Ratchetrospective: Ratchet and Clank: (Into the) Nexus

It's time for the final entry to the Ratchetrospective

The PS4 was released in November 2013, so it’s time for the Ratchet series to say goodbye to the PS3 to move onto new platforms. After 2 games which in many ways departed drastically from the formula, it’s time to return back to the classic formula although with a few updated tweaks. This game isn’t long; it was released only a year after Q-force so it didn’t have much time to get any longer, especially since they were developing multiplayer maps for Q-force post-release.

It’s also time to look more closely at the ‘Future’ trilogy as this promised to be an epilogue to that story. How does it hold up? Let’s take a look at Ratchet and Clank: Nexus

As the game installs we get a news update from Stone Stonefield. 6 months ago Neftin and Vendra Prog laid siege to Pollyx industries, kidnapping their CEO (who has received no form of punishment for working with Nefarious) Vendra was somehow arrested (somehow) and is about to be transferred to the Vartax Detention Facility

The game opens on the Nebulox Seven Prison Ship. Ratchet and Clank are performing repairs to the exterior, they’d picked up some teratropes after piloting through an asteroid field. Talwyn calls to check up on them. She warns that Vendra Prog is not like the other criminals hey faced, she's cold and empty. She makes them promise not to go near her without Cronk and Zephyr. Since they’re only a couple of hours away from the detention facility they need to take her out of cryo-sleep now.

Having completed repairs, the duo head to the bridge to wake up Cronk and Zephyr, they deactivate Vendra’s cryo-sleep but she has abilities and begins tampering with the ship’s power. Her proton field, which restricts them, is offline. Ratchet and Clank head to her position and restore the proton field. Cronk and Zephyr have rerouted the power to an external generator.

As Ratchet heads to turn it on, a fleet of Thugs for Less ships approach, under the command of Neftin Prog, they fire rockets at the ship and begin boarding, setting explosive charges to prevent anyone from standing in their way. Cronk and Zephyr engage anyway but are captured. Vendra finds out that she’d been imprisoned for 6 months and isn’t happy about it. Ratchet prepares a sneak attack but Vendra captures them with her abilities (I hesitate to call them magic but... yeah that's essentially it).

She says that whilst the Universe looks at him and sees a hero, she sees a coward who lost the guts to find his race. She detonates the bombs, Ratchet and Clank are blown out of the ship when the window smashes but Cronk and Zephyr are tied up and are killed as the ship explodes (and no, folks, they’re actually dead, they’re not coming back) Ratchet and Clank evade capture by stowing away aboard a Thug ship, which sets course for planet Yerek

The ship drops off its cargo and Ratchet eventually has to report the loss of Cronk and Zephyr to Tawyn, Talwyn says they are in the Zarkov sector. When Ratchet promises to stop the duo, Talwyn tells them to head back to Meridian City, she’s Polaris Defence Captain now, despite having done jack sh*t since Quest for Booty. Anyway, apparently she and Clank are all she has left now… That’s nice and everything but where have you been the last 5 years (aside from the comic)? Anyway, Ratchet insists that they have to make it right

The entire sector had been given an alpha-9 classification, meaning it’s considered 'haunted'. After exploring the planet some they find a terachnoid being terrorised by the Thugs, they rescue him and in return he provides them with a gadget to help them traverse the plains. They find that the thugs had set up an outpost here and after investigating it they find an infobot which invites them to the Thugs for Less Destructapalooza, offering a useful gadget for participants. 

They head through some sewer tunnels and follow a thug dropship which eventually leads them to Pollyx, who has been forced to work on a trans-dimensional portal device. Seeking to help he gives Clank an upgrade so he can head into the nether-verse through rifts created by the explosion that resulted in the explosion that lead to the creation of Great Clock (they say the Great Clock exploded but since that never happened, I’m going to use my explanation) and discover small nether creatures that can clear away certain walls blocking their path.

They use this to head the Meelo orphanage, where Neftin and Vendra grew up. They find some holo-diaries. Neftin and Vendra didn’t have a happy childhood, they were picked on and bullied throughout their lives, but Vendra made a new friend, who she calls Mr Eye. He comes from a different place where they came from originally but she’s lived in this universe too long to survive there now. However, she thinks she may be able to find a way to bring them here. With Neftin’s help, she got the sector evacuated so they could experiment.

They catch up with the twins and find they’ve built their own dimensionator, she uses it to find the Netherverse and bring a few Nethers through, but it’s not enough to bring through Mr Eye, only communicate with him. She assures him no-one knows about planet Silox but Ratchet and Clank are then discovered and she orders them killed. They manage make their way through the ambush, Talwyn tells them she’s summoned help, Captain Qwark. They manage to trap the Nethers but they make it to a dead end, Qwark arrives with their ship and takes them to safety. He “comforts” them about the loss of Cronk and Zephyr

He assures them that the real dimensionator is still locked in the Intergalactic Museum of History which is ‘virtually impenetrable.’ So if they destroy this one, the Progs will be unable to bring through any more Nethers. Qwark isn’t happy with the idea of spending more time in this sector so when Ratchet suggests that he just support them from space, he’s quickly flying away in his ship

They head to the destructapalooza and earn a gadget for completing the bronze tournament. They head to the planet Silox, Vendra has keyed into Ratchet’s nav-unit and knows that they’re following her. They head through the City to find some defences still active. Clank (who can now just fly using his heli-pack (???)) scouts ahead to find a thug terminal they can use to locate the twins.

Vendra has keyed into Ratchet's nav-unit so the pair communicate. Ratchet warns Vendra that her parents must’ve sent her here for a reason but she won’t listen. After hacking the terminal and fighting through the thugs they come face to face with Neftin at a train station. Their years of dimensional experimentation has weakened the barriers between dimensions at this location, which was necessary to do this without a true dimensionator.

Ratchets asks him to stop letting Vendra ruin all these lives, Neftin concedes that she’s strong-headed but it’s hard to blame her. Her kind are so close to touch but impossible to reach. Ratchet does understand, but wanting something too badly can change you. Since he wants to hurt Vendra, Neftin steps in to protect her. As they fight, Ratchet warns that the creature cannot be trusted and may hurt Vendra.

Neftin is knocked down but the surrounding Thugs draw their weapons. Vendra arrives, she hoped Ratchet of all people would understand, Ratchet warns that everyone in the Galaxy could be put in jeopardy but Vendra opens the portal, bringing through Mr Eye, one of the Nethers grabs her and tosses her into the Netherverse, she was their pawn. Ratchet and Clank run from Mr Eye but are eventually backed into a corner. Neftin (who somehow got ahead of them) opens a door to a teleporter to take them back to their ship. Ratchet and Clank are now his best chance to save his sister, and she’s their best chance to stop the Nethers. He tells them to meet him on Planet Thram.

Ratchet and Clank head to planet Thram, they pick up a distress call from the Nebulox. They meet the Smuggler and his parrot who are on the look out for Gargathon horns. They tell Ratchet that Neftin landed just beyond the space debris but they’ll need hoverboots to get past it. He happens to have a spare set (which likely belonged to Ratchet in the first place) but he wants some Garathon horns in exchange.

They bring him the horns and he provides the hoverboots. They find a secure capsule from the nebulox which requires 6 keys to open it, the Smuggler has the last key which he will provide if they provide the rest of the Gargathon horns. After finding the 5 keys and collecting the Gargathon horns they find the Plumber inside who offers to build them the RYNO VII.

They make it to Vendra’s ship, he has a tour-bot for the Intergalactic Museum of history which they stole knowing the original dimensionator was moved there. The plan is to steal it and repair it so they can use it to drive back the Nethers and rescue Vendra. Ratchet agrees under the condition that they turn themselves in, they have to answer for what they did to Cronk and Zephyr. Neftin agrees.

They head to Meridian City where they meet up with Talwyn, who reminisces over Cronk and Zephyr. She tried to shut down the defences but Captain Qwark forgot the code (why did you trust him with anything?) Thankfully, Ratchet still has the tourbot which allows him to easily make it through the 'virtually impenetrable' Museum and steal the dimensionator. Using a Thug as an anchor, Neftin sends up a rope from them to slide the dimensionator down. As they do so the Nethers begin attacking the City, wanting to destroy the dimensionator.

As Qwark, Pollyx and Neftin fix the dimensionator, Ratchet fights his way through the Nethers, eventually confronting Mr Eye. Nefin fixes the dimensionator and Clank heads through to rescue Vendra, who’s weak thanks to the properties of this dimension. Clank helps to free her as Ratchet uses his arsenal to stun Mr Eye. Vendra is freed and uses her abilities to suck the Nethers back into their own dimension, including Mr Eye. The process breaks the dimensionator and drains her of her powers. Neftin grabs her and tells her they’re going to jail. A deal is a deal.

Ratchet and Clank laugh as the dimesionator is very much broken. Clank asks if it were working, would he use it to find the lombaxes? Ratchet says there’s more for him here than over there, looking at Talwyn. As the camera pans away, we see Clank grab the dimensionator. In the final scene we see Cronk and Zephyr return as ghosts, they have some witty banter before heading to see the femdroids at the robot graveyard.

Those of you expecting the kind of light-hearted story All4One and Q-force delivered may be in for a shock because this one is dark. It doesn’t lose its sense of humour but there is a far darker atmosphere around, there’s the death of Cronk and Zephyr and the all-round more serious nature of the villain for this one.

As villains, Neftin and Vendra work really well, the only thing they lack which Doctor Nefarious had is the humour, the only joke I can think of with them is Neftin bumping into things with his size (and the fact he has tiny wings on his back) but they are threatening, and they have legitimate victories over our heroes, killing two close allies in the first level. I was kinda expecting some copout near the end but nope, true to their word, they stay dead, even coming back as ghosts for a comedic end scene

Now I suppose I should talk about shock deaths like this, I covered it when I reviewed Cry For Justice last year but it's worth mentioning because Cronk and Zephyr's deaths were not a result of them fighting (at least on screen). The best way to kill of a character is to have them go down fighting however I'm fine for deaths like this if they're connected to the narrative. The problem with Lian's death in Cry for Justice is that it had no affect on the plot at all. Lian did not feature in the book. Cronk and Zephyr's death at the hands of superior opponents was enough to demonstrate Vendra's iron will and coldness and establishing some possible bumps in Neftin's relationship with her. It is also relevant to the plot, Ratchet uses it as a bargaining factor later with Neftin. Could the aftermath have been better handled? Perhaps, but it's not a deal-breaker for me. It'd be hypocritical given my own body of work.

Vendra is in many ways a dark mirror of Ratchet. At one point, both of them were willing to do whatever it takes to find their race. The difference being that whilst Ratchet had Clank, Vendra had Neftin and whilst Neftin does have honour and loyalty (which I’ll get to), Clank certainly is the more impressive when it comes to intelligence and logic and whilst Clank argued against Ratchet’s actions, Neftin allowed her to do it, even providing assistance when he could. The result ended in disaster, and its kind of tragic that Vendra’s only friend aside her own brother was a lie. Her powers add another element to the mix, she really was more than a match for Ratchet and I still have no idea how she was captured. The connection of them both seeking their races is brought up more than once

I compared Neftin as a counterpoint to Clank but it’s worth exploring this in its own rights. Neftin clearly did not have the connection to Mr Eye that Vendra had. What Vendra did is help create his body, someone who could fight back against the bullies of his time. That said his power levels are no match for Vendra and it’s hard to argue that fear isn’t one of the reasons he hasn’t intervened with Vendra’s plans (give me the detonator). 

But more than that, there is clearly familial love between them. Neftin cares deeply for Vendra, and that’s shown by all he had to do to spring her from prison, bribing elected officials, co-ordinating a crime wave and hiring the thugs – clearly a lot of work done over 6 months. It was not a walk in a park but he did not give up and his plan was ultimately successful.

Again he showed his care for Vendra by teaming up with Ratchet, who not 5 seconds ago he was fighting, in order to save her. Even agreeing to turn himself in once it was over. Once Vendra lost her powers, Neftin began using authority he should’ve used before to make sure this does not happen again.

I think Neftin and Vendra might just be my favourite villains outside of Doctor Nefarious (I’m going to pretend All 4 One never happened) and the darker atmosphere of this game really helped their characters. Their motivations are probably the most interesting of all the villains, and I have a soft spot for sympathetic villains.

Mr Eye is more a generic monster type, but he’s an especially crafty sort and patient enough to wait 20 years for his plan to come through. Beyond that, it’s one of the biggest things Ratchet has fought on foot.

Ratchet and Clank don’t get a lot of development but it’s more about their developments being used, particularly with Ratchet, as his story resonates with Vendra's.

Captain Qwark is a really, really far background character in this one, which is fine, after 2 games having him in the forefront relegating him to the back for a while doesn’t upset me and he wasn’t needed in this game, he does provide some good humour but the dim-witted thugs provide enough in his stead.

Now my issues with the game’s story, aside from wishing it were longer, rest on Talwyn Apogee. They hint a lot in this game that she and Ratchet have some kind of relationship which is absurd to me, as she has not appeared in any Ratchet game (and I’m excluding her appearance in the comic) for 5 years! Come on! Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty did not make that strong an implication, sure there was a friendship between them that lead to her helping out against the Pirates but I never saw it imply more than that until this game kinda shoved it down my throat.

It’s a relatively standard Ratchet and Clank affair, but there are a few new additions

Zero Gravity situations

The biggest addition to the game is the sections done in zero gravity. You use your gravity-boots to leap onto magnetic surfaces in any direction, it’s a fun new mechanic that utilises existing gadgets. Gravity is a big theme with the gameplay, you use a gadget that can create grav-streams, some weapons reduce gravity on enemies and Clank segments revolve around changing gravity.

Jet-pack

Hovering through the skies isn’t something often done in a Ratchet games, the closest was the levitator in Ratchet and Clank 2 but it was more a gadget to get you from point a to point b, you get a lot more freedom with this jetpack, able to fly wherever with a fairly generous fuel supply. You can also fire weapons whilst in the air, useful when hunting Gargathons and fighting thug ambushes

Raritanium weapon upgrades

It’s back and once again it’s used for weapon upgrades, but it’s used differently as raritanium is much… well, rarer in this game and you can only need 1 raritanium per upgrade, more upgrades are unlocked as the weapon modifies

Weapon levelling

Weapons upgrade twice during the first playthrough, you can then buy a gold version using some gold bolts in challenge mode and upgrade twice again

Clank Segments

There are 6 clank segments in this game and most are relatively short and they all follow a similar pattern, you control gravity and have to avoid various obstacles and solve various puzzles to find a Nether which you then have to guide back to the start. They can get frustratingly difficult on harder modes, be warned

There are 12 weapons available in the game, they include your generic blaster, bomb glove, shotgun, rocket launcher and sniper rifle. The prog blades are pretty much identical to the buzz blades so I’m not covering them, but here are the remaining 6 weapons

Nightmare Box/Terroriser

This weapon fires out scary boxes which frighten enemies and cause them to shoot at it. It is a kind of decoy glove but it’s durable and can be upgraded to fire back and explode. It’s amazing some of the animations they connected with this.

Winterizer/Blizz-o-Matic

This weapon is your morph weapon for the game and it’s hilarious, turning your enemies into snowmen all posed within the same pose as the enemy was left it. You can upgrade it to drop ammo and presents and to create waves to transfer more enemies at once. It’s even useful against bosses folks

Mr Zurkon/Zurkon Jr./Zurkon Family

Mr Zurkon is back and smack-talking as much as ever, but with this version his son and mother are added as you upgrade the weapon, so it packs even more of a punch and the witty dialogue is up 3-fold

Netherbeast/Netherfiend

The smaller Nethers that clank summons, you get a weapon with a similar look to it, you fire nether-creatures who bite into enemies. It can be upgraded to automatically attack if you get hit and to have razor sharp spikes to hurt multiple enemies.

Vortex Grenade/Singularity Grenade

Summons a vortex that sucks enemies into its orbit, leaving them vulnerable, can be upgraded to damage enemies within and suck some of them in

RYNO VII/RYNO VII Xtreme

In function, it’s pretty much identical to the RYNO V although apparently more accurate.

This game feels like a compact Ratchet and Clank game, more than either of the other 2 short games. It has all the bits you’d expect like upgradeable armour, arena fights, collectathons and a usual mix of running, jumping shooting and puzzle solving. The story is well paced and decently deep given the length. It leaves you wanting more and to be honest that’s a complement

Rating 80/100

For now we've reached the end of the Ratchetrospective. The Ratchet and Clank movie and game may well warrant a review, but at another time. Until then, enjoy my retrospectives on Young Justice, even more Marvel comics and my 2 year anniversary review - all coming in May

Memorable Quotes

"Fire omni-rockets on my mark: 3, 2, 1, Mark" *Everybody Have Fun Tonight chorus plays* "whoops, wrong button"

"My friend, I've got family problems too, don't be afraid to share you pain" *Ouch!* "That's a lot of pain"
"Before destructapalooza, I was CEO at a mutual fund and brokerage firm, now I pray on the innocent for a living because the economy is in the sh<beep>"

 "That's because you smell like this all the time" "Oh yeah, I do"

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Images/clips used in this review are from Ratchet and Clank: (Into the) Nexus and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.