Ratchet & Clank (2016)

I really like adventure games in which you collect stuff, find hidden collectibles and buy upgrades. Combine this with some decent combat mechanics and some platforming and I am hooked up for hours. Ratchet and Clank is a game that does just that.

I was always fan of the Ratchet and Clank series, so when this remaster for the PS4 came out, I immediately bought it.

The story of the game is a little blend and cliché but not terrible. It gives clear directions on where to go next and you can backtrack and go on sideway paths whenever you like. The open world levels, that you can visit in every order you want, makes the game fun to play. You are not bound to a specific path and if you are like me, you complete all the side quests first and then continue with the main story.

The graphics are fairly decent and a good upgrade from the original game. The framerate is good and keeps stable throughout the game, even with a lot of action on the screen.

The sounds and music are quite nice and when playing in the background gives a calming feeling while you are exploring.

The ton of collectible items like bolts, gold nuts and trading cards made me search every inch of the game. Combine this with some PlayStation trophies you can earn for collecting everything and there is nothing in the game that I haven’t seen or experienced.

The upgrade mechanics are really cool and although Ratchet and Clank is not an RPG, it feels this way when you upgrade your weapons with specific upgrades that let you earn more bolts, cards or Raritanium.

The combat mechanics and weapon selection are well done and switching to one of your other ridiculous weapons is made easy to understand. Combat feels fluent and fair, except for some homing attacks some enemies have, but this adds to the challenge. The weapons are all over the place like the “Groovitron” and the “Pixelator”. Ever want to see an enemy in 8 bits in a fully 3D environment or see a tank dance? In this game you can.

The New Game + feature let’s you collect and upgrade everything you didn’t get around to the first time so you can complete the game anytime.

There are some minor complaints from my end about the game like the unskippable cutscenes when interacting with some NPC’s and the Clank levels which I found really boring, but this is my personal experience.

Overall, I really liked this game and would complete it again anytime. Definitely worthy for giving it a try.

So this might just be my own hangup, but I hated nearly every boss fight in this game. See, the weapons that are great for mowing down mobs—Pyrocitor, Groovitron/Proton Drum combo, Buzz Blades, Pixelator, Sheepinator (objectively the best weapon in the game)—are various degrees of useless against bosses, due to either low damage or low range (or just boss immunity in the case of the sheepinator). So in order to make the boss fights not excruciatingly painful to get through (I'm looking at you, Mrs. Zerkon), you have to spend upgrade points on weapons you don't use 90% of the time, like the Warmonger and the Plasma Striker, and hold back on using the few weapons that are great for both, like the Predator Launcher and...well that's basically it, so that you have as much ammo as possible for the boss fight, which will usually give you ammo drops but make it almost impossible to survive long enough to scrounge around for it. It makes upgrading a choice between getting something that's actually exciting and will immediately affect your experience or getting something that will be useful in an hour but completely pointless right now, which is kind of boring (not to mention those weapons won't be as high level because you're not using them all the time). I shouldn't have to have less fun during the bulk of the game just to make the boss fights doable.

Also I might just be bad at the game, I don't know. I'm just saying turning robot dogs into goats is a lot more fun than desperately firing the last of my Pixelator ammo at Nefarious hoping that I can kill him before he gets off another AOE blast that I'm only vulnerable to because the Pixelator is a goddamn shotgun and doesn't have the range I need even when I've got over half of the range upgrades for it.

Also, respawning me past the point where a died is a little condescending and I don't appreciate it.

Fora uma grata surpresa da Sony dá-lo gratuitamente no Play At Home, pude jogá-lo pela primeira vez e me surpreendi pela qualidade de história e gameplay.

Gostei muito das mecânicas do jogo, o combate é incrível, o alto fator de destruição também! Amei como o jogo trás uma enorme variedade de armas e torna todas elas, de certa forma, úteis em algum momento do jogo.

A história é fenomenal, conforme você vai progredindo na história, mais forte Ratchet fica, deixando tudo ALTAMENTE DESTRUTÍVEL no final do jogo.

Platinei em menos de 1 semana, e a única coisa que achei um pouco enjoativa fora ter que jogar 2 vezes para conseguir o troféu de platina, mas de resto, nada a reclamar. Aproveitem o jogo!

Probablemente sea el peor Ratchet y Clank que he jugado y, aún así, es un gran juego. Así de buena es la base jugable de la saga. La historia mezcla los acontecimientos del primer juego y los de la película de 2016 (la mayoría de cinemáticas son cortes directos de la misma) con resultados desastrosos. Las animaciones de los personajes son cutres cuando interactúan entre ellos (rozando a veces lo grotesco y, por tanto, lo cómico) pero los movimientos de Ratchet son fluidos. Las fases de Clank, como suele ser habitual, son un cambio interesante pero cuando te pasas le juego por cuarta vez, te das cuenta de que son aburridas.

En resumen, se le notan las costuras. Diría que no tuvieron mucho tiempo para el desarrollo y es obviamente un producto para aprovechar el tirón de la película y, sin embargo, la base jugable es tan sólida que me lo he pasado cuatro veces para conseguir el Platino.

Mención aparte necesita la traducción, que parece hecha, sin exagerar ni un poco, con una IA. Lo que resulta inexplicable en un AAA de Sony, máxime cuando el doblaje está a la altura del resto de la saga.

Had the same solid, entertaining gameplay as previous titles in the franchise, and even though some of the levels were nearly identical to the levels in the original release, some were new and updated as well. New weapons were interesting, as well as an updated weapon upgrade system. And of course it's always nice to have an updated, shiny new-gen look.

Also of note, the plot/narrative was changed to coincide with the movie, which was somewhat different than the plot of the original game. IMO it was somewhat improved, especially in re: better female characters. The dialogue was still snappy and snarky as one should expect by now, with plenty of self-referential humor.

I really enjoyed the PS4 remake. I remember very little of the old games, I loved playing them when I was a kid, and I got a few little flashbacks while playing this (I wasn't sure if I ever played the first part specifically). I must say, the story of course isn't a masterpiece in itself, but delivered in a fun, family-friendly way; not too childish, adults can totally enjoy it.

I didn't think about it at all while playing, but I read after playing that Ratchet & Clank's relationship was dumbed-down in the remake, and I guess I have to agree, there's very little interaction going on between the two. But it didn't bother me at all while playing; what's fun is the very quick gameplay, moving from one world to another smoothly, so no planet ever feels boring since you won't spend too much time on it.

But the core of the fun are obviously the weapons. And rail-grinding.

This is a pretty fun remake of the original Ratchet and Clank. Gets all the mechanics right and is very easy to pick up and play. It also has gorgeous visuals which really helps it to achieve its goal of feeling like a cgi kids film you can play. Though the story is even more wooden and generic than it was on the PS2...which I guess explains why the film was so critically derided.

Would recommend to anyone who likes this kind of game (and certainly to very young gamers). The only drawback for old-school fans is that the level design will feel a little boring in its familiarity if you revisited the original recently (as I did).

Pros:
-- If you already enjoy Ratchet and Clank, this is a nearly-perfected version of the formula they built over several iterations
-- If you don't know Ratchet and Clank, but enjoy funny, action-platformers with loads up weapons and a dopamine-laden treadmill that stars a Lombax and a sidekick robot, this game is for you!
-- If you enjoyed the movie, it's a fun tie-in that lets you run around in these new-ish worlds they polished up for that

Cons:
-- Before the PS4 Firmware update allowing the viewing of hidden trophies, several of them are very obscure without following a guide
-- After you max everything out (and perhaps get the relatively easy Platinum), there is nothing to do, aside from completely restarting (but without the lure of the trophies)
-- It's so what-it-is, it could just as easily not be the game for you

Check out my full review at TheKlotzNet

9/10

My experience with Ratchet & Clank eprior was a little bit of Up Your Arsenal and watching my little brother play some of the other games. I've always liked R&C but it was not "my" series. Due to the price and the good reviews, I decided to actually buy this reboot. I can't speak for what has changed and how it compares to the first, but I can tell you that it's an awesome game.

Lots of cool guns to mess around with, a lot of inspired level design with a ton of things to do and find, some real weapon upgrading depth in a genre that isn't really known for it, some humour (though it wasn't as funny as I had hoped), beautiful visuals that are vibrant and alive. There are some neat boss battles as well. I don't think I missed anything. Just play it if you haven't.