Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Reviewed on: PlayStation 3
Available on: PlayStation 2,
PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita
Released: November 4th 2002
The Ratchet & Clank series
is one which I've always been quite fond of, but never delved into
very much. Despite playing the Jak and Daxter games more, I
always preferred the outings of Ratchet & Clank so I don't
know why I didn't ever dive into the games properly. I've played the
first game many times as a kid and I also loved the third in the
series too, but other than those two games, I've never played any of
the others (despite hearing very good things about the PS3 series).
To remedy this lack of Ratchet &
Clank in my life, I've decided to play through all of the main
series games and review them one by one (which will probably take me
a while) and what better place to start than with the remastered
trilogy on PS3 which includes the first three games in the series. So
let's go back in time to 2002 and revisit the first ever adventure of
Ratchet & Clank.
Who would have thought that this little guy would end up saving the galaxy?
The story of Ratchet & Clank
begins with us being introduced to a little robot who is created
because of a malfunction with a machine that's designed to make war machines to join an army that's controlled by the antagonist of the
game; Chairman Drek. Because the little robot was created due to a malfunction, he's freed from the control of Drek and is capable of
independent thought. He discovers Chairman Drek's evil plan and
finds out that he's threatening to destroy several planets scattered
all around the galaxy. The robot proceeds to escape to a nearby
planet (called Veldin) where a mechanic named Ratchet is working.
Ratchet spots the ship crashing in the
distance and goes to investigate, only to discover the small robot
and take him home. The robot wakes up and informs Ratchet that the
galaxy is in danger and they're in need of a hero to save them.
Ratchet tells the robot (who he names Clank) about the legendary hero
Captain Qwark and the two set off to find him.
After finally meeting up with Captain
Qwark (while destroying several of Chairman Drek's operations along
the way), he tells the duo that in order to get his help, they must
prove themselves worthy by going through a dangerous obstacle course.
Ratchet suspects something is wrong with Qwark's motives but Clank
persuades him to continue onward to get Qwark's help. However, at the
end of the obstacle course, they're betrayed and it's revealed that
Qwark is in fact working with Chairman Drek who is taking chunks out
of planets to create his own perfect world which he will charge high
prices for people to live on. Ratchet and Clank survive the trap set
up by Qwark but Ratchet becomes obsessed with getting revenge, ignoring the greater threat that Drek poses. This causes a
rift between Ratchet and Clank due to conflicting goals.
After fighting though several planets
and finding clues as to the whereabouts of both Qwark and Drek, they
finally relocate Qwark who attempts to kill them in a space dogfight.
Ratchet succeeds in blasting Qwark out of the sky and finally has the
revenge he's been trying to get all this time. However they then
discover that Drek intends on destroying Ratchet's homeworld (Veldin)
and Ratchet learns that his quest for vengeance has allowed Drek to
become a serious threat and had they focused their attention on the
bigger problem, he never could have become this powerful. Clank
informs Ratchet that it isn't too late, and they set out on one final
mission to destroy Drek.
Upon finding Drek, he informs the duo
that his intentions aren't to simply create a nice planet for people
to live on in peace, but to eventually destroy the new planet too, and
repeat the process over and over to keep making profit. Ratchet and
Clank go on to defeat Drek and blast him to his newly created planet
before using a huge laser beam to blow it up, thus killing Drek and
ending the threat he presents.
Now their mission is over, Ratchet and
Clank part ways, Clank feels sad at the loss of his friend and any real purpose, however Ratchet has a change of heart and
comes back for Clank and the two remain friends. After the credits,
Ratchet and Clank are watching TV where a shamed Captain Qwark is
presenting on a shopping channel having lost the respect of the
public after the events of the game.
The plot of Ratchet & Clank
is actually quite complex for a platformer and this is very
refreshing. With this being Insomniac's first game on PS2 they had to
step everything up a notch and set out to impress and I think this is
definitely one area where they did this. While the Chairman Drek part
of the story is fairly straight forward, the inclusion of the Qwark
sub-plot makes the game feel a lot more meaty. It also enables the
game to develop Ratchet's character and create an overarching moral
throughout the story (not being close minded and selfish and to look
at the bigger picture). While Ratchet does act like a spoiled
teenager at times, I think this was done on purpose to make his
change in character more impactful towards the end of the game.
Overall, the story is very enjoyable
from start to end, and there's actually some genuinely funny moments
sprinkled in, like how Chairman Drek is constantly being referred to
as more convoluted titles as the game progresses, ending with him
becoming 'Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman Drek'. This is the sort
of thing you could miss if you aren't paying attention but it always
got a chuckle out of me and also informs us about just how vain and
misguided Drek actually is.
My one major criticism of the game's
story is that you see a silhouette of Qwark with Drek right at the
start of the game, which completely ruins the twist where you
discover Qwark is actually just a washed up celebrity in a conquest
for fame and money. It's similar to how you're told at the start of
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back that Cortex is evil,
but the game progresses in a way that implies you aren't supposed to
know that. Besides this one issue though, the story is quite solid
overall and does what it sets out to do.
The gameplay of Ratchet & Clank
follows a fairly standard collect-a-thon format, you travel to
different levels and the main objective is to collect Infobots which
give you coordinates to new levels (thus progressing the game).
Instead of having a hub world (like Peach's Castle in Super Mario
64) Ratchet & Clank cuts out the middle man and simply
gives you a space ship which you can use to fly straight to other
levels instead of having to always go back to a central hub. While I
love hub worlds (especially if they're well designed) I don't think
this would have made sense in this particular game due to having to
blast off to other planets, so in
this case, I think it makes sense to have streamlined this aspect.
As well as Infobots, you'll also find
gadgets. These gadgets act as the games power-ups and allow you to
travel around different environments that you couldn't before.
Examples of this are the Magneboots which allow you to walk up metal
walls, the o2 mask which allows you to breathe in toxic atmospheres,
underwater and in outer space and the Swingshot which acts as a
grappling hook which you can use to swing on floating balls and reach
new places. There are a ton of these gadgets and every single one is
put to good use over several levels. They also open up new areas to
explore in previous levels which is one way the game gives players a
sense of progression. With the amount of gadgets at your disposal you
would think the game would under-utilise some of them, but it does a
fantastic job of making sure you use all of them quite frequently
which makes the game extremely varied and fresh throughout.
Then there's the weapons you can buy
and collect which were one of the main selling points when they were
marketing the game to consumers. The way in which you approach combat
in Ratchet & Clank is incredibly customisable, you could
favour staying back and using long ranged weapons like the Blaster or
the Devastator, you could use the Bomb Glove or Mine Glove which are
more close ranged weapons or you could be more tactical and use
weapons like the Taunter or the Decoy Glove to set traps and ambush
your enemies. There's sixteen weapons in total and this focus on
action and using different styles of combat to suit the situation
really set it apart from it's competition.
The primary weapon in Ratchet's vast
arsenal is the OmniWrench which is simply his method of hitting things
at close quarters. By pressing the square button you will instantly
swing the wrench (no matter what weapon or gadget is currently in your
hand) and this makes it extremely handy for taking care of enemies
that are getting a bit too close for comfort. You can perform a three
hit combo, an aerial attack or even throw the wrench for a bit of a
ranged attack and all of these feel incredibly satisfying. The hits
feel weighty and the way the enemies react to the blows make it feel
really impactful and fun to use. Of all the weapons in the game, this
is the one I used the most by far.
Other than the previously mentioned
collectables, you can also find Gold Bolts which are the game's
reward for exploring hidden and secret areas that aren't easily
accessible. Upon finding four of these you can upgrade a standard
weapon into a gold weapon which makes it more powerful, so it's nice
that there's an actual reason to collect these as opposed to just
being there for no reason. You can also acquire Skill Points (which
actually debuted in Insomniac's Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer,
or Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage for you Americans) and these are
found by following a vague clue in the 'Goodies' menu and doing
something very specific in a certain level, such as destroying street
lights or shooting down ships. These give you access to the in-game
sketchbook which shows concept art and some interesting text about
the development of the game and if you manage to acquire all of the
Skill Points, you can view an 'Epilogue' which is just a selection of
magazine covers giving you a glimpse into what happened after the
events of the game. Even though the Skill Points don't do anything
special, at least they reward you with something. It would have been
nice to get something a bit more substantial though because these are
the hardest things to get in the game.
The levels in the game are structured
in a way which actually somewhat reminds me of Dark Souls and
Resident Evil, only to a lesser extent, and much more
simplified than those games. That might sound a bit odd, but let me
explain. Each level is presented as being a huge open area to
explore, but it's not truly open and only gives the impression of
this by having one central area (where your ship and the Gadgetron
vendor will be, which is where you buy new weapons and ammo) and then
two or three separate paths to go down, which will lead to their own
objectives. When you reach the end of one of these paths, it will
loop back to the central area (where you started the level) and
everything will begin to make actual geographical sense as you build
a map of the world in your mind. This is one way in which the game
intelligently makes the levels feel like actual worlds and places and
it also gives the game a feeling of huge scale, when in actual fact,
it's quite linear. You're also kept wanting to explore all the
different areas of the levels by being able to see things off in the
distance from one path, which you can actually reach by going down
another path. This game is filled
with examples of very good level design and it really needs to be
commended.
As well as the general platforming
featured in every level, there will almost always be a side area
where things are kept varied with a different gameplay style. There
are two hoverboard races to take part in which are quite fun and
challenging, there are rail grinding sections where you'll be jumping
over bombs and switching between rails to avoid obstacles, there are
turret sections where you'll need to blast your enemies out of the
sky while also shooting their missiles before they hit you, there's
flying missions where you'll be in a dogfight and be tasked with
destroying enemy ships, there's sections where you play as Clank who
obviously doesn't have the fire power that Ratchet has, but he can
communicate with tiny robots and use them to overpower enemies and
complete puzzles, there's underwater swimming sections (which control
extremely well), there are also areas where Clank becomes huge and
can smash down walls, helicopters and basically anything that stands
in his way and there's even more different gameplay styles that I've
not mentioned that are just as good, but if I list all of them we'll
be here all day. This stops the game from ever feeling monotonous and
too much of a grind and also does a good job of making every single
level stand out from each other.
In terms of things to complain about to
do with the general gameplay, there's nothing substantial to talk
about. I would have liked to see a few more boss sections because
these are few and far between and I think the game is very slightly
too long (maybe it could have done with getting rid of about three
levels) but these are definitely nitpicks and there's hardly anything
here to criticise.
Another minor criticism could be that
the different playstyles are a little bit basic, but personally, I
don't actually think this is a bad thing. To have complicated the
many different playstyles would have given the player too much to
remember and take in, but by keeping them basic it's easy to grasp
and remember for when that particular gameplay style returns.
I will say, one thing that is a little
bit of an issue is that the game is quite easy and it never quite
feels like it reaches the point of getting challenging at any time.
This is a shame because all of the different styles of gameplay (and
of course, the main platforming portions of the game) feel like they
could have been stepped up that little bit more to become difficult.
The mechanics are all there to give players a challenge but it just
never happens. This could be why I found the game to be slightly too
long, if the difficulty had been there, I probably wouldn't have felt
like it's length was a problem.
Graphically, this game is very good, I
was playing the HD version of the game on PS3 which obviously looks
better than the original game, but considering that I think the game
still looks good even by today's standards (in terms of the general
quality of the graphics), I think that's a testament to how good it
looked back in 2002 too. Every planet is distinguishable from the
last and this is almost entirely down to the variety in graphics.
Different planets will have different buildings, weather and
residents and this makes it feel like you're truly visiting different
worlds as opposed to just another level.
An issue with Ratchet & Clank
looking back on it in 2017 is that while some areas look incredible
when there's flying cars zooming around and lots of movement on the
screen, sometimes you'll be in less busy areas and things will look a
bit too static. This is particularly an issue when you're in secret
areas or places where you've already wiped out the enemies,
everything can look very lifeless and empty. However, because
the game's pace is kept quite fast, this isn't too much of a problem
because for every area that looks dead, there's an area that's
brimming with life too.
The character animation is really good,
Ratchet looks stretchy and bouncy but not too over the top which
makes jumping and attacking feel all the more satisfying. When you
stop still you'll be able to see him looking around which makes it
feel like you're controlling an actual character rather than a bunch
of pixels on the screen. As well as the main character's animation
being great, so is all of the enemy animation, all of them will move and react differently and this adds so much to their personalities and they're
a pleasure to fight against.
The HD version of the game does have
some issues that weren't present in the original such as the shop
vendor still being displayed in a 4:3 aspect ratio, but stretched to
give off the illusion of being 16:9 (like the rest of the game), but
this just looks absolutely terrible and I would rather have just seen
him displayed in 4:3 rather than being stretched like that. The
game's pre-rendered cutscenes are displayed in 4:3 which can be a bit
disjointing going from that to the normal 16:9 widescreen gameplay,
but I'm assuming nothing could be done about this during the HD
upscaling process. However, in the grand scheme of things, these
visual annoyances are only minor and the rest of the game looks
amazing on PS3.
Ratchet's controls are extremely tight,
responsive and varied, he has multiple types of jumps to cover
different heights and distances and these jumps can be customised by
using different mods which are attached to Clank. The helipack is
slow but enables Ratchet to cover greater distances by using a long
jump, he can also jump a lot higher by using the high jump as well as
hover by holding the jump button after a double jump. The thruster-pack
works very similarly to the helipack but it's faster, the long jump
is longer and the high jump isn't quite as high. You can also perform
a slam move with the thruster-pack but this is actually the only gadget
ability in the game that's hardly ever used and even when it is, it's
just to slam down onto a button. Different jumps can be combined together to
allow for more complicated movement and it always feels really
satisfying when you pull off a complex series of jumps using the
different combinations. The overall movement feels really satisfying
and I never missed a platform because of the controls throughout the
entire game.
Despite the general movement being
good, one aspect of the controls is quite heavily flawed and this
aspect of the game is the worse thing about the entire package. The
shooting controls can be very irritating at times and this is down to
the way the auto aiming works. You have to be looking directly at an
enemy for your shots to actually hit their target and when the main
portion of the game is about moving quickly and avoiding obstacles,
the shooting parts of the game simply don't gel well with the
controls. It's far too easy to be shooting at an enemy and to move
out of the way of something and then be unable to get your aim back
on the enemy you was shooting before. When there's multiple large
enemies, it's impossible to manage the situation properly because you
simply can't avoid everything and shoot and a singular enemy all at
the same time. There should have been a lock on button that locked
the camera onto one particular enemy and made it so all your shots
were directed towards them. As it stands though, this problem
actually somewhat ruins the shooting mechanic of the game, and this
is a huge problem given the fact that this is one of the main things
that you'll be doing. The variety of guns means nothing
if you don't use most of them due to it being too difficult to hit
enemies from a distance, and this is probably part of the reason why
I used the wrench as my primary weapon. Even when I did use a gun, I
mostly stuck to the Blaster due to it being the most versatile and
because I found that it locked onto enemies slightly better than some
others.
I've seen a few reviews from around the
time the game came out that criticised the camera in Ratchet &
Clank and I actually have to say, I don't really understand what
the issue is. You have 360 degree control over the camera with the
right analogue stick and you can invert the controls in the options
menu, there's a first person mode (which makes aiming easier but also
restricts movement, making it impossible to dodge or even move at
all) and you can snap the camera behind Ratchet at the press of a
button (which admittedly, is a bit jarring because it literally just
cuts to behind Ratchet rather than spinning behind him quickly).
There's nothing else Insomniac could have done to give you more
control over the camera here, and yes, sometimes camera control is
taken away from you (like in boss sections) but this was never an
issue for me and if anything it actually helped to direct me towards
what I was supposed to be looking at. I found the camera to be great
and didn't have a single issue throughout my entire time playing it.
The sound design in Ratchet & Clank
is great, all the guns make satisfying and powerful noises, the
enemies all make different grunts and sounds as they fight against
you and there's a good degree of environmental sound, like how when
Ratchet walks on different surfaces and the change in noise reflects
this.
The music is good and definitely
matches the sci-fi action vibe that the game's going for, but I found
that none of the tracks really stood out to me all that much. They do
a good job of giving each level a certain vibe but it's one of those
situations where I couldn't remember the individual themes for any of
the levels once I stopped playing. It's definitely not that the
music's bad, it's just unmemorable for me personally.
The voice acting is of a high quality,
particularly Clank's voice, which I found to be the perfect match for
his character and visual design. Ratchet's voice is okay, but I do
find it to be a little bit over the top and obnoxious at times, like
he's trying too hard to be a cool and edgy teenager, but to be fair,
Ratchet's character is somewhat like this anyway, so it sort of
works. Even if you aren't a fan of his dialogue, he doesn't quip
during gameplay, so it's quite easy to ignore. Other NPC character's
sound great too, Chairman Drek and Captain Qwark both have the
perfect voice actors, and other level specific character's voice
actors do a fantastic job as well.
Ratchet & Clank is a fantastic game
and if by any chance you haven't played it, you should go and do so
right now (although the HD version of the game is quite expensive,
but there's always the original PS2 version). It marks the start of
the era where platformers started to become hybrids of other genres
(in this case, a shooter) but still had platforming at their core, so
in that regard it's also interesting to play if you're interested in
how games started to evolve in the sixth generation of consoles.
The story is somewhat simple and
predictable but has a couple of twists and turns to keep you invested
and does a good job of developing Ratchet from a simple mechanic to a
hero at the end of the game, it's filled to the brim with variety by
including a ton of gameplay styles which stops it from ever becoming
boring, it looks great visually (aside from some areas which look a
bit static), Ratchet controls extremely well and the new abilities
are always fun to use and it's all round just a blast to play.
The only stand out issue which really
affects the game in a big way is how there's no way of aiming while
also being able to move and dodge. The auto aim function isn't very
good and will often either just not lock on to an enemy at all or not
lock on to the one you want it to. This results in not using many of
Ratchet's weapons due to it being easier to just hit them with the
wrench which takes away one of the core pieces of gameplay.
Pros:
- The story develops Ratchet's
character well and implements a few twists and turns to keep you
invested. It's also genuinely funny at times which leaves you
anticipating the next NPC encounter.
- The gameplay is incredibly varied,
featuring loads of gameplay styles from underwater swimming, rail
grinding, turret shooting, space dogfighting and more.
- Level design is fantastic at
making you feel like you're exploring an open area while remaining a
linear game with set paths for you to follow.
- Graphics are at times really good,
on par if not better than games released early in the seventh
generation. I particularly like the huge landscapes where you can
see moving sculptures, flying cars and other things moving around in
the distance.
- The platforming and movement feels
satisfying and tight, the way in which you can link together
different styles of jumps is a great touch.
Cons:
- The shooting can feel extremely
awkward, you can find yourself standing directly in front of an
enemy and missing shots completely. The first person aiming attempts
to fix this but this doesn't allow you to dodge attacks.
- The game lacks a challenge and
remains quite easy throughout the whole experience. This is
disappointing given the fact that several mechanics could have
created some really complex and interesting puzzles and platforming
sections.
- Some areas in certain levels can
look very empty and lifeless visually which dates the game slightly.
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