ratchet & clank

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Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/04/2011

Posted in: PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: a crack in time, insomniac, platformer, playstation, playstation 3, ps3, ratchet & clank, shooter, Sony. Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Insomniac Games

Release Date: 10/27/2009

Available Exclusively On

The Ratchet & Clank series is dear to me because it came out about ten years ago, when I was just seriously getting into gaming. It’s part of my generation, and now that I’m playing the last game in the second part of the series, it feels great. Everything you expect from a Ratchet game is here and intact, and nothing has really changed. That’s both good and bad, depending on how you look at it. Hardcore fans will love this and not feel a thing towards the repetition, but to me, it feels like Insomniac is running out of steam gameplay-wise. The story is great, but it’s the same run and gun controls, slippery platforming, and a few curve balls thrown in to keep the series interesting like past games.

This game is serious story-wise and tells the tale of Clank’s origins and what his purpose is, and this is the best part of the game. It’s what we’ve been waiting to hear about for ten years, but after playing Clank’s mind-bending puzzle sections, Ratchet’s feel monotonous after about halfway through the game. Changing up the levels doesn’t cut it anymore because the graphics are pretty dated. The art style is still charming, but the graphics look like a really good PS2 game compared to other games out there today.

Clank’s levels consist of time manipulation, and you can record yourself to solve puzzles. It’s hard to explain, but there are four sections in total through the game (not enough), and then there’s a bizarre dual-stick shooter mini-game thrown in towards the end of the game. Clank’s levels look better than Ratchet’s and have better effects, but this is where the most interesting part of the story plays out. Clank does have combat abilities, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.

Ratchet’s levels have been the same since 2002, and while there are some new weapons, I found a lot of them useless for once in an R&C game. A lot of the enemies recycle and repeat, and only certain weapons are good against certain enemies. However, later in the game, a lot of the weapons just don’t do much, and you resort to using more powerful weapons. You can find mods for your weapons that add different types of ammo, make it shoot differently, add power, etc., but these are hard to find and require hardcore fans hours of dedication to finding them all. Ratchet has a couple of new gadgets, such as the OmniSoaker and Hover Boots, but I wanted to see some more since this is a finale.

Ratchet can now freely explore space and visit mini-worlds for Zoni (to enhance your ship), mods, gold bolts, etc. This adds variety to the game, but after a while, it gets boring since there are only so many different types of worlds that are copied. Space battles add a nice mix to the fray of just-on-the ground run-and-gun affairs, so they are welcomed. Just like ground shooting, once you get to the last sector, you’re just tired of the same space fights and planet exploration.

The best part of the game is probably the boss fights, since they are challenging and each one is different and unique. It really makes you utilize your arsenal, but again, some weapons will be completely useless. There seems to be a bit of uniqueness and variation here and there, but it’s not dished out as fast or as often as in past games. The enemy variety is really low, so you will kill the same robot one million times by the end of the game. It’s a shame. Time turned out to be such a repetitive game because it has a ton of potential. I would have loved to play more as Clank solves puzzles, but there’s enough here to keep you going through the 15+ hour game.

Despite a nice ending to the game, you can start a new game+, but there’s no real incentive to go back through since you’ll want the game to end early on anyway. The voice acting is top-notch as usual, and the storytelling is Pixar quality, but this is probably the worst R&C gameplay-wise just because I expect a lot from Insomniac. The series needs a serious reboot or I’m not coming back to visit the furry one and his metal pal.

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/27/2010

Posted in: PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: future, insomniac, platformer, playstation, playstation 3, ratchet & clank, shooter, Sony, tools of destruction. 5 Comments

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Insomniac Games

Release Date: 10/23/2007

Available Exclusively On

The dynamic duo that debuted on the PS2 nine years ago is now back in next-generation action with new weapons, updated graphics, and the same awesome stories and dialog you would expect from the series. The future sees the duo fighting an ancient race known as the Cragmites that Ratchet’s lombax ancestors supposedly destroyed. Ratchet learns more about his ancestor’s dark past and must stop the evil Emperor Tachyon before he annihilates the last of the lombax race: Ratchet.

The game hasn’t changed in the past nine years, and this is both good and bad. The tried-and-true action platforming formula that revolutionized the platforming genre is still intact here, but with no upgrades. Ratchet can jump around, hover, glide, fly, roll, and shoot his way through hordes of enemies. The game is also a third-person shooter that allows strafing from side to side and a first-person mode. You have to go around the world finding certain gadgets and weapons to kill bigger, badder enemies and unlock areas. Gadgets range from the classic Slingshot and Gravity/Grind Boots to the new Geo-Laser (which uses the SixAxis to guide it), the Hover Wings (which also uses the SixAxis), and more. Weapons include the Combuster, Shard Repeater, Tornado Launcher (that uses SixAxis to guide the tornadoes), Death Springs, Predator Missile, and more. There are some defensive weapons, like the awesome Grovatron, which shoots out the disco ball and makes the enemies dance. The Morph gun turns enemies into penguins, while the Gelenator uses a green jello goop that lets you jump to higher areas at certain levels. All the weapons are original, creative, and really fun to use. Some enemies are weaker than other weapons, which makes weapons gained at the beginning useless towards the end, so there are balancing issues.

Weapons can be upgraded automatically after use, or you can do it yourself by collecting raritanium and upgrading at weapon stations. You can also buy new weapons, armor, and gadgets like Leech Bombs. Buying items in the game requires nuts and bolts that are collected from killing enemies or breaking open boxes. There are also some ammo boxes spread throughout the level, so keep an eye out for those. There are also life boxes that you can collect, but these tend to be rare thanks to the game’s high difficulty. Yeah, the game is really hard because not only are the bosses hard, but later on, in the game, a few hits will kill you even if your health is past the 200 range. I found this very frustrating, plus no matter how much you upgrade your weapons, you never feel like they’re powerful enough, which leads to ammo issues. This is a huge downfall in the game, and I hope the new game fixes this problem.

If you really love just killing enemies, you can go into the infamous gladiator stages and earn yourself some serious bolts by beating waves of enemies with certain instructions. These can range from only using your wrench, weapons switching automatically, to even boss fight tag teams. Some people are probably wondering about Clank. Well, he gets his own upgraded and improved levels using the mysterious Zoni as his helper instead of the little robot Clanks. You can levitate across gaps and order them to repair things, and the newest addition is slowing downtime. Clank’s sections haven’t been updated too much, but it’s enough to keep you from getting bored. You can also collect gold bolts and unlock skill points to buy some costumes in the extras menu, but they aren’t that great, so only hardcore fans should indulge.

Another side note that I have to mention is that the game uses the SixAxis really well, from diving from the sky to use the weapons to even shaking your booty in a pirate dancing mini-game—yeah, only in Ratchet & Clank. One of my favorite mini-games is the new “tilt-the-ball” type of hacking game, which has a spark running from circuits, and you have to tilt the controller to guide a metal ball to connect the gaps so the spark can reach its node. The game throws a lot of new stuff at you at a good rate, so this keeps you from getting bored. I just wish that the game wasn’t so hard so it could be more enjoyable. What makes the game even harder is that the checkpoints are far and few in between. You can finish half a level and then have to start over from the beginning.

If you think Future suffers from a lot of problems, it does. The huge difficulty problem, poor balancing, and not-so-next-gen graphics make you really consider this for purchase, but with a super funny story, loveable characters, and great weapons, it makes up for all those shortcomings. The Groovitron alone is worth the play-through.

Secret Agent Clank

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/05/2009

Posted in: PlayStation 2, PSP, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: platformer, playstation, psp, ratchet & clank, secret agent clank, Sony. Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: High Impact Games

Release Date: 6/17/2008

Available On

A lot of people hated Size Matters due to the fact that it had poor controls and felt more like a console port. SAC was made from the ground up and feels more portable-friendly. You play the main character, Clank, who is a secret agent and has to stop the thief of the Eye of Infinity, which will destroy the entire galaxy. Throughout the game, you use stealth by sneaking up behind enemies, pressing square, and executing a series of buttons before the timer runs out. This is very refreshing and never really gets boring. You can use some very clever weapons, such as the Tangle Carnation, which releases pods that eat enemies; the holo-monocle, which lets you disguise yourself as the enemy; and even cufflink bombs. You also perform some well-designed platforming and solve some simple puzzles with your special key (it’s probably the worst mini-game in the whole game).

While you prance around as Clank, you can use your Gadgebots to unlock doors through a series of puzzles you have to solve, and these are super fun and addictive. Clank also has some mini-games of his own, such as snowboarding, and a series of driving mini-games where you have to avoid obstacles. When you finish the mini-game, you can play more of the same type to get more bolts (money), like in all the other R&C games.

Some other mini-games have you doing timed button presses, which really keeps things from getting stiff. Aside from the Clank sections, you can play as Ratchet in jail, fending off his fellow prison mates. These are actually very repetitive and are the same arena games seen in other R&C games. Quark’s games are the funniest and are really weird. You have Quark saving space nuns, saving fishmen from killer cacti, and even singing about his left butt cheek. With all of this combined, you can unlock skill points and find titanium bolts to unlock more skins. I never really found this game boring, and it has a lot of replay value for R&C fans. There is no multiplayer this time around, but it’s not really missed. The game looks amazing and is probably in the top five best-looking PSP games out there right now. If you want a super funny, fun, and unique single-player game on the PSP, pick this up.