Kicking More Asteriod Than Ever | Ratchet & Clank Review

I’ve never played a Ratchet & Clank game before. I’m not entirely sure how I managed such a feat, but I somehow missed every single iteration. I remember all the live-action commercials with crazy guns, but I never physically played one of the titles. I decided it was finally time to right this egregious wrong and picked it up for the PS4.

This is not a remake of a PS2 classic, but a re-imagining of a beloved game. Yes, there is actually a difference. This game isn’t updated graphics only, but also new gameplay, weapons, places to explore, and more. It’s very easy to see a lot of effort and care was put into making the PS4 title so it wouldn’t be discarded as a basic port. Frankly speaking, whether you’ve played every Ratchet game before this one or never even touched one, you will find this a must-play.

Ratchet & Clank look better than ever.

The story is told from Captain’s Qwark’s perspective. An ego-centric man in charge of the defenders of the galaxy called the Galatic Rangers. Ratchet wants nothing more than to join this elite squad. After finding his new best friend in a crash, the two set off on their own adventure about saving the Galaxy from an evil corporation trying to take over.

The pixar-like story had me laughing within minutes and feeling for almost every character introduced. From little conversations enemies have with one another before seeing you, to how Ratchet is completely out of breath after fighting a big enemy. I can see why everyone has always been obsessed with these games from the start. Ratchet is not a big superhero and is told that to his face. You root for the little lombax as he tries to reach his hero status while doing everything he can to help people. It’s a simple, but very entertaining and endearing story that I loved every single second of.

Since Captain Qwark is telling the story it allows a comedic narrative that follows you along. When you smash boxes at first he claims Ratchet has a disregard for property, before another character explains how it’s how you collect the currency to buy weapons. The narration is your tutorial guide while also being hilariously entertaining. You can’t help but shake your head at Qwark’s egotistical side of the story as you play the real hero.

The scope of some levels can be massive.

Matching this wonderful story are breathtaking views for the world’s you’ll visit. They are as varied as you would expect in an adventure game. Worlds with ice, lava, water, make their expected appearance. This isn’t a bad thing by any means. The size and scope of these worlds are massive, albeit the actual playing area is on the smaller side. But flying in your ship over a metropolis gives you real depth to a living, breathing world. I often stopped to see what was on the billboards or what creature was flying in the far distance. Insomniac did a great job at making me feel like I was in a real world and a place that – in its own way – really exists.

Then again, the selling point of Ratchet & Clank was not the scenery. The real draw is the massive arsenal of absurdly amazing weapons you can use. I cannot speak for the other games in comparison, but I can’t see anyone being disappointed with the weapon selection for this game. You have your basic blaster and exploding grenade, but frankly those are boring.

The Groovitron in action.

The Groovitron and Pixelator are easily my favorite in the game. The Groovitron is a disco ball you toss out there that makes enemies start dancing. They immediately stop fighting you and can’t help but bust-a-move. My new ultimate objective was trying to see every enemy’s dance-list. My favorite so far? Tanks do the moonwalk. It brings a smile to my face every time I see it.

This isn’t just for cosmetic fun. Stunning enemies and reducing their defenses is a great strategy for setting up to a big attack. My shotgun style Pixelator is perfect for the task. This turns enemies 8-bit and even pops up the old school sound effects as well. Seeing enemies reduced down to terrible resolution against 3D backdrops is more entertaining than it has any right to be.

Boring but reliable flamethrower.

There are plenty more quirky guns like the sheepinator that does exactly what it’s named after. Even the one’s that aren’t as creative are still plenty of fun to use. The game does a good job of giving them to you slowly so you aren’t overwhelmed. With so many weapons it’s hard to forget a few of them and stick to your favorites. Preventing this from becoming too much of a crutch is the brilliant upgrade system.

You collect pieces of Raritanium to unlock spheres on a grid that power up your weapon. You have some agency in what you want to focus on first, but it doesn’t take long before most of the grid is filled up. There are mystery spheres that are revealed by unlocking every sphere around them, and these give your weapons big upgrades. They can make such a difference sometimes the gun can go from being decent to a powerhouse.

Giving Sonic a run for his money.

The way you unlock the grid is by getting each weapon experience which only comes from using them. When I found a gun I really liked, I would try and level it up as fast as possible. When I hit the max level I would then do my best to never touch it unless I found myself in a really sticky situation. Every enemy was potential experience for another weapon, and using a weapon at max level was just a waste.

This forced me to use my entire arsenal. Some I still discarded more than others, but I always wanted to see what the next upgrade would be for my least liked ones. I would constantly switch weapons mid-fight and do my best to see what everything did. By the end of the game, I knew what weapons worked best with one another and I was an unstoppable war machine.

Battles can get intense.

The actual combat itself is far more satisfying than I was expecting. There’s something about diving straight into a dozen enemies and swiftly firing three different kinds of weapons is pure fun. That’s not even the real addictive part. All the sound effects from the explosions and gunfire are music to my ears. Plus all the weapons’ flashing like a light show rivaling Tomorrowland makes every fight a mesmerizing firework display of colors. There’s so much action on the screen I’m impressed the frames never dipped for me and it all kept my head in the fight from start to finishing. Then the dust settles and you stand there collecting hundreds of bolts flying towards you in a tempest of victory.

Every battle was a blast and I never got annoyed by the fighting. Running low on ammo meant getting creative with weapons you don’t use as often and keeps your reflexes on point. The battles never dragged on or felt unfair. It may have been a long fight, but it only felt that much more rewarding to have that many more bolts float towards me.

Magneboots are useful for reaching secret areas.

Clearly you may have noticed by now how much I enjoyed my time with Ratchet & Clank. Let me put it another way in case you haven’t picked up on it yet. After beating it once, I immediately started my challenge mode (NG+). I played all the way until the final boss again…in one sitting. One sitting and I shot through the game again (skipping cutscenes). I wanted to experience the worlds again, the fights again, and I got to level my weapons up again too!

All my weapons could increase an extra five levels and there was an added multiplier to the amount of bolts you receive that increases with enemy kills until you take damage. It stops you from dominating everyone without worry as you are constantly trying to avoid even a nick of damage. After several battles my counter would be so high I was collecting thousands after breaking boxes when it’s normally only a couple hundred. It made playing the same game have a different goal. Before I was trying to beat a level to see the end. Now I was going for perfection in more difficult fights focused solely on the gameplay.

With all this fantastic fighting and action let me a little letdown when I revisited a world I already beat. They were empty. There may be a few scattered enemies about but nothing that I didn’t quickly eliminate in less than five seconds. I understand this for story reasons, but when you are prompted to go back to previous areas for collection purposes you can’t help but feel empty. It’s partly why I jumped into my Challenge Mode so quickly. I wanted more action and the worlds alive once more.

Ratchet & Clank are back!

As someone that has never played a Ratchet & Clank game in my life, I couldn’t be more upset with waiting until now to experience one. I’ve played this game nonstop for the past week and still plan to start a third playthrough. The adventure story had me hooked with its quirky characters and silly dialog. The awesome weapons with addicting upgrading grids make the core system a lot of fun. Mix in awesome combat that feels wonderful in every battle, and you have one hell of an amazing game. I really, truly hope that Insomniac does this procedure with the other Ratchet & Clank titles. Until then, I’ll be starting my third playthrough.

This review is based on a retail copy of the Playstation 4 version of Ratchet & Clank developed by Insomniac Games and distributed by Sony Interactive Entertainment.