Ratchet & Clank

"Jak & Daxter, Laurel & Hardy, Canon & Ball...Can Ratchet & Clank join the pantheon of greats, and Canon & Ball?"

Platforming is done no favors by the risible crimes committed so lightly in its name. Got a valuable movie license but can't be arsed to interpret the film itself? Want to have it on the shelves in a few months to cash in on the marketing campaign? Why not knock up a platformer? It worked for Monsters Inc, after all. And for so many others I don't even want to remember...But then, leaping from the laziness came the brilliant Jak & Daxter raising the bar considerably and bringing a little natural justice to the chaos. Can Ratchet & Clank really compete this level? In a word, yes. Which kind of kills the suspense. Whatever...

There are certain similarities between this and J&D - it's fluently beautiful, there's an '&' in the title and it's published by Sony. But that's pretty much it. But where J&D was platforming with a side order of adventuring, R&C is fighting with an extra portion of platforming. It has a very different feel.

Ratchet is your guy, incidentally, while Clank is the metal sidekick clinging to his back. A 'back kick' perhaps. Or. Not. As you progress, the pair of them become more powerful and adept, although with R&C's universe being every bit as capitalist as this one, it takes cash. Fortunately they've taken a nuts and bolts approach to the economy, so this is what you must collect - they're strewn around the levels in all kinds of places, but far more reside inside the tin bodies of your enemies. It's a variation on a pretty ancient theme, but it works well within the story and has two major advantages: the showers of fasteners look endlessly spectacular amid the colorful explosions of their expiring hosts; and you don't have to run over every single one. Ratchet (or possibly Clank) seems to attract those nearby with a kind of magnetism, saving you from tedious landscape scraping and even rescuing those that sprinkle over the many large drops. Keeps the pace up. I like it.

More bolts lurk within crates, which are at least fun to smash, if not original. Specially marked crates contain valuable ammunition dumps (ammo must also be bought from stalls along with weapons, so it's worth searching out the free stuff), while red ones drop into a brief countdown when touched - don't smash them close up.
Certain combinations of these crates and enemies can create mini-puzzles of their own, especially when you're fighting assorted enemies with different attack patterns. It can be quite fun trying to work out what to hit next, and what to avoid.

It's the style and imagination in the enemy design that's so engaging. They're cute without being lame, cartoony without being totally childish - especially as the game progresses and their attacks become more complex.
Your weapons share the same qualities, as their names suggest. I particularly like the Glove of Doom and the Suck Cannon, although even your basic wrench can do some serious damage. Crouch and he'll throw it like a boomerang, jump to attack and he'll completely crucify anything underneath him. Again, not original, but done with such verve that you can't help but enjoy it. It's the details. The jump attack sees the wrench swung so hard it comes right towards the camera; repeated swings in melee battles unleash a series of stylish kung fu moves and turns rather than the same old identical prod each time. It is, dare I say it, 'cool'. On the other hand, if Ratchet really did crucify his opponents that'd be even cooler.


Your objectives come in the form of missions as you travel new worlds in a quest to save a whole series of planets. For the record, an evil boss is ruining them all by stealing the best bits to create one of his own. The missions are never anything taxing enough to ruin the pace, consisting mainly of finding things and taking them somewhere else, things you'll happen across anyway in the normal course of play. The worlds are designed so that they feel more open than they really are, so although the game is actually quite linear, it rarely seems that way. The stack of gadgets at your disposal adds more variety to the mix, letting you swing across certain voids, for instance, or have a go at simple yet engaging mini-game puzzles in order to hack electronic locks.

You certainly can't fault the graphics, which are insanely sumptuous all the way to the frequently very distant horizon, despite the presence of all manner of floating space traffic. What you could fault, however, are the respawn points. Failing to collect enough of the re-energizing blue orbs and taking too much damage can result in some lengthy bouts of step-retracing. They're just too widely spaced, with seemingly little thought for the difficulty of what lies ahead. At least collected items stay collected, and activated bridges and platforms remain in position. So you're spared repeating these, but the enemies are back and expended ammo isn't - retry an area too many times and your guns will dispense no more than dry slicks. Still, a little care and you shouldn't die too often anyway - this is no festival of sudden horror plunges, as so many platformers are.

So while the underlying form may lack originality, players rarely notice because it's executed with such verve. And after all, a Nissan Skyline GT-R is still only four wheels, a shell and an engine, but that doesn't mean it can't rise above a Nissan Micra as an experience.
Ratchet & Clank is a gorgeous looking, beautifully realized take on carefree platforming combat, and it deserves your time. This isn't just another platform game. Excellent weapons and multitudinous, frequently improving enemies make combat the focus. Don't be put off by its kiddy looks. It's fun. And that's what matters.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/03, Updated 01/31/03