Ratchet & Clank

Just when you thought platform gaming was dead, along comes a new very entertaining crop, led by games such as Sly Cooper and Ratchet & Clank.

Ratchet & Clank are one of those odd couples that you always see in these kinds of games, like Banjo and Kazooie. Ratchet is a slacker mechanic who is working on a home-built space ship when Clank crashes nearby. Clank is a glitch in a production line of killer robots, short in stature but large in conscience. Aware that the evil Chairman Drek plans to replace his polluted planet with a dream world made of sections of other planets, Clank enlists Ratchet's help to stop him and his robot army.

Right from the start, the exchanges between Ratchet and Clank are pretty funny, as the game benefits from some great voicework. The game produces some real charisma for its characters here. Clank speaks like you'd expect a robotic butler or cop would (Lots of "sirs" and "ma'ams"), whereas Ratchet is a Bill & Ted kinda guy, and can be distracted from saving the universe fairly easily by a cool toy.

And the game certainly has cool toys. There are lots of weapons and offensive tools, each with an odd name. The Pyrocitor is a flamethrower. The Suck Cannon sucks in smaller enemies and converts them into missiles. There's also the very expensive R.Y.N.O. missile launcher (Rip Ya a New One). My personal favorite is the Glove of Doom, which creates several tiny kamikaze robots that automatically attack your opponents.

There are plenty of cool non-weapon gizmos such as the Swingshot, a cable gun that Ratchet can use to swing across gaps, and the Trespasser, a device that allows Ratchet to unlock special security doors. Clank can also be upgraded with things like helicopter blades, so he can glide and fly for brief spurts. When he's on his own, Clank can find mini-robots to command, a la Munch and the fuzzles in Munch's Oddysee. Every time you turn around, the game seems to give you some new thing to play with or buy.

Like all platform games, Ratchet has something to collect--bolts. Bolts can be found by smashing open crates, and by destroying enemies. Bolts are sometimes necessary to bribe the characters you encounter, and can also be used to buy new weapons and more ammo. All the game's collectables--ammo, health, and bolts will automatically fly towards Ratchet and Clank as soon as you get near. They'll even reverse from a fall if you're standing on the edge of a cliff. This feature is GREAT (bold, underscore, several exclamation marks) and prevents a lot of tedious running around. I say we table the "R&C Bill" to have the Constitution amended so that this becomes a mandatory part of all platform games.

R&C run around various alien worlds using a variety of weapons and gadgets to smash Drek's robots, trying to locate Captain Qwark, a Buzz Lightyear-type who should be off saving the universe, but wouldn't you know it, the pair end up doing most of the work themselves. Clank usually rides on Ratchet's back, but there are opportunities to run around solo.

The worlds have a few platform standards, such as water world, but fortunately they don't look generic. The designers threw in lots of futuristic robots, vehicles, and structures to give the game a very sharp, distinct look. Think Jetsons meets Blade Runner. Each place has a lot of movement, with robots and vehicles moving to and fro. Particularly impressive is a forest region that's full of robots cutting down trees and transporting logs everywhere. The game's character design is great. Not only do you get a tremendous variety of robots (some with blades, flamethrowers, rocket launchers), there are sludge monsters that split into small creatures when hit, sandsharks that pop out of the ground and attack, etc. Each character's simple cartoon face is very expressive. You only have to watch them during the cutscenes and can tell exactly what they're feeling by the expressions on their faces, with raised eyebrows, bulging eyes, and wrinked faces. You can see these reactions in-game too (I like the expression on Ratchet's face as he's plummeting to your doom).

The game mostly has you running, jumping, and fighting, but there are lots of things to interact with and different activities to keep the monotony away. One level has you competing in a hoverboard race, another has you trying to outrun some steadily rising water. The best part of the levels and worlds though is that they are arranged in a non-linear fashion. Each world has several regions and several missions. If you don't feel like exploring one region, wander over to another. If you don't want to check out this entire world right now, hop in Ratchet's space ship and fly to another. Some regions require special gadgets to progress, but the game still lets you explore much of it at your whim, something a lot of platformers don't allow. Things respawn if you leave/quit the game, but once you penetrate to a key area of a level, an aircar or elevator will appear to provide you with a shortcut, so there isn't too much backtracking or playing over and over.

Between snappy graphics, creative levels, and marvellous monster design, the game has lots of atmosphere. And the music I like especially. It sounds like a modern, updated version of those old sci-fi themes that had lots of weird "woooooo"ing in them. Add a rich selection of sound effects, and the game is fun to listen to as well. It seems like every door opens in a different way, complete with a cool sound.

One of the usual complaints can be made about R&C, and that's the camera not always giving you the ideal angle to see things. This is particularly noticeable in fighting. I tend to run in, run out, run back in a lot. During those transitions you need to see where the enemy is, but the camera is more likely to focus on R&C.

Most of the game's activities are a lot of fun, and there are a ton of them. That, along with the game's fast pace and freedom of movement, really keeps things humming along, always giving the player something interesting to look at. The activity I didn't particularly care for though was the Trespasser parts. With these, you basically get a tiddleware puzzle where you have to line lasers up so they all turn green. Most of these puzzles aren't overly difficult, but I didn't find them particularly engaging. Maybe it's just me.

The game gets the difficulty level just about right. Easy enough to prevent you from smashing the controller, challenging enough to keep you interested. Ratchet's default weapon, a large wrench, can be employed to beat a lot of the game's foes, although when you get into larger foes or lots of them, you'll want to break out the heavy artillery.

Also adding to R&C appeal is its sense of humor. I mentioned the banter between our two heroes, but it also extends to conversations between other characters in the game, and even the tutorial aspects, which are presented like you're calling a sickening cheery telephone hotline. It raises a smirk every time I see it. Incidentally, these cutscenes are very quick and get to the point fast even if they do stop to crack a joke or two, which I like. I also laughed out loud at the boss fight that wasn't (I can't explain further without spoiling). Even the game's currency provides a few snickers. I don't know if the line "He doesn't have the bolts" was meant to be a double entendre, but I laughed anyway.

R&C does a lot of little and large things right to create a great game world. The graphics, the busy environments, the interactivity... every element taken by itself it pretty praiseworthy, stick 'em all on the same disk and they add up to good things. Ratchet & Clank were a fun pair to hang around with, and I hope to see more of their adventures in the future.

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