All the games I’ve been playing recently have been griddy or center around dark themes. Not saying I’m getting sick of them. I love being placed in distraught worlds approaching the brink of destruction. Knowing that they are beyond fixing, and the actions you take may help change the setting you are in but won’t ultimately fix them. Trying to survive the harsh conditions and face the unlikable truth. Video games are an art form through which players can experience mature themes. Even after completing a game they should still look back upon, because the thoughts and impressions the game left them were meaningful. I love mature games, I mean my favorite game series is Dark Souls for crying out loud. A franchise that teaches the player all things must come to an end and lengthening out the process will only lead to a cycle of violence. A world full of greed and desire that no one can learn or recover from. Video games should attempt to connect to the real world and issues real people face, but I’m not saying we should constantly indulge in the lessons video games teach us. We can only face so much negativity, and eventually it will effect how we view day to day life.
Like have you ever had a neighbor, colleague, or classmate who can do nothing but brood and sob all day? You fall bad for them and the condition they are in, but after a while you realize that they aren’t willing to help themselves. To get out of the rut they are stuck in. To at least find some positivity in life, because all they do is surround themselves with negativity. Claiming the real world is sh*t, so why should they care about a world that doesn’t care for them. A spec in a country full of millions of individuals. This is the point I’m trying to make here. How much negativity can a person face before their entire personality is morphed into this doom and gloom persona? Video games can address the problems we face in reality, but there has to be some hope to find amongst the chaos. That’s why Dark Souls and Bloodborne are my ideal examples of being stuck in a distraught world. You can’t change it, but all you can do is find some hope in it. I can say the same about Persona 5, a game that addresses society. In a world where bad things will always happen, all you have to do is look to those you appreciate and try to stand tall. Prove to them you can stay hopeful even in a society that is ultimately corrupt and flawed. I just need to review a positive vibe game for once, and that's what we're here to discuss today.
Ratchet and Clank, a third person shooting platformer with sill mascots that was created and developed by Insomniac Games. Founded in 1994 by Ted Price, Insomniac Games was one of the very few companies hired by Sony to make some major exclusives to their new console, the Playstation. One of the first games they made for the system was Spyro The Dragon, and it was their first major success. It had color, personality, and helped the Playstation stand out as a majority of companies had platformer mascots to represent them. Nintendo had Mario, Sega had Sonic, and while Playstation already had Crash Bandicoot the lovely purple dragon helped serve as support. After three major entries in the Spyro The Dragon series, Insomniac decided to try something else. The Spyro series was passed down to several other developers, and Insomniac began development on a fresh new property. Soon Sony came out with their next generation console, the Playstation 2, and Insomniac Games followed by developing a game that would demonstrate what the new hardware was capable of.
Much like Spyro, Ratchet & Clank was another mascot 3D platformer that stood out for its charm and personality. It was fun to play, was aimed towards a wide audience, and sold fairly well. Insomniac decided to stick with their new franchise as they created countless sequels and spinoffs. Ratchet and Clank became the Playstation’s hot selling app and would define two whole console generations alongside a couple others like God of War and Uncharted. The last Ratchet and Clank game came out in 2013 and it was around this time the series was beginning to lose the charm that once made the series iconic. The team had pumped out so many games that the ideas that once worked were getting dull, so they had to go back to the drawing board or better yet just take a break. Insomniac took some time off from the series and when they returned they decided to reboot Ratchet & Clank back to its roots. Being developed alongside an animated film funded by Sony set to be released the same month with the game, Insomniac Games created a reboot of the original which went under the same name.
The game came out in 2016, and it turned out to be pretty good. The movie of course was bad and felt really necessary, but the game was pretty well praised. It mostly captured the charm the original game had while introducing it to new audiences. It wasn’t the greatest game to come out in 2016 and it came out near the same time as Dark Souls 3 and Uncharted 4, but it did lighten the mood up especially since 2016 was a chaotic year. A new entry to the Ratchet & Clank series is currently being developed for the Playstation 5 called Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. I saw the gameplay reveal trailer for it, thought it looked really cool, and decided to try out the 2016 reboot to see what all the fuss was about Ratchet & Clank series. I thought the reboot would have cheesy writing and gameplay that could be played with a blindfold, but surprisingly half of my assumption was true and instead what I got instead was a really fun game. It may even be one of the few more charming Triple A games I’ve played in awhile. Today we’ll be talking about why I liked Ratchet & Clank and why it deserves your attention.
Story
We follow the footsteps of a young Lombax named Ratchet, a ship mechanic who lives on the dusty desert planet named Veldin. The Lombaxes were once an ancient race of humanoid cat creature things who possessed technology far ahead of the current generation, but everytime they vanished. Ratchet is the last and only Lombax in the galaxy, meaning he is left to wander the universe alone and find his purpose. This is however a story for another day or at least later games as I was told. Right now we’re just reliving the origin stories of our protagonist and his metal companion. Ever since he was young Ratchet dreamt of being part of the Galactic Rangers, a team of space superheroes who fight against evil and are led by the famous Captain Qwark. Luckily an event is being held on Veldin by the Galactic Rangers for new recruits, and this gives Ratchet the chance to meet his heroes and prove to them that he has what it takes.
Ratchet, determined as ever, takes a physical exam and passes with flying colors. In game it’s very easy since it’s just a tutorial for your basic skills, but we gotta build up a plot. Even though Ratchet is physically qualified and has the skills for joining the Galactic Rangers, he is denied when Captain Qwark looks over his record of various criminal activities from the past. Turns out it’s not shiny as it seems. Ratchet heads back to the auto shop, knowing that he’ll never achieve his dreams of being a hero. Meanwhile on a planet named Quartu, an evil corporate businessman, Chairmen Alonzo Drek, teams up with a mad scientist named Dr. Nefarious to develop an army of warbots to take over the galaxy. While the warbots are being developed amongst an assembly line, one of them turns out to be a defect and is prepared for termination. This defect who is a mere tiny yet intelligent robot makes a great escape. Stealing a ship and coincidentally crash landing on Veldin. The defect lands near the workshop Ratchet works at, and Ratchet heads over to check out the crash. Ratchet pulls the defect out of the wreckage, and the defect tells Ratchet that he must warn the Galactic Rangers of Drek and Nefarious' plan before it’s too late.
Ratchet names the little robot Clank and the two of them immediately become a duo. Hence the name of the game, Ratchet & Clank. The two of them repair an old ship Ratchet found, and blast off to unknown worlds. Together they’ll explore treacherous territories, fight hordes of the Blark and warbots, and stop Drek before he takes over the galaxy with his unlimited supply of evil tech. Ratchet may be able to live his dream of being an intergalactic space ranger after all.
Gameplay
The gameplay is a mix of 3D platforming and third person shooting, the last one being something we should all be familiar with if we’ve kept up with the last decade of gaming. Both elements are fairly simple and don’t require much explaining to understand, but it’s how they both expand overtime that makes Ratchet & Clank such an enjoyable game. Traversing across bottomless pits, hopping across moving platforms, and occasionally swimming underwater seems basic enough to understand. You unlock upgrades that expand where you can explore and how you traverse the environment. Does that mean this game has a metroidvania design? No. The game is not in a sense where you backtrack to certain areas or planets to open up new areas with upgrades. The upgrades just allow you to progress through the level you are currently in. The switch between aesthetics, attention to detail, the amount of stuff happening in the foreground and background, and cinematic set pieces is what makes traversing through each level fun. Flying your ship and gunning down enemy vessels. Acquiring a jetpack and rocketing around an open area. It’s all downright fun.
Moving onto the combat. At first I thought it would be very easy. Use my gun to shoot enemies and jump away from attacks. I mean you can automatically lock onto enemies meaning you don’t have to aim, and enemies move really slow making them easy to shoot and kill. What I wasn’t expecting was a decently challenging game. You’ll constantly be shot from multiple directions, enemies will come in huge groups, and you have no choice but to fire willy nilly. You constantly want to be moving as standing still is basically a death wish. It’s great that your weapons cut through them very quickly as it gives you this satisfaction that you are a nonstop killing machine. I want to say Ratchet & Clank is the kiddy version of Doom which came out the same year, but unlike Doom it’s not as methodical which we’ll address more on later. The wacky weapons you wield is what really makes Ratchet & Clank stand out from other third person shooters. They're easy to use and some of them just make you laugh and wonder how Insomniac ended up making them work. You unlock a flamethrower, a lock on missile launcher, a disco ball that’ll make everything dance including tanks, a gun that transforms enemies into sheep, buzzsaw launcher, and even a killer robot named Mr. Zurkon. Your weapons level up as you kill more enemies with them and you can upgrade them using crystal shards and bolts you pick up from foes and smashing crates. It’s just fun! That’s all you can ask for from a video game!
Besides that, there isn't much else to say. A majority of levels are designed to be traversed once and the game keeps pushing you forward from zone to zone. No need to explore and the only collectibles worth acknowledging are these cards which resemble the franchise’s past. All you gotta do is kick back, relax, hold down the trigger, and enjoy the numerous particles flying around on screen. Ratchet & Clank are a perfect duo and together they will take down whatever stands in their way.
Thoughts
Ratchet & Clank is good and that’s all I have to say. It’s fun, colorful, and better than I was expecting. The story is kinda generic to be honest and there was never a point where I was sitting and feeling emotional for a character unlike a game like God of War or Horizon Zero Dawn. However, while the writing may not be splendid and I can’t recall specific plot beats it does make up for it. The childish humor is good enough to make you chuckle every now and then. Not as in laughing your pants off , but laughing because it’s silly and out of the box. The animation is very fluid and every character was done by hand rather than relying on robotic movement that attempts to match up with the dialogue. I don’t mind robotic movement as what matters overall is the writing and the characters giving a believable performance, but this does add some quality to the game. The fluid animation and expressions each character can even help define their personality and who they are more than what they are actually saying. This is gonna sound weird, but it almost feels like watching a cartoon at times. Reminds me of when I was ten years old and would sit in front of my living room TV. Watching cartoons like Adventure Time, Regular Show, Courage The Cowardly Dog, Chowder, etc. Yeah, you can tell I was a CN kid. Personally if I were Sony I would have turned Ratchet & Clank into a cartoon rather than a film, because ideas could have expanded overtime rather than in one to two hours. We’re getting corporate right now, so let’s get back to the review.
Visually the game is stunning. Insomniac Games have always managed to make glistening worlds and this is another exception. The environments and amount of color in this game makes it one of the brightest games on the Playstation 4. I mean it’s not as stunning as what we have now like God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, and I’d even argue Bloodborne is more impressive but Ratchet and Clank still looks amazing. This game has a lot of cool cinematic set pieces which reminded me of the cinematic action packed moments of Uncharted 4. Coincidentally both of these games came out in 2016. Personally I like the set pieces of Uncharted 4 more, which is a little unfair to say, but at least Ratchet and Clank knows when to get the player excited and throw them into a thrilling moment. The controls for the game are tight. It never felt like I was missing a shot as there was good projectile detection, and Ratchet was never sliding around all over the place even during heated moments. Levels are laid out in a fairly linear fashion and the game always guides you towards the right direction. That’s how you tell you made a good linear game without overflowing the screen full of icons.
Combat overall is great, but kinda flawed. Each of the guns are very fun to use and the upgrades for them actually make them more powerful over time. Just a simple skill chart that gives you buffs rather than add mods or weird gimmicks. Ratchet and Clank also doesn’t suffer from modern shooter design. No weapon reloading, scopes or extended barrels, ion sights, cover based mechanics, etc. This is a game that wants the player to be as chaotic as possible which I really like. While every gun is satisfying to fire, combat doesn’t do enough to push the player to use every tool on them. Another unfair comparison, but this year we had Doom Eternal which showed every weapon should have a purpose. To expose enemy weaknesses, exploit them, and get the resource refills you need at the right time. Ratchet and Clank doesn’t do this. Instead you just rapidly fire a weapon, and when the ammo is out you swap over to another one. There’s also the fact that enemies aren’t too complex and can be defeated through any weapon of choice which prohibits learning their mechanics and functions. It’s a mindless shooter, but yet again this is a game made for a wider audience.
I do have a few more complaints. Due to the linear level design and how cramped each area is, there aren’t that many good incentives to go back and explore older levels. There are those cards, but they don’t add anything besides serving as a collectible cosmetic. The game is extremely short, lasting about ten hours, but it does maintain good pacing and doesn't overstay its welcome. I do want to say the game has a good amount of replay value, but at the same time I don’t think the game has much due to the linearity I mentioned earlier and how the effectiveness of some moments are lost on future playthroughs. These are really big flaws, but remember I do like Ratchet & Clank. It’s a short experience that provides goodness all around and it’s a nice break from the depressing games I’ve been playing. In the end I give Ratchet and Clank an 8.5/10 for being pretty good. Hopefully Rift Apart lives up to expectations and serves as a better reminder as to why this series defined a bunch of gamers’ childhoods.
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