Ratchet & Clank Review

Insomniac Games is back with its first Ratchet & Clank game on the current generation of consoles. Ratchet & Clank for the Ps4 is an extraordinary game. The story is based on the movie, which is based on the original game. Throughout the game, you learn the background narrative of how Ratchet & Clank came to be one of the galaxy’s greatest heroic duo.

If you have played the original Ratchet & Clank the story is similar but it is expanded upon and it is accompanied by scenes from the motion picture. You start off as Ratchet who works in a garage repairing ships. Ratchet is a Lombax and he is the last Lombax left in the galaxy. His dream is to become a galactic ranger and fight alongside his favourite superhero Captain Qwark. Pursuing his dream Ratchet attends Galactic Ranger tryouts and from there he is thrown into having the responsibility to save the galaxy. Throughout the adventure, you meet many characters including his soon to be partner clank. Each character is unique and provides a welcomed personal story with humour that really gets you engaged into the Ratchet & Clank world. The entire story is narrated by Captain Qwark as he sits in jail detailing his so-called adventure with Ratchet & Clank. In reality, he is only telling the story based off of the Ratchet & Clank Holofilm so his account of the events isn’t 100% accurate. You are taken on a funny, fun, and eventful adventure.

Graphically Ratchet & Clank is quite simply one of the best-looking video games out for the Playstation 4. The best way to describe the graphics is to compare it to a Pixar Movie. The colours are vibrant, the character models are all sharp and unique, and the environments are gorgeous. This is a game that really sets the current generation of consoles apart from the previous generation. When I started up the game and experienced the graphics it was one of the very few “WOW” moments I have had with games on the current hardware. You will find yourself at times moving the camera around to view the entire setting so you can fully appreciate the visuals.

Ratchet & Clank plays smoothly as you would expect from a Ratchet & Clank game. The combat is fun and responsive. There are a plethora of weapons to choose from and you will feel right at home if you have played any of the previous releases in the series. Throughout the adventure, you collect bolts and you can buy new guns with these bolts. Collecting bolt becomes addicting and you will want to break every crate and collect every bolt you see so that you can continuously purchase and try out new weapons. Some of my favourite guns were the pixelator which turns enemies into 8-bit retro game characters, the bouncer which shoots a bomb that breaks up into mini bouncing bombs, and the sheepinator which turns your enemies into sheep. On top of all the different guns to choose from you have the ability to upgrade each gun. You collect raritanium to use towards upgrading. The upgrade system is complex enough to keep you engaged and excited to see how the upgrades have improved your weapon.

Ratchet & Clank consists of a few gameplay variations. Firstly, there is the standard ground combat and platforming . As you progress through the game you get a thruster pack and a jet pack. These are used for specific missions, but they change the standard platforming and add a twist of air and speed combat. You also have the sequences where you have to grind on rails and avoid obstacles to stay alive. On certain planets, you can take part in hover board racing which is actually quite fun and is a nice side addition to the game. Finally, there are the ship combat areas where you control Ratchet & Clank ship to complete certain objectives. The ship combat was my only complaint about Ratchet & Clank. The actual missions were fun but the control of the ship was not nearly as tight as every other part of the game and at times made me wish that they had left this part out. Luckily, the ship combat sections are few and far between and it doesn’t reduce the excellent experience you will have when playing through Ratchet & Clank.

Overall, Ratchet & Clank is one of the best games out right now for the PS4. With it retailing for only £29.99 / $39.99 if you are a fan of Ratchet & Clank or just platforming games in general, you should definitely pick this game up as soon as possible.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.