Overall 9.3 Graphics 8.8 Sound 8.5 Addictive 9.3 Story 7.8 Depth 8 Difficulty 6.5
8.3
Spyro VS. Crash, but on the PlayStation 2 OrdannonsX
Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games. If you stem from the PlayStation era, like me, you probably at least know about these two companies, famous for creating Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. These two franchises established themselves as mascot titles of the PlayStation back in the 90s, and there's still hard debate going on about which of the two should be on top.In the PlayStation 2 era, there was a similar battle going on. Naughty Dog came with Jak & Daxter, a fun 3D platformer which was pretty similar to Crash Bandicoot in a good way. A year later, Insomniac Games came with an answer, named Ratchet & Clank. This enkindled the debate once again; Naughty Dog? Or Insomniac Games? We're not gonna talk about Jak & Daxter, that's for another day. It's time to take a look at the first installment of the beloved franchise that is Ratchet & Clank.You play as Ratchet, a lion/fox hybrid thingamajig who was just working on his little spaceship in his workshop until he notices a meteorite crashing into the surface of the planet, not too far from where he is. After you make your way towards the meteorite, you notice a small robot just laying in the crater. The robot, which Ratchet calls Clank instead of its long and confusing serial code, tells him about an evil business man who's planning to have his troops destroy all life on the planet to make it their home. Clank is on a mission to find a certain someone suited to stop this from happening, and Ratchet decides to tag along for the ride. It's nothing too complicated, but it works for what it is. Personally I'm not too fond of Ratchet as a character, but his chemistry with the more likable Clank is enough to tolerate Ratchet's selfish jerk personality.For an early PS2 game especially, this game is gorgeous. The characters look neat and the large, diverse and colourful environments are all wonderfully detailed. The animations are great, Ratchet is able to do tons of stuff to avoid enemy attacks in awesome ways. The menus look cool as well, with little pictures next to the options you scroll over, indicating you're gonna undertake. Overall, the graphics are amazing. Near-perfect, dare I say. There are a couple of rough edges here and there, but for a PS2 game, that's something I can easily look past.
In terms of sound, it still does its job, albeit less impressively than its graphics and presentation. Ratchet & Clank has awesome music at times, and the voice acting is rock-solid. There's some SFX missing though, at places where it's definitely needed. An example of this is when during the hoverboard races you'll parttake in, you pick up missiles used to shoot at the competition. There's no sound indication telling you that you picked up the power-up(no visual indication either other than the number on the HUD), meaning you can easily miss the moment you pick it up. This is just an example of missing SFX in the game, and it's a small biggie, but it gets noticable.
Now, let's talk about what Ratchet & Clank has to offer. It's a platformer, but not so much as it is a 3D Adventure game where you get to shoot a
lot of enemies. This is
fun because there's a
ton of diverse weaponry you can use to
blast the stuff out of them. The weapons range from a simple blaster, to a short-range flamethrower, to a multi-pojectile rocket launcher. You have your own weapon wheel when you press the triangle button, which you can always customize to your liking in the pause menu. This means you don't have to pause the game all the time when you want to
select a different weapon, so it doesn't interrupt the flow of the action.
There's a nice variety of gameplay modes as well. Granted, the dogfight portions of the game could have been executed better, but that's no dealbreaker. Aside from the standard running and gunning you'll do plenty of times, there are places you fly your spaceship and fight in space. The problem I have with these, is that your state-of-the-art spaceship is as manouverable as a brick in sand. Star Wars Battlefront II, this is not. Then there are the portions of the game where you play as a giant Clank complete with missile-launchers and Iron Man's uni-beam. Just Giant Clank, smashing stuff up. These missions are actually
too much fun. There simply aren't enough sections where you play as giant Clank... All in all though, Ratchet & Clank has a bunch in store for you, and as a result is a lot of fun to play.
Although, I found there to be one major flaw with this game - the general difficulty. The game starts out relatively easy. Very easy, in fact. The tutorials explain how to use your abilities, and the game throws the ideal bad guys at you to dispose of with these abilities. The game keeps up this easy difficulty level until you reach about planet 3 - where the game suddenly gets a
massive difficulty spike. The enemies get gradually tougher, and grow in numbers. You'll be scavenging for bolts - the game's currency - to spend in the store for weapons. And the weapons are quite expensive, meaning you'll have to grind a
lot. It is at this point you'll start dying a couple of times. And this is where you'll notice that the checkpoints are miles, and miles apart from each other. And this isn't the only part that sucks about this. All the enemies you've killed beyond the checkpoints respawn (naturally), but your ammo does
not. This means this game gets tougher and tougher the more you die, because you'll be hurting for ammo more and more. You could always try to backtrack through the level, but that mostly isn't fun, and sometimes that isn't even possible. This was probably a design oversight that works
against the player, and gave me some frustrating times. But as soon as you gain enough bolts to buy the strongest weapons in the game, though, that's where the game will become a cakewalk again. When this happens to you, just grind your teeth, and push on. If I can make it through this, so can you.
THE VERDICTIf you ask me for my opinion about whether or not Ratchet & Clank was able to compete with Jak & Daxter just like Spyro could with Crash? Yes, definitely. I
did like Jak & Daxter a little bit better because Jak's movements feel more fluid than Ratchet's, but where the gameplay of Jak & Daxter relies heavily on Crash Bandicoot's and Ratchet & Clank is a whole different beast in its genre entirely, it definitely deserves a candidate position as a PlayStation mascot. Ratchet & Clank may not be
perfect, but it is still a blast to play!
pros:- large detailed environments
- diverse weapons and weaponry
- laugh-out-loud funny
- Clank is just so lovable
cons:- inconsistent difficulty
- Ratchet is an unlikable lead character
Graphics 9 Sound 7 Addictive 8 Story 6 Depth 8 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 09-30-15
Review Replies: 1
9.5
A cat like creature and his robot friend adventure through the galaxy. RedHotToddy
Ah, It is the year 2002, I had recently been working on my whole PS2 collection, I had alot of stuff to play on the system, But not really the time to play It though! But just you wait and see, Because I was just watching my TV one day, and I just saw a commercial for what seems to be a radical action adventure shooter game by SCEA! My mind was completely baffled by this game, I didn't know what to expect let alone just watching the trailers, But sooner or later, I just knew that I had to play this game, For my whole entire life would NEVER be complete without It! Now I know, I know, what Is this game you speak of RedHotToddy? Well guys, Just watch! This Is Ratchet and clank for the Playstation 2!
Story-8/10
Our adventure begins on the humble world of planet veldin. Our humble hero ratchet the lombax is repairing his airship but he discovers he is missing a very very important part to the ship, the ignition! Which then brings us to our next issue, Planet quartu is where all of the world's robots are created, the machine itself then accidentaly breaks down thus releasing a little tiny robot named clank, Our little robot friend cluelessly investigates around the factory and finds a little robot with clues on the planet. After watching the video, Clank takes an escape pod back to earth, only to be chased by two other enemy ships, they shoot down clank, causing him to crash land onto the planet Veldin, which then brings us back to ratchet, who curiously watches the shy little robot crash onto the planet. After getting to the location of the crash site, Ratchet finds the quiet and deactivated clank. Clank then wakes up and tells ratchet about saving the world, which then finally?brings us to our final conflict! Clank finally tells ratchet that their home is under attack by the evil Ultimate Supreme Excutive Chairman Drek (Or you can just call him the USECD for short.) This little nugget dude is planning to destroy the planet and make room for his brand new planet! (Kind of like how like In Sonic adventure 1 where Robotnik wants to destroy the city And create Robotnik Land.) So now that we know the whole story, Will ratchet and clank save the day? Will they finally prove their worth as heroes? Let's just get on with it shall we folks!
Gameplay-8/10
In this 3D action adventure game, You will the on the role of our heroes ratchet the clueless and his robot friend clank, as you guide our two heroes through big planets and worlds, defeating enemies, and collecting tons of goodies along the way. The controls are good! You use the left?Analog to move, The right?analog lets you control the camera,You press X To jump, O to fire your Weapon/Gun, Square to swing your wrench, and Triangle to bring up your inventory. Now let's get to the very high point of the game, and those are the weapons! Ratchet and clank will have to fight evil with tons of cool and destructive weapons like the Blaster which works like a trusty little long range pistol, The devastator which works like a big powerful missle launcher that does huge damage and explosions, The pyrocitor which flames and burns your enemies to ashes, and many more! Bolts are a huge essential in the lombax and robot's quest, as they will grant you access to cooler bigger and much more better weapons later in the game! Boss fights are also pretty cool as well, Most of them require lots of timing thinking and strategy to beat, Such as the snagglebeast fight. There are tons of baddies That will get in the duo's way, Such as sand sharks, robots, toads, and all other sorts of nasty baddies! Every once in a while the duo will have to split up into their own little mini-levels, In some instances clank will have to solve puzzles and get to the end of the level using his trust senses and gadgetbots. Ratchet even gets a whole level to himself where he must traverse and explore his?way through a big rainy?city, there are also?fierce thunderstorms?occuring?in the city, so clank will have to stay in the ship?or else!?There are plenty of mini-games to go around as well, Such as hover-board racing, turret shooting, and many more. I will be honest here, this game really does remind me of spyro the dragon alot! It might be because both games were made by the same developer? The big levels and amount of stuff to do? Yeah! That could be it!
Graphics-9/10
Oh wow, It has been about 11 or so years since this game has came out, and This is still one of the most dazzling games I have ever high my eyes on in the PlayStation 2's lifetime! I am not kidding or trolling with you guys here! The game follows a very very cartoony and sci-fi feel to It that you just don't get in any other adventure game at the time! And that Is what makes the game itself unique and standing out from other games! But anyways, Each level after level Is big, colorful, vast, beautiful, and just offers tons to do and see which make the levels ready to be explored for your enjoyment, The levels themselves are pretty darn fun! You'll guide ratchet and clank through a big city, a big and dangerous like gauntlet which only a true man can complete, A groovy and tropical island overrun with tons of baddies and such, and well! Yeah! Now for the actual character design and such, Well, this is the first game, So there aren't that much characters to begin with, But for what there Is, We have Ratchet, a yellow and furry lombax like creature with a huge knack for adventure, Clank, a little tiny and intelligent robot that helps his friend throughout the ride, And we finally have Chairman drek, Ratchet and clank's arch-enemy who wants to do anything to take out the duo and destroy them! The HUD in the game is pretty typical, It displays how many life points you have left, How much bolts you have collected, and your current weapon and ammo left in the weapon.
Sound-9/10
Let's all face It, My ears are pretty much dire from most platformers that I have played on the PS2 lately, But If there Is one thing that the developers really nailed on the head when It came to this game, It would really have to be the original soundtrack! Oh yes, My all time favorite part of the game! Throughout the course of the game, Each world Is presented with It's own personal and catchy theme To It, Examples Include The blarg station, which has a really errie and spooky feel to It that somewhat haunts you as you run down the halls of the ship, We have the sci-fi and cartoony sounding Metropolis which really prepares you for the rest of the entire game, We have the tall skies of oltanis, and well, You get the point! The songs in this game are all still outstanding none the less! Now for the sound effects, I really have to hand It to them, The sound effects, while not really remarkable by any means, are still pretty fun! You get a big boom like noise when you burst open a crate, We have the weapon sound effects which get more fun as the game progresses (I:E Blaster-Pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew, Devestator-Zoom-ka-BOOM! And so on!) Lastly, the voice acting, and this has got to be also another one of my favorite parts of the game! All the characters in the game have very likable voices that never get tiring or annoying! We have James Arnold Taylor (Johnny test, Star wars) As ratchet, We have David Kaye (Make way for noddy, X-men) as Clank, and we have Kevin Michael Richardson (Cleveland show, Lilo and stitch) As chairman drek! Ratchet sounds like your typical wise-cracking yet crazy and lovable protagonist, Clank sounds like your typical quiet yet really smart and intelligent sidekick man, And Chairman drek sounds like your really tough and hard as nails antagonist who really wants to make mincemeat out of our heroes.
Addictiveness-10/10
This game really deserves a perfect ten of the addictiveness factor! And You guys really know why I rated this section as It is! Well here Is why, Well first we will start off with the overall presentation of the game, The game itself feels really cartoony ,sci-fi, and just really cute that you'll easily get addicted the day you start playing! My second reason is because of the WEAPONS! And I am sure all of you guys here on the vizzed board will agree, The weapons rock! We have pistols, rocket launchers, flame-throwers, bombs, minions to protect you, and all sorts of other cool stuff! I cannot take anymore how much fun It is just using the weapons! It feels if you are playing and tooling around with them just for your own enjoyment, and that has truely been an all-time staple of the series! In fact, this Is what has been keeping the whole entire series alive ever since!
Depth-9/10
Probably without a shadow of a doubt one of the biggest platformers that I have played for the playstation 2! This game has alot to offer for you, and Here I will list everything one-by one! Well first, Let's start with the length! The game is overall 20 levels long and each of the levels last for a reasonable amount of time, So the game will most likely take you about 2-5 hours to rip through in a single or so sitting. Second, Gold bolts! Each level has these special colored gold bolts which will unlock some really cool suprises later in the game! (I will get to that later.) Third, It is the insane amount of weapons and gadgets available for you to play with! There are overall 15 insane and wacky gadgets not fit for this world! We have the blaster which works as a good long range blaster gun, We have the devestator which is an amazing rocket launcher that is good for wiping out storms of enemies, We have the pyrocitor which flames and burns your enemies into crashes and ashes, We have the tesla claw which electrify multiple baddies all at once, We have the bomb glove which is a good short range grenade, We have the decoy glove which distracts your enemies and makes them bite at the decoy itself, and well, Those are at least a majority of all of them! Now to the gold bolts we were talking about, Once you have a certain amount of them, You can go to this special room that lets you purchase them all new GOLD versions of the weapons you already have! But before that, You will have to play the game In challenge mode, A special mode where you can play through the game one more time but with all of your previous bolts, weapons, and everything else you had saved with you from your first playthrough of the game! This Is without a doubt one of the biggest games I have played on the PS2, And all of you on vizzed board will agree! Oh yeah, There are also these Skill points which can be unlocked after completing certain tasks in the levels! That Is all!
Difficulty-7/10
The difficulty level in this game is all fair and through throughout the entire quest, As you adventure through your quest, It starts out all pretty easy, But as soon as you get to the blackwater city, Things start heating up a bit! And here is why! Well first, It is your amount of hit points available, You only have about 4 hit points before you are knocked out, that Is not alot, but still! It was then dominated by the new and fresh health and armor system in the newer games! Second, It is some of the gold bolts and skill points throughout the adventure! Some certain skill points like the "Tricky" one in the blackwater city have been cited as the hardest skill point in the whole entire game, but It is possible! But Is there is one thing that has troubled me through my whole life of playing the game, It would have to be the final level of the game! The day I arrived here, I spent more then my whole night trying to beat this travesty, And when I finally got done with all of that, I got to chairman drek! And he was such a complete nighmare to beat! But anyways, If you are pretty good at platformers and such, Then this game shouldn't give you any trouble! For now that Is...
Overall-9.5/10
So in general, I think ratchet and clank is without a doubt one of the finest platformer games that you can get on the playstation 2 today! This game did pretty moderate and good back then, And I really agree! But anyways, Let's get to my scoring reasons! I gave this game a 9.5 because It is fun, addicting, fresh and innovative, and just an awesome game that has really redefined the definition of "3D platformer"! SCEA has once again done It again and I know they will next time! So anyways, This has been RedHotToddy's 133th game review on the vizzed board, and well, See you guys later in my 134th review!
Graphics 9 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 8 Depth 9 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 10-18-13
Updated: 10-19-13
Review Replies: 1
9.3
Ratchet And Clank Review Eniitan
Ratchet And Clank Review This is another game that I adore. I played this on a ps1 demo disc and some years later after that I got the full game. So I was really happy when I did I didn't waste any time to play the game. :)
Story 7 out of 10: Its about a young teen called Ratchet. He is seen working on a few things, then from out of nowhere he sees a ship crash landing to his home. This is where to get to explore a bit on that. You reach the ship to see nothing much left but to find a rather looking unusual robot packed in. Once activated this robot will talk to you and say what needs to be done which is to find Captain Quark. Since it didn't have a name Ratchet decided to name him Clank. With that now done they both fix the ship to find Captain Quark and to save the plants from a certain villain who blows up worlds in space to obtain something.
Graphics 9 out of 10: It’s the most amazing graphics I have ever seen when I first played this. It was on a ps1 demo disc. It looked so clean and smooth I would say the graphics would link up to a game called Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy I have never played this game but I did look it up to see both graphics look very similar. When it rains in the game it rains as if you are seeing it in real life but as in a more cartoonish clean smooth way. Since the game is like future kind of featured. Has high looking teck stuff as well. And if you must know Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games who made the famous crash bandicoot games and Spyro the Dragon as well made this game together which would explain the similarities
Sound 8 out of 10: It had a really good soundtrack of music played. It sounds like future kind of music with a whole lot of techno stuff and space music combined all in one. You would feel yourself get into it. Because I say all of the levels have great music. Here is a link for you to listen to the music to see for yourself on what I mean
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPYby0Rv6aE&list=PLD913041344F737E9[/url]
Addictiveness 9 out of 10: Its really addicting to play like you would want to go back to playing certain levels. And try to like collect as many things as possible. I mostly in all honesty go back to playing the game because of how fun it is plus those bolts aka the money is really addicting I always try and see how many I can get. So I try when I can to get a lot of bolts.
Depth 8 out of 10: There is much depth in the game, but there are things you can do and collect. Like for instant the gold bolts. They are not easy to claim, but getting all in each level will unlock something which I can't remember of sadly. Also when you collect bolts that’s money you would want to buy like all of the weapons from the weapon store. I am sure I am not the only one who does that? I do what I can to collect all of them. Also there will be some secret path levels within the main levels that would lead you to other areas to help you get what you need. Like for instance the gold bolts are not easy to find, and they can be anywhere. Plus there would be like small side quest you can do in each world for someone when they ask you for help to find them something, and when you do that you claim very useful prizes that will help you.
Difficulty 7 out of 10: Its not really hard to play its more a challenge since this game is a puzzle, and a platform genre. If you like those types then this is the game for you. As you go further into it and reaching into more worlds the sides requests will get harder to do as for the levels. Like the enemies you face would become a little smarter in a way, or would just become more annoying to deal with.
Overall 9.3: It’s a great game to play. I mean who wouldn't want to play an out of space type game? That you can use ratchet to only hit his wrench with? Its seriously amazing game to play and I really recommend those who hasn't played the game to play it. I have played the other Ratchet And Clank games. But none of them to me are as good as the original which is this one. That is why it will always be my favourite game.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed reading my review. I will be back with another so until then from me. ^-^
Graphics 9 Sound 8 Addictive 9 Story 7 Depth 8 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 07-11-16
Updated: 07-11-16
Review Replies: 3
10
Ratchet and Clank a Galatic Mission! nitin1234567890
Ratchet and Clank is a very great game. I played this years ago and I know you should play it. It is one of my most favorite games based on the future or space. It has futuristic environments and many other elements that help make this a good game. Now the game has vibrant and compelling characters as I will go over this.
Graphics:
Now this is not all that bad. The graphics are pretty good but there are a couple times it is a bit choppy but nails it almost all the time. It actually feels like the characters are talking and there were no graphical glitches. The enemies are rich and vibrant and even dress appropriately around the environment and you must appreciate the work in them, even the little symbols or stuff on their backs. All characters are pretty well made and good and Insomniac did a great job and nailed the presentation. It looks so good and I could go on and on but I do not have time to talk about every piece of scenery however my favorite is something I can't really mention cause of spoilers but you will see epic stuff and the weapons are a amazing specimen.
Sound:
Now the music is amazing and did you know these were the same developers of Spyro made this game? Well they do a lot of funky, atmospheric, and relaxing tunes. This game matches whatever environment you happen to be in. It also caused some tunes I personally liked etched in my brain. The weapons sound like they are doing their thing like shooting sound effects to lighting effects and it makes a very great piece of work. The tunes just nail it like if its a desolate wasteland with no hope or a cool and lively city or even a relaxing time at the beach. All enemies sound like what they should be working and there could be hammer noises or guns shooting. The sound is amazing.
Addictiveness:
I would totally replay this game again. It has a lot of content but not too much. There are some reasons I would and that's just because of nostalgia. I feel nostalgia for this game 2 years ago! However I would recommend because the game is a bit of a open world and linear platformer altogether. You may have missed a couple secrets and it would be best to search far and wide. You may even find hidden rooms or shortcuts in places you've been before. You may have missed a collectible and you should do it again. Or you like the music so much that you would want a hard listen to it. You can play this game as lot as you want and have some long lasting fun.
The Plot:
So the plot of the game is told tremendously. You can even see Ratchet fixing things on the title screen. So the game begins and you see a brief intro. Ratchet is working while Clank is being made. You find out Clank was made in a bad way as he is very short and all the others are large. Then robots began chasing him trying to murder Clank but Clank steals a ship. He gets shot though and crash-lands on planet Veldin. He suddenly sees a ship crash and goes after it. After during a tutorial level Ratchet meets Clank however he is not working. After a while Clank is back working and it surprised Ratchet. Ratchet decided to carry Clank on his back for now and Ratchet also starts using the new ship he made that day to finally leave and explore the galaxy. However there is a crisis and its Drek as he is blowing up planets and using the remains to build a new planet for his people because the old one is now a toxic wasteland. He does this in unethical means. Now its up to our heroes to save the galaxy. They have to hurry as the clock is ticking but there are even more future problems to worry about. I can't reveal that though.
Depth:
This game has a lot of things to offer. There are many things to do that can take up your time. The weapons could be bombs,guns,etc. There is 1 weapon though you see in the 3rd stage or 4th because you can chose which planet to go to first and it cost the most amount of money in the game. I literally killed everything for that and its satisfying being powerful. Along with this there are also golden bolts. These are scattered in worlds and require a risk-reward challenge or exploration. They can be used to upgrade your former weapons. And there are finally skill points. These are little achievements for taking some notes on the environment. Like blowing up the flying cars in the background with missiles or luring an enemy into an electric fence. These are just some fun little editions to the game.
Difficulty:
The game like many others increases difficulty as you continue and advance the game. It gradually gets harder and there is no difficulty settings. The game is just trying to test your skills by starting easy and getting slightly harder. There are a few moments you could die but that's just lack of skill honestly. You should put your skills to the test later on but you have a variety of ways to do so. The game is a 3 dimensional platformer with weapons into the mix like guns, bombs, dummy's and so much more. When you die its your fault, not the controller.
Overview:
Ratchet and Clank is a very good game. Although technology has passed this era of graphics it deserves a look through. It's like those hidden gems on the PlayStation 2. Give it a try it isn't a bad game. I'm sure you will like it. You will have an extraordinary adventure.
Graphics 8 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 7 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 05-08-17
Review Replies: 0
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