Ratchet & Clank: Future -- The sharpest tool in the shed.

I am a Playstation virgin and have not missed much before I laid my hands on it last Christmas. However, Santa didn't only put the hardware under the tree but also this game, which I didn't really know enough about to be excited or disappointed. Well, it has kept me busy for the last 3 weeks and traveling lots of different worlds, solving many puzzles, picking up (hidden) gold bolts and fighting the most bizarre creatures (gold fish in armor?), the verdict is made ... Ratchet and Clank Future has been one of the most enjoyable games I have played so far.

IN A NUTSHELL

The game concept is rather traditional as console gaming goes. You jump, run (or fly) and beat up everything in your path. Add a few puzzles and the occasional boss fight and out comes a pretty standard concept.

However, it's in the execution what makes Ratchet and Clank a great game. Not only are controls mostly excellent, it's also easy to learn (to some degree a bit too easy for veterans). The graphics are upscaled 720p (not true 1080p) and very colorful with excellent particle effects like almost realistic smoke. Of course it's design is more or less a cartoon and photorealism not the primary goal, but the render quality is still excellent and I agree that it certainly has the quality of a Pixar movie.

The character animation as well as overall design are both child-friendly and appealing to adults (due to their comic nature). Voice acting is mostly excellent and shortcomings relate mostly to traditional console habits like the checkpoint game save and 3rd person camera view that sometimes gets confused (in tight corners).

Overall, this is a game that's both kid friendly and entertaining for adults. That's rarely the case in such completeness as with Ratchet and Clank.


THE GOOD

Graphics: [*****] While you will never believe you're right there and it's certainly not life-like, it's one of the best cartoon renderings I've ever seen on any platform (next to "XIII" on PC). The genre certainly gains a lot from high-definition and renderings of each planet are excellent and unique enough to not confuse them with each other.

Story: [*****] In a rare moment of matching advertisement with the actual product, Ratchet and Clank Future sure does provide (Pixar) movie quality also in the underlying story. It's not very deep but has enough twists and likable characters to keep you motivated. Sure, the outcome is somewhat implied, but overall feel is a close match to what one might call an interactive movie. It's still fairly streamlined, both to keep it simple and to maintain the plot.

Humor: [*****] The balance between juvenile and adult jokes is extremely well done. To hear a slightly disgruntled "adult" voice instruct you to "get off the lawn" (which is accompanied by heavy morsel attacks) certainly gets a cheapish grin out of every kid, young or young at heart alike. Of course the comic rendering is a natural fit with the slapstick humor that goes with the fights. Very well done!

Controls: [****-] It was not problem to pick up this game and start playing even for PC gamers like me. Camera is self-aligning and often does the job very well. A few tricks are a bit harder to master, but you're trained on the go and difficulty increases slightly over the course of the game. This game is a rare example of making use of the included sixaxis controller. By tilting the controller you get to fly, cut with a laser and dance. That's right, you got to dance the jig and wiggling the controller shakes your booty. "Cute"!


THE BAD

Gamesave: [***--] I am sure you saw this coming and it's my main complaint as this game insists on starting from the beginning of each world when starting your session. This is especially cumbersome if you quit before reaching a special (but unmarked) check point which enables a teleporter. To be fair, this game does actually provide plenty opportunities to deal with the repetitive character. It does save items (i.e. gold bolts) found and restarting a level does not require finding it again (which of course wouldn't be much of a challenge). Further, mentioned checkpoints do allow teleporting further into a world without having to go through the same path you went to get there the first time. It may not be obvious though and looking around may pay off.

Child-proof?: [***--] In today's world where violence is almost glorified in virtually any movie or game, it's hard to scold Insomniac (the developer of the game) for having Ratchet hack and slash his way through the different worlds. Certainly it's a ratchet in his hand and everything is sooo cute, but the fact remains that you're basically destroying or killing everything in your path. Nevertheless, there is no blood in this game and you're beating up aliens or machines and not humans, I guess that makes it alright. (After all, it's what customers want, right?)

Guidance: [***--] While you're well guided by your virtual friend via voice commands when new tasks arise, the mission list lacks some pointers for what i was supposed to get on the other worlds (other than the immediate mini tasks). It's also a bit confusing to have to select a planet first and then see a screen with more detail which also can easily switch planets but with slightly different names. This sort of got me thinking at first that the second screen was for sections within one planet, until I ended up where I just came from.

Cut Scenes: [**---] Despite their technical perfection, it gets a bit repetitive to watch the spaceship transition between planets every time you reload or actually transfer. It's about a minute long (not sure) and while entertaining from about half the game I felt like I desired a way to skip the sequence.

© 2008, theuerkorn