The PlayStation Pro was released on November 10th and with it came a bunch of "Pro enabled features" in many existing titles including; Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Uncharted 4, Call of Duty Infinite Warfare and of course, Ratchet and Clank.
In the game you play as main protagonist Ratchet, a Lombax from the planet Veldin who's dream is to be part of the Galactic Rangers with his hero Captain Quark. When a defect robot is discovered within a factory upon the planet Quartu he is then designated to be destroyed ("No Disassemble!!). When the cute little robot escapes the factory on the planet Quartu he coincidentally causes into Veldin where Ratchet comes across him and names him Clank. And then there adventure together starts as Clank needs to inform the Galactic Rangers of the evil Chairman Drex's plans to destroy the solar system.
Gameplay is primarily broken into two segments, you have exploratory sections which makes up most of the game, these feature both Ratchet and Clank. Then in certain missions you get to take control of just Clank in either "run away" segments or electronic puzzles.
To break them down further; the run away segments are nothing particularly new for adventure games but I noticed that I got to take in the environment more as I was dodging bright orange flames or jumping over dark thick explosions on the floor. Seeing a real time reflection on the floors and walls, seeing these fire effects affect the world around me gave me a sense of immersion and graphical fidelity I'd never seen in a game before and the comparisons to a graphic style alike to Disney Pixar is not unwarranted especially during the pre-rendered cutscenes.
The puzzle gameplay is an interesting take on the formula, letting the gamer cool down after an intense chase or boss battle with a bit of mental arithmetic. Clank can possess one of three type os robot, a bridge building robot that you throw and makes a bridge out of his body or another robot that outputs an electrical current to nearby objects allowing doors to be opened or to activate an object in the game world or finally, a robot that can become a bounce pad to then allow Clank and other robots to jump up to higher ledges. And while this doesn't seem like much to take in, the puzzles are particularly hard near the end of the game and I feel like the younger demographic probably wouldn't be able to figure it out. Truthfully, I was having a lot of trouble near the end, but nothing my feeble 21 year-old mind couldnt figure out... Obviously..
The meat of the game is the adventure/action style that the games legacy was built on, following on from its PS2 counterparts (this is a reboot, not a sequel) Ratchet can use his Omniwrench and Combuster gun to attack enemies with a tonne more gadgets being unlocked and discovered through the story of the game, from what I believe there are even some you can miss due to being within optional side missions. Ratchet can break boxes within the game world to then collect masses of screws and bolts who he then trades into a Gadgetron Vendor for new weapons or to refill your health. Similarly, throughout the game world is hidden veins of "Raritanium" which act as a currency to unlock a new power on any gadget. On the upgrade tree for any gadget are these hexagonal orange question mark blocks, they act as a super feature that unlocks when you get the adjacent unlocks. This is a great feature as you question, "what's the point in getting this rate of fire upgrade, it works fine, I don't care" but having an additional unlock with that, that could range from an additional bullet fired or more damage will focus the player on the mystery upgrade, not the little upgrades.
Ratchet and Clank is somewhere between a gane for newcomers and existing fans alike, the gameplay is very similar to previous outings of the series and retains enough characters and humor to be welcoming to everyone. Playing on the Casual Difficultly came with a few caveats, the main bulk of the game was easy and is a blast to play but some bosses (the final one in particular) can be an utter pain, even when getting their health down to 2% only to then die and then start the whole boss fight again (Yes, that happened). Finishing the game unlocks a new Challenge Mode that I will leave for the hardcore gamer, that is certainly not me.
In the game you play as main protagonist Ratchet, a Lombax from the planet Veldin who's dream is to be part of the Galactic Rangers with his hero Captain Quark. When a defect robot is discovered within a factory upon the planet Quartu he is then designated to be destroyed ("No Disassemble!!). When the cute little robot escapes the factory on the planet Quartu he coincidentally causes into Veldin where Ratchet comes across him and names him Clank. And then there adventure together starts as Clank needs to inform the Galactic Rangers of the evil Chairman Drex's plans to destroy the solar system.
Gameplay is primarily broken into two segments, you have exploratory sections which makes up most of the game, these feature both Ratchet and Clank. Then in certain missions you get to take control of just Clank in either "run away" segments or electronic puzzles.
To break them down further; the run away segments are nothing particularly new for adventure games but I noticed that I got to take in the environment more as I was dodging bright orange flames or jumping over dark thick explosions on the floor. Seeing a real time reflection on the floors and walls, seeing these fire effects affect the world around me gave me a sense of immersion and graphical fidelity I'd never seen in a game before and the comparisons to a graphic style alike to Disney Pixar is not unwarranted especially during the pre-rendered cutscenes.
The puzzle gameplay is an interesting take on the formula, letting the gamer cool down after an intense chase or boss battle with a bit of mental arithmetic. Clank can possess one of three type os robot, a bridge building robot that you throw and makes a bridge out of his body or another robot that outputs an electrical current to nearby objects allowing doors to be opened or to activate an object in the game world or finally, a robot that can become a bounce pad to then allow Clank and other robots to jump up to higher ledges. And while this doesn't seem like much to take in, the puzzles are particularly hard near the end of the game and I feel like the younger demographic probably wouldn't be able to figure it out. Truthfully, I was having a lot of trouble near the end, but nothing my feeble 21 year-old mind couldnt figure out... Obviously..
The meat of the game is the adventure/action style that the games legacy was built on, following on from its PS2 counterparts (this is a reboot, not a sequel) Ratchet can use his Omniwrench and Combuster gun to attack enemies with a tonne more gadgets being unlocked and discovered through the story of the game, from what I believe there are even some you can miss due to being within optional side missions. Ratchet can break boxes within the game world to then collect masses of screws and bolts who he then trades into a Gadgetron Vendor for new weapons or to refill your health. Similarly, throughout the game world is hidden veins of "Raritanium" which act as a currency to unlock a new power on any gadget. On the upgrade tree for any gadget are these hexagonal orange question mark blocks, they act as a super feature that unlocks when you get the adjacent unlocks. This is a great feature as you question, "what's the point in getting this rate of fire upgrade, it works fine, I don't care" but having an additional unlock with that, that could range from an additional bullet fired or more damage will focus the player on the mystery upgrade, not the little upgrades.
Ratchet and Clank is somewhere between a gane for newcomers and existing fans alike, the gameplay is very similar to previous outings of the series and retains enough characters and humor to be welcoming to everyone. Playing on the Casual Difficultly came with a few caveats, the main bulk of the game was easy and is a blast to play but some bosses (the final one in particular) can be an utter pain, even when getting their health down to 2% only to then die and then start the whole boss fight again (Yes, that happened). Finishing the game unlocks a new Challenge Mode that I will leave for the hardcore gamer, that is certainly not me.
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