I recently found a great deal on the Ratchet and Clank collection for the Playstation 3 so I thought I see how well I liked it. I can honestly say that I love the game but was disappointed with the remaster.

Pros:

+Level Design +Graphics +Weapon Choices +Voice Acting +Reasonable Difficulty

Cons:

-Too Few Checkpoints -Lacks Replayability -Cut Scene Issues

Story

In this game, Chairman Drek of the Blarg plans on taking pieces of other planets in order to make a new one for his people since his planet has become so polluted it’s now uninhabitable. Word of this reaches Ratchet, upon meeting Clank, and they know they have to prevent the destruction of all the innocent planets in the galaxy. So this is a great first game to play because it tells the story of how Ratchet meets Clank and their history.

Gameplay

Ratchet and Clank is a 3D action adventure platformer and third-person shooter. There are twenty different planets to visit, each with their own unique objectives, enemies, and level design. You go through the level, kill enemies with various weapons (new ones are obtained throughout), collect all the bolts they drop, and complete your objective(s). Through careful exploration, you can also find gold bolts that are hidden in each level, which are used to purchase gold versions of weapons. Regular weapons and ammo can be purchased from vendors using all the regular bolts you collect.

Design

For the most part, I love the design of this game with its interesting, hilarious, and lovable (or not) characters. The levels are all unique, colorful, and exciting without being too difficult or confusing; a map is provided to help with navigation.

One problem I have is with the spacing between checkpoints. You can walk around for awhile and kill a bunch of enemies but if you die you will have to do it all over again. I know this is a thing with platformers but in this case I felt like they were just too few and far between; a bit too far for my liking. This is also a problem because it only takes a few hits for you to die and then you have to do the particular portion all over again. However, you are able to upgrade your life two separate times, eventually giving you eight hits before you die. This makes the game much easier but you won’t get it until about half way through.

There isn’t any way to upgrade current weapons other than purchasing the gold version of a particular weapon if you find enough of the gold bolts. With so many weapons to choose from this wasn’t much of an issue for me. I never used any of my gold bolts.

Controls

After messing around with the camera settings for a bit, I found some settings to my liking and after playing for awhile I became accustomed to the controls. I thought they were designed well enough and allowed for easy navigation through menus and controlling Ratchet.

Sound

I have no problems with the sound effects or music and the cut scenes with voice acting are awesome (when I got to hear it). I did have to use the subtitles because the cut scenes would cut out the voices ALL the time to the point where I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Wasn’t a problem once I turned on the subtitles but I have no idea why the developers didn’t check this before releasing (or maybe its just my copy). Anyway, it made the cut scenes a lot less enjoyable.

Graphics

I adore the cartoony graphics and really believe that they will hold up for quite some time, especially with this remaster.

Difficulty

Ratchet & Clank provides just the right amount of difficulty without becoming too frustrating. There are certain parts that are much more difficult than others, but I never found myself having to do anything more than five times. Anything too difficult becomes annoying but too easy becomes boring. I feel that this game has the right balance for me. There were about two separate times when I had to stop playing and come back a day or two later because I was getting so frustrated but eventually I succeeded!

Replayability

I can’t imagine myself replaying this game anytime soon. There isn’t any extra content upon finishing the main story. I suppose if you missed them you can go back and collect all the golden bolts but after the game is over I feel like that is pointless. However, there is a remake of this first game for the Playstation 4, which I also hear is pretty great. There are some differences, so even if you play this one you can still enjoy the PS4 remake.

Tips

~Collect as many bolts as you can and try not to spend them on ammo and only on guns you must have. Save everything for health upgrades and the R.Y.N.O, which will cost you around 200,000. It will make defeating the final boss a lot easier.

~Don’t get too frustrated having to do parts over again. You keep your bolts so it just allows you to collect even more! Once you finish a level the number of enemies drastically decreases making it more difficult to collect extra bolts.

~Explore carefully to find hidden areas