Ratchet & Clank

"Easily the best PS2 game yet."

Ratchet and Clank was created and developed by Insomniac games. This is the first installment in the Ratchet and Clank Saga. There is a Ratchet and Clank 2 and 3 but I have yet to play either of them. Ratchet and Clank was first released in 2001 and only for the PS2. It has now become one of the PS2 Greatest Hits. Personally, this is my favorite PS2 game, but it is important that you know I never conquered the final planet, maybe when I beat the game finally, I will edit this review.

Lets start with the basic most important part of the game. The game play. This game plays incredibly well. The controls are solid, and the attacks work great. You start out with just a basic wrench. The wrench is a great weapon, and does not loose it value through the entirety of the game. In fact, one of the things that make this game special is that any weapon may kill any enemy. Some may do the job quicker and more painlessly, but the others will get it done any way. This game starts out insanely easy and the first four of the eighteen planets will go by faster than the popularity of Yu-Gi-Oh! After that the game begins to toughen up until suddenly your struggling to keep your four lives. There are a lot of weapons in this game. Some of them cost quite a bit and may take a while to obtain. I think the one major flaw of this game is that with the cost of some missions and the toughness of some enemies, gathering enough bolts for a weapon you need to get can become difficult. The weapons all work well and though there is and ammo limit, the guns don't run out overly easily, and the ammo doesn't cost much. And when you do run out there's always your trusty wrench. Overall I think the game play deserves a 9 out of ten.

Next is the story. This game does not overdue the cut scenes like an RPG, but it has quite a bit of story for a platform game. The plot line it does have is extremely hilarious. It starts out with Clank wanting to get Captain Quark to stop Captain Quark. You spend most of the game finding Quark, but then there is a twist or two. I think the story is great, and it definitely keeps the game moving in a good direction. There are also a lot of missions, which create little conversations with characters who you run into throughout the game. These other characters all are supportive to the general plot, and some of them return in the second and third games. My rating for the story could never be anything other than an 8 out of ten.

This game has pretty great graphics. The videos themselves are near to the best of the PS2's ability, and all of the game looks pretty darn good. The bright upbeat nature of the game gives it a bad@$$ Mario Sunshine feel. The visuals are great. The landscape isn't overly detailed, but you can see moving things miles off in the distance. The weapons all look cool in a goofy sort of way, and the effects jump off the screen. The best way to put it is, this isn't another Final Fantasy X, but its pretty darn good. I give it an 8 out of ten.

This game's sound is amazing, astounding, impressive, and superb. The background is a great mix of factory sound and light rock. The menu screen plays soft tune in the background. The weapon noises are great and fit the weapons perfectly. The characters all have voices and every last one of them sounds great. Music is only played in cinema when needed and it always sounds great. This is possibly one of my top five gaming music favorites. I give the sound a 10 out of ten.

For a platform game, it is LONG. Before my file was erased o the last planet, I had played for fifteen hours. And that's not including collecting gold bolts, skill points, and all the weapons. While the first four planets may blast by, the rest of them can take as long as 3 hours for the harder ones. My personal favorite planet was the second one, Metropolis. While it was short, the whole thing was sweet, as it is with most of the planets. Get ready to test your brain as you spend hours on end figuring out which weapons to use when and how to get from one platform to the next without getting hit. The playtime gathers a 10 out of ten.

The replay ability is Okay, but not overly grand. While you will have fun blasting lots of enemies over and over, solving the puzzles over and over can become tiresome. With the amount of times you may have to redo a certain point on a level, doing it all again can be quite aggravating. With no multi-player mode, you may only play the entire game once. On the other hand it doesn't really matter too much that the game won't be played often, as you can always play Ratchet and Clank 2 and Ratchet and Clank 3. I've been trying to beat the game again, and it's been moderately boring. The replay value only gets a 7 out of ten.

FINAL ANALYSIS: This is one of the top three plat-formers out there, the others being Ratchet and Clank 2 and Ratchet and Clank 3. On the positive side, the game play is incredible, and easy and fun to play. The story is funny and fun to watch. The graphics are great for the PS2. This game has one of the best sound tracks in any game if played recently. The game is very long and thoroughly enjoyable. On the negative side, it can be difficult to collect a significant amount of bolts, and you won't be playing this game again for a year after you beat it. My final score for this game is an 8 out of ten.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/04