Ratchetrospective: Ratchet and Clank

Welcome to the Ratchetrospective

Throughout the month of April (give or take a few days) I’ll be looking at the Ratchet and Clank games developed by the developer Insomniac Games (apologies for giving Size Matters the shaft but my PSP is non-operational at this point) in preparation for the Movie coming out this month. Here are my ground rules

1. This will be based on a single play through of the game, no challenge modes
2. These playthroughs will be from a new save file.
3. I will not be covering the movie tie-in game, I want to avoid spoiling that - although be aware the plot will have similarities to the first game
4. Spoilers will be covered in these reviews
5. I will not be completing all skill points and gold/platinum/titanium bolt missions; I will be getting all Zoni in a Crack in Time
6. I will not be exploring all the Insomniac Museums
7. I will not be getting 100% on Collectathon Missions (except for Nexus, since it’s a requirement for the RYNO)
8. I will not necessarily be completing all arena challenges
9. I will be completing all optional help the ranger challenges in Ratchet and Clank 3 
10. I will be completing all optional missions in Ratchet: Gladiator (Deadlocked)
11. Multiplayer modes will not be covered in depth
12. All games will be played Single Player – no co-op in Gladiator, All4One or Q-force

So, let’s dig into the one that started it all (and the one that inspired the movie) with Ratchet and Clank

 

We open on the Planet Veldin, Ratchet (Voiced by Mikey Kelley) is disappointed that he can’t start his ship with a robotic ignition system. Clank (voiced by David Kaye) is created at a robot factory on the planet Quartu, he sees an infobot so shocking he steals a shuttle and heads into space. He is shot down and lands on Veldin. Ratchet goes to investigate, eventually finding and helping restore Clank

Clank knows that there is a threat to the Galaxy and their only hope is galactic legend Captain Qwark (voiced by Jim Ward). Clank is capable of starting Ratchet's ship and will do so if Ratchet agrees to help him. He shows Ratchet the infobot which shows Supreme Executive Chairman Drek (who I will be calling Drek for the remainder of this review) (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) explaining to the inhabitants of Planet Novalis that he’s going to destroy their world, by taking a segment from it to create his new world. His people have polluted their planet to the point they have to leave

The duo crash land on the planet Novalis, they need a new ship to continue. They first search the waterworks. A plumber, unable to afford to leave is still working. He trades them an infobot for the cash to escape. The infobot shows hover-boarding legend Skid McMarx and his agent crash on the Planet Aridia. They fight off the robotic bees

Yeah, those and rescue the Mayor/President of the Town. Thinking they’re assassins he begs, giving them an infobot, which is an advert for Big Al’s Roboshack featuring Captain Qwark. Clank thinks this means Qwark may be on Metropolis. Knowing that he isn’t going to be killed, the Mayor/President provides them with a ship.

Ratchet and Clank meet Skid on Aridia. His sprained ankle (yeah…) means he needs protecting from the sand sharks. Ratchet defeats them and Skid gives him a hover-board. They also discover an important gadget and Skid’s agent who was either fired or just stupidly assuming that Skid’s dead.

On Metropolis, they discover a robot Qwark with a spring for legs who tells them to complete a fitness course to receive an important gadget from his fitness trainer, Helga, at the other end. Helga is less than impressed with their efforts and makes them pay for the gadget. They meet Al who provides Clank a Heli-pack upgrade, allowing them to make high and longer jumps. They find an infobot showing logging on the Planet Eudora, Drek is destroying another planet.

As Ratchet and Clank fly there the robot Lieutenant reports that their tree quarter for the area has been fulfilled. Drek tells him to destroy the rest of the planet. Ratchet and Clank destroy the loggers, earning a new weapon. They also find the Lieutenant who runs off in fear, leaving behind an infobot for the Blarg Tactical Research Station.

They arrive at the station. Clank explores the exterior, finding a new gadget. They defeat some of the creatures they’d been keeping caged here and find a frightened engineer, who sells them a new gadget. They take a shuttle to a small cruiser, containing more of the creatures. They destroy the ship and gain an infobot. A news report by Dala Gratch about the upcoming hover-board championship in Blackwater City with Captain Qwark giving presenting the prize and about an infestation of ameoboid creatures

They arrive in Blackwater City and defeat a bunch of ameoboids, reaching the entering plaza for the hover-board competition, winning it and earning a prize. They also discover Qwark’s trailer, bribe the guard outside and enter. Qwark knows about the plot and says they can join his fight if they complete the gauntlet on planet Umbris. They complete the gauntlet but…

Captain Qwark is the official spokesperson for Drek’s planet. Not only is he paid highly for it, but he’s also using it to bolster his career, which has been waning in recent years. They escape his trap but this drives a rift between our 2 heroes. Ratchet wants revenge for Qwark’s betrayal, Clank says there’s a bigger picture and Drek should be their priority. They find an infobot showing an attack on the planet Batalia. The troops deserted their commando and he’s fighting the invasion alone.

They find a new ship and abandon the old for… some reason. They arrive and they help him but the city bridge is raised and they need to something so they can walk on the ventilation shaft, their only way in. The commando rewards them with an infobot, a newscast on the polluted Blarg home world of Orxon. They also discover a scared soldier, trading him some cash for another infobot. This one is a presentation of the new Blarg Pilot helmet, being developed on the planet Gaspar.

Ratchet and Clank arrive on Orxon but the pollution means Clank has to explore it alone. He discovers a gadget that can help them with the ventilation shafts and an infobot leading them to a beach resort on the planet Pokitaru. The resort host is offering an O2 mask that can help them breathe in the polluted air, underwater and in space.

After collecting the pilot’s helmet on Gaspar, the duo arrive on Pokitaru. The Blarg have been dumping toxic waste into the waters and the wildlife have become ravenous mutants. They fight their way to a fighter jet that can be used to fight it off, but it’s guarded by a weird lock. They enter Bob’s robo shack and retrieve the thruster pack, which has a move that can unlock the door.

After defeating the dumping ships (presumably dumping the waste into the water anyway) and retrieving the O2 mask, they head back to Planet Orxon, which Ratchet can now explore. They discover an infobot telling them that Drek is about to use a missile to destroy the planet Hoven, the planet occupying their selected orbit. They head there and use an old defence turret to shoot down the ship, as well as retrieving a hydro pack from a female engineer (I only really mention this bit because Clank has this in later games). They find an infobot (shock of all shocks) about Drek’s crew preparing to launch a surprise attack on the Planet Otlantis from a moon base in the planet’s orbit for some reason.

As they head there, Drek sends Qwark to the moon base to ambush the pair using his personal Starfighter and a squad of elite ships. They arrive but realise that Drek’s gone and they need a faster ship to catch up with him. Qwark attacks the pair but Ratchet defeats him, sending the ship crashing into the planet below. They find a new ship with an infobot which tells them about an attack on the Planet Olantis. This finally makes Ratchet see that he was being selfish focusing only on Qwark (despite the fact that this is the 3^rd unprovoked attack Drek has made on a City since Qwark’s betrayal)

They head down to the planet but the storm prevents Clank from helping out. Ratchet finds an old, slightly deaf salesman who sells him an infobot. This one is a commercial for giant robots Drek is selling back on the planet Quartu. They head to the planet and discover the inventor is intending to Sabotage the machine. He grows Clank to giant size so he can hold off the other mechs so he can complete the sabotage. Only Clank can use these enlargers

They’re given an infobot, a commercial for a new gadget that can help Ratchet pass the robot guards on this planet, but they have to head to the Gadgetron site on planet Kalebo III to get there, Drek sends his elite troops to capture the pair, no matter if Gadgetron suffers the consequences. Ratchet and Clank find the head of Gadgetron, who’s looking for a new spokesperson, whoever can beat his droids in a hoverboarding race.

They win the race, receiving a hologuise as a reward, telling them that they’d have to wait 2 years before they receive a discount (this will be important later – kind of) they head back to Quartu and use the hologuise to get past the robot guards to the area Clank was created. Clank’s ‘mother’ gives them an infobot. Drek is planning to destroy Ratchet’s home of Veldin in order to place his planet there (even though Veldin is a desert-ish planet and Hoven, their last planet of choice was an ice world) this angers Ratchet and Clank says 'this is the Ratchet I always knew was there' - yeah... Angry and desiring revenge, we haven't seen that side of him before

They head to Drek’s fleet, hoping to find where they set up the weapon. They find this information on another infobot of course, as they head back to Veldin. They confront Drek, who reveals the entire operation is really an extortion scheme, he polluted the old world, gets paid for property on the new world and then will proceed to pollute that as well. They defea Drek by sending him flying onto his planet then destroying it with his own laser. The meteor shower forces them to jump but as Ratchet grabs onto Clank, Clark’s arm surbos are broken. Fortunately, they’re right above Ratchet’s garage (what are the odds) so one short thruster burst from Clank breaks Ratchet’s fall. The mission over, Clank prepares to leave but Ratchet calls him back.

In an ending stinger we see Qwark, still alive (though if you completed an optional mission on Olantis, you already knew that) advertising the ‘Gadgetron’ Personal Hygenator. Why do I mention this? We’ll talk about that in the next one.

It’s interesting to look at this in comparison to the later games but I’ll try and keep it contained in itself for the purposes of this retrospective. The story is, for the most part, fairly standard, universe in peril, duo need to fight him, no other person helps in any meaningful way whatsoever.

What works here are some great bits of witty dialogue, and some great side-character, particularly characters like Al and Skidd from the beginning of the game. Some of the later ones are a little more generic. You don’t remember Bob’s robo shack, is all I’m saying.

The issues with this come with our heroes. Ratchet is selfish and relatively uninterested in heroism aside from the glory of it. And it doesn’t help that Mikey Kelley’s chosen voice is really not for characters that we’re supposed to like, which is why this is the only game he voices. But don’t think for a moment I’m leaving Clank off the hook. Clank is naïve, really naïve and really doesn’t factor Ratchet’s feelings in at all. This is a trait that will continue in the next two games, really only coming around as we go through Gladiator and into the future trilogy

Having said that, having characters with flaws is not necessarily a bad thing. A good part of a hero’s journey should be them overcoming these flaws. Ratchet is somewhat changed, Clank is not but his time is not yet for that. David Kaye provides a great voice for Clank though.

But heroes are only as good as their villains and Drek, whilst a tad one-note (the majority of Ratchet villains are generically evil) he is genuinely threatening despite his small stature and you can see it in every scene he’s in. Qwark’s journey has barely begun and we’ll see more in coming games. Here he’s a borderline psychopath, and not a particularly competent one. It’s unclear whether it’s exposure or money he’s after, as scenes contradict each other on that, although both isn’t a bad answer.

Whilst the main story is a decent one, there’s a problem with how it integrates with the game. You are rarely given story based reasons to take certain pathways in the game which will be essential to the story later on. For example, the hacker is a device at the end of a swingshot pathway. There is no reason the story gives you for taking that path, you just take it. There are a lot of instances like this and playing now it’s super irritating. 

This is a problem that is in most if not all of the games, so I won’t dwell on it too much. I’ll bring this point up as I need to during the next games. You also have to wonder who’s leaving these infobots lying around or with seemingly random people. Fortunately, this is the only game which uses infobots like this. There’s an also an issue that crops up from time to time where they’re flimsy when justifying enemies that attack you.

Fortunately, it does introduce us to some great side-characters. Captain Qwark is admittedly better in later games but we have Big Al, Helga and Skid just to name a few, these few come back in later games with expanded roles.

Ratchet and Clank has a certain formula of being a mix of heavy gunplay and platforming. This game is a bit heavier on the platforming with more stages than most being dedicated to it, as well as the Clank segments and it’s a fun combination. The platforming is relatively simple, it doesn’t get to Jak and Daxter level of frustrating at any point. The gunplay is excellent, there’s a wide variety of enemies to shoot and wide variety of weapons to shoot them with. But I’ll get to that.

As Ratchet you’re able to jump, use a slingshot to grapple or swing, grind along rails using grindboots, hack certain locks, turn bolt cranks with your wrench and of course break and blow sh*t up with various weapons. Defeated enemies yield bolts (even if they’re organic) which serves as the game’s currency. The balancing is a little off in this game, it’s not uncommon to be unable to pay for things that are part of the game’s story progression, which is unfortunate.

As Clank you have a basic punch and the ability to command gadge-bots, which can attack enemies or enter special locks that only show up when you’re controlling clank (what a co-incidence) and you can glide. These levels tend to be the most frustrating as Clank is not especially fast, and some of his levels particularly frustrating.

Overall, it’s a fun gameplay experience, but to fully explain that, we need to move onto the next subject

Ratchet gets or has all your standard weaponry (except a shotgun and sniper rife, but you’ll get those in later games) but here are some more noteworthy weapons

Agents of Doom

This weapon calls out 4 robots to attack your enemies, good for crowd control but useless against air based enemies

Suck Cannon

Sucks in smaller enemies and crates and shoots them out as missiles against larger enemies. Good if you have lots of small enemies around, but it can only suck in 5 at a time.

Drone Device

This is a life saver! The drone device is a series of robots which surround you and take nearby fire for you. You just have to be careful if you’re assuming they’re all in tact. They are not under your control

Taunter

A weapon you can use to lure enemies into electric barriers or traps. I hate this weapon. It’s a waste of money, don’t buy it

Visibomb Gun

Fires remote guided rockets to targets of your choosing, I love this weapon but the ammo is very expensive for this game so best used with caution

The Walloper

You want to get up close and personal? This is the weapon that throws a charged punch at your enemy. I personally tend to avoid this weapon it is once again useless to enemies in the air and also increases your risk of getting hit

Decoy Glove

Shoots out an inflatable decoy that can distract enemies, useful in tense situations.

Tesla Claw

I didn’t initially buy this weapon because it is expensive but man is it worth it. It delivers a lot of punch. This and the drone device is a good way of defeating Chairman Drek at the end without needing to save up for the weapon 2 down on this list

Morph-o-ray

This weapon turns your enemies into chickens, need I say more? Best avoided on more powerful enemies but useful in that is uses no ammo

R.Y.N.O.

A weapon guaranteed to Rip Ya a New One, if you can ever afford it. This costs 150,000 bolts and the end result is that the shooting element of the game is rendered p*ss easy. Most enemies wouldn’t stand a single missile from this, even bosses can be downed in less ammo than this weapon carries.

The first Ratchet and Clank was a strong first outing for the franchise featuring great gameplay, some creative weapons and whilst the story really needed work, they’d make some effort to do that in the coming games.

Rating 75/100

Memorable Quotes
"If Al can't fix it, it's not broke, right Al?" "Err" "You said it pal"
"Oh... you really are an idiot" - duh

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Images/clips used in this review are from Ratchet and Clank, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and Amazon's attack and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use