It’s hard to believe that it’s been 14 years since the first Ratchet & Clank game released on the PS2. What was even harder to believe at the time was what a legendary series it would become. In what was a golden age for its genre, Ratchet has endured long after mascots like Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper bowed out of the spotlight, (although the latter has attempted a comeback in recent years.) After over a dozen sequels and spinoffs across four different platforms, Sony and developer Insomniac have decided that it was time to revisit the duo’s roots. In conjunction with the upcoming film based on the franchise, Ratchet & Clank comes to the PS4 as a complete reboot of the original title, making some modern adjustments to go with its new take on the story. While a reboot felt unnecessary to me at first, the series’ PS4 debut serves as more than a simple do over. What we get is a love letter to the fans who have stuck through this decades plus journey while reintroducing the Lombax and his robot pal to new eyes, creating what ends up being one of the best 3D platformers in years.
Can a simple mechanic save the galaxy?
Told through Captain Quark’s perspective in a scenario that’s different from the film, the square jawed hero takes us back to the days before the titular duo were an inseparable pair. Ratchet is a simple mechanic with big dreams of joining the Galactic Rangers, a team of interstellar heroes who protect the galaxy from any threat that may rise. When tryouts come to Ratchet’s home planet, he takes the chance to become something greater, (or at least to try and impress Quark, his hero and leader of the team.) Meanwhile, a defective Warbot who would go on to be known as Clank overhears his creators discuss their intentions to invade the Rangers’ home planet and take them out so their plan to destroy planets will go unchecked. Since the tiny robot failed to inherit the malicious intent of his brethren, (as well as their height,) he escapes the factory in an attempt to warn the Rangers of what was coming to them. After crash landing on Ratchet’s planet, the pair team up to save the galaxy from some of the most nefarious criminals in the system, all while impressing the Rangers in the process.
As great as the original Ratchet & Clank was, its control scheme has not aged well, leading future games to adopt a more traditional third person shooter method that revolves around strafing. No remake worth its bolts would keep these flaws unchecked, which is why the first thing you’ll notice with this latest game is how easy it is to move around. As a platformer/shooter hybrid, attacking waves of enemies and swapping weapons with a tap of the control pad while jumping out of the way of danger is as seamless as its ever been. As more weapons are unlocked, your quick select options can be customized so you can have easy access to any four weapons at any given time. When ammo is running low however, a solid swing from Ratchet’s trademark Omniwrench still does the trick. One of the most rewarding aspects of Ratchet & Clank is how accustomed you’ll become with each type of weapon and movement, especially as more options become available to you.
Speaking of options, the series has become synonymous with its over the top weapons over the years, and this reboot is no exception. Acting as a “best of” list for longtime fans, the weapons available span the entire series, with a few new weapons to boot. Staples of the PS3 games such as the pistol-like Combuster, the Groovitron, a disco ball that forces enemies near it to dance uncontrollably, and the trash talking battle companion, Mr. Zurkon, join PS2 classics like the Glove of Doom, a bomb that summons self destructing robots, and the Sheepinator, a beam that turns any enemy it hits into a sheep. New weapons like the Pixelator, a shotgun-esque weapon that gives enemies an 8-bit makeover, round out one of the most exciting weapons lineups in the series to date. Encouraging players to switch up which weapons they use, the level up system from past games returns, making it so each weapon gets stronger as you destroy more enemies with them. In addition, extra boosts can be purchased with Raritanium, where you’ll pay to fill in a board where each space adds a perk, such as extra damage or ammo. When these perks surround a hidden boost, buying all the ones around it will unlock extra surprises, making them even stronger. The would-be rangers are further complimented by gadgets such as the jet pack from Into The Nexus, and the 02 mask from the original, so you can explore both the air and sea, so there’s never a shortage on new tools to try out.
You’ll have to get creative with your gear to take out the worst of Drek’s army.
Thankfully, there is plenty to explore with all your tools. More so than any other game in the series thus far, Insomniac makes the most out of the series’ PS4 debut with some of the richest environments in the series to date, each one littered with enemies and hidden areas with only occasional slowdown. Featuring a mixture of the original planets from the series’ PS2 debut to brand new areas original to the film and game, even repeated areas are either partially, or fully rebuilt. Each planet is so different from the last, that they’re always a joy to visit, which is emphasized by the game’s gorgeous visuals. Flying up as high as I could and surveying the landscape was one of my favorite things to do on the planets that allowed it, really giving you a sense of how big the game really is. When taking the character models, which rival their CG film counterparts on occasion, and you have what’s easily one of the best looking games on the PS4.
One feat that I found particularly admirable was how the game’s script made it look easy to mix in the right amount of nostalgia with new content, making it feel familiar without ever feeling like a retread. The top notch voice acting and witty script continues to impress after all these years, with Quark’s charming stupidity once again taking center stage. New characters bring in some Hollywood talent to join James Arnold Taylor’s Ratchet and David Kaye’s Clank, including Bella Thorn, John Goodman, Rosario Dawson and Sylvester Stallone. In fact, franchise purists can rest assured that aside from the game’s main bad guy, Chairman Drek, who is now voiced by Paul Giamatti, all the returning characters have kept their actors in both the games and films, while the new voices fit right in with the characters we’ve come to love.
Ratchet rarely takes itself seriously, and it’s better off for it.
If the story content isn’t enough of a callback for you, (on top of the handful of Resistance references for the hardcore Insomniac fan,) unlockable trading cards can be found throughout the game, each of which contain details on both this, and past games. Collecting all the cards in a series provides extra boosts like bolt, card and Raritanium increases, as well as access to stronger versions of your weapons, so even if a walk down memory lane isn’t your thing, at least there’s that extra incentive to find them. To make finding them easier, five duplicates can be traded for the card of your choice, so you’ll want to remain on the lookout for as long as possible.
It’s easy to see that the developers know that there’s plenty we’ve come to love with this series, much of which returns to tickle our nostalgia. Certain scenes, characters and interactions will remind you of some of the charm of 2002 while making you forget that you’ve visited these worlds years before until these callbacks pop up. And yet, for every reminder of the originals, like the plumber you meet in your first full world or the hoverboard races which are even more thrilling now as they were back then, you’ll come across new battles like dog fights in space and a city defense mission where you’ll use magnets to hurl enemy robots back at their ships. It’s moments like these that really make it feel like the series has been fully realized for the current generation.
Fights can get pretty intense.
Still, it can’t be all action all the time, which is where Clank’s solo missions take center stage. These puzzle inspired areas ask players to transform helpful robots in the area either into generators, bridges or springs in order to power nearby doors and open the exits. Simple on the surface, yet more complex as the game progresses, these distractions are challenging enough without becoming overbearing, only popping up a few times throughout the game’s story. That’s not to say Clank can’t handle himself in a fight, since some of the most visually impressive moments in an already gorgeous game come from when he must outwit the Warbot commander, Stallone’s Victor Von Ion. These short, but sweet sequences have Clank running towards the camera as Ion slices apart the corridors they’re running through in order to destroy the defect with his beam blade. Everything from the sparks, laser effects and fire looks so good while being fun to play, that you’ll be disappointed that these sequences aren’t featured more often.
Thankfully, disappointments are few and far between with this reboot, although one aspect that might come off as divisive is the changes to the story. Surprisingly acting as an origin story for more than just Ratchet and Clank, the big twist at the end is twofold this time around, introducing characters that originally debuted later in the series’ timeline. Unfortunately, that comes with concessions to what would become my favorite character arc throughout the games, fundamentally changing what would go on to happen in the sequels. That puts the game in a strange position because if this reboot is a one and done game to coincide with the movie’s release, then the story works better to a degree, setting up story elements for the future of the franchise. If it isn’t a one off and the whole series will begin branching out again from here, I don’t see it playing out on the track its on without completely invalidating the second game and part of the third. Considering how much I enjoyed this take on the series, knowing that the changes to the story closes off some of the best parts of potential future installments isn’t ideal, although this is more of a nitpick than a damning flaw. Still, I enjoyed the way the twist was handled in the original more so than in the reboot. You know, minus the whole Ratchet being a jerk to Clank part, which was thankfully omitted.
Outside of these story nitpicks, the only real flaws I encountered were technical issues such as “falling” off of a cliff when stuck between boxes, landing on certain mountains that were programmed like lava, and some poorly placed checkpoints that will force you to replay large fights, all because you missed that one guy stuck in the corner at the end of the third wave. While length might be an issue for anyone who is looking to only complete the story, I got a good 12-ish hours out of it on a hard mode run where I found half of the 28 Golden Bolts and leveled up all the weapons, which is pretty good for a platformer. When you consider I still had numerous collectables to find and side missions to complete, a 100% run was still hours away. For those who want the full experience however, a type of new game plus called “Challenge Mode” asks players to run through the game again while getting hit as little as possible. The more enemies you kill without taking damage, the higher your bolt multiplier, which you’ll need to take full advantage of if you want to buy the Omega versions of your weapons, which can be upgraded even further for maximum destruction. While playing the same game multiple times isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, Insomniac provided plenty of content for those who enjoy exploring every nook and cranny of the game’s world. As mentioned earlier, there’s plenty to explore.
Just so we’re clear, this game is gorgeous.
Ratchet and Clank has been advertised as “the game, based on the movie, based on the game!”, but it’s so much more than that. On one hand, it might be the best “game adaptation” of a film to date, although that might not be fair to compare since it has almost 15 years of games worth of experience to build on. But what is fair to say, is that this release is not only one of the highlights of a growing PS4 library, but possibly the best game in Insomniac’s long history with the franchise. This game could have been a quick nostalgia trip that capitalized on the movie. What it ended up being was a nod to new and old fans alike as a shining example of what a reboot should be. I might be slightly nervous on the narrative direction the game is headed in, the formula is admittedly feeling a little samey despite its many upgrades, and small technical glitches hurt a near perfect package, but fans of platformers, fans of shooters, fans of the series… heck, fans of gaming can’t go wrong with picking up Ratchet and Clank, and have a chance to rescue the galaxy all over again.
tl;dr
+ Ratchet and Clank are back with plenty of new content to go with a dash of nostalgia.
+ The platforming is as fluid as ever, with both new and old weapons to keep combat interesting.
+ Plenty of worlds to explore, each with huge areas, waves of enemies and secrets to uncover.
+ Side missions like Clank’s puzzle stages and dog fights keep the game feeling fresh.
+ A new game plus mode that will more than double the standard length.
– Some story changes make us nervous for the future.
– Small technical issues pop up from time to time.
– Though offset by the Challenge Mode, those looking for a one and done game will be done with the story in a weekend.
– While great, the formula is feeling a little familiar.
Final Score: 4.5/5