After completing Rift Apart on the PS5 I had to go back to where it all started as I never experienced it when it first came out. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing the game although it took a bit of getting used to as the controls felt a bit clunky, especially coming from Rift Apart. Especially later on with the flying enemies it got a bit difficult to aim, and the very limited quick selection wheel bothered me and I ended up only using a handful of weapons, and having to pause the menu to select a gadget got annoying sometimes. A great game though and holds up quite well for a game almost 20 years old.

Story:8

• Decent story with the odd "twist" thrown in, nothing groundbreaking but enjoyable.
• Lots of cool and lovable characters to discover
• Humor thrown in and has a pretty light hearted mood despite the plot being kinda dark

Gameplay:8

• An abundance of weapons to play with, some wackier then others but all enjoyable
• Interesting gadgets to collect that open up other areas of the game
• The mix of Mega Clank and Starship/Mini Gun sections were a nice change of pace
• Great platforming / shooting action that created the roots of series.

Soundtrack:8

• A good soundtrack the fit the levels of the game great
• Sounds reminiscent of techno
• Reminds me of an animated movie soundtrack

Graphics:8

• Pleasantly surprised with the graphics, holds up well for 20 years
• Good mix of levels and interesting environments so nothing got old
• The levels were alive and filled with enemies and destructibles

Ratchet and Clank is a smartly designed game that follows tradition with Insomniac's bouncy animations from the PS1 Spyro Trilogy. Now at 60 FPS.

Unlike Spyro, Ratchet has more meat on its bones when it comes to writing. Insomniac were probably like "Since it's a new IP, let's do the opposite of what we previously did with the Spyro games. Let's make it cynical, edgy (in a good way), cool, futuristic, and about killing baddies with an arsenal of unique weapons." The game likes to poke fun of self absorption and consumerism. What's ironic is that the remake is what the original wask making fun of. Ratchet is a hot-headed Lombax. He doesn't care anout what Clank wants him to do and wants to have fun, get gadgets. Like Toy Story 1 with Woody, Ratchet was criticized for being a dick. So much so that the voice actor for Ratchet was replaced in the sequel. Well throughout the game, Ratchet had, what we call, a character arc. It makes sense for him to be a total asshole after following Clank's naivity as it led to a trap. Right now, Ratchet only cares about what he wants to do: get revenge on Captain Qwark. A lot of the NPC's you encounter are self absorbed. You may get something out of them, but they always want some bolts out of you. It's always about the money. The main villain's plan was so evil, yet all he wanted was maximum profits.

Spyro was more blatant about what to attack certain enemies with. Use your breath on larger enemies and charge enemies with metal shields. It led to being the much more accessible platformer on the PS1 compared to say Crash. With Ratchet and Clank, no tutorial is given to you. You have to study each enemy's patterns, how they attack, how much damage they take, and most importantly, how you will approach them. When I was at Nebula G34, I was having a hard time with the Alien Snappers, I was trying to fight them through brute force with my wrench like I always have been up until this point, but what I was supposed to be doing was that since they're best at close range, I was supposed to be using my weapons. Well the alien snappers are vulnerable when you're far away, so I used the glove of doom so that I could just sit back while they die. This enemy is what pushed me to use my arsenal throughout the game. Blasters for chip damage and long range, devastators and invisibombs for flying blargs that are far away, tanks, and choppers, suck cannom for smaller enemies, glove of doom for massive damage at any range.

I'm not gonna lie. People seem to love the soundtracks of the PS1 Spyro games, but they never stood out to me. Some tracks like the Spyro 2 theme and the Artisans of Spyro 1, but not much else. I don't think they're bad. People's taste in music is subjective after all.That's just a me thing. Ratchet and Clank's OST does stand out to me. You have these funky slap basses and basslines accomodating with futuristic techno beats. They build up when you enter the levels and have this wide camera to immese yourself in each environment. In later levels, previous tracks are remixed, such as with Veldin and Pokitaru. My favorites are Veldin, Eudora, and Metropolis.

For the first game in the series, there still could've been some improvements. The Devastator randomly locks on if you blind fire. There should be reticles so it could communicate better. It would flow better with the combat if I went in against flying Blargs running and gunning instead of hiding behind a corner before I get a window to aim, lock on, and shoot. While this approach feels more methodical, its still mixed with CQC that it can break the pace of the combat. It feels awkward going into first person to aim since it is stationary. This issue has been alleviated in the sequels now that there is strafing and proper lock on.

Ratchet and Clank is a good evolution from the Spyro games. It holds up really well and is a fine place to start. Keep in mind though that there are some frustrating moments in the game, especially at the final boss. I'm fascinated in that I will get into with Going Commando.

RATING: 8/10

I played this game in the PS3 HD collection.

Pros:

+Level Design +Graphics +Weapon Choices +Voice Acting +Reasonable Difficulty

Cons:

-Too Few Checkpoints -Lacks Replayability -Cut Scene Issues

Story

In this game, Chairman Drek of the Blarg plans on taking pieces of other planets in order to make a new one for his people since his planet has become so polluted it’s now uninhabitable. Word of this reaches Ratchet, upon meeting Clank, and they know they have to prevent the destruction of all the innocent planets in the galaxy. So this is a great first game to play because it tells the story of how Ratchet meets Clank and their history.

Gameplay

Ratchet and Clank is a 3D action adventure platformer and third-person shooter. There are twenty different planets to visit, each with their own unique objectives, enemies, and level design. You go through the level, kill enemies with various weapons (new ones are obtained throughout), collect all the bolts they drop, and complete your objective(s). Through careful exploration, you can also find gold bolts that are hidden in each level, which are used to purchase gold versions of weapons. Regular weapons and ammo can be purchased from vendors using all the regular bolts you collect.

Design

For the most part, I love the design of this game with its interesting, hilarious, and lovable (or not) characters. The levels are all unique, colorful, and exciting without being too difficult or confusing; a map is provided to help with navigation.

One problem I have is with the spacing between checkpoints. You can walk around for awhile and kill a bunch of enemies but if you die you will have to do it all over again. They are few and far between; a bit too far for my liking. This is also a problem because it only takes a few hits for you to die and then you have to do the particular portion all over again. However, you are able to upgrade your life two separate times, eventually giving you eight hits before you die. This makes the game much easier but you won’t get it until about half way through.

There isn’t any way to upgrade current weapons other than purchasing the gold version of a particular weapon if you find enough of the gold bolts. With so many weapons to choose from this wasn’t much of an issue for me. I never used any of my gold bolts.

Controls

After messing around with the camera settings for a bit, I found some settings to my liking and after playing for awhile I became accustomed to the controls. I thought they were designed well enough and allowed for easy navigation through menus and such.

Sound

I have no problems with the sound effects or music and the cut scenes with voice acting are awesome (when I got to hear it). I did have to use the subtitles because the cut scenes would cut out the voices ALL the time to the point where I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Wasn’t a problem once I turned on the subtitles but I have no idea why the developers didn’t check this before releasing (or maybe its just my copy). Anyway, it made the cut scenes a lot less enjoyable.

Graphics

I adore the cartoony graphics and really believe that they will hold up for quite some time, especially with this remaster.

Difficulty

Ratchet & Clank provides just the right amount of difficulty without becoming too frustrating. There are certain parts that are much more difficult than others, but I never found myself having to do anything more than five times. Anything too difficult becomes annoying but too easy becomes boring. I feel that this game has the right balance for me. There were about two separate times when I had to stop playing and come back a day or two later because I was getting so frustrated but eventually I succeeded!

Replayability

I can’t imagine myself replaying this game anytime soon. There isn’t any extra content upon finishing the main story. I suppose if you missed them you can go back and collect all the golden bolts but after the game is over I feel like that is pointless. However, there is a remake of this first game for the Playstation 4, which I also hear is pretty great. There are some differences, so even if you play this one you can still enjoy the PS4 remake.

Tips

~Collect as many bolts as you can and try not to spend them on ammo and only on guns you must have. Save everything for health upgrades and the R.Y.N.O, which will cost you around 200,000. It will make defeating the final boss a lot easier.

~Don’t get too frustrated having to do parts over again. You keep your bolts so it just allows you to collect even more! Once you finish a level the number of enemies drastically decreases making it more difficult to collect extra bolts.

~Explore carefully to find hidden areas