I have never played a Ratchet & Clank game before (Gasp from the readers). Let's just put that right out there before we go any further. I guess I've always thought that platform games should have died out along with text adventures and Tetris (further gasps!). However, when the bright new age of 3D gaming arrived it was decided that platform games should be saved and reinvented for a new gaming generation. This generation must have been pretty young - with a rather vivid imagination - because in most of these new incarnations you often end up playing as a purple dragon, a hedgehog with a blue rinse or a character from the latest Disney movie. Now I come to think about it, a plumber who eats way too many mushrooms before rescuing princesses from giant lizards seems to be the most plausible really.
Ratchet & Clank is equally fantastical. You play as Ratchet, the lastLombrat Lombax in the universe, who is trying to find out what happened to the rest of his race and, of course, save the galaxy from utter doom. Helping you on your quest is a small talking rucksack named Clank, who Ratchet found back in the first game. Clank is Ratchet's robot friend; he likes being super brainy, bossing around Ratchet, taking walks in the rain and saving the galaxy from sheer peril. Doom and peril come this time from a little alien whose ego matches the size of the space left in his shoes. Apparently he is the last of the Cragmite race who had a huge war with the Lombaxes . He now feels the need to finish the job by turning Ratchet into a pair of small furry yellow slippers, while also taking over the galaxy.
As you can no doubt tell the story starts off with a few predictable elements sown together to form a slightly more interesting narrative which at best reaches slightly intriguing but often leaves you with a sense of "umm well ok if you say so". This is no bad thing mind because from the outset the main driving force behind Ratchet & Clank is pure fun. A deep and complex plot has, thankfully, been sacrificed for some top notch humour which never gets tired or repetitive and had me laughing out loud at many moments right through the game. From calling a rare material Raritanium to classics like the code name "Dead Meat" it certainly gets an A+ for comic value. Even most of the weapons have a particularly witty slant to them, such as the Groovitron. Throwing this mirror ball at a group of enemies makes them start dancing. Giving you the opportunity to blast them while they get their freak on. However, I found all the dancing so hilarious I'd often just sit there hypnotised by the excellent animation, then being taken by surprise when they snap out of it so fast you'd swear someone just started playing Rick Astley.
By using humour and weapons Ratchet & Clank sets its self apart from the crowd, escaping the curse of the crappy Disney platformer. Additionally it goes a lot further than just the standard weapon types, shotgun, rifle, pistol. Some having pretty wacky methods of dispatching your foes, such as the Transmorpher that temporarily turns evil types into cute little penguins, slightly counter productive really as my heart sank every time I had to blow one of those little suckers away (sniff). Others aren't too wacky, only having some amusing names and being big piles of fun to use. As well as giving you an arsenal large enough to invade north Korea, the game makes sure certain weapons are more effective at turning baddies into mush than others, thumbs up there to be sure. However annoyances start to creep in when you also have a vast array of devices (essentially grenades) that can't be selected separately to your weapon of choice. This small irritation quickly becomes as much fun as picking your nose with a Stanley knife, when you also have a set of "tools" that have to be used in certain situations and are also wired to the main fire button. At times all this faffing about in the weapon selection screen does distract from the otherwise excellent pace of the game and could so easily have been resolved with one button for tools and say another for destruction.
Additionally to the huge array of weapons is an equally large amount of possibilities when it comes to upgrading them. First off simply using your shooter will augment it in some way over time. However the main way of upgrading your small armoury is by collecting bolts which can be spent at most good alien weapon merchants. The upgrade system here works a lot like Blockbusters* (stay with me), after choosing the first upgrade tile you can then choose from the hexagonal tiles around it for your next upgrade. Asking for an "A please Bob" for a larger ammo clip, for example, until you follow that upgrade path to it's conclusion. Bolts can also be used to buy rather couture looking armour, further bizarre devices and, of course, more weapons.
There is only one part of the game where all these weapons and shopping sprees become totally pointless and was also one of the most surprising and inspired parts for me. On occasion when hopping between planets in your space ship you'll have to fight off other attacking forces. This plunges you into a very refreshing rail shooter type game much like one of those old StarWars arcade machines. Viewing your ship in 3rd person from behind, you use one stick to move your craft around the screen and the other to move your gun sights. I found this type of control scheme needed some sort of split in my brain to focus on shooting and moving at the same time. Much like walking and talking at same time I imagine girls are far better at this sort of thing. All the while your ship whizzes around black holes, coronas of suns and far too close to the sides of much larger ships. This all looks stunning and only compliments the high quality of visuals throughout the game.
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction can best be described and big pile of steaming fun. A non stop roller-coaster of whit, charm, destruction with only the odd disconcerting rattle coming from the tracks below. If nothing else it has cured me of my irrational fear of cute looking platformers. All I need now is a game with coat hangers, wet lettuce and carnival midgets. (Shudder)
*For those of you not born in the 80s I don't mean the Blockbusters where you rent your Sponge Bob Square Pants DVDs from. Please ask your Mum what I'm referring to.
Ratchet & Clank is equally fantastical. You play as Ratchet, the last
As you can no doubt tell the story starts off with a few predictable elements sown together to form a slightly more interesting narrative which at best reaches slightly intriguing but often leaves you with a sense of "umm well ok if you say so". This is no bad thing mind because from the outset the main driving force behind Ratchet & Clank is pure fun. A deep and complex plot has, thankfully, been sacrificed for some top notch humour which never gets tired or repetitive and had me laughing out loud at many moments right through the game. From calling a rare material Raritanium to classics like the code name "Dead Meat" it certainly gets an A+ for comic value. Even most of the weapons have a particularly witty slant to them, such as the Groovitron. Throwing this mirror ball at a group of enemies makes them start dancing. Giving you the opportunity to blast them while they get their freak on. However, I found all the dancing so hilarious I'd often just sit there hypnotised by the excellent animation, then being taken by surprise when they snap out of it so fast you'd swear someone just started playing Rick Astley.
By using humour and weapons Ratchet & Clank sets its self apart from the crowd, escaping the curse of the crappy Disney platformer. Additionally it goes a lot further than just the standard weapon types, shotgun, rifle, pistol. Some having pretty wacky methods of dispatching your foes, such as the Transmorpher that temporarily turns evil types into cute little penguins, slightly counter productive really as my heart sank every time I had to blow one of those little suckers away (sniff). Others aren't too wacky, only having some amusing names and being big piles of fun to use. As well as giving you an arsenal large enough to invade north Korea, the game makes sure certain weapons are more effective at turning baddies into mush than others, thumbs up there to be sure. However annoyances start to creep in when you also have a vast array of devices (essentially grenades) that can't be selected separately to your weapon of choice. This small irritation quickly becomes as much fun as picking your nose with a Stanley knife, when you also have a set of "tools" that have to be used in certain situations and are also wired to the main fire button. At times all this faffing about in the weapon selection screen does distract from the otherwise excellent pace of the game and could so easily have been resolved with one button for tools and say another for destruction.
Additionally to the huge array of weapons is an equally large amount of possibilities when it comes to upgrading them. First off simply using your shooter will augment it in some way over time. However the main way of upgrading your small armoury is by collecting bolts which can be spent at most good alien weapon merchants. The upgrade system here works a lot like Blockbusters* (stay with me), after choosing the first upgrade tile you can then choose from the hexagonal tiles around it for your next upgrade. Asking for an "A please Bob" for a larger ammo clip, for example, until you follow that upgrade path to it's conclusion. Bolts can also be used to buy rather couture looking armour, further bizarre devices and, of course, more weapons.
There is only one part of the game where all these weapons and shopping sprees become totally pointless and was also one of the most surprising and inspired parts for me. On occasion when hopping between planets in your space ship you'll have to fight off other attacking forces. This plunges you into a very refreshing rail shooter type game much like one of those old StarWars arcade machines. Viewing your ship in 3rd person from behind, you use one stick to move your craft around the screen and the other to move your gun sights. I found this type of control scheme needed some sort of split in my brain to focus on shooting and moving at the same time. Much like walking and talking at same time I imagine girls are far better at this sort of thing. All the while your ship whizzes around black holes, coronas of suns and far too close to the sides of much larger ships. This all looks stunning and only compliments the high quality of visuals throughout the game.
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction can best be described and big pile of steaming fun. A non stop roller-coaster of whit, charm, destruction with only the odd disconcerting rattle coming from the tracks below. If nothing else it has cured me of my irrational fear of cute looking platformers. All I need now is a game with coat hangers, wet lettuce and carnival midgets. (Shudder)
*For those of you not born in the 80s I don't mean the Blockbusters where you rent your Sponge Bob Square Pants DVDs from. Please ask your Mum what I'm referring to.
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