Ratchet & Clank

- Reviewed on PS3 -

Ratchet & Clank released on November 4th, 2002.

Many ports have been made for the first, original, Ratchet & Clank game.

In June 2012, a port to the PS3 console was made, and then in July 2014, a PlayStation Vita port was made. 

For this review, and my first time playing Ratchet & Clank in its entirety, I played this first installment in the series as a part of the Ratchet & Clank Collection for the PS3.

With fun and memorable characters, music, side features, collectibles, and more, Ratchet & Clank was a near perfect third person shooter / platformer, developed by Insomniac Games, whom which I have played great titles from in the past (as of writing this blog post) too. 

This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...

It's funny just how many games collect dust on my shelf from when I was a kid, and just didn't have any ambition to play them. 

Ratchet & Clank, as a part of the PS3 collection bundle, was one of those games on my shelf for a while.

Third person shooters / platformers / adventure games are not foreign to me as an avid player. 

When I started playing Ratchet & Clank, with a new mind for the video game industry, I truly absorbed all the sheer magic that was Ratchet & Clank.

From the story, to the fun music, to the "okay" fighting gameplay, and most importantly, to the outstanding characters, Ratchet & Clank is now a game I understand holds much grace with other players around the world.

And it's not a hidden gem either considering Ratchet & Clank is one of those PlayStation originals such as Crash, Uncharted, The Last of Us, etc. (at least in my eyes it is). 

The story of Ratchet & Clank (SPOILER) is about our main protagonist (and the main character you play as), Ratchet, who meets a small, intelligent, robot named Clank, who crash lands on the planet Veldin. 

After they (you and Clank) meet in the tutorial like mission, on Veldin, you become aware of Chairman Drek's drastic plan to destroy other planets in the Solana Galaxy and make a new home planet for his own evil kind, using those other planets' parts. 

The way the plot progression works in Ratchet & Clank, is by traveling to these other planets, by ship, to then arrive and complete various missions.

I've noticed while playing, that each planet has mainly one story-based objective, then one or two side objectives that are more for unlocking extra (sometimes optional, but sometimes mandatory) gadgets and / or weapons. 

The story pretty much revolves around traveling to other planets, completing these missions, finding Infobots, and to then acquire coordinates for the next planet. 

Infobots are like the end goal for each story-based objective. When you complete the story-based mission, you acquire this fun, television mouthed, robot, who then plays a cutscene to help further the 12-hour (average) story. 

All the playable missions (planets) in Ratchet & Clank include...

    - Veldin
    - Novalis
    - Aridia
    - Kerwan
    - Eudora
    - Blarg Station Nebula
    - Rilgar
    - Umbris
    - Batalia
    - Gaspar
    - Orxon
    - Pokitaru
    - Gemlik Base
    - Olantis
    - Olantis Orbit
    - Quartu
    - Kalebo
    - Drek's Fleet

As you progress through all 18 planets and keep unveiling / sabotaging Drek's plans, the game ends back on Ratchet's home planet of Veldin, where Drek is planning on destroying it.

I loved the way the plot started on Veldin and ended on Veldin. 

Ratchets relationship with Clank was wonderfully told with their being friendship and understand, to then there being tension with Ratchet wanting to get revenge on Captain Quark but Clank wanting to stay on task with Drek, to then (at the end, post final boss) Ratchet & Clank making up and actually staying friends after the game is over.

However, the game is only over if you beat Drek himself, who's in a giant robot. 

The final boss fight was brilliantly executed and laid out. 

It starts with Giant Clank vs. Giant Drek, then goes back to what we (you) are used to from this entire adventure, and that's Ratchet and his plethora of weapons / gadgets!

Again, some of these weapons are optional to acquire, as some are secondary objectives on other planets (or just too expensive for one playthrough to purchase). 

The entire list of weapons / gadgets in Ratchet & Clank are...

    - Blaster 
    - Bomb Glove
    - Decoy Glove
    - Devastator
    - Drone Device
    - Glove of Doom
    - Mine Glove
    - Morph-o-Ray
    - OmniWrench (Default Melee Weapon)
    - Pyrocitor
    - R.Y.N.O.
    - Suck Cannon
    - Taunter
    - Tesla Claw
    - Visibomb Gun
    - Walloper

After you beat this pretty tough final boss, which took me plenty of tries and lots of anger, you will get the option to go back to your current save (before doing the final boss fight), or start a new game with all current weapons, upgrades, skill points, and bolts.

This "New Game Plus" option pretty much allows the player to keep collecting bolts in order to acquire all the weapons / gadgets you might not have had the opportunity to do beforehand. 

This is smart as the respawn rate of bolts, crates, and enemies are low when you finish a planet on your first playthrough and decide to revisit them for more. 

Bolts are the currency in Ratchet & Clank and one collectible to look out for are the Golden Bolts.

These are very well hidden throughout all the planets so good luck!

Gold also appears for the weapons in Ratchet & Clank! You can visit two secret shops in the game to purchase these valuables if you choose. 

However, there are prerequisites to visiting these shops, such as beating the game once and / or playing in Challenge Mode. 

Platforming and fighting enemies aren't all there is in Ratchet & Clank, as there is also hoverboard racing, using the Hologuise to sneak into robot bases, controlling a spaceship to fight in aerial combat, and even becoming Giant Clank (as mentioned earlier). 

You can also play as Clank himself in this title, but it is very limited. 

In the sections you do play as Clank, you control the same as Ratchet, but as Clank, you can bust open these glass containers and release mini bots that will obey your every command.

These commands include Follow, Enter, Attack, or Stay. 

You essentially can build an army of these mini bots and traverse the terrain with them in order to solve basic puzzles or even attacking enemies.

The music is generally fine, as I probably won't remember the music after playing, except for the first level maybe, due to the PS3 Collection Menu Layout always playing it.

The sound design of the weapons shooting, breaking crates, and even the spaceship are however, very memorable and well made even for the era it released in, all the way back in 2002!

The PS3 Collection graphics of Ratchet & Clank are very charming and pleasant to look at, especially in the daytime, city like, planets.

I did suffer from frame rate drops during fighting moments with a lot of enemies on the field. This was extremely unlucky during the final boss battle too.

Also, with aiming at enemies, the ranges of some of the weapons were very untrustworthy, as I would aim and shoot directly at an enemy, and even with the bullet visibly hitting them, if the green cursor doesn't pop up when aiming, the enemy isn't hurt. 

My biggest gripe with Ratchet & Clank above all else though, is the checkpoints!

I just absolutely hated the scarcity of checkpoints, resulting in me (the player) having to spawn back in, far away from where the death(s) happened. 

It was so frustrating and exhausting having to get back to where I was, especially with the lack of respawned crates, ammo, etc. 

In the end, Ratchet & Clank still holds up today (in my opinion), but unfortunately, with these tiny details like checkpoints, uninteresting (forgettable) music, and frame rate drops, Ratchet & Clank is incredibly close to being a perfect game in my eyes.

This doesn't mean it should collect dust on anyone's shelf. Ratchet & Clank is still a blast, and I definitely believe with the longevity this game happens to have... Ratchet & Clank will live on much longer, considering the latest PS5 installment (as of writing this blog post)!

Pros: 

    - Memorable Characters
    - Plethora of Weapons / Gadgets
    - Variety in Enemies
    - Still Up to Par Graphics (at least on PS3)
    - Fun Planets to Visit
    - Collectibles
    - Great Longevity
    - Humorous Dialogue and Scenes (at least for me)
    - Good Story

Cons:

    - Frame Rate Drops
    - Horrible Checkpoints
    - Forgettable Music
    - Weapon Aiming Ranges
    - Sparce Clank Controlled Sections and Ship Fighting Sections

My Rating for Ratchet & Clank (on PS3):

4 / 5


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Disclaimer

All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.



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