Review

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

I swore to myself that the PS3 was too expensive to own, and that there would never come a time where I would betray myself and give in. I said, “Michael, there’s a time and a place to drop this kind of money. Maybe on a new car. Maybe on rent. But not on a PlayStation 3.” Then Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction launched. A week later, I bought a PS3. Was it a worthy purchase? Is this a killer app? Well, let’s find out.

First off, it’s not groundbreaking. There’s only so much ground you can break in a franchise before you’re looking for something new. That’s not a bad thing the gameplay of the Ratchet and Clank series has always been remarkable, but after a fourth iteration (more, if you own a PSP) you begin to wonder where they can take it. One area that has certainly not changed is the controls. Have you ever played any of the following games: Jak and Daxter? Jak II? Jak III? Ratchet and Clank? Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando? Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal? Ratchet: Deadlocked? If so, you’ll already be familiar with the controls. The left stick controls your character movement while the right stick swivels the camera back and forth. Moving Ratchet around is highly responsive as it should be, considering the amount of platforming in the game. Jumps, double jumps, quick weapon switching, pulling up the weapon wheel, dodging, strafing, firing your weapon, swinging/throwing your wrench are all handled with excellent control. There’s not really much to complain about.

Except for the SIXAXIS. Now, I have no problems with a motion-controlled controller, and there are some parts in this game where the SIXAXIS works. Parts where you are forced to glide through the air, turning the controller for steep banks and sweeps feels natural and intuitive. Instead of having a hacking minigame for the doors like most previous R&C titles, there is a “Labyrinth” type marble board that you tilt with the controller, and again, this feels very clear. However, when you’re forced to knock down walls guiding a laser by tilting the controller, things start to get iffy. I scratched my head when I came to this part, as it seemed that this would have been much more easily implemented using the control sticks. The precise movements required to hit all the targets is not very keen on using a controller that requires not-so-subtle moves to get reactions on screen.

There are also free-fall segments reminiscent of Up Your Arsenal; however, Ratchet is controlled via the SIXAXIS. I found it very easy to cheat past these segments simply by moving Ratchet in a clockwise motion. These stretches aren’t really difficult enough to justify being implemented in the game they seem like an opportunity to show off the SIXAXIS. For the most part, the controls for the entire game are very simple and easy to use, including space-ship levels, which now resemble Star Fox over Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter (As they did for Going Commando).

The levels are varied and numerous, including the aforementioned Star Fox inspired space levels, to free falls portions and gliding. There are stages that are eerily familiar to the landing zones in Up Your Arsenal, which is a nice throwback. The jet boots and grind rails make a return, as do magnetic walls. There are a few quirky innovations worth noting: There’s a gel gun that allows you to create platforms in a given area that bounce you up way high. It’s a very simple system that opens up exploration greatly throughout the game. It’s unfortunate, however, that your gel gun is limited to use inside of gel factories. With that being said, Clank’s levels for me have always been somewhat boring and not quite as challenging as the rest of the game. This game proves no different. He now has the ability to slow time, which makes segments even easier. These portions bring the game to a grinding halt. What is fun, however, is the Challenge mode, unlocked after completing the game once. The same elements apply the more enemies you kill without being hit, the higher your bolt multiplier goes. You can upgrade your weapons past their final first play through power level. There’s more armor. Your life bar can get even bigger. It’s well worth playing multiple times for the varied weapons upgrades. The game, which I found to be a bit on the short side, is really as long as you make it.

As with other titles in this series, there are multitudes of guns to buy, find, and upgrade. Like most other titles in the series, I did find myself relying on 1-2 weapons over every other weapon. I tended only to switch to others when I was running low on ammo, which happened infrequently, as there are large amounts of gun-shop vendors throughout each level. One of the downsides is that each vendor completely restores your life, whether you buy something or not. It is far too easy to spam these sections to level up your guns when they run out of ammo, or heal yourself when you are close to death.

You still collect bolts to purchase ammo and weapons, but on the flip side, you can also collect Raritanium to further upgrade your guns using a kind of gimped up Sphere Grid system. Every unlock you buy opens up adjoining upgrades, and each gun has a specialized upgrade found only on that weapon that either increases damage, rate of fire, bolts, or Raritanium dropped. Certain guns don’t give you a Raritanium bonus, which made me rely on the weapons that did, and I would farm certain areas so that I could upgrade my weapons, even if I had no intent on using them. There are still Gold Bolts; however, they are just used for skin purchases. Having played through the game as a snowman, I can safely say these don’t add much and are more of a completionist item than integral to the gameplay. Also, there’s no hidden vendor that sells the RYNO this time. You have to collect Gadgetron Blueprints hidden on various planets and then trade them to a very sneaky smuggler.

There’s one gun in the game that I only touched a few time to gain Skill Points; the tornado gun is very sloppily implemented. You control where the tornado goes using the SIXAXIS and do you see the problem? It’s distracting having to tilt the controller while dodging fire and attacking at the same time. I often ran myself off of the map into space or the ever-dreaded water pits (that are lethal, again, for some reason).

I did just mention Skill Points, and there are bunches of them to find. The more you find, the more cheats you unlock. They range from simple items (Like destroy every enemy in a level from your wrench) to the more complex (Use the Tornado Gun to suck up 30+ enemies… at once). Each planet has its own set of Skill Points, and you are never given any clear indication of how to unlock them just the title of the Skill Point, which makes each planet fun, and gives you incentive to try new techniques.

Graphically, this game rocks. I mean here we are. The PS3. The graphical powerhouse. The system that is as good as 1,000 horses with 1,000 paintbrushes fresh out of NYU wide eyed to the world and wanting to break new ground in the equine watercolor field. Everything about the game is huge. Every planet you land on, most of the places you see, you can go (and will be required to traipse at points) looks amazing. Ratchet, for the first time in the series, actually looks like he’s covered by fur. Captain Qwark is super shiny. Your space ship really zips and zooms. I mean, really, how much else can I say? Everything looks phenomenal.

The sound department isn’t too shabby either. The voice acting is standard fare, but the script at times, is out and out hilarious. The explosions sound crisp, the enemies chatter back and forth when they are unaware of your presence, and the music will have your feet tapping in no time. Some of the characters will have you in stitches, if you’re anything like me. The two senile combat robots, I found hilarious, even though their level began a stark increase in difficulty with the game.

So, what do we have here? Is it a rehash of previous titles? Is it a completely new game? Was I justified in purchasing a PS3? Insomniac has a habit of delivering quality games, no matter the circumstances, and this is a franchise that I hope lives on even after the current gen of consoles goes the way of the GameCube. While the game doesn’t deliver anything terribly new, there are enough surprises to take most hardened R&C players for a spin and lure new players in. There was a great attempt at innovation by implementing the SIXAXIS, but they tried far too hard and included it in just a few too many aspects. It does not seem naturalistic; rather, it just seems forced. The game does, however, tell a compelling story and sets itself up nicely for a sequel. It’s good that we’re finally getting some back story on Ratchet and the Lombaxes. And finally, the villain in this game is out and out crazy. If Percival Tachyon were to join forces, with, say, Dr. Nefarious, then I’d say Ratchet would have his hands full. Way full. The game, despite its shortcomings, just feels right, and sometimes, games do not get any better than that.