-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Ratchet and Clank All 4 One |OT| Bros Before Foes
- Thread starter MrPliskin
- Start date
Slowly going through this game co-op with my brother. Pretty fun so far, though respawning isn't so hot. Far too often will one of us appear into a fight and instantly take damage or respawn at the edge of a cliff and get nudged off by the other. Though it kinda adds to the chaos and hilarity, so a minor complaint I guess.
Finally got a new PS3 and R&C A4O along with it. Haven't played it yet, but...why is the manual in black and white?Every other Insom developed Ratchet has a color manual.
Thats probably Sony's call, and with the market they way it is, I'm sure macizing profit for this title was a top priority. This game wasn't going to sell as well as the others, at least not out of the gate, all things considered.
Ken Masters
Banned
I love love love the two Ratchet games on the PS3, then I played the demo of this game and was shocked at how bad it was. I understand this is not a traditional Ratchet game so spare me that talk, but everything seems terribly bland with this game, and what the hell happened to the graphics?
Co-op with 4 players is really awesome, mostly because of all the excellent banter between the characters.
I have only had a chance to try it with one other person so far. Hope to get four going one day though.
I ended up just marathoning through the end of the game tonight. It was pretty cool. I think going back with expectations in check a bit more I enjoyed it more. The story was funny. The stuff between Qwark and Nefarious was great. I think my knocks on it would be that the camera could be annoying. Sometimes I'd want to go back and couldn't and sometimes I'd be going to try see what was at the edge of the camera and just walk myself off an edge unseen... haha. And in general it just lacked the exploration that I enjoy in the series. My other big issue is that your weapons didn't upgrade through experience. I think that always made me use weapons I wouldn't normally use to try and upgrade them. Here for better or worse there would be some I just ignored. And AI Clank sometimes did stupid stuff, but he was good most of the time. But it had some good platforming, neat weapons and overall was a pretty fun game just not as good as my favorite Ratchet games.
I'd imagine a little more fun co-op though. So yeah I look forward to trying some more co-op. Not familiar with GAF chat, but will play some with you if you'd like. Hoping to rope my brother in for some too maybe. Also, just want to try the other characters out. I used Ratchet for singleplayer and Clank a bit when I played couch co-op with a friend. Still need to try the other two. I think I may try and get all the trophies too as they don't seem too tough. Lots of games to play this holiday though. Will try and play it here and there though.
I'd imagine a little more fun co-op though. So yeah I look forward to trying some more co-op. Not familiar with GAF chat, but will play some with you if you'd like. Hoping to rope my brother in for some too maybe. Also, just want to try the other characters out. I used Ratchet for singleplayer and Clank a bit when I played couch co-op with a friend. Still need to try the other two. I think I may try and get all the trophies too as they don't seem too tough. Lots of games to play this holiday though. Will try and play it here and there though.
Just beat the game tonight myself. Played it co-op with my brother, and it ended up being more fun than I thought it would. The first few levels kinda bored me to be honest, but things really picked up once we reached Octonok Cay (or whatever that sea level is called). And I really loved that ice/snow level. It was crazy with just the 2 of us, so I can only imagine how hectic it would have been with 4 people.
Pretty good game in the end.
Pretty good game in the end.
notworksafe
Member
It's the opposite of the Assassin's OT. Sheesh. Nice to see that the OP has time to post in the thread, but not in the first post. Why even sign up if you can't handle the momentary "commitment" of writing out a NeoGAF OT?
But NeoGAF should have all the info, right?
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32491440&postcount=208
Rated-Rsuperstar
Member
Yep. Once again Insomniac demonstrate their voodoo powers when it comes to making snow levels.
Ugh, trying to replay this game is a pain. All of the CG cutscenes are unskippable. So are the in-game cutscenes, prompts, and tutorials. And there is no restart option or anything. You have to quit the game and start over....which means watching the unskippable cutscenes again.
R&C games are usually far more accessible in terms of getting to the action.
R&C games are usually far more accessible in terms of getting to the action.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Impressions:
The fixed camera is really bad. Really really bad. It never does what you want it to, and is either getting too close or panning in the wrong direction -- blocking enemies, crates, and the like. Also, especially in the early levels, it seems like the camera is pushing you forward through the corridors. And once the camera has moved "up" the screen, it's very difficult to backtrack. It's still possible, but you have to go to the edge of the screen and literally force the camera to go backwards.
Speaking of corridors, Insomniac for some reason has decided to borrow level design philosophies from Square Enix. Most of the levels are corridors and/or super linear. More so than in the other games, I feel. They try to mask the linearity by replacing the corridors with lots of floating platforms, but because the camera is HORRIBLE and moves "up", it sort of counteracts their efforts. Not that linearity is inherently bad, especially for a platformer, but it definitely doesn't feel like a good thing in this game. It also doesn't help that there are invisible walls everywhere. And, on top of that, there are robots that zoom by and leave blue barriers in the already linear as hell environment to create small arenas, for whatever reason. As if the environments weren't small enough.
Jumping feels wonky, and I never quite feel like I'm going to make a jump; whether I'm jumping over a chasm or jumping over a stream of bullets. It seems like I always just barely make it. And in single player, there aren't any perks for when Clank is on Ratchet's back: no heli-Pack or jet-Pack. Granted, because Clank is constantly jumping back and forth from Ratchet's back to the battlefield, it might be impractical to have a jet pack, but I feel like they should have done something. Either that, or make each character jump a little higher.
All of the bosses are terrible and indentical to one another. They all just sort of "lean" onto the edge of the map, and shoot things at you. They're all pretty stationary. There are also dozens of bullet sponge enemies that take forever to kill in single player, though I didn't have a problem with them in multi.
I also found myself running out of ammo during the bullet sponge sections, and with no way to get more ammo, had to resort to using the wrench. Which doesn't work very well on bosses. And why did they decide to take away the weapon leveling? Lame.
The AI partner is awful. Half the time he obliterates the enemies before I can even get to them and other times he just stands there and doesn't do anything. I've died a ton of times because he doesn't respond to my prompts, and I never die in Ratchet games.
In the past games, the gold bolts would be very well hidden throughout the levels. But in this game, because there's absolutely 0 room for exploration, they're literally just sitting out in the open. There's no way to miss any of them.
Same with the animals. Every time you encounter them, they're just sitting right there. They don't even try to run away or anything, nor are they hidden at all. And because there's no challenge at all in collecting them, it ends up feeling pointless.
And the puzzle rooms that are associated with the animals are mind numbingly easy and super short. Not to mention maddening with an AI partner. They are, however, pretty fun in co-op. But even with one other person, not to mention 3, the already easy puzzles become easier. It would have been nice to have different puzzles based on how many people were playing.
Even on the "hard" difficulty, the game is still far too easy. The hardest mode in ACiT was pretty decent, so it's annoying that they've regressed in this area. There isn't even a Challenge Mode for single player.
Framerate is occasionally terrible. I think this is the first instance where a Ratchet game had significant slow down.
HOWEVER, despite my many criticisms, that game is still quite fun, especially with four players. The banter between characters is really funny, and just running though levels is a blast. (assuming you're playing with friends. Randoms can be terrible, although that goes without saying.)
Also this. Urgh.
The fixed camera is really bad. Really really bad. It never does what you want it to, and is either getting too close or panning in the wrong direction -- blocking enemies, crates, and the like. Also, especially in the early levels, it seems like the camera is pushing you forward through the corridors. And once the camera has moved "up" the screen, it's very difficult to backtrack. It's still possible, but you have to go to the edge of the screen and literally force the camera to go backwards.
Speaking of corridors, Insomniac for some reason has decided to borrow level design philosophies from Square Enix. Most of the levels are corridors and/or super linear. More so than in the other games, I feel. They try to mask the linearity by replacing the corridors with lots of floating platforms, but because the camera is HORRIBLE and moves "up", it sort of counteracts their efforts. Not that linearity is inherently bad, especially for a platformer, but it definitely doesn't feel like a good thing in this game. It also doesn't help that there are invisible walls everywhere. And, on top of that, there are robots that zoom by and leave blue barriers in the already linear as hell environment to create small arenas, for whatever reason. As if the environments weren't small enough.
Jumping feels wonky, and I never quite feel like I'm going to make a jump; whether I'm jumping over a chasm or jumping over a stream of bullets. It seems like I always just barely make it. And in single player, there aren't any perks for when Clank is on Ratchet's back: no heli-Pack or jet-Pack. Granted, because Clank is constantly jumping back and forth from Ratchet's back to the battlefield, it might be impractical to have a jet pack, but I feel like they should have done something. Either that, or make each character jump a little higher.
All of the bosses are terrible and indentical to one another. They all just sort of "lean" onto the edge of the map, and shoot things at you. They're all pretty stationary. There are also dozens of bullet sponge enemies that take forever to kill in single player, though I didn't have a problem with them in multi.
I also found myself running out of ammo during the bullet sponge sections, and with no way to get more ammo, had to resort to using the wrench. Which doesn't work very well on bosses. And why did they decide to take away the weapon leveling? Lame.
The AI partner is awful. Half the time he obliterates the enemies before I can even get to them and other times he just stands there and doesn't do anything. I've died a ton of times because he doesn't respond to my prompts, and I never die in Ratchet games.
In the past games, the gold bolts would be very well hidden throughout the levels. But in this game, because there's absolutely 0 room for exploration, they're literally just sitting out in the open. There's no way to miss any of them.
Same with the animals. Every time you encounter them, they're just sitting right there. They don't even try to run away or anything, nor are they hidden at all. And because there's no challenge at all in collecting them, it ends up feeling pointless.
And the puzzle rooms that are associated with the animals are mind numbingly easy and super short. Not to mention maddening with an AI partner. They are, however, pretty fun in co-op. But even with one other person, not to mention 3, the already easy puzzles become easier. It would have been nice to have different puzzles based on how many people were playing.
Even on the "hard" difficulty, the game is still far too easy. The hardest mode in ACiT was pretty decent, so it's annoying that they've regressed in this area. There isn't even a Challenge Mode for single player.
Framerate is occasionally terrible. I think this is the first instance where a Ratchet game had significant slow down.
HOWEVER, despite my many criticisms, that game is still quite fun, especially with four players. The banter between characters is really funny, and just running though levels is a blast. (assuming you're playing with friends. Randoms can be terrible, although that goes without saying.)
Also this. Urgh.
StealthGoblin
Banned
I've been playing this with my brother all day. Absolutely fantastic.
Its brought back that joy we used to have when playing Mickey Mouse & the castle of illusion on the Megadrive and the great platforming I love from Ratchet and the Jak games.
I can't understand why the Metacritic is so low. Its absolutely brilliant when playing with one or more people.
Definitely my GOTY. I hope this new Insomniac studio makes another Ratchet game. They knocked it out of the park.
Its brought back that joy we used to have when playing Mickey Mouse & the castle of illusion on the Megadrive and the great platforming I love from Ratchet and the Jak games.
I can't understand why the Metacritic is so low. Its absolutely brilliant when playing with one or more people.
Definitely my GOTY. I hope this new Insomniac studio makes another Ratchet game. They knocked it out of the park.
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
This game was completely manageable one player until the Polar Sea level. They throw way too many enemies at you so that you run out of ammo before you can possibly kill them all in one area. My guess (hope) is that its merely because i dont have the weapons fully upgraded.
Can i replay an earlier level until i hit a weapons shop, upgrade a bunch, then quit the level, and do the upgrades stay? I want to upgrade then go back to Polar Sea with the upgraded weapons. Does it work that way?
Can i replay an earlier level until i hit a weapons shop, upgrade a bunch, then quit the level, and do the upgrades stay? I want to upgrade then go back to Polar Sea with the upgraded weapons. Does it work that way?
Yep! You can play any level in any order at any time. I think the only disadvantage is that you'll lost any "check points" but they don't really work well in this game anyway (as in, they are really spaced far apart).
Your best bet is to play online, as you get a TON more bolts in online play as opposed to solo. If you can manage to get grouped up with some randoms, do that. It'll help a LOT.
What weapons have you upgraded? The one I found most useful for large groups of enemies is the one that turns them into animals. It does WORK. Serious business.
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
Thanks for the reply!!
Im using Ratchet as my main character, and the only one i fully upgraded was the Combuster, nothing else. I was able to get all the way to Polar Sea playing solo with that setup. Its odd...its like the Polar Sea stage was just thrown in without being balanced at all to require so many battles and not enough ammo pads...and im playing on normal too not hard!!
I have over 100k in bolts banked (since i have all the weapons now, and havent been upgrading), so ill at least go to an earlier stage, find a weapons area, and fully upgrade the weapon that turns enemies into animals, and a few others, then give it another shot.
Did you have any luck? Also, don't forget that Mr. Zurkon can really clean up for you, he's basically a free 3rd player.
doniewhalberg
Member
Suprised no-one has chatted about this since it got stuck on plus. Already had the game on disc and finally finished it today after buying it 3 months ago or so I guess. While it isn't anywhere close to ACIT, this actually was a pretty great game in the end. I'd say the levels in general were too long, and that there is an unreasonable difficulty spike for solo players (as I was) from the Polar Sea onwards but I managed it myself with the Ryno VI and I felt pretty satisfied when I hit platinum today. The cutscene that involves Ratchet, Quark and Prof. Croid also has to be one of the funniest moments in the series.
I'll add too, that getting the million bolts trophy was a bitch with how few are playing online now and how many are all playing as Ratchet (who I stupidly chose) which made it really hard to get a game with people so if anyone is going for it, give me a message and I'll be a multiplier for you and run through Uzo City a few times while you get bolts. Psn tag is donniefnwhalberg.
I'll add too, that getting the million bolts trophy was a bitch with how few are playing online now and how many are all playing as Ratchet (who I stupidly chose) which made it really hard to get a game with people so if anyone is going for it, give me a message and I'll be a multiplier for you and run through Uzo City a few times while you get bolts. Psn tag is donniefnwhalberg.
So i was playing this because i had it for free on Plus. Did a big chunck of the first level right until the final confrontation with the monster and then quit because i had to do other things.
A while later i decided to continue playing but there is no "continue" option to be found in the menus. Which, i assume, means that i have to redo the complete level? Since there are actually checkpoints in the game (i assume the green V symbols are checkpoints?), i assumed i'd be ok with quiting at any time.
Are there at least shortcuts when replaying which take you to further points in the game (as found in the single player R&C)?
A while later i decided to continue playing but there is no "continue" option to be found in the menus. Which, i assume, means that i have to redo the complete level? Since there are actually checkpoints in the game (i assume the green V symbols are checkpoints?), i assumed i'd be ok with quiting at any time.
Are there at least shortcuts when replaying which take you to further points in the game (as found in the single player R&C)?
Canis lupus
Member
I don't know wouwie, me and m bro never had that problem. :/
That said, got the platinum for this thanks to PS+ ;D
That said, got the platinum for this thanks to PS+ ;D
Once you get to a new "level" you can restart there. Basically there is a level select. The Green Check Marks things you pass only save you if you die during a play session I believe. At the end of a level you will get a stats screen that pops up with enemy kills and then you should be able to restart from that point (maybe go to the next check marker after the stats screen to be sure).
Also the first world only has one level I think. Where as the rest of the worlds have three to five levels, so there are more places to restart in those.
Thanks for the replies. I've now replayed the first level and played the vac tutorial that follows. Just arrived at the outside world.
Playing this game is frustrating because it makes the wait for another traditional (single player free camera) game unbearable. I love the franchise but this game just isn't fun to play in single player. It's a grind having to shoot many things for a prolonged time and the gameplay is boring. It just feels like smashing things and pressing the shoot button. Also, i miss my free camera to look around in/at the world.
That being said, it's obvious Insomniac put a lot of love into this game. At some points in the game, the art direction is amazing. I'm still not far into the game but it might be one of my favourite R&C games when it comes to art direction. Also, the cutscenes look amazing and the world is fun and original. The soundtrack is nice too. I'd be more than happy if this team was responsible for a new traditional R&C game.
Technically, the R&C games puzzle me because i still consider Tools Of Destruction visually the best of the series. The visual quality (engine/resolution wise) has been going downhill ever since. It's particulary strange in All4One. The cutscenes have these vibrant, eye popping colors but once you get ingame, the visuals and colors look washed out and hazy. A shame because the art direction is, as i mentioned before, amazing at times.
I'll continue playing but mostly for the art direction and to discover the different planets and worlds. I might try online and see if it's more enjoyable that way.
Gamewise, one of my biggest hopes for next generation is at least one full blown traditional R&C but with visuals that technically can match what the art direction is creating. Add to this traditional platform/puzzle/shooting and free camera control and that would be one hell of a game.
Playing this game is frustrating because it makes the wait for another traditional (single player free camera) game unbearable. I love the franchise but this game just isn't fun to play in single player. It's a grind having to shoot many things for a prolonged time and the gameplay is boring. It just feels like smashing things and pressing the shoot button. Also, i miss my free camera to look around in/at the world.
That being said, it's obvious Insomniac put a lot of love into this game. At some points in the game, the art direction is amazing. I'm still not far into the game but it might be one of my favourite R&C games when it comes to art direction. Also, the cutscenes look amazing and the world is fun and original. The soundtrack is nice too. I'd be more than happy if this team was responsible for a new traditional R&C game.
Technically, the R&C games puzzle me because i still consider Tools Of Destruction visually the best of the series. The visual quality (engine/resolution wise) has been going downhill ever since. It's particulary strange in All4One. The cutscenes have these vibrant, eye popping colors but once you get ingame, the visuals and colors look washed out and hazy. A shame because the art direction is, as i mentioned before, amazing at times.
I'll continue playing but mostly for the art direction and to discover the different planets and worlds. I might try online and see if it's more enjoyable that way.
Gamewise, one of my biggest hopes for next generation is at least one full blown traditional R&C but with visuals that technically can match what the art direction is creating. Add to this traditional platform/puzzle/shooting and free camera control and that would be one hell of a game.
In the snow world, there seems to be a certain spike in difficulty since the game throws an endless stream of enemies at the player at some point. I figured it was a good point to end the game so i watched the last level and ending on youtube.
All in all, i'm glad i played it but i don't think i can rate it because i played it single player while the game is clearly meant to be played as a co-op experience. In that sense, i found it rather boring and "grindy" since most enemies needed to be defeated with the "shoot at the enemies for a long time and preferably with as many players as possible" mechanism.
That being said, my respect for the game has grown. It's clearly a full blown R&C experience that was made with a lot of love.
Some random thoughts:
+ great art direction (some of the levels looked amazing from an art direction point of view)
+ nice soundtrack (noticed the soundtrack more than in other R&C games)
+ fun, light hearted and original characters/world (something you rarely see these days)
+ jet pack levels
+ great looking cutscenes (both 2D and 3D)
- tech wise not as good as one would hope at the end of the console generation (washed out hazy look)
- the enemy introduction screen was annoying
- not good enough as a single player experience (but might be really fun in co-op)
- very easy until near the end (most battles involved hoding the trigger and waiting while sometimes evading something)
All in all, i'm glad i played it but i don't think i can rate it because i played it single player while the game is clearly meant to be played as a co-op experience. In that sense, i found it rather boring and "grindy" since most enemies needed to be defeated with the "shoot at the enemies for a long time and preferably with as many players as possible" mechanism.
That being said, my respect for the game has grown. It's clearly a full blown R&C experience that was made with a lot of love.
Some random thoughts:
+ great art direction (some of the levels looked amazing from an art direction point of view)
+ nice soundtrack (noticed the soundtrack more than in other R&C games)
+ fun, light hearted and original characters/world (something you rarely see these days)
+ jet pack levels
+ great looking cutscenes (both 2D and 3D)
- tech wise not as good as one would hope at the end of the console generation (washed out hazy look)
- the enemy introduction screen was annoying
- not good enough as a single player experience (but might be really fun in co-op)
- very easy until near the end (most battles involved hoding the trigger and waiting while sometimes evading something)
master_emman
Neo Member
Started playing this game a couple of weeks ago. I dont understand much of the hate in this game. I have only played 2 R&C game. This and A Crack in Time. So far ACiT is better but this game is not that bad actually.
The offline multiplayer is also fun/decent imo.
The offline multiplayer is also fun/decent imo.