have been included a bit more into the story.
I get that her backstory of being a orphan from a massive army like the Collector’s is meant to be similar to Ratchet’s own history but I still think that she should have been a more active scout to reinforce her into the story rather than showing up near the start of the game and near the end of it.
Croid also falls under a bit of an insufficient development as well given how quickly he snaps back to save Nevo after believing he betrayed his trust for decades but I think with the various diaries scattered around the planet that it does make us feel a bit more sympathetic to his logic.
At the end of the day though it’s still a very well told story, that despite going on a bit too long in the tooth still feels tight enough in its writing and character to make me forget how often the plot feels the need to extend itself.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s actually talk about some of the other significant changes. Presentation being one such aspect.
Presentation: New outlook on the world
If we are talking about the way the game looks for one, there’s a handful of elements we can look at in detail but really, minus a handful of aspects, All 4 One doesn’t look too dissimilar to any other entire series for this series.
Let’s take it in steps first though. The most notable change that looks wise that can be experienced is that with a brand new artstyle for the title.
In comparison to previous entries, there’s a bit more emphasis placed on a more cel shaded, sort of cartoony artstyle for the series. It’s not dramatically different but I think it’s more noticeable during the CG cinematics that showcase the gang a lot more than if you’re just playing the game normally.
I assume the change can be down to the brand new perspective for the title and because of that Insomniac wanted all of the characters to be more immediately identifiable from a far enough distance. It’s still nothing dramatic and I can still see everyone based on each character’s body size, clothing and idle stance.
Plus, as a small note, Ratchet’s default outfit while resembling a lot of his default armour from Tools of Destruction would actually go on to be his most worn outfit throughout the series. Being used in this games successor Full Frontal Assault (which I won’t be covering for this series, more on that next time), the 2016 film and remake as well as most of his other appearances as well.
Back to the artstyle though, that leads me onto the camera system for the game. When put in contrast to other entries in the series, All 4 One makes use of a zoomed out camera for most of the game.
It still pans and turns around during gameplay for set piece shots and battles but I figure again this is down to the focus on co-op and making sure everyone can be seen fighting their opponents easily.
And really there’s not a whole lot I can say about the way it’s overall presentation. I mean, the soundtrack is good in its own way. I can’t remember much really apart from the main theme, the music that plays while journeying to N.E.S.T. but there’s still not really a whole lot I can say.
Well I suppose, there’s the inclusion of being able to play this game in 3D but really, that fad died out just as quickly as it took Avatar to take the box office. And with that cleared up, how does the game play exactly?
Gameplay: Friendship through firepower!
So it’s fair to say that at this point, 8 games covered so far that you all know the drill right. We progress through a series of events against a multitude of bad guys but this time, with a twist.
4 Players drop in, drop out co-op. And it works about as well as you expect.
With the new camera angle you and up to three other buddies can explore the wide battlefield ahead of you making large jumps, swingshotting over bottomless pits and blasting enemies with a wide assortment of enemies. But all obviously done with a focus on the fact that you now have to work with a partner.
That’s emphasised with a brand new tool that the gang all has access to with the circle button, the Vac-U. Essentially it’s reminiscent of the classic Suckcannon weapon from the series and can be used to activate switches, destroy rows of boxes and most crucially, suck up and shoot out targets.
See over a bottomless pit, the team will be encouraged to have one person activate their Vac-U, another player to jump into it while it’s activated and ultimately be launched towards a far reaching platform while the other members all use their Swingshots to catch up to them.
That’s not really the only puzzle you have to deal with and you can suck up smaller enemies and shoot them out like bullets but that’s the general scheme behind most of the small breakups in between combat shootouts.
And yes, even if you play solo like I did, you still need to work with an AI controlled bot to solve the various puzzles and encounters you need to deal with. I mean my CPU ally still works very well most of the time, even if a handful of times they have no awareness of their surroundings and stay put during an enemy bombing attack or out right just jump off a cliff in the middle of combat. But they still work well all the same.
Now in terms of weaponry, we actually have a good mix of classic/standard weapon archetypes like the Combustor and Mr. Zurkon and brand new weapons but once more, with a co-op centric focus. And that’s made clearer by a new gameplay feature.
Despite the wide range of weaponry, the game actually encourages players to use the same weapon on one single enemy. As they load more rounds onto the target, the group that’s firing on the enemy’s weapons will actually increase over time resulting in a massive AOE explosion if successfully pulled off.
Each of the four characters also have their own dedicated weapon to themselves as well, serving as a more supportive weapon that also ties in with that character’s background. Ratchet has the Dopplerbanger decoy to distract enemies, Clank uses the Zoni Blaster to slow down targets, Quark has the Quantum Deflector that operates as a shield for both himself and his team and Nefarious uses the Cloaker to turn invisible and can also do a unique lunge attack while cloaked.
All in all, this sounds like a great way of translating the classic formula of the series but bringing it into a Co-operative setting with the same great weapons, regular enough puzzle intervals, and I feel that if your just looking for a great time with family friends, All 4 One has just enough variety to keep things interesting and engaging.
However, despite the seamless shift to a new gameplay style, that doesn’t mean that there are no issues with how that is portrayed in this game.
For one, a small feature in fairness but one that I don’t really like is that while you can still play the game as a normal solo adventure with an AI buddy, the game expects you to play through with a full party of four to get the full experience.
Yes I’m aware that inherently any co-op game is better with friends but if you have four players on screen there’s actually a lot more competitive and social engagement than playing normally.
The competitive side is that players can achieve an assortment of points based on helping their teammates. Reviving them if they get knocked down, solving puzzles together they all nab the participants of the act competitive points.
Near the end of each section (as the game is now more so broken into set pieces rather than planets) you’re essentially tallied up compared to your peers based on what you did. Number of bolts collected, enemies killed and creatures collected (the latter needed to unlock special challenge rooms for the optional R.Y.N.O. VII Proto-Suit) and the player with the highest ranking wins. Alongside some additional titles like fastest sprinter or who died the most near the end.
The social aspect however comes from the dialogue in between missions. Now as I stated I played through this game by myself for this review so I wasn’t able to experience the banter that can occur if you have all 4 players assembled.
They aren’t necessary and mainly just serve to rub in how fragile this alliance is but I feel like either allowing for a full team of 3 AI controlled teammates and yourself for single player or even more pair exclusive dialogue would have gone a long way.
I won’t lie as well that while getting to play a cooperative Ratchet and Clank game is a great idea… there’s not much room in terms of personality for my liking.
Not in the character dynamics, god no but I feel like there’s no individual in the character styles. All of the character’s in the game essentially share the exact same move list as Ratchet including the comet and meteor strike but with some visual differences between them.
Clank uses a form of martial arts he created himself called “Clank-Fu” and uses a spare propeller (I think?) To throw at enemies from a distance, Quark just uses his “Fists of Justice” and what appears to be a flyer of sorts while Nefarious uses his built in “Annihilator Blades” as well as a spare to toss freely.
Now I think the idea of making all of these characters play similarly to Ratchet makes sense. It makes it so that anyone that has played a Ratchet game will feel right at home even if they aren’t directly controlling him. But I feel like that because of this, it somewhat clashes with their personalities.
I mean Ratchet and Quark using firearms I can buy even if Quark uses his own branded blaster peashooter. And while a part of me finds it funny that Clank is actually packing some serious firepower (imagine if he brought that level of weaponry to his puzzle moments in previous games) but since both he and Nefarious share the concept of being brilliant minded machines, I wouldn’t mind if they had their more puzzle focused mindsets reflected in their gameplay.
The unique weapons definitely help give them a bit more individuality but at that point, why not make more character specific weapons for them? Or just make those weapons available to everyone if you want each character to play exactly like Ratchet? I don’t know, something about this decision feels largely indecisive.
And I guess that’s largely it for my complaints. I feel like I should say a bit more about either the story or the gameplay but really it’s a co-op adventure. And I played it by myself. Really, what other kind of indifferent response was I going to have?
Conclusion: Always together, forever apart
Now despite my plight of reviewing a cooperative game by myself, would I still recommend you play All 4 One. Well… That depends.
As a single player game it’s nothing bad, very polished and boasting some of it’s unique traits like the theming of collaboration and the large scale environments that are on display thanks to the new camera system. But it also feels incredibly lacklustre when you’re waiting around for your AI friend to help you with the puzzle.
But as a co-op game, it’s definitely able to reach that mark. I remember when this was brand new I had a full group of friends from my school over to play it and from my memory, we all enjoyed it very much. And getting to play something like this with my oldest brother back in the day was something I enjoyed too.
I know this sounds like a “no shit” moment to you but Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One is best enjoyed with friends. Where there’s a lot more room for error and potential for fun in large environments.
I’m not too sure if I can recommend it to those who have never heard or tried the series before but the character dynamics and how each of them are portrayed helps reinforce the idea of this being a ragtag group of kind-of-sort-of friends that ultimately makes this game enjoyable.
And I think that’s all I can say about this really. I mean aside from me being friends with the game itself, that would be weird.
Review of Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus
Where can I skip the queue again?
Reader,
I will not lie when I say that I’m exhausted up until this point. I mean I have no one to blame but myself for undertaking this series but as I’ve moved further and further down the series timeline, the changes and alterations made to the formula, for better or for worse, keep getting smaller and smaller.
And while I’m somewhat glad this is arguably the shortest game I have to look at for this series, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s quite possibly one of the most forgettable for a number of reasons.
Mainly because it was first announced in July of 2013 via a small trailer that was uploaded to YouTube. A small gameplay demo was shown that August at Gamescom in Germany and was eventually released in November that year. The same month as the PlayStation 4 was released.
And look, this is still a good game at the end of the day but… I mean being released in the shadow of a brand new console, barely received any marketing and its only real relevance to this review series is the story. Can you really blame me for overlooking this entry for so long?
But we’ll get to that when we need to. So what’s the history with this game then?
Preproduction: Returning to familiar ground
Now as I discussed previously after A Crack in Time the team behind R&C at Insomniac worked on All 4 One as a co-op experience and then soon after worked on another smaller Ratchet game, Ratchet and Clank: Full Frontal Assault (the innuendos just keep coming) also known as Q-Force in Europe.
Yes, this is also another R&C title I’m skipping out on for this series alongside Deadlocked but it’s largely because, much like Deadlocked, it has no real significance on the overarching story of the series as both contain their own plots and ideas that make them separate from the main series.
And yes, All 4 One technically counts as one of them but seeing how it continues the story after A Crack in Time, my job as a chronicler of the main events of this series says otherwise.
Anyway, after experimenting with these two side instalments Brian Allegier, still serving as the series director up until this point, wanted to reexamine what made the series so good from a platforming perspective.
But on top of that, the team wanted to try something different and decided to take influence from a cancelled Ratchet and Clank game from 2006 simply called NEXUS.
Not much is really known about this long forgotten concept minus a promotional teaser that must have been made early on, the story being about a war on a planet with our duo having different opinions on as well as the idea of it taking place on a large planet, similar to what All 4 One eventually did.
I think the main thing they took away from this scrapped idea though was the focus on a much darker narrative similar to what Deadlocked did. Not just in the narrative but also in the aesthetic of the game and how it is presented throughout the environment.
And just a small note as well, in promotional material, Algier mentioned repeatedly that this was meant as an epilogue to the events of the Future saga and I imagine also a swansong to the PS3 where more than six R&C games were made for it over the course of 7 years.
And much like before, them’s the breaks. Seriously at this point I’m more or less expecting every other time I do research for this series to go something among the lines of “Insominac wanted to make a brand new Ratchet and Clank game” and that’s it.
I mean it does make my college full life a bit easier to endure but there’s also not really much I can say, especially if we’re talking about the length of the game.
But we’ll get to that when we get to that but first, with the idea of making this an epilogue to the Future saga and the dark focus, how does that affect the story? Let’s break it down first.
Story: Lost in space… and the space between spaces…
Some time after the events for All 4 One, the Technoids (the brainy people from ACIT) find the leader of the large company Pollyx Industries named… um… Pollux was abducted by Neftin and Vendra Prog.
Not too long after though the Polaris Defence Force (thanks to their new leader Talwyn Apogee) are able to capture Vendra but are unsuccessful in finding Pollyx or Neftin. But despite that, they contain Vendra in a private cell and put her in a Nebulox Seven Prison Ship to bring her to her new home at the Vertex Detention Centre.
I’m not really sure why they didn’t bring an entire police convoy to counter any potential attacks but Ratchet and Clank are serving as guards of the prisoner alongside Cronk and Zephyr. And at this point Ratchet essentially has an arsenal to obliterate a entrie small country’s army so I think having him along makes sense.
During their trip however the ship is intercepted by the returning Thugs-4-Less mercenary group from Going Commando who were hired and joined by Neftin. The thugs also have a mix of thick boston and russian accents for some reason but I assume they’re like the Polaris galaxy branch of the company.
They attack the ship and after freeing Vendra blow up the Nebulox, leaving our duo having to stowaway on a Thugs supply ship. With Cronk and Zephyr unfortunately not faring so well by comparison.
Eventually though the pair land on Planet Yerek where they break the bad news to Talwyn over comms. And while she thankfully doesn’t trigger the “blame the MC for their faults” romantic subplot, she does ask both to come back to her, with Ratchet wanting to see the criminals behind bars first.
While exploring the planet both characters receive two useful tools for their journey. Ratchet receives the Grav-Tether allowing him to essentially travel along a stream created by two points and Clank gets an upgrade allowing him to travel to the Netherverse, a pocket universe that was created from the tear in reality that also sparked the Great Clock’s creation.
These improvements are tied together by the fact that the Prog Twins are actually from the Netherverse but were abandoned by their family to the main universe for some unexplained reason.
Both were left on Yerek and grew up being bullied by other kids in the planet’s orphan home until they came across a being from the Netherverse called Mr. Eye by Vendra. Eye stated that because of their long exposure to the real world their bodies won’t be able to survive the Netherverse’s unusual breathing environment. It then suggests that the Eye can tell more about their parents’ heritage but only when it is brought over into the real universe.
And it’s that side project that the pair have been working towards for years, constructing homemade Dimensonator’s to bring the Nether’s across the plains and in the process, causing the entire evacuation of the sector from their ghostly tests.
After learning about this and getting the Alphaeon back from the returning Captain Qwark, they set off to the planet Silox and after attempting to reason with Neftin are unsuccessful in stopping Mr Eye from crossing dimensions.
As her eternal reward, Vendra is abducted by Eye and after being saved by Neftin, our duo agree to meet with him on the Planet Thram. Vendra, now needing their help to get his sister back, asks Ratchet to help him steal the real Dimensionator which is being housed in Planet Igliak’s Intergalactic History Museum in Meridian City. And as a compromise, Neftin agrees to turn him and his sister over to the Defence Force when Eye is done.
One quick reunion with Talwyn and securing the Dimensionator later, Mr. Eye and his forces are seen invading the planet with Neftin helping to get the device working in the midst of the chaos.
While that happens, Ratchet takes on both the Nether’s and Eye as Clank travels back to the Netherverse freeing Vendra from captivity.
And I’m not skimming over anything important when I say this but in the moment, Eye is forced back to his own dimension thanks to the Dimensonator, the Prog twins are reunited and Neftin agreeing to his end takes him and sister into the authorities.
Reflecting over the now busted interdimensional device Clank asks Ratchet if he’d still use it to find the Lombaxes if he could, with him saying that he has a lot more waiting for him here. And as Ratchet’s not looking Clank seemingly swipes the Dimensonator for himself while in a post credits scene the ghost versions of Cronk and Zephyr are seen messing around with each other in the afterlife before wanting to check out what the ladies are doing in the robot graveyard.
Well I guess I should be a bit grateful that I didn’t need an elaborate explanation of this game’s events, but call me greedy… I kind of wanted more.
No joke aside from a few minor distractions like having to do favours for the returning dubious Smuggler, the entire story is spread over 5 different locations and done in a moment’s notice.
Now personally I think the plot is serviceable as is but in something like Tools of Destruction both use three act structures to explain the story. The first involving Tacogyn’s power hunger and the Prog’s escape, the second being the securement of the Dimensonator and Mr. Eye crossing over while the final focuses on stopping the returning Cragmites and sending the Nethers back home.
The difference is in TOD’s case, the acts were spread across 4 separate planets each, 5 tops while Nexus has a planet or two at most dedicated to each act of the narrative. It does make it longer than Quest for Booty by comparison but that’s not really saying much is it?
However, for the plot itself, as a response to the ending of the Future trilogy, Nexus definitely reflects on many of the points about identity and place that the small series of events had.
This may come as no surprise for people who’ve been paying attention but the Prog’s are meant to be seen as a parallel to our duo, particularly Ratchet. During their second encounter just before her escape, Vendra even calls Ratchet out for abandoning the search for his kind and the desire for the Prog’s to find their past clashes heavily with Ratchet’s previous hope to find the Lombaxes.
I think it’s levelled on a bit too much at times (like Neftin has two separate monologues on both Silox and Thram about how much it pains to be so close yet far from their heritage which gets a bit redundant because of how quickly they both follow each other in the narrative) but it’s a nice dynamic between the the separate pairings.
Especially since Vendra as the Brains of the operation is actually the coldest of the two and it’s shown several times in how she treats her brother when put into contrast with Clank who serves as the emotional core between him and Ratchet.
While in comparison, Neftin as the muscle of their scheme is meant to rival Ratchet doing most of the heavy lifting he’s the most supportive of his connection with his twin even after the treatment she gives him. I may think his need to team up with Ratchet was a bit rushed but it can also show how determined he is to look after his sister and matches the parallels I was talking about.
The rest of the plot is fine enough really, no real complaints aside from the fact that Quark could have been removed from the journey and no one would really miss him. He shows up to give Ratchet his ship back, gives him a bear hug after Cronk and Zephyr’s demise and then shows near the end to direct the evacuation of Meridian City.
I mean, his level of egotistical humour is always welcome but his involvement is still pretty insignificant overall for my liking.
All of the other returning characters are about the same as before, but weirdly, the character I don’t like the most of this adventure… is Ratchet.
You may remember in my ACIT review that I felt he was pretty humourless throughout the story but I largely brushed it off since he was determined to find Clank. And while a part of this less cocky attitude could be seen in All 4 One and even in Q-Force, it feels most prominent here as well.
To be fair as well, he does see himself responsible for the death of Talwyn’s guardians and wants the Prog’s to face justice for that but he rarely jokes beyond that. Nexus is one of the funniest games in the series for the spaced out use of gags in between plot development but most of the jokes made that included Ratchet are him reacting to stuff rather than him doing something himself.
It might also be because of him starting to become a bit jaded from hero life you could say but aside from his return to crime fighting in A4O, there’s no mention of him becoming tired of his life decisions in this entry.
I do see comments often enough about the most recent version of Ratchet with the 2016 remake and onwards that they prefer the more “badass” interpretation of the character and while that too has some of its own issues, I think they forget that we already made a sharp dip in that direction with the latter PS3 enteris from 2008 onwards. Different preferences but it still feels pretty brushed past when chronicling the series evolution if you ask me.
Okay, I’m done overexplaining the story now, let’s get onto the way the game is presented. And I think it’s fair to say that Insomniac lost themselves a bit too much in the new vibes.
Presentation: Living in a ghost town
So as we discussed in the preproduction section, the aim was to go in a more spooky direction with this new instalment. And it does fulfil that desire perhaps a bit too well.
As stated by Talwyn once the journey begins, the Progs were actually responsible for getting all of the planets in the Zarkov sector (Yerek and Silox being two of the most populated) evacuated because of their transdimensional work. And boy does it show.
On both of those planets it highlights just how destered and hastily abandoned the planets are with old tables, luggage and working trams being dotted around
I do love the various pre-recorded safety messages by Silox’s former mayor in the background but Yerek puts this into force the best with Ratchet exploring multiple small villages amidst random earthquakes caused by the Nethers crossing over and especially near the orphanage.
After defeating the first boss of the game, a random bomb throwing flame spouting robot (that unfortunately gets reused a bit too much for a short game), multiple walk paths emerge that look like small holographic picture books designed for children. They’re obviously damaged since the planet’s evacuation but it does lend into the horror-like approach the studio wanted to explore here.
I think what also helps as well is that the game uses quite a lot of light purples for supernatural occurrences like the Nether beasts or when using the Grav-tether and light cans for locations such as the water and buildings in Silox create a much more alien look for the series.
Now I’m aware that for a series involving walking cats and smack talking senteries that we already are discussing pretty alien by our normal boring real life standards, but I more so mean for the atmosphere created.
And the same also goes for the music too. Much like before I can’t really recall anything on the top of my head minus the main theme, the piece that plays during the Clank sections and smaller pieces like that but it does again aid to the ery direction being made here.
Although I will give a special highlight for the theme that plays during the opening tutorial on the Neublox. It’s a very short two minute piece but with enough of a foreboding but actually pretty wonderful showcase of the space environment around you as you see distant asteroids floating outside.
I’m actually kind of surprised the other games never aimed to explore the wonders of space with a sweeping score. But the emphasis on action and shooting could have made an impact on that feeling.
This was the first traditional Ratchet and Clank title in 4 years so I think it helps in easing older players back into their surroundings like trying on an old pair of shoes. It’s not really much and if you’re not just taking a moment to enjoy it like I was, you’d barely notice it but it’s still a nice piece.
Now I’ve never really had an issue with the way a game looks previously for this series but I think Nexus is a little harder to defend for given its short length.
Naturally by about the halfway point the Thugs end up being pushed to the side (or more rather completely scared shitless) because of the Nethers’ arrival but despite the change in minions, the Nethers themselves aren’t too different to the Thugs in actuality.
They may have different weapons and attack strategies, and especially much more resilient armour but they tend to have the same general body type as the thugs as well. Both sharing a kind medium-large body type and also having tails that are similar to the ones the Thugs’ have.
If you told me that the Nethers possessed the Thugs I would have taken your word for it given how similar they are in design. Except they’re wearing creepy light purple and also roaring at anyone who gets in their way.
Plus they also teleport around the field like the bigger Cragmites from TOD so I guess I can call them the most insignificant army the series has had so far.
Actually, why are only some Nethers like that big and others are as small as dogs? Is there an evolution chain? Hierarchy? Patriarchy- I’m sorry, I’m sorry, getting sidetracked here. Let’s just move onto the gameplay now, that’s certainly a bit more worthwhile.
Gameplay: Eh, a bit of everything, why not?
Now I really don’t need to remind you of what the structure of each level for this series is like going forward so I’ll just cut to the most interesting stuff.
Due to the short length of the game, the team naturally had the ability to try out a handful of different gameplay styles that would probably need a bit more polish for a proper full length adventure.
First off are redesigned Mag-Boots sections. The Mag-Boots operate the same as they’ve always had with this franchise but in this game you are likely to come across several gaps in a walkway that you can’t get too naturally.
And how do you solve this? Why by leaping off of it Zero G style and landing onto it of course!
This feature is admittedly a very cool concept and just seeing Ratchet slowly drift towards a metal surface to walk over is actually pretty relaxing. But aside from the opening prologue, the feature is largely abandoned soon after with it propping up I believe on the final planet at the last minute. So not very fleshed out basically.
Then there’s the Grav-Tether, a device that allows for Ratchet to essentially make a bridge from two separate targets and magically float across them. It’s used for some interesting puzzles on Yerek when you first obtain it and it is pretty convenient that you just need to press Circle while pointing at a target to start the sequence.
But much like the gravity mechanics, it gets abandoned pretty quickly after the first planet and it does get a little bit confusing when trying to remember how to set it up. I always forget I’m supposed to launch my first target at the one nearest to me and the one I want to go to afterwards which is just very annoying for me especially when I’m timed in some sequences.
On top of that, through one of the branching paths of the story Ratchet becomes a contestant for the Thugs-4-Less’ Destructapalooza stadium (this game’s version of the arena battles) where he has to finish the bronze circuit to unlock a mandatory jetpack upgrade for Clank.
The jetpack is one of the best additions made to this game since at given moments, Ratchet can find fueling stations allowing him to soar above the opposition in a bit of aerial combat.
He can still use standard weapons like normal on the enemies from whatever height he’s at and there are some interesting ideas for exploration and sequences even if it’s just a much better version of Clank’s other jetpack sequences from Going Commando for as little as it’s used. See a pattern?
Then finally on the subject of him, Clank also has his Nether traversal gimmicks included too. These are the most interesting out of the new mechanics discussed so far as it brings back the gravity gimmick mentioned earlier to allow Clank to swap the direction of gravity using the right stick in some side scrolling setpieces.
I actually think this gimmick is a bit more interesting as it’s spaced out a lot between the different worlds compared to the other methods of breaking up the game on occasion but they do become very formaleic pretty soon.
First finding a rift, jumping into the rift to the Netherverse, finding a Nether in a cute little dog kennel, waking it up and finally leading it back to the real world and destroying the barrier in the way.
I mean they’re still interesting but they do get very tedious especially on the chase back where you’re trying to be mindful of the various hazards around you while a Nether is trying to bite your head off.
So combining all of these little gimmicks I couldn’t help but feel a sense of experimentation with them. I mean it helps that Nexus is an inherently smaller game but because of that, most of these ideas never grow beyond the basics once you’re done using them on the planet you find them on.
We do get some returning elements as always like the hunting missions where the dubious Smuggler character asks us to find some Gargathon horns for him to retrieve both our hoverboots from him and later access the section of the map we need to progress the story.
And yes I do mean retrieve because despite his word that he just so happened to have found a pair himself, really, he just has our original pair that were lost during the Nebulox explosion. Even the pair think so too.
But hey, what’s the point of hunting if we don’t have any guns for the occasion? And that’s as good of a segway as I can make to talk about the weapons.
As usual, we have a mixture of brand new and old weapons to mess around with like Mr. Zurkon and the Warmonger rocket launcher.. But we do largely get more new weapons this time around.
Like the Winterizer, a cryogenic weapon that not only freezes enemies after enough power but in the process, turns them into adorable little Snowmen as well. And the fact that this works on almost every grunt, seeing blades or rifles being turned into candy canes is just so adorable. Even if it clashes with the game tonally speaking.
By comparison, keeping in tone is the Nightmare Box. A distraction weapon similar to the Dopplebanger but with a monster inside. Like a mix between a jack-in-a-box, a Bogot from Harry Potter and evil clowns.
These additions on top of a small handful of other new weapons are all very exciting but again, because of the short length, you’re unlikely to get the most out of them in the long run.
Plus as well, likely because of the game’s length, all of the weapons can only be upgraded to level 3 while in a normal playthrough and no higher. And I would complain about this, but we do get the best usage of this scenario for the returning Mr. Zurkon.
At level 1, he still operates as normal, his trash talking and body protecting duties as standard. At level 2 though he gets his son Zurkon Jr. into the mix as help, while he talks about being given a “allowance of carnage” from his dad and at level 3, Mrs. Zurkon joins in too! And she talks about how great it is for the family unit to be working together!
Without going on too much of a tangent, whoever came up with that idea, Nobel Prize winner I’m telling you.
Conclusion: Started with a bang, ended with a whimper
So, how do I overall find this outing in the series?
Well, if I had to be brutally honest, very forgettable.
At the time, reviewers of the game praised it for being a proper return to form for the series after some experimentation in co-op and tower defence aspects for the past two games but… did anyone not play far into the game?
There are a lot of ideas in this game that all feel undercooked in their own way, especially with some of the new additions like the Grav-Tether and Zero-g setpieces that quickly get brushed over like discarded tissue.
And I think before I make my final conclusion, I should probably say this:
At launch for the physical editions and a feature if you still buy digital, Nexus came with a bonus in the form of the entirety of Quest for Booty free of charge (it’s how I was able to play it for this review).
This game originally cost €30 when it was first published. And with that in mind, for €15, it’s definitely worth its price tag.
If you’re new to the series, the story might turn you off but if you say buy it at a game shop, I think you’re likely to find some enjoyment out of it.
But in comparison to the other games in this series, no. It’s not worth it.
Watch the cutscenes online for the story of this game but everything else you can skip out on. I wouldn’t blame you.
Review of Ratchet and Clank (2016 remake)
If we were wiser then
Reader,
So this game I have an unusual relationship with for various reasons. When I first heard of its announcement casually by Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House at E3 2014 I wasn’t particularly sure what to make of it.
No joke, it was just a brief mention by the head on stage and was quickly brushed aside by more interesting projects at the venue. At this point of time I had just finished my first year in secondary school and was in the middle of saving up for my PlayStation 4, which was approaching the end of its first year on the market.
I should say as well as that as a then clueless 13 year old, I was more so interested in the more mature offering’s available. Especially since talk about Uncharted 4 (a series I was acquainted with the year prior when I first played Uncharted 3) and its teaser during the event obviously took more attention from media personnel who were attending the event.
Now I will say that for covering 10, count them, ten different games in this series since I started writing about them in April, that our topic of discussion today was the hard one for me.
As I’ve probably already said, the reason why I skipped out on both Deadlocked and Full Frontal Assault for this marathon was mainly down to the fact that neither particularly contributed much in terms of the overarching narrative of the series. Even smaller titles like All 4 One and Nexus did just that.
But if that’s the case, why am I talking about a remake, that’s based on a 2016 CGI animated film, that’s based on a 2002 video game for the PlayStation 2?
Well I guess the best way to find out why exactly, we might as well cover the preproduction behind this little project.
Just a heads up before we go further: since this is indeed a remake of a preexisting game, similarities are going to be drawn between the original most definitely. And because of not wanting to repeat myself, I wanted to set myself a challenge.
Let’s compare and contrast what this small little side project from a developed team has when put up against its older brother. The structure will remain the same as normal only. I’ll also be then comparing it to the orginal near the end of each section.
Okay? Okay. Let’s begin.
Preproduction: Back to square one
So just a few short months before Into the Nexus’ quite reveal, a teaser was placed on the official PlayStation YouTube account in about January of 2013 announcing the creation of a Ratchet and Clank film with the newly set up PlayStation Originals team in conjunction with Rainmaker Studios and Obsidian Entertainment.
At the time, I adored this news. And I will admit that I annoyed one of my friends so much because I never shutted up about it.
Now for those familiar with the state of “films that are based on video games”, especially at the time this was announced why I was so hyped for it.
Mainly because, a key trait that a lot of video game films even to this day have in common is being unfaithful to the source material. Films like Super Mario Bros, Max Payne and the various Resident Evil films all suffer from no sense of identity with what made the original so fun.
What Ratchet and Clank’s film debut was doing differently however was that not only would T.J Fixman, the lead writer for the series up until this point be writing the script for the film, and that the film would be entirely made using computer graphics but most impressively, Ratchet, Clank and Quark’s original actors would be reprising their roles for the film.
Not much was originally known about this project (minus a brief teaser that basically served as a 2 minute short) aside from the fact that it was aiming for a spring 2015 release window.
I should mention as well that at this time during the 2010s, Insomniac was in the middle of experimenting a lot with what their creative teams across California and North Carolina could do.
They stopped developing the Resistance series after its third instalment in 2011 (which originally ran side by side Ratchet since 2006), went multiplatform for the first time on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 with EA for Overstrike (later released as FUSE).
Then that same year it was announced their next original project, Sunset Overdrive would be a Xbox One exclusive when it launched in 2015, at a time when the console was the most…. Er…. second most laughed at console of the decade ahead of the Wii U and the ill-fated Ouya console (don’t judge me, when else was I gonna have a moment to talk about it?)
And then, their next project after that was Song of the Deep, a multiplatform deal that was struck with Gamestop for 2017, they finally got their big break by working closely with Marvel Games for a original Spider-Man game the following year (which I loved, another review for another time) in between several smaller games for Facebook’s Oculus VR headsets as well as for Android and IOS devices.
So yeah. Very busy.
Now the reason I mostly rambled on there for a bit is because, well, not much can be said about the 2016 remake. I think it largely comes down to once more, “hey we want to make a new R&C game”, especially since the PlayStation 4 wasn’t natively backwards compatible with PS3 games.
And so, with a combination of both their California and NC studios, as well as Brian Alleger and Fixman returning as Creative Director and Lead Writer once more, the game was finally released in 2016 at a discounted €40 compared to the usual €60.
Why might that be? Well why don’t we first delve into the story to find that out first.
Story: Deja Q All Over Again
On the planet of Kerwan, its most secure prison is in the middle of a subject transfer thanks to one Shive Helix.
As it turns out though, the prisoner has been very fortunate as his new cellmate happens to be none other than Captain Qwark. While enjoying many of the pleasures that comes with being a high ranking inmate, the pair start bouncing off of one another about Shiv’s desire to one day be caught by the Captain and Qwark wondering about the way things are since his imprisonment.
In particular though, Helix mentions that he preordered the new Ratchet and Clank holo-game that’s essentially about the events of the upcoming holo-film as well. With Quark having a very appropriate and further straining the fourth wall quote:
“They’re making a game, based on a movie, based on my life?! But they haven’t even consolidated me!”
Reminiscing over his lost chance of telling the “real” story behind his downfall, Shiv decides to humour him and listens to what the Captain has to say.
Before going any further, since this is an abridged retelling of a film, while it still has many of the scenes from the source material, it does also edit some encounters and setups to be more… “gamey” so to speak.
That’s further heightened by the fact that clips from the film are also interjected at regular intervals to add to that as well. But thankfully there’s just as many in-engine cutscenes as well so don’t worry too much.
Back to the story though. On planet Veldin, a young Lombax by the name of Ratchet attempts to sneak out of his garage due to a tryout for the Galactic Rangers happening near his and his guardian, Grim’s home.
While he is able to make it to the event and pass the tryouts, he’s ultimately barred from becoming a member of the Rangers for his lack of strength, dangerous tinkering skills and Quark’s ego.
The same time that happens though, on the Blarg homeworld of Quartu, one Chairman Alonzo Drek is chatting up with his lead scientist another one Dr. Nefarious about their battle plans for the new Blarg world.
In between an inspection of the Blarg’s warbot army they spot a robot defect among the conveyor belt who avoids being blown up by both the automated security system as well as Drek’s personal Lieutenant Victor.
While escaping, the defect’s escape pod is shot by Victor and though intending to warn the Rangers ends up crashing on Veldin, with a mournful Ratchet noticing him and saving him before the pod self-destructs.
After being brought back to Ratchet’s garage, the defect (now nicknamed Clank because of his broken leg that Clanks a lot) informs the Lombax about his escape. Seeing an opportunity to join the Ranger’s again, Ratchet eagerly agrees to help take him to them.
Just in time too, as by the time they eventually arrive at the Rangers HQ on Kerwan’s Aleero City, Drek has already launched a full scale assault. But with the help of Ratchet’s piloting skills, they’re able to stop Drek’s invasion and Quark, now in front of a crowd of amazed onlookers, is forced to make Ratchet and Clank their new recruits.
Through some basic training like infiltrating two Blarg research stations (one a massive bio-lab testing a Blargian Snagglebeast, the other on Planet Gasper showcasing Nefarious’ brand new jetpacks) and the duo eventually stop a Blarg invasion on the Ranger outpost on the planet Batalia and regroup to discuss the next plan.
Jetpack on hand, the pair, Quark and fellow members Cora and Braux invade Quartu but just miss Drek as he heads off to try and blow up Novalis, a densely populated planet as part of his ongoing scheme to create a new homeworld for the Blarg.
While the attack does do some good, like Clank taking out Victor personally, it ultimately ends up failing with Ratchet being kicked into a nearby escape pod, after learning that Quark defected to the Blarg in the background.
Novalis is obliterated and feeling responsible, Ratchet ends up going home to Veldin where he decides to hang up his space suit. That is until Clank, reminding him about Quark’s betrayal and the galaxy needing the pair now or never, has him back on board.
As part of his plan, Drek intends on taking advantage of a rare orbital convergence, essentially wiping out the galaxy in one shot. And after one quick stop on the Gadgetron homeworld Kalebo III to pick up a holo-guise, they alongside the remaining Rangers plan one more assault on Drek’s deplanetizer.
While that happens, Quark is confronted by former Ranger member Nefarious after he complains to the Chairman about his promise to leave the Galactic Rangers alone.
With Quark out of the limelight, Nefarious uses the opportunity to turn on Drek, (by literally turning him into a sheep) and ejecting the Blarg turned sheep into outer space.
Using his new holo-guise to pose as Quark, Ratchet sneaks on board the Deplanetizer and sabotages its main power source.
Once done, the real Quark shows up and attempts to take Ratchet out personally but ultimately sees the error of his ways, and agrees to help Ratchet take down Nefarious.
And eventually after taking out both Nefarious and the station as a whole, the three are just barely able to escape the station in time.
In the present, Quark is greeted by the pair during one of his mandatory clean up duties just as Helix has the idea of stealing Ratchet’s ship. Naturally they plan on chasing after the criminal but not before offering the imprisoned hero the chance to help them. With Quark agreeing happily.
So uh… <sigh> this one, if we’re talking about the story, isn’t very good.
Now it could be entirely because this is meant to be a much shorter look at the film’s plot which was already based on the original game as it is. But because of that, this story doesn’t feel all too compelling.
I think probably one of the most controversial changes made in this series comes especially with how Ratchet is portrayed in this remake as opposed to the original. Both Clank and Quark remain as calculated and heart felt as well as egotistical and idiotic characters we know them as but our familar lombax this time around is portrayed as more… childlike to say the least.
In the original game, we didn’t exactly know much about why Ratchet wanted off of Veldin beyond the thrill of adventure. We could assume it was down to the dry landscape and being stuck on the surface for most of his life but I don’t think it was ever specifically mentioned why, just as a means for his pairing with Clank to make sense.
Here though, were shown his enthusiasm for wanting to join the Galactic Rangers, especially since (as it’s alluded to in a radio news flash heard in the background of Grimm’s Garage) Drek’s new homeworld plan is said to already be in full swing, where in the original Ratchet learns of the scheme just as he launches his first invasion.
Now for long-time fans in the series, this change in character was somewhat controversial. And I also believe this was at the focus of a new desire given to Insomniac when creating this remake. And it’s a factor that many fans of long running franchises dread:
Appealing to newcomers. (Dun, dun, dun!)
So what do I mean by that? Well not only do we have a complete 180 of Ratchet’s character but also in how he reacts to his environment.
One of the biggest advocates against this change on YouTube, TheGamingBrit, highlights that in the first conversation Ratchet has with Al. Both serve the same purpose of giving Clank his helipack upgrade on Planet Kerwan.
2002 original:
Clank: Ratchet, that’s the man we saw on the infobot. Remember? He knows Captain Qwark!
Ratchet: Hey, you’re that robot guy, right?
Al: No, actually I build robots. I myself am not a robot guy per se. (chuckles)
Ratchet: Nerd.
Clank: I like him.
2016 remake:
Ratchet: Holy cow! I’ve died and gone to nerd heaven! Look at this — they have “My Blaster Runs Hot.”, “Fongoid with a Stick.”, “Speero the Space Moose.” They even have the Mega-Limited Ultra Edition of “Intransigence: Fall of Blarg!”
Al: That one comes with exclusive content if you preordered through Gadgetron! I take it you’re the one Corra called me about? The ones in need of a new helipack upgrade?
There’s a bit more fluff in between both of these scenes about character relations but in general, you can see the contrast between the two versions can’t you?
I do think though personally, and this will likely be seen as a controversial opinion by my peers, that I don’t mind this take on the character. His attitude may be far off the original’s snark but, if we’re comparing this version next to his Nexus counterpart, the much nicer character makes him better since he cracks jokes and actually shows emotion.
I know referencing the other games isn’t the aim of this lookback but I don’t see people talking about the contrast between these two interpretations so I felt like giving it a swing.
And plus let’s be honest, now that both the original trilogy and the Future saga are now in the past (that joke was way too easy to make, I know) there aren’t going to be as many people, especially kids born in the early 2010s who likely owned a PS3 before a PS4. So overall, focusing on new players for me, isn’t a bad decision.
Back to the main story, I think over the original there is an element of patchwork through how the narrative is weaved throughout. The writers do their best to tie in with the film by adding their own spin but I feel in some regards it could have been done a bit better.
I do remember hearing though that due to multiple script rewrites enforced by the director of the film that they had to keep this ambiguity clear to them without needing to alter the project’s story all too much but it still feels very disjointed if we’re just talking about the game by itself, which I am.
But hey, hearing the story told primarily from Quark’s perspective does explain many of the differences between this and the film. Since he’s always had the reputation of being an unreliable figure I think it ties in well with the events inspired from Rainmakers’ project.
The scene after Novalis’ destruction also got me interested as we actually see Quark reflect on his desperation for fame, both in the film clip they use and in the in-game cutscene preceding it.
I don’t think Quark has genuinely felt sorry for anything he’s done, minus the pity that he throws at his feet in previous games so it was nice to actually see him actually acknowledge what his recklessness cost him.
Even if it doesn’t explain why he still sticks around with Drek and after Nefarious is shown to be the real mastermind behind the operation. Maybe he thought he was too far gone or something.
My only major concern with the plot overall is the fact that despite being in the title, Clank is largely brushed aside when talking about the story. Sure you could argue the original had that issue too but I felt that his commitment to stay beside Ratchet even after his turn as a jerk in the second third of the story was way more interesting.
He still gets his moments in this game like taking out Victor single handedly and obviously getting the plot going like the original but aside from motivating Ratchet near the end of the adventure, his impact is either largely forgotten or not important to the steps Ratchet makes at becoming a hero.
And with a game called “Ratchet and Clank”, I think they could have further placed an emphasis on why their connection matters, especially for a remake that applies to new fans. There’s never a moment where these two argue in the story which for a buddy story is probably the key ingredient out of them all.
Take Toy Story for example, I know I’m going on a divergent when I say this but just hear me out. In the original film from 1997 if Woody didn’t feel threatened by Buzz’s popularity and Buzz not calling out Woody’s attempt at getting rid of him, I don’t think it would have made their eventual teamup all the more impactful.
It’s fine if you’re doing it with established characters but for a reboot, especially one on brand new hardware I’d expect the team to give their new fans a reason to care about why our duo like each other more than “they just do”.
Okay, rant over, sorry. Let’s talk about the presentation now.
Presentation: Alien and alive
So with the jump to a brand new system more powerful than its predecessor, how does this game take advantage of the new hardware?
Well if we’re talking looks, pretty spectacularly.
One of the main comments I hear when people talk about the remake’s looks is the fact that it’s essentially a Pixar film brought to a video game format. And that praise is warranted I will say.
Almost all of the world’s presented from the original make the transition over to a gorgeous new makeover with a lot more colour that makes them pop out in the environment.
That’s not to say the original was colourless but this just feels far more alive in its overall looks.
The music I’m not too sure of though unfortunately.
This is another controversial issue you usually hear people talk about when comparing the two games mainly to the different styles at play in both. So let’s compare quickly.
Michael Bross from Into the Nexus scores this game’s soundtrack and like before it’s… decent I guess. I know I sound like a broken record at this point but apart from the main theme of the game, I can’t remember any specific tracks at the top of my head. Except for the Veldin theme as well as a track played in the aftermath of an encounter on Planet Rilgar.
Although one of the pieces does have a leitmotif throwback to the theme of Metropolis from Tools of Destruction which definitely warmed my heart. It’s only the first 2 or so bars of the piece and I can’t remember where it can be triggered (during my first playthrough I heard it briefly on Planet Gaspar then in Metropolis during my playthrough for this review) but it’s the thought that counts.
Now when compared to the original’s music composed by former series veteran David Bergeaud, this is easily very unique but also, not that good as a soundtrack. I get the vibe of more, not so much hip-hop, but certainly bouncy tracks with planets like Novalis and Rilgar.
However, one issue that I don’t think I mentioned in my initial review of the title was that all of the tracks felt very formalegic. Every track slowly has a small 4 bar or so built up section, essentially representing Ratchet stepping onto the Planet’s surface before building up to the main chunk of the theme. And I think on paper, this sounds excellent.
However, whenever you restart from a checkpoint, the music naturally restarts when the game eventually reloads. Meaning if you find yourself stuck in a death loop due to the ok combination of platforming and gunplay by today’s standards, you’ll often hear that same small build up to the main piece very often.
To be fair, not every track in the score does this and it’s also an issue that could be pointed out with the soundtracks for 2 and 3 as well, but it feels more prominent in the original because of the “first game in the franchise” syndrum I defined not too long ago.
So for the remake we have an unoriginal but pleasant sounding score but for the original we have a more unique score but not to everyone’s tastes. Really, I don’t mind either and so should you. They have their merits and I think both are equally good.
Right, I think that covers the presentation. How about the gameplay?
Gameplay: Age before beauty
Okay, I’m going to say it right now. If you want to get into this series for the gameplay and could only choose these two, go with the remake.
And with that established, let’s explore why that’s the case.
Now, I should say that the level layouts and planets remain largely the same as each other. With the exception of some planets being removed or altered either for the sake of the story or because of the remake, they’re still mostly the same levels at the end of the day.
So when I replayed the original for this review, I knew there were aspects about the platforming that I didn’t like which I couldn’t really explain at the time. And I think I can do so now by essentially comparing Ratchet’s movement in the 2002 original to being like controlling a puppet on an invisible pair of strings.
And by that, I mean that whether it be something during a full 360 turn away from the camera to jumping after a walk, there always felt like a small but significant delay in Ratchet performing the action. The jumping in particular felt very floaty, which while usual for a platformer, also felt like it cut off a large part of your momentum if you’re trying to make a small hop and skip across a tiny gap.
But with the remake, none of those control problems are there.
This is easily the tightest Ratchet’s ever been to control with him not only jumping and moving in the air more natural, but even with turning around on the spot, something that essentially felt like doing a small donut on the ground in the original, feels like a screw being loosened exceedingly fast with the remake.
Although, this is largely down to the fact that Insomniac had nearly 15 years to pioneer the controls for Ratchet while the original had to figure it all out by itself, but the point still goes to the remake.
The weapons are a bit harder to nail down though. With the exception of two brand new weapons, (the Pixliser, a shotgun like weapon that briefly turns your enemies into 8-bit sprites and the Proton Drum, a AOE ball that repeatedly damages your opponent overtime), all of the weapons from the previous games are reused in some form or another.
Meaning if you’ve gotten a bit sick of the Combustor, Fusion Grenade, Warmonger, Mr. Zurkon or Pyrocitor then you’re out of luck. And I won’t lie when I say that while I think those weapons are iconic to the series at this point, they’ve been reused so many times up until this point that it made me wish if they could come up with no ideas for the pistol, grenade, rocket launcher archetypes.
Now compared to the original, much like the platforming, the weapons feel very experimental with their usage, with most not hitting the mark.
Let’s compare the Combustor and Blaster as an example. While the Combustor doesn’t have as quick of a firing rate as the Blaster, it does have better accuracy overall thanks to the games targeting system.
The original does have a lock on system as well as a first person mode for better accuracy but I don’t think stopping deadstill in a firefight or blasting and praying that one of your bullets hits its mark, yeah you kind of see the problem.
Another point to the remake also comes in how they use the D-pad as an extension of combat.
Gadgets still return as a breakup from combat like the Hyrdodisplacer, Trespasser, Gravity and Grind Boots but with the former two ability to not have them take up a slot on your quick select wheel unlike the original. And now the D-pad, which was essentially used as a separate control option in the original, now serves as an easier quick select wheel.
The standard Quick Select mapped to Triangle is still there but you can now also assign 4 different weapons to the inputs of the D-pad, without needing to pause the game to do so.
Really, like I said at the start of this section, the remake is the way to go if you’re just looking for good gameplay. Although there is one small sequence in this title that is somehow worse in the original.
So on Planet Rilgar, one of the paths used in both games will take you below the planet’s sewer system. With the only way to get back to the surface being through a small switch that unleashes a torrent of sewer water.
In the original, this sequence was very interesting from a platforming mind because it forced you to try and outrun the rising water, with those who can’t, drowning as a result (the O2 mask is introduced much later after this sequence so it makes sense why it’s not made available earlier).
The remake however, still has the same sequence that you need to escape from or risk drowning but there’s two major issues with this over the original.
No, not the ameboid enemies that swarm the platforms, seemingly lacking no perception of the rising water but the speed of the water itself for one.
The water rises much faster than the original unless you’re quick footed and also doesn’t help that you’re likely to get stunned by a chombing Ameboid while focusing on the bigger threat.
And there’s the last sequence of the escape. In the original, there’s a small walk path where the rising water essentially cuts off and you’re able to make it back up to the surface no problem.
In the remake though, for some goddamn reason, there’s a massive cylinder that all the rising water is moving towards!
Now I understand that this was done to make the chase much more urgent, especially the change in camera angles near the end of the sequence. But again, with the faster water and Amoeboids, it makes it so that if you don’t nail a no-damage run during this climb that you’ll surely drown.
As an example, when I played the original for this review, I managed to pass this chase on my first. In the remake though, it took me at least 5 attempts get it right thanks to that stupid cylinder thing near the end! And I honestly don’t think this sequence would sting as much if it weren’t a remake of a near 20 year old game, that got it down right the first time!
But yeah, minus that small gripe, remake still gets the point.
Conclusion: The end of memory lane…
So yes, despite what some of my colleagues in the Ratchet and Clank fandom would have to say about this game, I enjoyed it. It does have its issues in regards to the largely just bad storytelling but it’s still a great game to play.
But, if I had only the option of choosing these two games from my list, which would I choose? Well, the remake is still a no-brainer for me.
It’s more readily available thanks to the PS4’s success and it being playable on the PS5 too, looks incredible, plays excellently, still not the greatest narrative out there, but most definitely worth your time over the original. Doubly so, if this is your introduction to the series.
Epilogue: The adventures of Lombax and Robot continue
So with the remake’s inherent success, you think there’d be a lot of attention given to it.
Well, seeing how this is the generation where no franchises like Horizon and Ghost of Tshiuma took most people’s attention and returning franchises such as Uncharted and God of War making a massive boom in popularity, that wasn’t the case.
But since last year, there’s been hope.
4 years after the release of the remake and nearly 20 after the original’s publication, during the reveal event for the PlayStation 5 system, a brand new Ratchet and Clank was announced and briefly shown at the event. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.
Despite the lack of a subtle crude joke, this game looks to be the duo’s grand return to the spotlight, especially for new fans. Why’s that? Well let me explain.
First, it’s a continuation of the original timeline of the series (not the remake), Secondly two of the oldest cliffhangers in the series up until this point, (Nefarious’ disappearance after All 4 One and the Dimensonator from Into the Nexus) will both be answered in this instalment and on top of that, alternate dimension versions of classic planets like Sargasso and Torren IV.
And that’s not including the fact that not only are our duo separated because of the dimension shenanigans but also the introduction of a new female lombax in the form of Rivet.
I don’t want to delve too deep into my thoughts, at the risk of making them seem very outdated in a few days from now, but despite my worry of the series repeating itself, with returning planets and faces (especially after a remake), so far it looks incredible.
It’s coming out this friday as well (as of editing) and while I won’t be giving my thoughts on this entry in the same month it comes out (I want to experience it for myself without feeling the need to rush my enjoyment for a review), you can bet that I’ll give my thoughts on it when I can.
And that’s pretty much it with this lookback so far. I don’t really have any major plans for my website in the near future, minus some short stories that I’ve been looking to do and possibly upload some time and small reviews of titles I’ll be looking at for my novel over the summer but so far, I’m pretty easy for running this site.
But with that said, thank you very much for joining me on this journey if you have, and I’ll be sure to see you another time!
Review of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
A new plane of existence
Reader,
I will not deny when I say that I’ve been somewhat putting this review on hold for a bit too long. Not because of a lack of interest or that I hate the title that I will be reviewing today but more so for the way I played it on my first time through.
You see, when I heard that my beloved video game duo would be returning to the newly announced PlaySation 5 last year I was beyond hyped.
This news also came just under a year after it was announced that Insomniac, the developer of this series, was bought out by Sony Interactive Entertainment, meaning they could achieve more funding for their projects including this title as well as their growing partnerships with Marvel Games to make three Spider-Man games and a upcoming Wolverine Game as well.
However, as the months of 2020 rolled by I got steadily more anxious about the title. Not that I had much doubt to begin with but even in the first two trailers that were officially released for the game (one during the PS5 reveal that I discussed above and the other an extended demo at Gamescom), there were quite a lot of questions that those same trailers showed off.
Firstly, we’re now actually continuing the events of the 2013 game Into the Nexus, as opposed to the timeline started with the 2016 remake/reboot of the original.
Secondly, Nefarious would be returning as the main villain once more, also addressing another cliffhanger at the end of All 4 One 10 years ago.
And thirdly, a brand new female lombax to the series when Ratchet is supposed to be the last of his kind.
Needless to say, there was a lot to digest with what direction this new entry was taking and that’s just talking about the story. Well regardless, before we get into all of that, we might as well talk about the preproduction of the game and how it went.
Preproduction: Sowing the seeds for interdimensional chaos
So there actually, not surprising at this point, very little info surrounding the preproduction of this title. The main thing I can deduce from my research is that Insomniac Games were given early prototypes of the PS5 by Sony and given leeway with what they wanted to do with the new hardware.
And as if by habit now, the idea came to try and make a new Ratchet and Clank game for the system and to specifically test out the console’s incredibly fast loading times. By using the now established dimensions system from the future games.
However, early on there were some snags hit on the road to getting this project started. Like I mentioned last time, Brian Alguyer, the creative director for the series up until that point had left Insonmiac after work was finished on the 2016 remake with T.J Fixman, the head writer for the series since Tools of Destruction also leaving soon after.
This left the series in a bit of a confusing dilemma soon after though as the team wondered if they should continue the continuity of the 2016 remake or the timeline left behind after Into the Nexus.
Even before this game was announced, I think myself and several other fans of the series expected that the next Ratchet instalment would be picking up after the events of the 2016 remake, especially with how well it did during the PS4’s lifetime.
Well regardless, the title’s new creative director, Marcus Smith, alongside his team decided to continue the events of ITN and create the title that we have today.
And that’s pretty much it. I know I shouldn’t be baffled at this point but it still somewhat surprises me that a new entry in this series is more so considered a inevitably rather than because of a real creative passion for the series.
That could just be the lack of any real talk about the development behind the series, especially with how new this game is but still comes across as unusual to have so little info.
But I guess now, the next question I have to ask now is that even though the team had a focused direction with this adventure, what exactly does the finished product say about their efforts?
Well, if we’re talking about the story, very well.
Story: Around the multiverse in just under a week
Several years have passed after the ending of Into the Nexus as our once more retired heroes, Ratchet and Clank, make their first public appearance as part of a festival dedicated to them in the city of Megapolis.
We aren’t given any details of how long these two have been gone for, why that is or even why they decided to host a party like this to begin with but it doesn’t really matter all things considered.
Either way, after a pretty spectacular presentation by their old friends Skidd Mcmarx, Captain Qwark and Rusty Pete they eventually reach the end penultimate event of the festival with Clank revealing that he has repaired the Dimensonator after its destruction in ITN with Ratchet a little conflicted about this news.
But before anyone can ask why that is, Dr. Nefarious makes his own long awaited reappearance, steals the Dimenosnator for himself and plans on using it to go to a dimension where he always wins. A very clever logically step up from his plans in A Crack in Time if you ask me.
However while trying to stop the mad scientist, the dimeonsator is ultimately destroyed causing massive dimensional rifts just as the three land in a mysterious new plane.
After the chaos, Nefarious is taken by some troopers believing him to be the Emperor of this new dimension, Ratchet ends up on the lower levels of Nefarious City (the place the three crash land on) and Clank ends up being taken by a brand new Lombax to the series, Rivet.
Now this is danced around a couple of times in the game, but yes, Rivet is the alternate dimension equivalent to Ratchet. And this concept only gets bigger from there.
Eventually after Rivet helps get Clank’s communicator chip working again, he’s able to get back in touch with Ratchet and begin a new plan. Since the Dimensonator has been destroyed, the only thing that can be done now is to create a brand new Dimensonator and use it to repair the damage caused by them.
With this in mind, the respective parties split up to try and get the resources for the new Dimensonator. Rivet and Clank locate a new piece of Phazon Crystal that helps power the Dimenosonator as Ratchet locates the blueprints and rebuilds the body of the device itself, while also coming across a new tiny robot friend in the form of Kit.
And yes, Kit is Clank’s dimensional counterpart too, in case you were wondering.
The parts all together, the four reconvene, Ratchet and Rivet swap teammates and help construct the all new Dimensonator… just as Dr. Nefarious comes to take it off of them.
And as if things couldn’t get any worse, while fighting off the mad doctor, Emperor Nefarious (the Nefarious of Rivet and Kit’s dimension), joins the fray, takes the device for himself and the gang split up once more. Rivet and Kit to stop the two Nefarious’ while Ratchet and Clank go and help the remainder of the resistance that Rivet is a part of.
Unfortunately though both groups are unsuccessful in their efforts and Emperor Nefarious celebrates being the unquestioned ruler of the universe. However, his life goal now fulfilled and the power of dimensional travel on his side, he now decides to become the ruler of all dimensions, starting with locating a map made by the Lombaxes containing the coordinates to every dimension in existence.
And as to be expected by now, the four ultimately fail with Ratchet, Clank and Kit being thrown into Zordoom Prison.
Now this is technically something that’s alluded to several times over the course of the game but Rivet and Kit actually have an interesting history between the two. Not only that but it’s also not fully revealed until everyone but Rivet is captured by Emperor Nefarious.
See, it’s revealed in an early sequence that Kit was once a warbot constructed by the Emperor to hunt his adversaries. But during one patrol, Kit ends up having doubts about her true intentions after nearly killing a resistance member. And as it’s later confirmed, Rivet was that resistance member losing her right arm after trying to escape Kit.
Despite this though, Rivet ends up travelling to her dimension’s Zordoom Prison (a location originally featured in Tools of Destruction), freeing the other Resistance members and our title characters. Kit however chooses to stay behind feeling guilt for her actions as a Nefarious enforcer.
In the end, the Resistance recuperates just as news is revealed that Emperor Nefarious is moving ahead with his dimensional conquest, starting with Ratchet’s home universe.
With no time to spare, the group end up personally taking the fight to Emperor Nefarious, with Kit joining near its climax to help deliver the final blow to the Emperor’s dreams. Just as Dr. Nefarious sends his dimensional counterpart to be fed to the fishes.
The day saved, the dimensional disturbance reverted and Rivet and Kit officially a duo, the four decided to take the reclaimed Dimenonsator for a spin. Their destination? The location of the Lombaxes.
So, it’s fair to say that in comparison to the remake and Into the Nexus that there is a lot going on within this plot. And that’s with just a very brief summary of the events.
To go over a few things I didn’t discuss, Rivet, Kit and Emperor Nefarious aren’t the only alternate dimensional counterparts in this story. There’s Phantom, a version of Skidd McMarx that works as a spy for the resistance, Pierre delaFerr who is a French take on Rusty Pete and Captain Quantum, a red spandex double of Captain Qwark.
I didn’t really feel the need to mention these guy’s during the summary since none of them really have that much of an impact on the story aside from rubbing in the fact that this is a universe that’s different but similar to our established knowledge of the series.
As for the idea of this alternate setup itself, I actually think it’s a natural progression of some of the concepts that’s been toyed with since Tools of Destruction.
We’ve known for the longest time that Dimensions have been used several times throughout the series, primarily with the Dimensonator in TOD as well as the Netherverse in Into the Nexus so fully diving into an alternate dimension doesn’t feel out of place from what’s been established.
And with the characters themselves, I will say that they do achieve the goal of “feeling similar but different” all at once, especially with Ratchet in comparison to Rivet.
See the first time you get to play as her Rivet explains that the reason she took Clank early on was because she thought he was a spy bot working for the Emperor and partly because she has a bad history with robots in general.
Later on, Clank runs into Gary who acts as an chronicler of the different dimensions with Clank wondering why Rivet is so hostile to him if Ratchet was never so harsh on robots himself. This leads Gary to speculate that perhaps Ratchet is the outlier and that every other dimensional version of him hates machines in their own way.
This idea is also explored with the previously mentioned backstory to Kit, paralleling Clank’s origin as a defective robot for Chairman Drek. And I really like how that idea of branching alternatives is explored with the history between our two duos, especially with their personalities.
Ratchet is still as wide eyed and eager as he was in the 2016 remake (which may be still seen as a detriment to long time fans) while Rivet is slightly more cynical and sarcastic, though both still strive to do the right thing in the end.
I kind of wish this was explored a little further with the other dimensional versions of the cast but as it is, it’s a pretty interesting question to ponder and something that actually has gotten my brain thinking about alternate dimensions and versions of ourselves.
By the way, Gary himself I originally thought was a villain in disguise at first as when you first visit him he outright ignores telling Clank how he already knows him or about his father.
But as it turns out later, Gary is actually the son of the mysterious Plumber, marking the first time he hasn’t had a feature role in the series since… forever I think and also taking on his dad’s duty of guarding the dimensions while he’s on his first and so far only holiday away from his duties.
And in case you’re wondering, Insonminac also hasn’t forgotten some of the older characters in the series canon, mainly Lawrence, Nefarious’ butler and Talwin, Ratchet’s love interest from TOD. Neither of them are featured in the main plot but both show up near the closing credits and it was a good compromise to allow the new faces more time to shine.
It does also help as well that this is one of the best entries in the series acting wise. Almost all of the main cast from the PS2 games return to reprise their characters (the main exception being Qwark whose voice actor had to retire due to severe health problems) but the alternate dimension cast are pretty great too.
Jenifer Hale’s Rivet was a solidly brought to life character through her laid back voice, even if I think it was too similar to the actress’s prior role as Emma Emmrich from Metal Gear Solid 2. They may have been made 2 decades apart but they still do sound a bit too similar.
I will say though that I was not expecting myself to like Emperor Nefarious as much as I did in the game. The cookyness of Ratchet’s Dr. has been toned down significantly but Robert Atkin Downes (who played Slag back in TOD and a fellow Metal Gear veteran) brings a level of utmost confidence with his portrayal of a villain that’s always one step ahead.
What’s more as well, story sequences now play out in real time cutscenes and dialogue, mainly between Ratchet, Rivet and their respected partner for the chapter. And I was surprised to see this myself but I actually think these moments are surely some of the best story driven moments in the series to date.
For example, during their second mission to a Nefarious research station, Kit decides to chat with Ratchet about why he never bothered to chase the lombaxes for so long, with him saying that he didn’t want to risk what he already had in front of him.
And kit’s response nearly brought a tear to my eye:
“Ratchet, you’ve believed in me all this time. Now it’s my turn to believe in you.”
I know it may sound strange for a longtime fan to only now be emotional over a moment like this but that seriously got to me when I heard it.
And in another moment, I especially love that during his final battle in Megapolis, Emperor Nefarious uses the Dimensonator constantly throughout the fight to summon more and more of his troops until by the end, the last portal he fires is just a collection of flapping fish. And with how speechless he is by the fact he’s actually losing sells that moment so hard.
Okay, okay! I’m done talking about the story now. But really, it actually deserves the praise since it feels the most well acted and written of the series thus far. But regardless, how does the presentation pair with this new narrative?
Presentation: Hoping into a world of excitement
I think this is probably going to be the most praised section out of all of these next few review points given how well Rift Apart works on PlayStation 5.
Since this is one of the few games developed by PlayStation Studios to be made exclusively for brand new hardware, the amount of boundaries that the team are able to push with this kind of tech is immaculate.
But I think the best way to do that is by listing off some of the things that the PS5 is flexing and demonstrate how that’s used in this title. The first of which particularly defines the “gimmick” of the entire game.
Loading times. Or more rather, the lack thereof.
As I’ve explained during my story synopsis above, the main crisis of the game involves dimensional tears causing havoc throughout the universe, and that’s often heavily expressed in the loading times between different sections.
For example, a new device, the Rift Tether, allows Ratchet to essentially quickly jump from one part of the map using specifically marked orange tears in the environment.
And alongside other occasional rifts that may quickly appear throughout the story, these have Ratchet or Rivet quickly jump to either that part of a given map or even an entirely different location seamlessly and without any pauses in the pacing to boot.
While on a similar topic to visuals, let’s talk about the PlayStation 5’s new Ray Tracing abilities. This ability essentially allows light to reflect and even gleam off of reflective surfaces such as metal or water.
Clank himself is quite literally an embodiment of this new power as you can see a wide variety of different light bouncing or even mirroring the light around him. Personally I think it’s a fine addition even if it being featured made me wonder how the Clank seen in games prior would look like with ray tracing.
In terms of other senses, sound is actually given quite a bit of attention as well with the system’s 3D audio. A feature that essentially allows the PS5 to project sounds all around the player dynamically as they shift the camera around them.
This is something that’s a little harder to notice, especially since the system only works with compatible headphones as of writing, so I didn’t really notice it or felt like it was needed really.
There are a couple of more PS5 specific features but it’s better if I leave that for the gameplay section later.
Now onto the more established aspects of these reviews, starting off with the looks of the game.
Aside from the new Ray Tracing software, Rift Apart still proves itself to be a wonderfully beautiful game running on the PlayStation 5.
Not only can players choose their preferred viewing options for the tile (whether or not they want to have more looks or a better performance) but the amount of visual details that players experience are sublime.
Similar to my previous reviews with this series, I always find it so interesting how Nefarious can have a lot of presence on the environment even when he’s not featured in the planet he’s on.
Examples of this can be seen on Nefarious City or Planet Cordellia, both of which feature construction sites ordered by the Emperor. And that apparently to keep production rates up, all breaks have been ceased except for one near the end of a 24 hour shift. That lasts about 5 minutes.
In another example, a new collectable in the form of Resistance Spybots will give occasional spurts of lore about the planet or location you’re currently exploring.
On Sargasso for instance, there’s a spybot that details that the Kerchu, the scavenging tech wizards from Tools of Destruction once used to live on Sargasso as they did on Ratchet’s home dimension.
However in Rivet’s dimension they were whipped off of the face of the earth a while ago after they misspelt the Emperor’s name on a delivery shipment to him. Yikes!
Back on the topic of sound, while I’ve already praised the great voice casting and performances by the cast involved, the music I’m a little conflicted upon this time.
For the score, we now have Mark Mothersbaugh as the composer (who also did Thor Ragnarok and is a founder of the band Devo), with a soundtrack that I think once more follows the line of being acceptable or generic.
I don’t know, I felt like once again, certain parts of the music blended into the environment a bit too much and I can’t say for certain if that’s me busy with the firefight or just an underwhelming score as ever.
And to my knowledge, the only songs I can think of at the top of my head are the main theme (Rift Apart), the theme of Megapolis (Festival of Heroes) and the theme of planet Sargasso (Sweet Home Sargasso). It does get a little more praise since this is the first Ratchet soundtrack to be released on streaming platforms like Spotify, meaning I don’t have to turn to pirate sites or YouTube videos to get a feel for the atmosphere.
Oh and also a special mention to the bonus track featured in the credits sequence for Rift Apart called “Join Me at the Top”. A musical number between Emperor Nefarious and his Dr. counterpoint about how great he is. And it’s one that needs to be heard to be properly enjoyed.
But again, this is one of those soundtracks where I like it for playing safe but dislike it for that very reason.
At least with the original trilogy, I may not like most of the music as much as this title but I can still remember at least half of the tracks just by the images that come with the planets they’re associated with. Or that could be because I’ve played through the original PS2 trilogy at least twice by now.
Now, with the visual improvements covered, what did the gameplay benefit from with the hardware leap? As it turns out, quite a lot.
Gameplay: New tricks of the trade
Now there’s a bit of an interesting break from the usual Ratchet and Clank formula. While we do control a space rat across a wide variety of planets like before, now the gameplay is split across 10 large planets to explore instead of 20 or 25 smaller ones.
Added to this is the fact that all of the odd numbered planets see you control Ratchet for that planet, with the even numbered ones handed to Rivet instead. Both characters do control the same and also share weapons, upgrades and gadgets across the board if one of them grabs one.
This part I kind of wish was explained a little better early on but it does prevent any noticeable changes between our two main characters beyond the cosmetical.
But despite that, this is still a great Ratchet game through and through, emphasised by the new and improved roster of weapons in store.
If you recall during my review of the 2016 remake, I explained that I didn’t really like the reliance that the game had on largely old weapons of the series. The combustor, groovitron, Mr. Zurkon, weapons that were fun back in Tools of Destruction that have lost most of their fun after being reused so often.
But I’m glad to say that that issue has been (largely) addressed by not only a wide assortment of brand new tools but also once more, because of the enhancements made possible with the PS5 hardware.
One key area is with the Dualsense (the PS5 controller) and its new Adaptive Trigger capabilities that allows the trigger keys, L2 and R2, to have programmable resistance when pressured.
In the case of something like the Burst Pistol, the starting blaster weapon, that features two seperate firing modes depending on how hard you pull the trigger. Pull it half way to fire out singular accurate bullets with less damage, or pull down fully to fire more rounds with the benefit of doing more damage overall.
In another example, the Neutron Collider, a massive cannon weapon, can be charged up by holding the trigger button halfway and stored until the user fully presses down and unleashes a massive energy cannon towards their foes.
The gameplay is also heightened by a new version of rumble support called Haptic Feedback. While it is the same as regular rumble support on paper, it actually allows for more dynamic forms of vibration feedback in the control, instead of the more “on or off” style used in previous PlayStation controllers.
This can range from something as simple as feeling different types of surfaces as Ratchet or Rivet traverse a location to something as incredible as emitting vibrations so sutely that it almost sounds like music coming from the controller.
Both of these new additions don’t really add much to the game to be fair but they are still a unique and fun way to spice up gameplay.
And speaking of spicing up gameplay, Rift Apart does some pretty interesting stuff when it comes to adding variety into its structure.
In the core combat for example, a new addition has been made in the form of the “Phantom Dash”. Given very early on in the game by the Resistance member of the same name, the dash allows Ratchet or Rivet to briefly phase through objects, enemies or projectiles in their way.
And it’s a great feature to have as the enemies, especially on the hardest setting are some of the most determined out there. Instead of harder difficulties adding way more enemies to deal with, you have to actually put up with way more focused enemies then before.
Ranged enemies can shoot halfway across the map with unparalleled accuracy, melee troopers come in hordes that can easily overwhelm you and the arena’s themselves are way bigger than ever before.
In other words, using both the Rift-Tether and Phantom Dash becomes paramount since many attacks from opponents like the Gruntor (an enemy on Sargasso) to a Nefarious Trooper’s laser beam cannot be avoided normally without the use of the dash or Tether.
Though a quick sidenote, using the Rift-Tether during a fight doesn’t make you invincible so just be aware when you use it, as you’ll still take damage while the transition from one part of the map to the other happens.
Aside from the previously mentioned Rift-Tether that I mentioned during my presentation summary, the most prominent new addition is in the form of Dimensional Puzzles.
At certain points in the story, the player will be required to play as either Clank or Kit as they try to solve a dimensional obstacle that’s in their way. These serve as new takes on the previous times you’ve controlled Clank and see the robots get “possibilities” of themselves to an exit using various orbs that inflict status effects.
These aren’t challenging at all but for what they are, I think they are an interesting break from the action of the main story, and you get some interesting dialogue between Gary (the chronicler I mentioned previously) and Clank or Kit as they discuss the dimensional chaos and story so far.
On a more optional side of things, both Ratchet and Rivet can explore dimensions themselves by visiting “pocket dimensions”. These are small tears in reality that the pair can travel through using the Tether’s in their glove and feature some small platforming/puzzle scenarios to go through.
Again, these aren’t difficult at all but some of them are pretty interesting with how they expect you to go about the level. Like floating crates in the air that you have to destroy specific boxes of to form a path across or the parade floatees from the opening that you need to bounce off of to reach the end.
Finishing these optional sections will reward you with a new piece of armour to wear, which is a series stable that’s been taken to an interesting turn this time around.
See previously, armour in the series was deemed as a necessity as it gave you protection from the more damaging enemies that you’d soon meet. Here however, the armour sets are entirely optional but completing an armour set will give you specific perks across your adventure like increased resistance against certain enemies or more bolts or raretinum when discovered.
Back to more main content, there’s the addition of Glitch challenges. A new helper for Ratchet given by Phantom near the start of the game, this section sees you control the bot as she blasts through viruses that are blocking a computer or terminal from being used.
Personally, these feel more boring when you actually play it yourself as Glitch moves very slowly on her spider legs and it’s very easy to get overwhelmed by viruses with no sense of personal space. They still do have their moments of fun but overall, they do feel a little unnecessary in terms of adding more shooting in a game that’s already about shooting.
However, in terms of other gimmicks, I was surprised to learn that there aren’t too many gadgets introduced in the game this time. Sure there’s Glitch who kind of works like a bullet hell version of the Trespasser or Hacker puzzles previously but no new general gadgets beyond a addition to your swingshot in the form of the hurlshot.
In terms of side content, we get a bit more of what we’d expect from this series by now but with a couple of smart new additions or enhancements made since.
For the returning stuff Gold Bolts are back and can be found in several tucked away parts of a planet. But instead of being used to unlock skins for Ratchet or some pretty minor visual alterations, we now essentially get a form of unlockable cheats for the game.
Like I said there’s the usual screen changes like black and white filters or changing the look of Ratchet’s wrench but now you also have improvements such as unlimited ammo and nanotech during confrontations, mirror mode to even changing objects like the bolts into different items like overcharge cans, a reference to Sunset Overdrive another Insomniac games title.
The arena also makes a return once more, this time found at Zurkie’s Gastropub and Battleplex, a family diner run by the Zurkon family. These aren’t all too special than before however, as they are the usual by now missions that have you use one specific weapon, time trails and mini bosses to unlock more bolts, gold bolts and other items to make your game time a bit easier.
It’s still not a bad feature to have but unfortunately beyond the setting and the ear-grating sound of Zurkon Jr. providing battle commentary, it’s nothing that the previous arenas from 2 onwards haven’t done yet.
However in terms of new additions, we have the Lorbs found on the planet Savlii.
A planet noteworthy for not only being the home of Kit and her monk friends, but also for being a former Lombax outpost, the Lorbs are a series of audio diaries left by a Lombax researcher before the race collapsed.
Finding these Lorb’s is part of a side quest for Ratchet but on top of getting a unique armour set to unlock, the Lorb’s themselves give a bit history to the recorder as well as his goal of mapping out the different dimensions for Kaiden (Ratchet’s father).
Not to mention, this is one of many occasions where Insomniac takes the opportunity to use the dimensional backdrop to pay homage or reference countless PlayStation IPs.
These range from the previously mentioned conversion from bolts to overdrive cans, the narrator of the Lorb’s travelling to the realm’s Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter and Littlebigplanet during his mapping of the dimensions to the new R.Y.N.O. 7’s gimmick of opening up dimensional portals to other PlayStation worlds to do a massive AOI damage.
This is such a fantastic idea brought to life and a treat to see in action in the moment. Even if these references want me to have a new Sly Cooper or Jak and Daxter game made by now.
Conclusion: The bridge between the old and new
Overall, I think for a brand new Ratchet and Clank game since 2013 (if you aren’t counting the reboot), Rift Apart manages to be a fantastic game both as a new entry to this series and a general showcase of just what the PlayStation 5 can offer.
The story is arguably one of the best of the series yet with it’s dimensional shenanigans and for being a pretty great jumping off point for new fans of this franchise and the gameplay is arguably tuned to perfection with it’s smart design changes.
The side content isn’t particularly good unfortunately and the lack of a stand out presentation does hurt too but don’t let that take from an otherwise great package overall.
Insomniac found themselves in one of the most unfavourable positions for a near 20 year long IP but by god did they manage to prove that this series still has some fresh and interesting new ideas to explore.
It will actually be interesting to see how my opinion for this game will change a few years from now but overall, this is one game you should not miss out on.
I can’t say anymore. Play it.
And if you don’t own a PS5, still play it. Somehow.
Last Edited 29 October 2022
