I?ve wanted to start a First Play thread on the new Ratchet & Clank game since I picked it up on Wednesday but haven?t found enough time to drag myself away from it and jot down my thoughts.
After 17 hours and having completed the game I can finally put fingers to keyboard and hope that enough people decide to buy it based on the words that follow.
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time is a direct sequel to last year?s ?DLC pack? Quest for Booty which was the continuation of the 2007 Tools of Destruction. The latest instalment of this PlayStation exclusive franchise sees the Lombax, Ratchet, still searching furiously for his best friend Clank after his disappearance at the end of Tools of Destruction with the mysterious Zoni.
In his search for Clank, Ratchet discovers a plot by Dr. Nefarious (acted in amazing over the top fashion by Armin Shimmerman) to take over the Great Clock which governs all time. It seems that Crank is somehow tied to the clock and his destiny is also linked to the mighty time piece. Cue plenty of planet hopping to stop Nefarious and restore order to the universe.
The game looks incredible! Ratchet has furry ears!!
The detail in the worlds that Insomniac have created is astounding ? there are some absolutely stunning vistas to see and worlds to explore. What?s really amazing is that the game runs at a rock solid frame rate.
Even when you?ve got a dozen enemies and enough ordnance on screen to destroy 3 dozen the game never slows or stutters; it really is a phenomenal achievement. With this and Uncharted 2 available on the console it is becoming increasingly apparent that devs who have put the time and effort into mastering the PS3 tech are starting to reap massive rewards and getting games to look better than anything else on the marketplace.
In terms of gameplay this Ratchet & Clank stays true to previous games in the series with a blend of shooting, platforming, light puzzling, more shooting and then some more shooting. All this is topped off with even more shooting! The combat is exquisitely balanced as in previous games and Insomniac?s expertise in crazy weapon design helps to turn every battle into a fantastic set piece. Old favourites like the Buzz Blades and Mr Zurkon make an reappearance and new weapons include things like Tesla Spikes which lay down electric current between each other and the Sonic Eruptor which sees a toad like creature attached to the end of your gun and every pull of the trigger causes it to belch a mating call which destroys your enemies.
The basic weapons (pistol, shotgun, bomb) are upgradeable in many different ways with ammo type, fire rate, damage type being interchangeable at any time dependent on the circumstances you face. You can also change the aesthetics of these weapons by painting them in the editor.
New to Ratchet & Clank are a series of Clank based time puzzles where you have to record up to 4 different Clanks performing various different platforming actions in separate instances that eventually come together to open doors to the next area of his levels. These start off very easy but as the game progresses they get increasingly more difficult. The final puzzle took me around 30 minutes to solve with plenty of head scratching between recording each action.
Also new are space flight sections which are set in various different sectors in the Ratchet & Clank universe. In these sectors are generally a couple of the main planets which feature the game levels and several moons which set themselves up as challenges which you must complete to win weapon upgrades, gold bolts and Zoni which help to upgrade your spaceship, Aphelion. There are also Good Samaritan missions that you can complete for extra bolts so you can buy new weapons and armour. These range from dragging an out of gas spaceship to the nearest port through to destroying the advertising hoardings of an alien for his business rival. They add a nice diversion to the combat and platforming.
The controls are excellent and the camera is, for the most part, well behaved. Whenever it does decide to misbehave a quick press of L1, to pull the camera in over the shoulder of the main character, sorts out the problem.
Insomniac have also included a tournament of combat challenges set on board a giant spaceship in a nod to the PS2 deathmatch spin off Gladiator / Deadlocked. This is amazing fun and gives you a fantastic opportunity to try out the myriad weapons in the game.
The game is fantastic fun to play and one hour can easily turn into an afternoon long session. After the adventures of Nathan Drake back in October the release of this latest Ratchet & Clank is further evidence that the Playstation 3 is maturing as a games console with as good a range of exclusive titles as any other machine.
I can?t wait to see where Insomniac take the Ratchet & Clank series next but as the final part of the Future trilogy this title is an absolutely essential title for PS3 owners!!
After 17 hours and having completed the game I can finally put fingers to keyboard and hope that enough people decide to buy it based on the words that follow.
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time is a direct sequel to last year?s ?DLC pack? Quest for Booty which was the continuation of the 2007 Tools of Destruction. The latest instalment of this PlayStation exclusive franchise sees the Lombax, Ratchet, still searching furiously for his best friend Clank after his disappearance at the end of Tools of Destruction with the mysterious Zoni.
In his search for Clank, Ratchet discovers a plot by Dr. Nefarious (acted in amazing over the top fashion by Armin Shimmerman) to take over the Great Clock which governs all time. It seems that Crank is somehow tied to the clock and his destiny is also linked to the mighty time piece. Cue plenty of planet hopping to stop Nefarious and restore order to the universe.
The game looks incredible! Ratchet has furry ears!!
The detail in the worlds that Insomniac have created is astounding ? there are some absolutely stunning vistas to see and worlds to explore. What?s really amazing is that the game runs at a rock solid frame rate. Even when you?ve got a dozen enemies and enough ordnance on screen to destroy 3 dozen the game never slows or stutters; it really is a phenomenal achievement. With this and Uncharted 2 available on the console it is becoming increasingly apparent that devs who have put the time and effort into mastering the PS3 tech are starting to reap massive rewards and getting games to look better than anything else on the marketplace.
In terms of gameplay this Ratchet & Clank stays true to previous games in the series with a blend of shooting, platforming, light puzzling, more shooting and then some more shooting. All this is topped off with even more shooting! The combat is exquisitely balanced as in previous games and Insomniac?s expertise in crazy weapon design helps to turn every battle into a fantastic set piece. Old favourites like the Buzz Blades and Mr Zurkon make an reappearance and new weapons include things like Tesla Spikes which lay down electric current between each other and the Sonic Eruptor which sees a toad like creature attached to the end of your gun and every pull of the trigger causes it to belch a mating call which destroys your enemies.
The basic weapons (pistol, shotgun, bomb) are upgradeable in many different ways with ammo type, fire rate, damage type being interchangeable at any time dependent on the circumstances you face. You can also change the aesthetics of these weapons by painting them in the editor.
New to Ratchet & Clank are a series of Clank based time puzzles where you have to record up to 4 different Clanks performing various different platforming actions in separate instances that eventually come together to open doors to the next area of his levels. These start off very easy but as the game progresses they get increasingly more difficult. The final puzzle took me around 30 minutes to solve with plenty of head scratching between recording each action.
Also new are space flight sections which are set in various different sectors in the Ratchet & Clank universe. In these sectors are generally a couple of the main planets which feature the game levels and several moons which set themselves up as challenges which you must complete to win weapon upgrades, gold bolts and Zoni which help to upgrade your spaceship, Aphelion. There are also Good Samaritan missions that you can complete for extra bolts so you can buy new weapons and armour. These range from dragging an out of gas spaceship to the nearest port through to destroying the advertising hoardings of an alien for his business rival. They add a nice diversion to the combat and platforming.
The controls are excellent and the camera is, for the most part, well behaved. Whenever it does decide to misbehave a quick press of L1, to pull the camera in over the shoulder of the main character, sorts out the problem.
Insomniac have also included a tournament of combat challenges set on board a giant spaceship in a nod to the PS2 deathmatch spin off Gladiator / Deadlocked. This is amazing fun and gives you a fantastic opportunity to try out the myriad weapons in the game.
The game is fantastic fun to play and one hour can easily turn into an afternoon long session. After the adventures of Nathan Drake back in October the release of this latest Ratchet & Clank is further evidence that the Playstation 3 is maturing as a games console with as good a range of exclusive titles as any other machine.
I can?t wait to see where Insomniac take the Ratchet & Clank series next but as the final part of the Future trilogy this title is an absolutely essential title for PS3 owners!!
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