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Ratchet (and Clank) make their first appearance on the PS3. The Ratchet & Clank games amassed quite a devoted fan base on the PS2 thanks to top-notch production values and excellent gameplay. Ratchet & Clank’s seemingly perfect blend of shooting and platforming struck a high chord with gamers and the series managed to keep raising the bar with subsequent entries. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it also delivers one of the most fun, purest gameplay on the PS3.
In Tools of Destruction, you’ll once again play as Ratchet, a catlike character attempting to put an end to Emperor Percival Tachyon’s evil ways. Ratchet is, of course, joined by his trusty sidekick Clank, who remains as funny as ever in Future. The story in the game isn’t incredibly deep but the generally light-hearted fare with plenty of humorous banter between the characters is just what the series is known for.
At its core, Ratchet is still a platformer-slash-shooter. As with the latter games in the series, Future places a lot of emphasis on the shooting portion of the game. To that end, you’ll begin the game with just some grenades, a wrench and the default blaster but you’ll eventually find spikes, rockets, and all sorts of goodies. As expected, the weapons “level up” and become more powerful the more you use them. In addition to the weapons, the game has a number of gadgets ranging from disco balls that make your enemies dance to bees that attack all enemies in sight. The game isn’t particularly difficult, which is probably the biggest complaint that can be made against the game. It’s quite easy to go through it blasting enemies thanks to the generous supplies of health and ammo. The platforming sections aren’t especially challenging either. But you’ll find that you’re having too much fun to notice that the game is too easy, especially when there are a dozen enemies on your screen at any given time.
And then there’s the minigames. Ratchet will do everything from commanding a spaceship and shooting enemies, to grinding on rails and to swimming underwater and avoiding mines. Sometimes, you’ll just control Clank in calmer, more platforming-oriented sections. There’s even some Sixaxis gameplay thrown in here. You can control Ratchet’s flying using the tilting mechanism, which is a fun distraction but nothing too meaty.
Tools of Destruction’s graphics are unbelievable. The game doesn’t go for the dark grays and browns that you’ll see in many other next-generation games. Instead, you’re shown an abundance of color. Insomniac Games was going for Pixar quality graphics here and the developers ultimately succeeded. The various character models all look amazing, as do the various levels, all of which are unique. The art style alone would have made Future a visually amazing game, but you’ll also find that there is a lot going on at any given time with dozens of characters, plenty of objects moving around in the background, and vast environments.
Though the audio doesn’t have the same “wow” factor, it is also great. The sound effects are quite good and keep things interesting. The background music isn’t amazing but doesn’t detract from the game. The highlight of the audio is obviously the superb voice acting, which is of course aided by the game’s genuinely funny dialogue.
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction isn’t a groundbreaking sequel by any means. But thanks to super-refined gameplay, unbelievable graphics, and a generally fun atmosphere, you’re looking at one of the PS3’s best games. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Oct 28, 2007
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