CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!
i’ve been a huge ratchet & clank fan going back to the original trilogy. the series has long been my gaming comfort food, & i’ve replayed the 5 main games (& quest for booty) multiple times each…
after a multi-year absence, insomniac returned to the series with the remake of the original, which i didn’t really like. it included story & character changes that, to me, had the overall effect of toning things down, & eliminating some of the heart (not to mention cynical humor) of the original…
because of this, i’ve basically been in no real hurry to play rift apart. but, come the black friday half-price sale, i decided to go ahead & give it a chance…
which, having just finished the game, i now regret. for me, this formerly beloved series is now completely, irrevocably dead. here is why:
contrary to the belief of some, the ratchet & clank series has never been a ‘kiddie’ series, any more than the simpsons is a ‘kiddie’ cartoon. any series whose arch villains included a galactic real estate developer & a biogenetic pet manufacturer isn’t a ‘kiddie’ series. yes, kids can play & enjoy the games, but the target audience has always been every bit as much adult as child. it’s a series that’s always been loaded with sardonic wit, self-aware references, &, um, material of questionable taste (‘up your arsenal’?)…
well, that ratchet & clank no longer exists. the sardonic wit, the self-aware references, the material of questionable taste? all gone, & replaced by (wait for it!) saccharine wholesomeness & endless emotional manipulation, to the point of being gag-inducing ('it was you who ripped my arm off?!'). even stuff that could’ve been cool (like the minnesotan ewoks) is just reduced in the end to heart-warming goop…
my favorite example of this? after suffering through hours of this crap, i get to the point where kit comes to ratchet’s rescue by suddenly transforming into - giant (other dimension) clank! ‘yes!’, i think, ‘okay! here we go!’… but, no… no, instead, we get a short cut-scene, followed by - no! kit’s painful tale of her cursed past, & her overwhelming guilt in dealing with it all. so, yeah, hold the giant clank gameplay, & get me another box of tissues…
i was surprised & disappointed by a number of other issues (why the close-in camera? why so many confined, crowded battle areas? why the consistently ugly, dystopian, industrialized locations? why the extended periods of absent ambient sound &/or background music? why so many instances of ratchet/rivet getting stuck on objects? nefarious without lawrence? & why, after almost a year & a half, hasn’t the starshield boot glitch been fixed? because, yeah, i got it). but all this stuff i think i could've lived with. no, it’s this over-all ‘reimaged’, more sensitized, kinder/gentler, ’now featuring more feels!’ version of ratchet & clank that’s basically stomped my love of the series into the ground for good (& lets not even mention… glitch! so adorable! (shudder!)):
so, ratchet & clank? thanks for so very, very much fun over the last 20 years. will see you in my replays…
&, to close on a positive note, i did enjoy the pocket dimensions & anomaly puzzles, & seeing (other dimension) mr. zurkon ('namaste!') so, there's that…
