Today was hectic with Retrospective stuff but that is not stopping me covering the dynamic Lombax and Robot from going on another adventure! As of 4/29/2016, the series had its first movie air in western markets and going to celebrate that with a Retrospective covering this game; Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.
The game is part of my on-going Ratchet & Clank Retrospective series!
This game is the very first PS3 game for the series and one that really made me want a PS3 back in 2007 when it came out. Lets go into the galaxy of space and see where the hunt for the Lombax's takes us.
Development History:
The game started development not long after the 2005 release of Ratchet Deadlocked and Insomniac had two studios at this point in time; one making an upcoming PS3 Launch title that will help sell the system (Resistance Fall of Man) and another making the Ratchet & Clank series.
Now that Deadlocked finished production, the Ratchet Team started work on the series jump to the PlayStation 3. They really wanted to make the hardware sing and from current work with Sony on the at the time upcoming Resistance, they had a good idea how to make games for the system.
They pushed for a 'Pixar' look for Ratchet & Clank and this affected the direction of the storytelling; instead of the game being focused on being a comedy with some fun story beats, we get a more tone-downed adventure that has the series humor but the main point is the plot. They wanted to give Ratchet & Clank important backstory from their origins never covered before and the PS3 series, dubbed 'Future' was a sign that they wanted the Ratchet series to have major story telling elements.
That wasn't the only focus though, as they wanted to return to having a tight ballence between action combat (shooting) and the platforming that the original game & Ratchet 2/Going Commando had. The idea of having powerful gadgets used in combat called 'Devices', some fun gimmicks that would use the motion controls of the PS3 controller well and bring back space travel from Ratchet 2; all of these were goals the team had in mind.
The game finally released in Fall 2007 for the PlayStation 3, with Naughty Dog's own title "Uncharted: Drakes Fortune" coming out not long after. Both games did very well sales and review wise and started a new trilogy of games for both franchises. Ratchet continued on PlayStation 3 with two other games in the Future Series, two spin-off titles and an Epilogue to the Future Series; all of which will be covered in the future.
Story:
The story is very important to the series, as the franchise is known for being a fantastic Pixar-like adventure for a long time. But here, they really try hard to acomplish telling an epic tale for Ratchet & Clank.
The story begins with the Lombax and his robotic pal working on building some hoverbike and then they hear Quark sending a message that he is being attacked. After crash landing in the middle of a city, Ratchet & Clank blast their way from waves of foes until they get cornered by Emperor Taceon who wants to kill Ratchet due to him being the last Lombax.
They high-jack his ship and crash land on another planet. As the adventure continues, Ratchet begins to learn more about his race as a Lombax and Clank starts seeing these odd creatures that have strange powers.
The story here is good, with Ratchet & Clank bouncing off each other well all the while the new characters like Cronk and Zeffer being great additions to the cast. Really love the Smugger, as he is more or less a funner version of Moneybags from Insomniac's own Spyro series. The last character I want to highlight is Talwyn Apogee, as she is a great addition to the series. She is funny, smart and gets into the action often (fighting alongside Ratchet, Clank, and her warbots Cronk & Zeffer). She appears in later games and I hope she appears in this new reboot series that Ratchet 2016 starts.
My only gripe with the story is that the comedic 'edge' is softer then before. I mean, the game is still funny at points but you can clearly tell that the humor is used more sparingly compared to past games in the series. And that is fine as long as the story is good, and it mostly is. But the ending concluding on a cliffhanger and Ratchet being a jerk to Clank (like the first game) but only without a decent reason was destracting for the few times that happened.
Good story overall though.
Gameplay:
Its a return to the style of gameplay we got with Ratchet & Clank 2; tight controls, great line-up of weapons to play around with and some great platforming sections that remind me of parts of the first Ratchet & Clank at points.
In many respects. Tools of Destruction feels like a 'proper' sequel to Ratchet 2 more so then Ratchet 3. Ratchet 3 focused very heavily on its gun play while Tools of Destruction has a larger focus on platforming (though you still do a lot of shooting). My main point, is that the balance is done stronger here.
But the gameplay can be broken down into a few sections:
Ratchet has the great gameplay from Ratchet 2 and Ratchet 3. The gun play is a lot of fun and the set pieces that Ratchet goes through are very impressive. Grinding on long rail sections avoiding trains and the camera panning all over the place, the camera going top-down and side-ways during the intro stage, and the levels having a lot of location theme choice (planet with dinos, large city that has a ton of flying cars all over the place, a lost jungle that has you fighting various creatures, navigating across floating asteroids, and fighting across two pirate bases. Will cover the weapons and other stuff in another part but Ratchet controls great here and for greater reference to the specifics to his control, give my Ratchet 2 and 3 Retrospectives a read.
Clank has a lot of new abilities in this game but his solo-gameplay is a bit weak. His new Zoni powers allow him to fly in the sky, slow down time and break down walls with a powerful laser. Ratchet can use two of these powers at different points in some planets and they are very fun. But Clank's solo gameplay is weak compared to past games. He controls the same and still controls an army but this time, its of Zoni. They can repair things, attack foes, hover in the air, and even allow Clank to slow down time with holding the R1 button.
That sounds like a lot of fun, but it really isn't anything that special. If anything, it lacks the charm of Clank controlling little robots in Ratchet 2 or the odd concept of working with a AI controlled monkey. Also no Giant Clank this time out too. Overall, his functions are fun, but not on the level of past games.
Ship Combat is where things get interesting. Unlike in Ratchet 2, its not all-range mode Star Fox but linear Star Fox like some stages in SF64. And they are a visual highlight with amazing effects filling the screen and the controls working very well. If you are a fan of Star Fox, you might have some great fun with these sections. Otherwise, they are a nice inclusion but don't really add or take away from the game.
The gadgets Ratchet has a few new gadgets like the Gyro Bike, New hacking tool and the Pirate-Guise. Gyro Bike is a Monkey Ball-like mode that has you rolling around and its fun. Its mainly used for some tricky platforming sections and its underused but when it is used, it can be quite fun to play with it. The Hacking Tool allows you to get through locked doors or activate things and you do this from either moving the left stick or tilting the controller. You control this little ball and have to help a 'power surge' move to the end goal. I had a lot of fun with this motion controls or not honestly.
The Pirate-Guise is very simple but very funny; Ratchet turns into a little pirate that dances to open some doors and its fun! Used more for laughs then anything else but still, a nice addition to the game and a cool successor to the Tera-Guise.
The line up of weapons are great here, but we get some recycling of old ideas in past Ratchet games. We have another whip item but its electric this time. We have a shot gun but this time it shoots crystals. We have a pistol but this time it shoots fireballs. They play with traditional weapons we see all the time 'slightly' different and that is cool.
But the creative weapons, that is where things get nuts. We have a bee nest we can plant on the ground to sends little insects to kill everything, a Disco Ball called the Groveatron that makes EVERYTHING dance, health absorbing grenades that can give you needed Nanotech and the Plasma Beasts that are little blobs that can follow you when fully upgraded and slam into other creatures. And of course, Mr. Zerkon. This lovely robot spouts one-liners as he kills everything in his path. Love this guy and he appears in many future games.
But some weapons are not 'really' weapons; they are called 'devices' due to being very overpowered and can only buy X amount of them (none of them upgrade outside the Groveatron but you need a lot of money to get that). That is a smart move on Insomniacs part.
You also have an upgrade tree where you use a new currency called Rareatainum that is very common and can give added upgrades to your weapons. If you loved the custom mods from Deadlocked, this is a similar deal here but more indepth. It gives you options on how to upgrade your weapons and later games like Into the Nexus and Ratchet 2016 refine this upgrade system further.
Presentation:
This game looks amazing, it still looks great in 2016 like it did back in 2007. The game has such a bright and vivid art direction that screams 'Pixar' or 'Disney' in many cases and the squash-and-stretch that the PS2 games had comes across here but thanks to the stronger PS3 hardware, the game looks much better then the PS2 games. And the PS2 games looked fantastic.
The musical score though, takes a step down compared to the PS2 games. Its still great stuff, but not on the level of Ratchet 2's or Ratchet 3's soundtrack. I really enjoy it though and its one of the final times the series musical composer took reigns of the soundtrack. David Bergeaud made the soundtracks for every Ratchet game at this point and did amazing work on the PS2 titles. While his work here is more 'movie' like, is still sounds great.
Kerwan - Metropolis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yKG26M4GYU&list=PLwxLlSv5mvIZ1xJ1cGge1Z2IeLgpzev02&index=3
Kerwan - Grind Rail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQX-TMYLFds&index=4&list=PLwxLlSv5mvIZ1xJ1cGge1Z2IeLgpzev02
Kortog - The Docks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxukygdp6aM&list=PLwxLlSv5mvIZ1xJ1cGge1Z2IeLgpzev02&index=12
Voron Asteroid Belt - Space Pirate Territory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6C3fFNP6Xk&list=PLwxLlSv5mvIZ1xJ1cGge1Z2IeLgpzev02&index=17
Mukow - Imperial Fight Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIXxBfFwiIk&list=PLwxLlSv5mvIZ1xJ1cGge1Z2IeLgpzev02&index=20
Apogee Space Station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or5-XLIvKDQ&index=28&list=PLwxLlSv5mvIZ1xJ1cGge1Z2IeLgpzev02
Ardolis - Pirate Base 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZieKP5g9fr0&list=PLwxLlSv5mvIZ1xJ1cGge1Z2IeLgpzev02&index=31
Viceron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0M3RfVSITs&list=PLwxLlSv5mvIZ1xJ1cGge1Z2IeLgpzev02&index=45
Overall:
Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is one of the stronger games in the series and it does a lot right. Great gameplay, amazing production values and tight controls all make it a treat to play. And this is only the first PS3 adventure of the series, with two more being covered very soon.
! I remember playing through Ratchet 3 10 times myself on my PS2 and recently 3 times on my Vita via HD Collection XD!
