BEFORE READING: Please note this article is perhaps done a bit lazily even if the work behind it was a lot. However this was made ahead of time for the original release of R&C (where I would have probably posted it a month or two weeks before the release LAST YEAR), and then that got delayed meaning this got delayed from its pre-written schedule. So this is a pretty super old draft by my usual standard. However all of the thoughts in it were complete, and I haven't undergone any super revelations to make me think that I should bother to change any of my opinions or views expressed here. I've also gone ahead and updated three photos that went bad since that time.
No you really didn't misread that. I'm going to be doing a full (although very brief) review of the entire home console developed R&C series (which does not include the two PSP games, or minor mobile related stuff. Sorry I just haven't bothered with them, and fans barely even acknowledge them anyways). There are however 3 catches to keep in mind...
- I promise a certain time gap has happened. These are not straight forward or perfect reviews fresh off of playing the entire franchise. As much as I love the series, that's a bit much. However I have experienced all of the games to some degree somewhere within a 2 year time frame from the writing of this, so its not like I'm fueled by pure nostalgia either.
-Once again, these are brief and off the rails of my normal review. As a matter of fact I'm going to actually resort to pointless number scores. Sure I stand by the fact that in a mature review they don't mean squat, but here its kind of just a fun way to pin point a game's place in the series. If I stuck to my normal methods you'd just be stuck with a ridiculous amount of "awesome" marks. Lets say for the sake of establishing semantics that 1 = unplayable, 3 = mostly unenjoyable, 7 = fairly good with some flaws, and 10 is about as close to perfection as the series may be. You can figure out anything in between.
-Uh... well I'm a big fan and that's just important to keep in mind. That means I'm more enthusiastic about some games or features, and yet more critical about others, but ultimately I'm not coming in from a newbie friendly mindset. I may not make sense all the time to someone who doesn't know about the series.
Now lets see how Ratchet & Clank have endured through the years...
The PlayStation 2 trilogy (+1)
Ratchet & Clank (2002)
R&C started out fairly simple of course. This game had no weapon leveling, a more typical health system, no strafing, and compared to its successor less mini-games and side activities. In some ways its actually pretty good, but in others... well this is probably the best game to go with for a re-imagining, so I'm kind of happy its getting a reworking. The game still started the adventure formula the series is known for however. You go from planet to planet, blasting and platforming your way around a big cartoony sci-fi world with your gluiding robot helper Clank. You also still get held up by gadget restrictions, get pushed to hunt for extra stuff, still have some insane weapon ideas and a big arsenal to collect, and you even still have to talk to the plummer at one point. Its just all very... primitive.
The good side, and what I really love about this weird start to the series, is how simple everything kind of lasts. While it was kind of lame at first to go without any leveling, I actually enjoyed how the whole world was balanced around it. The same blaster you started with could carry you over the entire game with just a slat tap of the trigger for most enemies. No hulking sponges to strafe all over the place with for 30 seconds, it was just like a platformer where it was run up and kill or be killed. Every hit felt lethal and punishing because of the small health, but each shot fired was equally as abusive to the enemy. Things were just simple and clean.
Onto the cons... Well for starters lets get it out of the way that Ratchet is more of jerk in this game, which turns a lot of people off. I don't see it as a bad idea, but its not the best execution either. Also the voice just sucks, even if I'm not proud to say that Johny Test does Ratchet's voice after this game I can at least say it works whenever you can keep that terrible show out of your mind. As for gameplay... well, having an entire game without strafing just kind of sucks. Even though the game wasn't made with it in mind, you can almost instantly tell what a major improvement this was for the future. Enemies still swarmed you, and shots still fired in much of the same fashion, the thing is though you're just loosely flailing around and not capable of having the control and precision future games gave you. Heck there are parts of the game where all you can do is run in 360 circles with the flame thrower because of swarms that you can't strafe around to properly pick off. However by far the worst part of the whole game is the 2nd race. The first one is fine, but the 2nd one is just a total pain to complete. Just... very frustrating. Thankfully there weren't much more mini-games, which I can't say for the 2nd one but lets get to that later.
Onto the cons... Well for starters lets get it out of the way that Ratchet is more of jerk in this game, which turns a lot of people off. I don't see it as a bad idea, but its not the best execution either. Also the voice just sucks, even if I'm not proud to say that Johny Test does Ratchet's voice after this game I can at least say it works whenever you can keep that terrible show out of your mind. As for gameplay... well, having an entire game without strafing just kind of sucks. Even though the game wasn't made with it in mind, you can almost instantly tell what a major improvement this was for the future. Enemies still swarmed you, and shots still fired in much of the same fashion, the thing is though you're just loosely flailing around and not capable of having the control and precision future games gave you. Heck there are parts of the game where all you can do is run in 360 circles with the flame thrower because of swarms that you can't strafe around to properly pick off. However by far the worst part of the whole game is the 2nd race. The first one is fine, but the 2nd one is just a total pain to complete. Just... very frustrating. Thankfully there weren't much more mini-games, which I can't say for the 2nd one but lets get to that later.
Rating: 6/10 (okay). Ratchet starts off on a very simple an unrefined state. Its very fun from more of 3D platformer perspective with that feeling more clear and fresh in this one with its simplified combat. However lets face facts here, the series was built up to market and sell itself on crazy weapons and that is more rich and fleshed out in future installments. This game is alright, but dated by the series' standards.
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (2003)
There's a small voice within the community holding the 2nd entry up as the best of the whole series. Personally I decline from putting it up in that position even if I agree a certain quality of it accels (more on that later), and the very name sends a small feeling of dread and frustration. This was my rocky start to the series, and I stand by the phrase "rocky" with a jagged cliff end in mind. Of course, this series wouldn't be one I loved so much today if it was terrible. Its not, just very frustrating. The difficulty at moments was insane, the space battles could be a bit too loose, the mini-games annoying , and then there's a moneybags type character around seemingly every planet or so stealing those bolts you wanted to put on the increasingly hiked gun prices.
At its core the experience is fun, except for those said mini-games. Seemingly at every turn the game wanted to distract you, like the sad mindset many COD games are set in. However the core mechanics introduced the better challenge mode, conceptually awesome space levels, upgrade-able weapons & health, and just more general mayhem to enjoy. However the thing that changes my feelings to the most extreme is the adventure... oh yes...
I'll sit there playing the mechanically better and amazing games in the series when memories of Going Commando start to pop in. Memories of the Theif's awesome vox voice, memories of beautiful rainy planets that relaxed me at their very sights, memories of battling double crossing crime organizations, searching for crystals across massive open world deserts and arctic fields full of massive monsters, the shock on my mind at the game's multiple twists, amazing level set pieces like a deadly tour guide where you can protect a robot civilian group before going into the off-limits weapon testing facility, and the one and only appearances of some great characters and enemies. I still want Mr. Fizzwidget (the real one?) and Angela to make a return. Also this game had a bestiary, a feature I would always love to see return but never has. The game was probably the best adventure in the entire series on simply all that you go through, see, and experience. For that... I think I might occasionally once in 3 years or so revisit and play the game through again and endure the headache of some of its balance issues and distracted mini-game problems. At least I'll give it credit for coming up with arena mini-games, but it wasn't properly executed until later in the series.
At its core the experience is fun, except for those said mini-games. Seemingly at every turn the game wanted to distract you, like the sad mindset many COD games are set in. However the core mechanics introduced the better challenge mode, conceptually awesome space levels, upgrade-able weapons & health, and just more general mayhem to enjoy. However the thing that changes my feelings to the most extreme is the adventure... oh yes...
I'll sit there playing the mechanically better and amazing games in the series when memories of Going Commando start to pop in. Memories of the Theif's awesome vox voice, memories of beautiful rainy planets that relaxed me at their very sights, memories of battling double crossing crime organizations, searching for crystals across massive open world deserts and arctic fields full of massive monsters, the shock on my mind at the game's multiple twists, amazing level set pieces like a deadly tour guide where you can protect a robot civilian group before going into the off-limits weapon testing facility, and the one and only appearances of some great characters and enemies. I still want Mr. Fizzwidget (the real one?) and Angela to make a return. Also this game had a bestiary, a feature I would always love to see return but never has. The game was probably the best adventure in the entire series on simply all that you go through, see, and experience. For that... I think I might occasionally once in 3 years or so revisit and play the game through again and endure the headache of some of its balance issues and distracted mini-game problems. At least I'll give it credit for coming up with arena mini-games, but it wasn't properly executed until later in the series.
Rating: 7/10 (Flawed Fun) R&C's 2nd adventure is possibly the best of all time, if only it were just a matter of being in the adventure. The actual reality is that the mini-games, difficulty, and frustrations endured will send you almost packing home from such an thrilling experience. However this was the best evolutionary point of the series with better combat experience and ideas that would become perfected in later games. Its still safe to say that this is a great game to play, but its just one of those that may have you on the verge of hurting something at its lesser points.
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (2004)
Oh yeah! R&C2 has a minority calling it the best thing ever, but the majority agree it is between two games and I so agree with each of them. This is one of them. Basically it took everything great about the 2nd game's mechanics, then perfected and refined them to be more user friendly and endure a better campaign. It was the first game that had streamlined ammo restocks, a more clear health system, the most advanced weapon system to be seen at the time (5 level weapons + challenge mode), 3 quick select slots, 3 full weapon wheels meaning you never worried about dragging on in some pause menu just to use a weapon once and put it back, and you had more power-ups than ever before. Oh and as for the story and adventure we were introduced to one of gaming's greatest villains Nefarious, quark became the lovable hero wanna-be he is in current games, there was a well crafted hub world in place, and you worked more as a heroic team with galactic rangers in a way that really amped up the game's scale in narrative alone.
When I was little I remember playing a demo of this game over and over before getting the final release. It was a level of a city blasting cyborg aliens, slime guns that could turn users friendly, and then there was the arena battle... oh yes loved and replayed the heck out of that. For the time being, friendly AI was something I adored in gaming, and this game's ranger arenas were just perfect for me at the time. Those alone were a huge selling point to me, and when I got the game with 5-6 sessions of the darn things, and the returning arenas from R&C2 (which would become a staple) I adored this game.
Rating: 10/10 (legendary) Yes if this were a real review, it would really be the first legendary I hand out. This game was absolutely near perfect in every way back in its day (except maybe the sewer hunting area was a little lame compared to R&C2's equivalents), and looking back now its the highest point in R&C's early life for a good reason. It still holds up as one of my favorite games in the whole series and its only rivaled by one other I'll get around to discussing later. The only thing I hate about this game is the hack puzzles, the ridiculous end game difficulty spike, and... that's it really. Fairly subjective stuff as well. Oh and again, this game gave us Dr. Nefarious, best villain ever. 10/10 without a single doubt, and one of the best games I've probably ever played. This is what made me realize this series was going places.
Ratchet: Deadlocked (2005)
Thing is as the title and box art would suggest, this game is more about combat. Yes even more than normally. Its got almost nothing else to it. You've got vehicle sections, and combat, but that's almost it. The adventure is rather confined and maybe shorter, the characters are relatively short lived to this game, and the planets always have smaller areas with a linear string attached to them pushing you on simple objectives. Its A to B with a lot of shooting, leveling, and short platforming bits. No puzzles, or non-arena based mini-games, which is a blessing if you ask me. However the combat focus also introduced the fun combat bots which gave you some minor extra breathing room and abilities, and the combat theme meant it had to give weapons extra leveling room, and one special leveling layer that I still miss as it was forsaken to just this entry: Modifiers. Modifiers came in magma, acid, shock, brain washing, morphing, freezing, and... uh well that useless time rift one. You basically stuck an elemental or crazy effect on nearly any weapon and gave it a totally new twist and strategy. I would freeze people with a rocket launch, then coat them in a magma mine deployer, and then smash them with a giant lightning mace, and then I could go back to the same arena totally changing those mods around and having a totally different order and effect of chaos. It was fantastic, but left a small desire to see it go even further. Why can't I make my blasters set enemies on fire? What were to happen if I combine ice and electric with my shotgun? Things like that, but the reality is this would be the one and only game for them.
The odd downside to this game might just be the bosses. For such a combat focused game, the bosses had almost no screen time and got progressively less interesting until the final two (and even the final boss was kind of "meh"). Gameplay wise they were as generic as could be with missiles, slashes, and those odd artillery stuff you see telegraphed, and story wise they just came and went with the 3rd exterminator being totally voice-less and lacking any distinguishing characteristics except for a joke that he was a good chef. I'll admit I loved Shellshock as an arnold impersonator, but he was still quite short lived and for such a tough guy taken out as the first real boss. The next big complaint will come off as rather similar, but the adventure spirit just isn't so present. Planets are very linear and the general direction of the story leaves you not really caring much for the places you go. I will say that its not actually much of a complaint though as its kind of what the game is... its about the combat, and not the adventure. Its just that I'm saying this so you don't show up expecting one with this entry. Don't get me wrong it still has some great concepts and ideas, and I adore the simple combat sports show theme alone. Oh and if you're playing the PS3 HD port version, prepare for a bit of a buggy mess. The game was cheating the PS2's hardware and simply wasn't meant to work as it was, but had some wizardry behind it that pulled off well. However porting it to another system... it sort of falls apart. Frame-rate issues make the game literally go into slow motion at various points, cut-scenes glitch out, and early on Ratchet's face outright collapses on him with some very strange visual stuff. Also the cut-scenes are still SD and the game just generally didn't have much done with amping it up for modern consoles. Its just a shabby port job, but one that is still playable and one I'd recommend if you have no other access to the game.
Rating: 9/10 (awesome) I sound a bit harsh on the game in some spots, but its generally a warning for those unaware, or a reminder for those who have forgotten what the game was like. Being a fan of the arena and combat of the series though, this "spin-off" was made for me and I love the game. Again, it once competed in my younger mind as the best of the series and thus one of the best games of all time, and while I don't favor it over a good adventure entry now I do still adore the game.
Future Series
For the first time R&C would start to actually tell a story that worked throughout a series of several games (I guess that's the power of going HD or something). R&C always had surprisingly good stories and epic adventures, but they seemed a bit disconnected and the references rather small, and some characters outright disappearing. Now... the series would go on a bold step to talk about Ratchet and Clank's character beyond him just saving the day. It would actually go on to uncover their origins.
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction (2007)
Debuting on the PS3 in its early days, Ratchet & Clank would move onto a bold new adventure. Metropolis, the most commonly attacked series in the game, starts out under siege as Ratchet finds himself embarking on the start of a fairly dramatic story. Gameplay is fairly similar, but ultimately a little oddly executed. You had weapon upgrades running off of their own currency to do some cool but odd stuff, but still leveling normally as well, and then you had a strange grenade system. The grenade system deployed weirder utilities that didn't upgrade much themselves nor were they supposed to be used for anything more than a light tactical twist. However some of them, like the disco-bomb, and Mr Zurkon, would become staples of the series as it went on.
The story is pretty good, but the adventure attached to it feels rather hit or miss. You'll find glimpses of cool ideas and great moments (be it narrative or gameplay) coming in, but then they pass you onto some odd gimmicky tool you forgot about, or reach some point that just isn't as fun. They also re-introduce space combat in the form of Starfox64 style rail fights, and have you hunting through fields of monsters again. Actually... now that I think about it, in quite a few ways this game feels like its trying to hit that Going Commando spark. A dramatic female side-kick, hunting through fields, space combat returning, and stuffed full of so many gadgets that the game itself isn't even able to keep up and instead shoves them in your throat like mini-games inconsistently. Even a few levels and areas remind me a good bit of R&C2. The thing is gameplay is much better and more refined with its improvements, however the adventure kind of sucks compared to R&C2. Its still a good and epic one, but if that's what they were trying to mirror the 2nd game, it just didn't work.
Rating: 6.7/10 (Okay) This is actually quite a bit like Going Commando, and I would even rate it almost up to its place in rating. The thing is though where as R&C2 was an evolutionary phase and had a strange high and low sort of enthusiasm, Tools of Destruction wasn't quite the evolution and just sort of drags along a middling line of good, but not great in both gameplay and narrative. The tools are actually probably the worst bit, as they feel forced and there are too many to see consistent use of them. Still the game is fairly good, just kind of... eh. Its actually the first in the whole series that I actually just lost interest in and dropped out for a while to go play something else. Actually still to this day I haven't beaten challenge mode. I'm going to remedy that sometime though...
Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty (2008)
Enter a really short, easy, and forgettable minature Ratchet game.... with possibly one of the best intro music pieces of the series! Okay yeah that's a bit weird to say, but moving on... this game basically takes off of Tool of Destruction's love of pirates, and has Ratchet going in search of clank with the help of some unreliable pirate buddies. Ratchet does a good bit for a small price, but its still a small deal overall. There really just isn't much to say here. There's some good humor, some fun moments, and some cool ideas, but Ratchet's leveling gameplay and arsenal doesn't have a place under such a short and constrained title.
Rating: 5/10 (okay) Not a finer point in the franchise. It came, it went, and people didn't bat an eye until the next game. This was just a fragment of a normal game, like the opening quarter worth without any of the progression to make you truly enjoy things. Its still a fun adventure, has some good platforming bits, and of course the dialogue and story is as good as ever, but it really just goes no where other than to fill a tiny story gap that... honestly isn't even needed, you can still just as easily skip this game and just figure out things for yourself between ToD and CiT. I seriously think this game might just be worth more because of its theme music on the PS3's menu.
Rating: 5/10 (okay) Not a finer point in the franchise. It came, it went, and people didn't bat an eye until the next game. This was just a fragment of a normal game, like the opening quarter worth without any of the progression to make you truly enjoy things. Its still a fun adventure, has some good platforming bits, and of course the dialogue and story is as good as ever, but it really just goes no where other than to fill a tiny story gap that... honestly isn't even needed, you can still just as easily skip this game and just figure out things for yourself between ToD and CiT. I seriously think this game might just be worth more because of its theme music on the PS3's menu.
Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time (2009)
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| best blue/orange ever! |
If you call yourself a Ratchet fan or even express the slightest of interest in the series, you must get this game right this very second. Right now. Yes I'm talking to you, this is your sign, go get it right now. Are we clear? Because this is one of the best games ever made IMO. This is the 2nd of the two games everyone adores, only this fixes the difficulty spikes in R&C3, and has Nefarious returning nd being possibly at his best yet. The story is here and good, the planets are awesome, the arena is fun, the weapons are fantastic and well refined, the platforming is all good, the theme of time is well used, the tool balance is good, Clank is actually interesting to play as for the first time, and there is even a spyro-esque collect-o-thon element overlapping the typical formula. Oh yes and there's no puzzle crap or convoluted tools, and things like the hoverboots are vastly improved. Combine that with the advanced physics, graphics, and the fact that this is the last game that will seem to feature the real Ratchet look (before the hideous spin-off engine revamped the style). If its not the highest point in the whole damn series, then Insomniac hasn't made it yet and I will be camping outside of gamestop for the successor to the crown. "Tell me more" You say? Gladly!
Basically Ratchet is in search of Clank who has gone missing. Dr.Nefarious returns and turns out to be the behind it, stealing clank to force him to operate the great clock, a massive machine that actually controls universal time.... at least that's what most people think it does, but I wont spoil the true conflict behind it. The story winds up covering some of the mysterious nature of where both Ratchet & Clank came from, and makes them question their destiny and what they're supposed to do. Its a plot that goes as epic as it may sound, while still retaining the humor and great characteristics the series is known for. Radio stations also add a nice touch while you're cruising through space, but that brings us to the gameplay...
I'll cut the gameplay description short by noting the newer traits. The game trades the usual metroidvania style for something more like a collect-o-thon. You have small space flight sections that take you from planet to planet like a hub world, and little side quests, asteroids, and moons you can go on as well to get extras. Your main collectible though are creatures called Zoni, and getting them will get you past certain gated points as you move on, and give your ship more upgrades. Clank's portions are changed from weird helper puzzles to an awesome time themed puzzle session, where you record various versions of yourself in order to play back and unlock set door pieces. These traits combined with the typical formula make for a very refreshing and exciting well crafted experience, and with such a high narrative point the game refuses to present a dull moment. Its a great game through and through. The only complaint I can truly make at what's there is that the first half of the game is dubbed as a little too easy. I thought this on my first run but then thought to myself "maybe I'm just so good now after all that I've played in the franchise." Nope! Told my father to give the series a try here, and he said out loud at some point that the game was just way too easy. However when "too easy" is the worst part of an otherwise perfect game, you're not really having much of an issue. Well okay that and a couple visual effects have some ugly jaggies, but phooey to complaining about that in a serious manner when the game is literally one of my all time favorites.
Rating: 10/10 (Legendary). If I were to go into great detail we'd be here all day, but just trust me on this... this game is one of the best. Its one of those games I keep coming back to for a full playthrough, one of the few I've totally platinum-ed and 100%'d on everything except skillpoints (because some of those are just ridiculous), and one of those games that is just so amazing that it has you simply taking a moment to pause within the game to just look at everything and say "life is just fantastic".
Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus (2013)
I hesitated to trust this game after a certain incident happened with the series, but we'll get to that later. However I'm so glad I picked this up, because at the end of the day... or year, it was one of the best things I played in the supposedly all-star year of 2013. And yet all it was, was a mere budget short release just advertised to be barely more than Quest for Booty. I already covered this in a review, but lets go over this game another time...
Into the Nexus was advertised as essentially a short epilogue adventure to the Future sub-series. Whether or not we'll ever get a game that forwards on the story line, who knows, but they wrapped this one up in an okay way. You had Ratchet's story coming to terms with his move as he is faced with a villain that wants to do quite the opposite. The villain shares a very similar fate as Ratchet but would rather tear apart the universe than to accept the short stick of luck. Its neat, especially when Thugs 4 less are involved again and better improved over their R&C2 counter-parts.
However the gameplay is where things really shine. You've got essentially every great piece of the formula mashed into a small game. Hunting? check. Arenas? Check. Awesome clank puzzle twist? Check. Cool cinematic battles? check. Ryno parts? Check. Challenge mode? Despite the short length, yes! I could go on and on. The only thing they didn't manage to cram in were space battles. They even managed to introduce the best jet pack type gadget yet, which goes fairly unrestricted at two portions and its really fun. Generally the game is an outright blast.
Rating: 10/10 (Awesome) I was thinking of giving it a 9 type decimal rating by comparison with the other games, but screw it. Just emphasize the "awesome" part and not a legendary like the other 10s. Its not up there with R&C3 or crack in time, but for a $30 mini-adventure it does absolutely everything amazing it possibly could accomplish. There isn't anything truly bad about it other than the fact that it is indeed short. Its also the most gorgeous game yet, even if I still hate the A4O engine model of the characters. If this was an apology for the series down time, consider it accepted, but I would still love to see a full game soon. Please be good Ratchet 2015!
Spin-offs from deep space
Yeah I know at this point you're wondering either why there is a huge time gap between CiT and Nexus, or you're wondering if I skipped out on some. No I did not, its just that those two are neither contributing greatly to the story set within the Future series, nor do they play as good R&C games. So I saved an area for them here. Deadlocked might just count as a spin-off of course because of its strange theme as well as its placement in the series, but honestly it has two major differences from these games: First off it still did a lot to feel like a R&C game. It was more minor changes rather than a full on spin-off. You could also argue a lot of differences on that scale crossed between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd R&C games as it was evolving. 2nd major difference is it didn't suck and actually had optional multiplayer done right. These two spin-offs on the other hand.... well....
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One (2011)
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| just miserable |
This game deserves an entire article worth hating on, because its not just a bad Ratchet game, but its a terrible game going under a formula that I will never comprehend fun under. I really need to talk about it with more space and time dedicated to the issue. I call it forced gimmick co-op gaming. Its the kind of thing where half the gameplay is made up of buddy puzzles where you just tell or wait on the other player or bot to stand on the opposite switch of you. Did that? Good, here's a cookie! It might as well be called Skinner Box with Friend's: The video game! Its just you pushing a switch, or swinging, or doing something synced with a buddy and that's somehow called gameplay and they manage to stretch it across the whole damn thing. Oh and as a bonus, this is where they decided to completely screw up Ratchet's art style which is even carrying over into normal games like nexus (movie seems to be adding back in more details thankfully, but still not so sure), so its literally scared Ratchet.
However lets talk about the gameplay anyways... Well you're basically playing from a fixed overhead view under a co-op style game of up to 4 players. You run around and shoot enemies with a somewhat normal loadout. The thing is though that weapons don't work like normal, and enemies are extreme bullet sponges because one of those co-op gimmicks is attached to basic gunplay. You have to both shoot an enemy at the same time, activate a weird ring, and then wait for it to give you extra points as it just sits there to soak up shots. R&C may have bullet sponges in most cases, but this is double if not triple what you're used to, and its for the sake of making sure you play together... by forced gimmicks. Likewise that's how your tools work, that's where some doors and gates come into play, and that's what set pieces take advantage of. Just about the entire game is making sure you and a disfunctional bot, or a potentially uncooperative friend do everything at the same time.
The only good thing, and I really do mean that, is probably the story. Quark is president, Dr,nefarious returns (and has to work with everyone), and some mysterious stuff is going on within a planet that was once peaceful and tribal and now being altered with some strange stuff. That's a pretty great set-up, especially president quark. Heck that's almost what makes me hate this game even more... that one idea sounds so good on paper, but yet its thrown into a game where Quark gets used as just another interchangeable player character spouting out repetitive one liners in the game. There's not much room for his character to really do what he usually does when he's forced to be treated like someone could play as him. Still the story is good enough that I forced myself through. Any other compliments, like maybe one particular platforming challenge or set piece, are so small and short lived that its just not worth referencing. Well okay, I will say the reversible cover on the case is cool.
Rating: 2/10 (Heresy) The only thing that saves this game from a 1 is the fact that it functions... and even then I'm not sure that's a good thing. I got this game from a 3 for $10 sale (I was aware of how bad it would be, so I waited quite a bit) and still felt ripped off because I could have got deadspace 2 or fallout vegas instead for the 3rd game. That's really sad putting those two games as more desirable as a Ratchet game, but the thing is this isn't actually one. Its a terrible gimmicky co-op game in line with other terrible co-op games that I'm baffled even exist, and I'm confused as to how anyone calls them fun. This just has Ratchet's face, story, and some humor tacked onto it. Insomniac, don't you ever do this again.
However lets talk about the gameplay anyways... Well you're basically playing from a fixed overhead view under a co-op style game of up to 4 players. You run around and shoot enemies with a somewhat normal loadout. The thing is though that weapons don't work like normal, and enemies are extreme bullet sponges because one of those co-op gimmicks is attached to basic gunplay. You have to both shoot an enemy at the same time, activate a weird ring, and then wait for it to give you extra points as it just sits there to soak up shots. R&C may have bullet sponges in most cases, but this is double if not triple what you're used to, and its for the sake of making sure you play together... by forced gimmicks. Likewise that's how your tools work, that's where some doors and gates come into play, and that's what set pieces take advantage of. Just about the entire game is making sure you and a disfunctional bot, or a potentially uncooperative friend do everything at the same time.
The only good thing, and I really do mean that, is probably the story. Quark is president, Dr,nefarious returns (and has to work with everyone), and some mysterious stuff is going on within a planet that was once peaceful and tribal and now being altered with some strange stuff. That's a pretty great set-up, especially president quark. Heck that's almost what makes me hate this game even more... that one idea sounds so good on paper, but yet its thrown into a game where Quark gets used as just another interchangeable player character spouting out repetitive one liners in the game. There's not much room for his character to really do what he usually does when he's forced to be treated like someone could play as him. Still the story is good enough that I forced myself through. Any other compliments, like maybe one particular platforming challenge or set piece, are so small and short lived that its just not worth referencing. Well okay, I will say the reversible cover on the case is cool.
Rating: 2/10 (Heresy) The only thing that saves this game from a 1 is the fact that it functions... and even then I'm not sure that's a good thing. I got this game from a 3 for $10 sale (I was aware of how bad it would be, so I waited quite a bit) and still felt ripped off because I could have got deadspace 2 or fallout vegas instead for the 3rd game. That's really sad putting those two games as more desirable as a Ratchet game, but the thing is this isn't actually one. Its a terrible gimmicky co-op game in line with other terrible co-op games that I'm baffled even exist, and I'm confused as to how anyone calls them fun. This just has Ratchet's face, story, and some humor tacked onto it. Insomniac, don't you ever do this again.
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault (2012)
So after a terrible co-op game, did Insomniac learn a lesson? Not really. Enter the next multiplayer themed game, and another abomination. This game took to online multiplayer and traded 4 players for two and a competitive scene. Ironically however you could only play couch co-op in... well co-op, the versus was strictly online for some stupid reason. That's actually kind of sad because the core basis of this game would have, unlike All4one, been fun with a buddy. They actually got co-op right here. You basically played R&C under a 3rd person perspective again, platforming, and earning crazy guns to shoot up stuff with. The twist was that there was that you were strictly playing between attack & defend stuff. You had to run out and smash some outposts, then return back to base to design your own defenses and defend generators.
Did it work? Well yes, to an extent... and very limited one. The thing is that it wasn't made to last. R&C was never known or used well for competitive multiplayer, so that's dead and gone while all that matters is the campaign which was rushed and shallow as ever (even compared to all4one). The attach & defend nature of objectives got ridiculously repetitive, weapon collecting was designed around a very weird principle of finding pods, and there was no real diversity. Oh and there were only about 6 levels, and a plot that was good but fit for more of a 30 minute episode feeling rather than a meaningful adventure in the series. On the bright side, the game was actually fun in some parts and had some interesting ideas. Maybe in a better world the multiplayer would have lived long enough to entertain and grow a community around it. On the down side though, the game just lacks the effort to make it anything good. Co-op only split-screen, rushed story and campaign mode, repetition that just makes the gameplay a grind rather than leaving that to the RPG stats. It just wasn't that good.
Rating: 4/10 (Hersey) I'm a little surprised that many people actually prefer A4O over this one. Its like what I say about Spyro's 1st PS2 entry: Sure its bad, but at least it has some resemblance and fun parts that we love out of the older games. This game actually has some fun combat, the defense pieces can be fun at first, and the co-op is something I actually wanted to try with somebody. Its... still bad, but its close enough to fun to have fooled me into buying it based off the demo and even having some short lived moments of joy. Then when Nexus released the next year I remembered what actual Joy from start to finish was really like, and vowed to probably never play these two spin-offs again.
On a final note with these spin-offs, this sort of thing is the epitome of why I don't hate on COD simply for not changing. There are other reasons to criticize some annualized series, but innovation isn't the first thing that comes to mind. I'll take a new adventure in a great series over something so different that fans try to pretend it doesn't exist, and new comers ignore it outright because they can't be bothered to play sub-par material from a series that has lost its identity. That being said I don't totally hate spin-offs, if they're done intelligently and done in a way that doesn't hurt the series cannon. However I think R&C dragged it out the wrong way, and I'm worried the series' low sales might have been in some part because we haven't gotten a full on new Ratchet adventure since 2009 (though do note sales figures were dropping after ToD, so its just a rough guess to say Nexus sold poorly because of the spin-offs).
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