Do you often find yourself asking yourself any of these questions?
“Why don’t make this like they used to?”
“How hard would it have been to add this thing?”
“Why did they have to change that? I liked that.”
“Is Mr. Gamer’s head really that big?”
If you asked yourself any of these questions, for the love your sanity and wallet, stop. I’ve been in this business long enough to know that for some reason, they never will make things like they used to because “progress” or “science” or whatever.
Plus, you all know that the camera adds on 10 pounds.
Well, if confusing stories and rushed animations are your thing then abandon what you once loved and hop on in.
Welcome to Ratchet and Clank!
If you played the original game on the PS2, then what I want to say is that you already know this story but Mr. Gamer’s Mom told me not to lie…
This PS4 reboot actually starts off with the best way that any story should be started, as a flashback. Because what better way to tell a story than to have it told by someone else’s voice that isn’t Morgan Freeman. Captain Quark, the hero who isn’t a hero anymore, is in jail for we-don’t-quite-know-yet and telling the story of his galactic rise and fall to another cell mate, Shiv. Quark is ,in his Quark-ish fashion, telling the epic tale of how Ratchet and Clank stopped Chairman Drek and Dr. Nefarious (remember him?) from destroying the Solana Galaxy.
Now before I shove a RYNO into this game’s respective black hole, I did enjoy it for the most part, though it was only because I had my nostalgia contacts in, instead of my glasses, while I was watching the game download and it’s harder to take them out.
As with most games on the PS4, Ratchet and clank looked great graphically. The explosions were bright and flashy, especially with the Groovetron glove. It was far out man…
I don’t apologize for that.
I also loved the fact that my favorite core mechanic of the game was still intact; Challenge Mode. From the humble beginnings of Ratchet and Clank on the PS2, I put 53 playthroughs of my life in that game. It just got ridiculous. So ridiculous that I was destroying Drek, the final boss in the PS2 version, in only a few seconds, maybe 30 seconds with the RYNO. Those were some really good times.
But then we are brought back to the present day…
Commence the Nitpickining!
Let me start with the first WTF moment I had; Ratchet.
Ratchet, the badass, blow shit up lombax from the original game that all knew and loved has been replaced with this is weak “little billy” Ratchet that wants to be a part of the Galactic Rangers, treating Captain Quark like he is freaking Superman. Why? There is no good reason for that. It really makes no sense.
And let me add that I don’t have a problem with them adding new elements to already amazing story but give us some valid reasons or we will be staring at the flaws of the product instead of the product as a whole.
And speaking about staring, can someone tell me what was going with the animations in the cutscenes? It was just creepy. Not like Redrum or “Here’s Johnny!” creepy, but like dead mannequin eyes creepy. I don’t give two bolts if there’s a movie coming out for this game. That is no excuse for rushing this game with not-good-enough animation and weird sound issues. This is insomniac for Celestia’s sake. Get it together.
If it wasn’t the weird eyes the characters were giving each other during the cutscenes, it was the unpolished sounds when the characters were talking. For example, just like in the first Ratchet and Clank game, our heroes found themselves in Blackwater City for the Hoverboard race. On their way there, they have to go through some sewage. I expect that if they are talking in the sewer, it should sound hollow and have whatever filter applied to that sound clips. Fine. Whatever. What I shouldn’t get is that same filter when I am leaving the sewer, making it difficult to hear the voices and leaving me to turn on subtitles on a video game .
Did no one check that in the beta test?
I haven’t seen the movie and will be making no effort to if the cutscenes in this game are any indication of quality of the movie. Not to mention, I can’t really see people wanting to watch a movie based on a game based on a much better game. That’s just me.
Here’s the Breakdown
Ratchet and Clank for the PS4 does not hold up to its older doppelganger. Had I gotten Ratchet and Clank HD Remix with the original story intact, I would have enjoyed it more. Yes, the addition of the weapons from the previous games are nice but were just too many tiny things that got bigger with each playthrough of the game. And you will be playing through it a lot and seeing them again and again if you want 100% completion.
There is no completion except 100% completion.
Ratchet and Clank – A old machine with a new upgrade of paint with a few bolts still loose.