Ratchet and Clank have released a ton of games on the PlayStation consoles and I’ve not played any of them before this one. I’d only heard of it tangentially and after having access to a PS5, I’d wanted to try out the newest title (“Rift Apart”) with some backstory.

This game does shed light on the systems used in R/C and I achieved my goal of getting to know the characters before trying the new title. The game itself however was a bit of a slog, though, and even a shiny new coat of paint doesn’t cover its humble mechanical beginnings.

The story is about how these two came to be and it’s filled with lots of corny jokes and narrative insertions. I didn’t mind them but didn’t really connect with it either.

The guns were plentiful and varied, but the enemies were more or less the same so after a while it didn’t matter which weapon I used (not a bad thing but it didn’t inspire experimentation or discovery).

The racing mini game is trite and not at all fun, but needed if you want to advance the story. I did not enjoy it at all, but since this is an old game with a new graphics layer I can forgive it (they could have made it better though).

Overall, I think this is a good intro to the series but ultimately it’s not as fun as it could have been. The game hasn’t aged well and although it played great on my PS5 I wouldn’t recommend as a stand alone title.

I give it a 3 (I had fun but wouldn’t recommend it to other players).

Console Notes: Played via PS5

I may be biased to Ratchet and Clank now as I'm running through the games, but I have to say Insomniac is one of my favorite game developers now for everything they do. The time that goes into making the worlds, characters and story pays off greatly. Glad I played the original from 2002 first as this game is a great "reboot" as it changes some pieces to the story that I welcome. Can't wait to play the rest of the games.

Gameplay: 9

• Huge improvement to the controls from the original has me enjoying the gunplay more
• No more constantly entering your menu to swap out gadgets like the original
• Great mix of platforming, shooting, and vehicle combat along with clank missions keeps the game mixed
• Good replayability with challenge mode although it really only makes the game tougher with more upgrades for weapons, nothing new added.

Story: 9

• As this game is based on an original PS2 game but also came out alongside a sony backed movie, this game is basically a playable movie
• Changes pieces to the story from the original slightly that some might say improves it
• Great voice acting for all characters, along with effects depending on the environment you're in

Graphics: 9

• Huge improvement to graphics although level design is pretty much unchanged. Very cool to see the comparison
• Cutscenes are Pixar quality, now a staple for the Ratchet and Clank series
• Played on PS5 at 60 FPS. Lots of breakable objects, gunfire and collectibles don't slow the game at all.

Soundtrack: 8

• Mixture of songs for every level that fits the vibe of the environment.
• The sounds for each gun are awesome and immersive
• Remaster to the originals are great but would've liked the option to play the originals

Ratchet & Clank's light-hearted story and graphics might make you think that it's a game for children, but it isn't! The gameplay is as grown-up as it can be. The action and platforming mechanics and the occasional puzzles are simple enough to learn quickly but are challenging enough for you to enjoy.

But where this game truly shines is its rhythm, diversity, and replay value. The game is very well-paced. One moment you're fighting enemies, the next you're running from an enemy, then you're platforming and sliding on rails or solving puzzles, then you're fighting a boss, then you're competing in a hoverboard race, etc. You just don't have enough time to be bored by this game.

And the number of weapons and their diversity is surprising for a game of this scale. Every weapon is so different from the other ones and, except from a couple, all of them are actually very fun to use. There is a weapon that turns enemies into sheep! How can you not like that?

There are quite a few hidden paths and collectibles, so that you have enough incentives to go back and play the game again (and again and again). And unlike many other games, the collectibles in Ratchet & Clank are not just meaningless numbers, you can actually do some very cool stuff with them, like unlocking ultimate versions of the weapons or changing the aesthetics of the game, which is actually quite fun.

The only reason you might not enjoy Ratchet & Clank is that you don't like action-platformer games. Otherwise, this game is a must-play.

Ratchet & Clank (2016) - PS4

So this is a game based on a movie that is based on the original 2002 game. It's "I am my own grandpa" the game :).

A 3D action platformer made by Insomniac games sees you play as Ratchet, a Furry cat like creature called a Lombax and Clank a small failed war robot. Together they set out to defeat Drex and his army of robots and the Blarg.

Pros

* Georgous Pixar like graphics. Everything from the level design, animations and attention to detail is very polished.

* The script and in game announcer voicework is hilarious. *Mr Zurkon is Bored*

* Choice of weapons and gadgets is pretty large. Everything from your standard monkey wrench to the Groovinator (makes your enemies dance to disco) or the Sheepinator (turns them into Sheep :S ). Gadgets also range from magnetic boots to jetpacs.

* Variety of levels allow you a decent challenge. The Clank levels are puzzley while Ratchet gets all the action including rail grinding, space battles, Jetpacing around or doing race events on a hoverboard.

* Once you have defeated the game and collected hidden gold nuts. You can customise the game to you hearts content. It even has a built in cheat menu that you can unlock.

Cons

* Can be frustrating at times esp towards the end where getting knocked off a platform mid fight can make you scream at the tv.

* When battles get frantic the amount of particles flying around (nuts, bolts, gunfire, parts of enemies etc) can obscure the screen making it difficult to know if everyone is dead.

Overall it was a great nostalgia trip, a great remaster and a pretty decent movie tie in.

Hey Insomniac, when are you going to make a super cut of the film and the game and release it as The Definitive Edition? I’m still waiting!

Well, that’s another play through of Ratchet & Clank under my belt. I still really enjoy it but little has changed about how I feel about it overall compared to other entries in the game series. While it looks gorgeous and plays very smoothly (especially now due to the 60fps patch), the decision to chop narrative elements out of the game in service of a companion feature film hurt the presentation of the game. This coupled with some dated elements that I think drag the game down a bit compared to A Crack in Time or Into the Nexus, make the 2016 reboot one of my least favourite contemporary Ratchet & Clank games. I still enjoyed my time playing it, and it’s still a great game, but I hope Rift Apart picks up from where Crack in Time and Into the Nexus left off. I think by virtue of the fact that the Ratchet & Clank 2016 reboot was slightly hamstrung by the very nature of being a reboot bodes well for Rift Apart. Thankfully the new game isn’t an updated version of an aging first entry, and Insomniac has freedom to do things that a reboot wouldn’t allow.

PRE-PLAYING THOUGHTS

Before I actually played this game, I have had my doubts since I personally don't enjoy Platformer genres. But this game has always been included in the top must play exclusives on the PS4 which really made me curious. Fortunately for R3 players, Ratchet & Clank became free for PS Plus members on December 2017. So I decided to give it a try.

GAME PLOT

I have already watched the movie before playing the game so I have an idea already as to what the story is all about. It's not a bit deep and not a bit shallow, I'd say it's right there in the middle. Entertaining but nothing really special about the plot.

GAME PLAY

I thought I was going to like the game as I progress deeper, but I actually liked it the moment I played it already. I guess I'm selective on the kind of platformer games I don't enjoy. Lol.

The part of the game which I really enjoyed was the various cool weapons I can obtain and upgrade in the game. They were so beautifully crafted that each weapons have their own use in such unique situations.

I also enjoyed the optional objectives, the in-game extras and the test of logic in some parts (especially on Clank's). Overall, this game is great for those who just want a relaxing vibe at the same time wanting to test their gaming reflexes and logic. :)

Having switched my console gaming to the PlayStation with the release of the PS4, I missed the early Ratchet & Clank titles, so this was my first dive into the furry and robot buddy platforming franchise. And it’s pretty easy to sum up the whole experience into one word: Fun.

It looks absolutely beautiful. It really looks like you are in control of the characters in a cinema quality animation (which I guess is the whole point). It’s incredibly polished. Visuals aren’t everything, but they really do add to the feel of game and to my overall enjoyment of it.

The gameplay is solid. It’s a remake, so it is quite simple, relatively. It has some good variation with weapons, some of which are quite inventive, like the disco ball grenade. If you are looking for a really challenging platformer then this isn’t going to satisfy; it’s not the games target audience. Similarly to the movie and many others like it, there is something for everyone in this game; both younger children and experienced gamers, like myself, will find a lot to enjoy; the characters, the weapons, the environments, the movement, the jokes, the FUN.

The Good

• Visuals
• Characters
• Locations
• Weapons
• Movement

The Bad

• Simple gameplay / platforming / combat - (not a bad thing for some)

When I think about playing the Ratchet and Clank from the PlayStation 2 era, I think about how it was one of the best platformers of the period, with exciting weapons and a solid story with decent humor. I haven’t played a Ratchet & Clank game since the PlayStation 3, and considering the 2016 reboot was free on the PlayStation Store, and there’s a new game coming next month, I decided to give this most recent game a try.

The problem right away with Ratchet & Clank is that I can’t be sure if the series was always like this, and my younger brain liked it, or if this is just a mediocre game in a very good franchise. This game in the Ratchet & Clank franchise was made as a tie-in to the movie that came out around the same time, and this game certainly feels more in line with a crappy CGI movie than the quality work I’m used to from Insomniac.

The biggest flaw for me almost immediately is the writing, in which jokes are basically characters just saying technobabble or space-y words. The names are supposed to be funny, so that’s really the only attempt at humor here. The story is also almost non-existent, as it starts off focusing on the new friendship between Ratchet and Clank, then quickly shifts into Ratchet becoming a space ranger of sorts, only for that team to head off against a villain that’s barely existent. Again, it feels like a quick attempt to cash in on the film by just hitting the bare minimum story wise.

While I do really like the worlds that are presented here, I find the platforming to be disappointingly clunky as well. For the most part, the game guides the player along pretty smoothly, yet the game also shows the player that there are hidden items scattered throughout these worlds off the beaten path. The problem with this is that the game does a pretty terrible job of letting the player know if an area is open to explore, if it’s simply an area that can’t be explored because the player doesn’t have the right tools, or - and this is most important - if it’s simply an area that the player has no access to at all. I found most of my deaths in the game came from exploring areas that looked accessible, only to fall to my death.

But for the most part, this is a charming game and even a halfway decent platformer in this franchise is worthwhile to me. Even if I do have problems with the game, I almost immediately started playing through it a second time to try and upgrade my weapons and try to collect things I had missed the first time. Which, playing through a bit of the game a second time, the rewards don’t seem worthwhile for a second playthrough? The museum is lacking, the weapon upgrades are far too expensive, and most of the gadgets that are found in the game on the first playthrough aren’t available right away on the second. I had every intention of trying to do everything the game had to offer, but it became clear it would take maybe three or four playthroughs to do that, so I decided against it.

I’m still excited about the upcoming Ratchet & Clank game, and I’m especially excited to see what Insomniac has learned over the last few years, and how they apply that to this franchise. But playing Ratchet & Clank made me feel like maybe this franchise wasn’t all it was originally cracked up to be. I’m leaning towards this just being an iffy game in this franchise, and I hope I right about that.

What an absolutely atrocious game.

I was a huge fan of the original trilogy for the PS2, but have come to loose interest in the series as it became more and more child movie standard fare in its presentation and story. While Tools of destruction was the first move towards that direction, it still had some atmosphere and creative gameplay to offer that at least made me bear with it. This is not the case in this remake of the original Ratchet and Clank.

The story in this game is probably one of the worst I have had the displeasure of experiencing within the video game medium. This game was made as a tie-in with the Ratchet & Clank motion picture, and it really hurts the storytelling. Instead of following a satisfying structure, gameplay and in-game cutscenes are intertwined with scenes from the movie. The result - A huge MESS. The best example is how a key villain in the game - Doctor Nefarious - is only shown about 90 seconds during a 12 hour game, and then suddenly becomes the final villain by defeating the main villain of the game. This way of storytelling leads to a couple other confusing moments, but the worst consequence is definitely that the overall pacing is completely off for the whole game.

The story that actually is here is just embarrassing to experience. The original game is a satirical sci-fi adventure with a buddy cop feel that bashes consumerism, a style maintained throughout all PS2-titles. This somewhat unique combination is now replaced with the most generic Dreamworks-style story imaginable. Ratchet is no longer an antihero with a short temper, but instead just a perfect Mary Sue, making him as bland as an WRPG-avatar. With all personality removed from Ratchet and the overall cast, what's left is a typical story of "believing in yourself" mixed in with Shark Tale-level of humour.

Oh yeah, the humour. I can honestly say that I never could manage to laugh, since the writing is not only poor, but also without any edge or heart. What's worse is that is is fed down your throat, since jokes and goofy characters are screaming every second you are playing. Combine this with a fundamentally uninspired Avengers wannabe-soundtrack (in contrast to the eerie triphop-vibe of the original Trilogy) and every opportunity of feeling a sense of atmosphere or immersion from traversing the levels is lost.

People often compare this game to a Pixar movie, something I never understood. Most Pixar movies tackle some deep themes and are somewhat pure in tone compared to the average CGI-film. There is nothing pure nor deep in this game, and the studio behind the tie in-film are the makers of all Barbie-films, not Finding Nemo or Wall-E.

Graphics are impressive from a technical standpoint, but excessive motion blur, lacklustre UI and an art direction with screaming colours and shiny objects makes the actual feeling of playing the game nauseous. This is not helped at all by the absurd amounts of enemies and bullets flying around the screen, something that is cool in its chaotic nature at first, but just becomes tiresome after 1-2 hours of gameplay.

This leads to the final problem of the game, which is a far worse gameplay experience than other entries in the series. The series moved step by step from being a 3D-platformer to a third-person shooter, and the latter is almost solely focused on here (while the original had far more emphasis on puzzle solving, platforming and strategic gunplay). This is not a problem per se, Ratchet 2 and 3 have quite fun combat of this kind. But the sheer mayhem of things happening in Ratchet 2016 actually makes it less enjoyable to play.

There is no real interesting gameplay designed around different weapons, you just strafe and shoot with whatever you got. I feel that this makes the title boring, repetitive and also badly designed, since the environments aren't always adapted to this kind of gameplay like a superior third-person shooter title such as Gears of War or Vanquish.

There are some other gripes I have, things like the weapon arsenal mainly being a re-hash of earlier titles (with almost none of the original weapons), the weapon upgrade system being a lot more uninteresting and loot-shooter feely, a third of the original game being cut and some dialogue sequences being poorly animated. But if I would go through all of these things I would never stop, so I conclude the criticism now with my major gripes written down.

I did want to give this game an honest chance. I am no worshipper of the original Ratchet and Clank trilogy. I have replayed them as an adult and think that, while they are still competent titles, none of them are a masterpiece. They are however genuinely good games in several core areas (game design, music, atmosphere). This is the 9th main title in the series, released 14 years after the original. Insomniac had a lot more experience going into this project, and since it's a remake they did not need to come up with as many new ideas as a completely new title would mandate. Regardless of all these stellar conditions, they managed to produce a game inferior to not only the game it tried to recreate, but every other title in the series.

Imagine if the Final Fantasy VII-remake would replace its original soundtrack with dull superhero music, make Cloud and all other characters bland child movie heroes, reiterate the story to include dated meme-humour and Kung Fu Panda-style punchlines, all this while cutting away the invasion of Shinra Corp. I am not so sure that people would praise it as "perhaps not true to the original but still a very enjoyable game".

That is exactly what happened here, making Ratchet and Clank 2016 one of the worst games of the former decade I have played, and by far one of the worst remakes ever.

Pretty unfortunate. It's fine, really. It's just an alright movie-license game, with a movie that is definitely made for kids. When you do this though you get the least interesting Ratchet & Clank game I've ever played.

The story and writing is just so completely soul-less and boring compared to any other Ratchet game (excluding the Futures with their weird God stuff I don't want to talk about those). They retcon the characters of both Ratchet and Clank into being more boring than the writing in a PS2 game from 2002. Ratchet just dreams of being a cop his entire life so when he finds Clank, instead of there being any kind of interesting dynamic they just immediately team up. Clank gets a solid 5 lines of dialogue in the entire game, exciting stuff.

It sits in that awkward place between both a reboot but also a remake of the first game, and the entire time I'm thinking while this plays way better and is one of the best-looking video games I have ever seen in my life, I would rather just play that first game on PS2 so I'm not actively bored.

Overall a very well crafted game, but the type of thing where I'm thinking about checking my watch most of the time during it.