This article originally ran under a different banner/website in April of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! One fateful night, Sony and Insomniac Games moved in next door. As they threw a party to celebrate the PS4, their cat named Ratchet and Clank was hit by a truck. Insomniac Games knew Sony was going to be so disappointed. Sony loved that cat. I could see the same sorrow wash over Insomniac Games’ face. I told Insomniac Games to meet me at my house and bring Ratchet and Clank with them. We journeyed into the dark and misty forest. Lightning striking off in the distance. Eerie sounds coming from all directions. Even though I never saw them, I could feel a pair of eyes watching us. It was lurking in the shadows just out of sight, but nonetheless, its dark presence could be felt. I knew it was too late to turn back.
As we walked, I told Insomniac Games about the myth. I told him about how publishers knew the power of this place. How they feared it but their greed drew them to it. I told them how these woods belong to nostalgia. How the ground was bad. Maybe it was some crazy folk tale, but there is something up in these woods, something that brings old franchises back from the dead. I told Insomniac that maybe Ratchet and Clank should stay dead, but they insisted Sony needed Ratchet and Clank. I tried to convince them that Sony would love Marvel’s Spider-Man, but once Insomniac Games’ dug into the ground, I knew there was no stopping him.
The next day, I saw it hobbling down the road. Sony instantly spotted it and rushed to the ghoulish corpse of Ratchet and Clank. All of Sony’s worries of Ratchet and Clank running away had vanished, as they were reunited with their favorite pet. I, on the other hand, couldn’t be more fearful. Luckily, I had told Sony about my hobby of reviewing games; they turned to me and asked me to play with Ratchet and Clank. I knew I had no choice. I showed Insomniac Games that grave spot. I knew these games don’t come back the same. I knew it would fall to me to see if Ratchet and Clank (2016) was a worthy reboot or sick animal of a game that needs to be put down. I knew I was the only one to make that call.
So what is this monstrosity sitting on my floor coughing up hairballs? Well, Ratchet and Clank (2016) is a mascot action-adventure staring PS2 famed duo Ratchet and Clank. Our story is about how the famed duo became friends, joined the Galactic Rangers, and saved the galaxy on their multiple journeys. The story is a bit standard due to previous Ratchet and Clank’s operating on the same formula for their stories. Like many mascot platformers, the gameplay drives the car while the stories read the map. The story might seem rushed at times but does its job in navigating Ratchet and Clank to new and colorful worlds to experience the game.
That being said, what is the gameplay of Ratchet and Clank (2016)? Like classic PS2 games, Ratchet and Clank (2016) is one part third-person shooter, one-part platformer, one-part puzzle game, shaken not stirred, and served on the rocks. Your traditional PS2 era mascot platform cocktail. You would think the game wouldn’t be able to juggle all these ideas, but Insomniac’s 14-year experience shines through, like Ratchet and Clank (2016) is really well-paced. You never get the sense you’re doing too much shooting or platforming. It all perfectly balanced out.
Not everything is perfect though. Cast your eye to the third-person shooting. As a tradition in most Ratchet and Clank games, the guns are wild and wacky. The gun that comically turns enemies into sheep, rightfully named the Sheepinator, still brings a smile to my face. A highlight of the game will always be watching a horde of enemies rounding a corner to come headfirst into the Sheepinator’s beam to magically poof into a sheep.
The arsenal is varied enough to become satisfying when you pick the one gun perfectly designed for the situation, but the actual shooting becomes a chaotic colorful cloud that makes firefights hard to manage. With multiple particles coming from you and the enemies, it becomes hard to notice enemies or yourself taking damage. I really only noticed my health rapidly declining when Ratchet complained about his health. A feedback system similar to Insomniac’s later title, Marvel’s Spider-Man, would help out. I always knew when I knocked out an enemy in Marvel’s Spider-Man because Spider-Man always gave a louder snappier punch when subduing an enemy. This feedback system always feels like the icing on top of a cake. The cake is always good on its own, but the icing, much like a feedback system in combat, always makes the cake superior.
Much like other mascot platformers, the duo of Ratchet and Clank have to jump, double jump, glide, and slide across the levels when they aren’t shooting at enemies. A lot of levels are naturally based around it. The one that mainly comes to mind is the train section on the metropolis planet, Kerwan. In an almost futuristic- train-robbery-like scene, Ratchet and Clank must perform platforming tricks to get to the next car while dealing with the shots fired from enemies on top of the train.
Again, the platforming also had some small nitpicks. What I found frustrating were the jetpack fighting and rail surfing. You must hold L1 to fly with the jetpack, but you use L2 to aim your weapons. I found attempting to hold both buttons to tangle my fingers as bad as some of the harder Guitar Hero songs. The jetpack is not as frustrating as rail surfing when you obtain the grind boots. When you obtain this stylish footwear, you can surf on these railcars to reach the later part of some levels. Unfortunately, if you hit an obstacle or fall off the edge, you instantly die. This made me have to repeat the first phase of the final bosses over and over. Nothing is better than hearing the boss repeat “I love to stay and chat” to the point I can hear it in my sleep.
Finally, we have puzzles which consist of Clank and Trespasser puzzles. The Clank puzzles involved navigating the level as Clank with the help of small robots that can transform into springs, power generators, or bridges. The Trespasser puzzles are a circular beam puzzle that requires you to match up beams with various sensors. Both of these puzzles are fun and challenging, but Clank becomes really impatient during both sections. The Clank puzzles had Clank constantly saying what needed to be done to solve the problem and he constantly reminded me of the auto hack feature in the Trespasser puzzles. Every time he did this I would yell, “SILENCE MACHINE, I CAN SOLVE THIS PUZZLE MYSELF.”
Clank’s impatience is a good representation of Ratchet and Clank (2016). As a whole, the game is a really satisfying and fun experience, but a couple of nitpicks hold the title back from being perfect. Much like the combat, Ratchet and Clank (2016) is a cake that’s missing the icing. The foundation is solid and tasty, but a little bit of polish and icing would put this on the level of Marvel’s Spider-Man. So while Ratchet and Clank (2016) might be a bit different from the previous non-dead version, it definitely doesn’t need to be put down. I might even be comfortable letting you nap in my lap, as long as you don’t drool.