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Every once
in a while, some visitor here will whine about how we don't like any
games out there. Well, you're in luck then. We seem to have liked
pretty much everything we've played recently. An unlikely candidate
for continuing the streak was Sony's Ratchet and Clank, which I
picked up because once again, Blockbuster does not have the game I
was actually looking for. ("Why go anywhere else?" Maybe because I
can't find it at Blockbuster?!")
Plot
You're
the furry thing from Jak and Daxter. Oh wait, no you're not...you
have different colored eyes, fur, and shorter ears. So I guess
you're "Ratchet" now. You're working on your ship when all of a
sudden a ship crash lands nearby. You go to investigate the wreckage
and find a small robot which you take back to your house. Upon it
regaining functionality you discover that it can be used to start up
your ship, he helps you take off in order for your assistance in
investigating a plot to destroy all the planets in the solar system.
Upon departing, you name the robot Clank. Most of the dialogue is
fairly cheeseball, and Clank's personality seems to go from
extremely logical to smack-upside-head-stupid in two
seconds...especially when it comes to his inexplicable love for
Commander Qwark. (The little guy's got issues.) There are some
really funny bits in between levels from the Infobots you collect.
They're very reminiscent of the "WeSaySo" ads from that old ABC
sitcom "Dinosaurs". I wasn't laughing out loud or anything, but it
kept me entertained.
 Controls
Since this is basically a 3D
platformer, the controls are going to be what really cause the game
to fall apart in most circumstances. You've got your main weapon, a
boom-a-wrench that you use to break boxes, kill evil enemies, and
tighten bolts. Square is for all your wrench uses. Jumping is
performed with X. Once you gain the rocket pack and heli-pack
upgrades for Clank you'll use them with a combination of R1 and the
X keys. O uses your auxiliary weapon/tool. Triangle lets you switch
through your tools kinda quickly.
If you double-tap triangle, it'll
let you switch back and forth between the last two items you
equipped, and you can customize your Quick Select menu to choose
which tool you want. Left analog stick moves, right analog stick
moves the camera. Unfortunately, the camera is treated as a non-clippable
object, so even though there are many, many times in the game where
you'll need the camera to be behind you it won't be able to rotate
behind you, because it'll bump into something. Pretty annoying. L1
will allow you to enter free-look mode, and R1 will crouch. For the
most part the controls are done fairly well, although, I wish I
could cycle through weapons quicker. I also wish I had strafing
controls, but those aren't in the game anywhere either.
Gameplay
The game plays
surprisingly well. I was totally expecting this to
suck and make me dizzy, and have lots of me falling to my death.
However, the game's pretty simple to get through, and remains varied
enough for the first 3 hours or so, that you won't be too put off by
it. By the time hour 5 rolls around, though. you're starting to get
a little bored of it. But, by that point, the game's almost done.
So, that's a good thing. As far as I can tell you have infinite
lives, and if you keep screwing up in an area, the game will give
you some tips.
 To gain new weapons, you'll generally but them from Gadgetron Vendors by collecting various nuts and bolts around the
levels to pay for stuff. Prices will run in the 1000s generally
(Come on, say it with me..."THAT'S A LOTTA NUTS!") but there are
bolts-a-plenty all over the levels. I do hate any of the areas that
have to do with you trying to escape from drowning. As far as I'm
concerned, the best save yourself from drowning scenarios were in
Accolade's Interactive Comic for the C-64, and the Amiga's "Out of
this World". After a while it just gets old having you character
have to swim all over the place. I also wish I had a weapon in the
game that would lock on to an enemy and fire quick. The blaster
fires fast, but won't lock on to anything until after it's already
launched a volley off at you. You also lose the auto-lock really
quick. I spend most of my time using the wrench because the other
weapons just aren't responsive enough for me.
Graphics
The
graphics are pretty nice, and more impressively there is very little
slowdown despite the large number of bolts that can be strewn about
the level at various times. I really like the bits where Ratchet
uses his wrench to turn bolts to activate things. However, this
loses points for the main character being such an obvious rip-off of
another character.
Audio Ratchet and Clank has pretty good
background music. I like the sounds they use for the nuts & bolts
being collected, and most of the fluff sounds are done pretty good.
I was fairly impressed at how well this game was pulled off, and the
polish on the whole thing.
Mini Games
Because no platform
game can stand on it's own. You gotta have mini games. At the very
least, a mine-cart esque level. Or so designers think. Anyway,
you'll be treated to a hoverboard version of SSX, something akin to
Jet Grind Radio where you're sliding along on rails, and have to
jump back from track to track, various turret games, and a
semi-cheesy fighter stage. All of them aren't bad. The SSX thing is
pretty lame, and it's really difficult to win because it looks like
the computer doesn't seem to be affected by any of the obstacles
like you are.
Overall
The game's pretty fun. No replay value
or anything, seeing as how the game is getting kinda repetitive by
the time you finish, but I didn't have any urge to go and search for
all the Gold Bolts. Pretty good for your simplistic platform game,
but definitely geared towards your younger audiences. Go ahead and
give it a spin.
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