Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

"Good, but Barely Lives Up to the R&C Name"

\I would like to start by saying, the second I downloaded that trailer onto my PS3, I was extremely excited by the fact that R&C, a franchise commended for its perfection on the PS2, was now moving on to next-gen consoles. This meant that Ratchet & Clank games would soon be fulfilled in the one area that actually could've used a bit of work: the graphics. While some the other areas seemed to fall back a bit, I'm happy to report that the graphics themselves are amazing. I suppose I should give a little deeper insight into what I think went wrong with this game, as little as that may be.

Visuals: 10/10
This game knows how to throw around the PS3's superior processing capabilities, and it flaunts them at every available opportunity. The forests are spooky, the cities are shiny and those gelatonium plants are just plain weird. The character models look much more realistic and you can actually see every one of Ratchet's hairs, every one of Clank's mechanical pieces, and every one of your enemies' strange faces. The weapons and gadgets are also nicely animated, and the firing of said weapons is beautifully done. This game shows that we can look forward to many games on the PS3 that definitely could not be realized on the Xbox 360.

Sound: 8/10
The sound is what you'd expect from a Ratchet & Clank game. The voice-acting is great. The sound of your ballistic bullets shooting and lodging into your foes is quite satisfying, and the background music fits whatever area you may be in (when you're in pirate territory, a little bit is even stolen from Pirates of the Caribbean). So why the low score? This game fails to bring anything new to the table that's already filled with what we've seen before. And sure, it was perfect the first few times, but now we've come to expect more. Maybe next time.

Controls: 10/10
R&C games have always been commended for their awesome control scheme, which allows you to get through both the platforming and the combat. Thankfully, ToD is no different. One problem (and it is very small) is that they switched the button for crouching from the past versions. And when you have to crouch to use your long and high jumps, your going to be using it a lot. Series veterans will constantly find themselves pushing the R1 button, then realizing too late that the button they wanted was actually the R2 button. This can lead to many unfortunate deaths; however, this also allows for some added comic relief.

Storyline: 9/10
This game probably will not win any "Unique Storyline Awards", nor should we expect it to. The storyline itself is quite commonplace among the franchise: the galaxy is being taken over, and you are the only one who can stop it. However, this game is unique because it reveals some information we've wanted to know ever since we first laid eyes on Ratchet's crappy spaceship in the original; it reveals information about Ratchet's past. Not only does this fill in the gaps for some of the other games, but more information is kept unknown, no doubt enough to merit a sequel. Even so, it does leave a few questions unanswered. Those gamers who played Going Commando will wonder if Angela, one of the main characters in that game, was a Lombax, and, if so, what happened to her? With these small problems, I'm forced to give the storyline 9/10.

Difficulty: 9/10
You will find at times that the game expects you to have better armor and better weapons than its vendors actually allow. It's really generous of those people at Insomniac to give you unlimited lives, or else you'd most likely be seeing that Game Over screen far too often. But, if you think the first playthrough is frustrating, wait until you see challenge mode! The enemies can take almost as much as you can dish out and can often kill you in two or three hits. As an added "bonus", the strongest weapon in the game, whose predecessors basically killed everything in one hit, is extremely weak. I emptied a full clip of it just trying to kill one of the more common enemies. And that was before I tried it on a boss.

Replayability: 7/10
Challenge mode has been a staple of the Ratchet & Clank games, mostly because of a few added features only available after beating the game once. ToD offers little to none of that same incentive. I actually only played through it twice, then I actually went back to playing Up Your Arsenal. You'll actually be finding this game to be more like an RPG in some senses, which hurt the chances of you playing it again. It's actually a pity that this, one of the most important aspects of a game, was the one that fell short.

Overall: 9/10
It's so sad to see a R&C game fail to get the rank I would gladly give to any of the earlier games. Well, maybe not to Size Matters and Going Commando, but they don't count. I mean all the other games had a reason for them to be enjoyed, even the two I just mentioned. The original was, well, the original. Going Commando wasn't really that great, but with all the new additions, you had to buy it anyway. Up Your Arsenal was (in my opinion) one of the best games for the PS2, even making the Greatest Hits collection. I mean, it offered all the novelty of Going Commando except, with a more refined approach. Size Matters was on a portable gaming system, which was the brightest stroke of genius I'd seen in many years. And then, there was Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. You would think that the fact that it's on the PS3 would be enough to sell it to customers. Hey, it worked on me. However, it wasn't quite enough to redeem its other flaws and get it a perfect score. We've been saying it ever since we saw that fuzzy Lombax and his robotic friend tramp across the screen, but maybe next time. Maybe next time they can pull it all together.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/06/08

Game Release: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (US, 10/23/07)