Ratchetrospective: Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One

We once thought that a Crack in Time would be the end of the Ratchet series, but it continues, even getting a new release this month. But when you’ve released 7 games already you can start to worry about the formula getting a little stale. So, it is my ‘pleasure’ to introduce the biggest departure from Ratchet formula Insomniac games has ever done in Ratchet and Clank, All 4 One

We get a news report as the game installs saying that Lawrence teleported Doctor Nefarious off the ship before it crashed into his space station. He is at large and extremely dangerous. Also, Qwark is now the President and Ratchet and Clank are ‘retired.’ 

The true story opens in the City of Luminopolis on the planet Igliak. Captain Qwark has been invited to retrieve an ‘Intergalactic Tool of Justice Award’ for defeating a beast called a Z’Grute. Ratchet and Clank are escorting him because… reasons. Turns out it’s a trap set by Nefarious, who reanimates the creature, but it steals power from the hover platform he was using, stranding him with them, Lawrence runs away.

As the 4 race to escape from/stop the Z’Grute they are attacked by robotic forces not belonging to Nefarious. They defeat the Z’Grute but as they do so they are captured as a massive weaponised drone appears in the city

They wake up together but are rescued by an intergalactic girl-scout named Suzie, they impersonate the ship’s crew, minions.

  

No not those minions! Anyway, they gain a new gadget and manage to escape the ship, agreeing to work together for the sake of their own survival. They’re on the planet Magnus, in the Alderas Plains, which are being torn apart by Gravity Minions. Cronk and Zephyr make contact, in their attempt to rescue them, they got stranded in an asteroid field but they’re able to monitor their progress via satellite and wire them weapons in exchange for bolts.

They head through the Plains, using a new gadget to destroy the gravity minions, who were altering the planets gravity to try and make it more like the homeworld of the Gravoids, which they had unleashed onto the planet. They find Suzie near a village. The head honcho of the people attacking their village is Commander Spog, to confront him they need to head through the Deadgrove. The minions had been mining the shaft and had set up some railway platforms, one of which leads right to Commander Spog. Using 2 new gadgets they make it to the railway but before they can leave the track is destroyed by a Wigwump. They defeat the Wigwump and come across a holo-diary from a Doctor Frumpus Croid. He looks on as the Ephemeris attacks Uzo City and is horrified that he may have played a part in this.

They find a secondary rail platform and head to the N.E.S.T., the nearby village is being attacked by Commander Spog, they defeat the attack and eventually confront and defeat Spog himself. His voice box is damaged but Clank says that maybe Nefarious can repair it. Being evil has not worked out for him these last few years, maybe it’s time to try a new path.

Nefarious repairs him and he says that they need to find Frumpus Croid, who is in the hall of Paradoxology in Terrawatt Forest. Before departing they find another holo-diary from Croid. Creatures had been somewhat of a right of passage on Magnus, but few had thought to study it. He and his partner, Nevo found some sort of unique energy within the creatures, they call it proto-morphic energy. They had built a machine to extract it…

The railway leads them to Octonok Clay, which had been abandoned by most because of the invasion of Sepiads, they’d been allowed to stay thanks to a weather machine called W.A.S.P. they come across another holo-diary, one morning Croid had discovered that his lab had been sabotaged, the plans for the proto-morphic energy extractor gone and his creature, Mr Dinkles was missing. Croid only has one suspect, Nevo. And if you’re like me you’ve guessed what the plot twist is already but I’ll get to it

They destroy the WASP but encounter the King Sepiad, with the help of one of the Tharpod natives who hadn’t evacuated they manage to defeat the creature. They come across another holo-diary. 22 years after Mr Dinkles disappeared, Croid created a device called the Ephemeris, a small device designed to compare all life to Mr Dinkles and bring him home. They use a train to head to Terrawatt Forest but find the hall of Paradoxology is locked down. The use a Guardian robot to enter the power station and restore power to the building. They find another holo-diary, 28 years later (he leaves a long gap between his holo-diaries) Croid has discovered that the Ephemeris has been tampered with by Nevo, it is no longer restricted to the planet.

They enter the hall of Paradoxology but the lab is a decoy, all his equipment had been moved to the Phonica Moon. Fortunately, he’d left behind an experimental ship. Nefarious tries to kill Qwark but Qwark bumbles out of the way and Nefarious almost falls over the ledge. Qwark rescues him for some reason. They use the ship to make it to the Phonica Moon and using a new gadget manage to bypass his defences and confront him. He’s slightly insane and considers himself a Lombax whisperer.

Clank notices a reference to a planet Toranux, whilst Nefarious finds that the base’s power is recharged in a base on the Vilerog Plateau in Uzo City by tracing the signal it uses to prevent ships crashing it it.  Torinox as it happens doesn’t exist and the only mention of it is a Cragmite children’s story. They take the escape pod but are shot down by the Ephemeris and crash around the Polar Sea, where the Minions had been hauling creatures called Grungoths. They fight their way to the rail platform but the platform is disabled. As Qwark and Nefarious erm… reconcile the Plumber shows up, having been hired to fix it

Ratchet asks if he has any advice on defeating Nevo, he says he has none and winks (have you guessed the twist yet?) they arrive at Uzo City as Zephyr explains the children’s story. A Cragmite named Bagogg crashed on the Planet Toranux, he hid there for 3 years, hiding from the inhabitants known as Loki (ok, have you got the twist now?) once he escaped he destroyed the planet (good night, kids) Ratchet and the gang fight their way through Uzo City and enter the Vilerog Plateau.

They get help entering the facility from Commander Sprog, who’d taken early retirement after his defeat. They enter the Ephemeris and confront Nevo, he’s terrified that ‘he’ will find out. Yup, Mr Dinkles was responsible for this entire affair the whole time (no really, what a shock) the Loki spirits inhabits these creatures (the so called 'proto-morphic energy') and to thanks to Croid and Nevo’s work he now has the ability to transport himself into bigger creatures, creatures ‘worthy of their intelligence’

Croid arrives somehow to help, but Mr Dinkles transports himself into a Grivelnox, a creature from Rykan V that can absorb the abilities of creatures it eats. Ratchet and the gang provide a distraction whilst Nevo and Croid figure out a way to extract the Loki spirit. They eventually succeed and Nefarious delivers the finishing blow.

Cronk and Zephyr arrive, having been rescued by Lawrence, the evil sidekick had grown a bit thin. Qwark tries to counter than Nefarious has changed but he steals the ship and flies away. Ratchet and the gang now have to fly the Ephemeris home. As Lawrence alerts Nefarious to possibilities for his next scheme he looks upon a photo of the 4 of them.

The big question that plagued the entire game for me. Why does Nefarious care? He has jet boots and can breathe in space, why doesn’t he just fly away? Sure, he’d still be hunted by the Polaris Defence Force but at least he could somewhere to hide away on Igliak, or get away from Magnus. What does Nefarious care about the fate of a planet he’d probably annihilate/turn into robots if he got the chance?

Nefarious is a fundamental super-villain and his crimes in the last game alone were too far to have a redemption arc like this added to him. I ask again, why does he care about sticking and seriously? Why the f*ck is he scared of a bird?

Separated from Lawrence, his comedy now relies on his antagonistic relationship with Qwark, and no denying it, there are some funny moments. But for all his hatred of Qwark, he should hate Ratchet and Clank just as much, they damaged his eye, even Qwark never managed that! Except he seems fine with Ratchet and Clank and his hatred is largely focused on Qwark. And yes, I suppose he is his high school bully and destroyed his physical body. I’m sorry, I just don’t buy it. That ending where it looked like Nefarious might be missing them, was just rubbing salt in the wound at that point.

And it’d be one thing if they didn’t keep trying to justify it, having it be for the sake of his survival is ridiculous, we’ve seen abilities from the last games and even if some of them were damaged he’s still be a force to be reckoned with on his own and shouldn’t need them. Having him scared of a bird is frankly insulting.

To be clear, I don’t blame TJ Fixman for this really, including Nefarious was likely a mandate for the story and there’s really no way he could’ve made it work. He stacks it full of some decent comedy which I appreciate since the set-up lends itself well to that

Then we have a look at the villain. I saw the twist coming the moment one of the holo-diaries kept going on about poor Mr Dinkles and how evil Nevo is. Long before the Plumber’s hint and all the mentions of Loki spirits practically spelled it out for everyone. It’s not especially subtle is what I’m saying, which is a bit of a pity because that’s all he has going for it.

He’s not especially threatening until he enters the Grivelnox, he’s not especially smart, despite his proclamations to the contrary and he’s achieve no real victories against our heroes. And to top that, he’s not funny either.

Having said that, there are some good ideas in here. A creature collector, having Ratchet and Clank fight monsters, Cronk and Zephyr’s involvement was clever and allowed for them to have a role in the story without being there physically. I liked Suzie as a Galactic Girl Scout. And of course the game still has some of the Ratchet humour. Yeah, this is really about it, I know it’s short compared to my A Crack in Time analysis but this story is lacking in depth

I said this was the biggest departure from the Ratchet and Clank formula, here are some of the major departures

Save files

Because of the online nature of the game, you only get one save file, I had to delete everything to do a fresh start on this game but it’s a matter of being online so I won’t complain too much about this one

Fixed Camera Angles

Rather than follow the camera from behind you like previous games have, this tries to fit all 4 competitors on the same screen by putting the camera at a fixed angle. This can get annoying if I’m honest, especially when one player wants to be somewhere and another wants to be somewhere else. It’s also difficult to realise where you are during difficult battles

Unskippable Cutscenes

To ensure that everyone is at the same point the cut-scenes are not skip-able in this game. Most of them are cinematic cutscenes because given the fact that characters are not necessarily in game restricts the use of in-game cutscenes.

New Designs

The entire game is, I think, done on an entirely new engine. It sacrifices frame rate, now averaging 30fps whilst A Crack in Time aimed for 60, for high resolution (into the Nexus will achieve 1080p) and greater detail. In this game, it’s the character designs that bug me. Quark’s chin looks even larger than before and Clanks head looks too big for his body. These designs are tweaked in the later games but for now it does still bug me.

Weapon Upgrades

Rather than earning upgrades through experience you pay for them in this game, which does make you feel like you’re going backwards to Ratchet and Clank 1, the difference is that these are all purchasable throughout the game (there is no challenge mode) and the most of the weapons are available by the half-way point. There are 3 upgrades, 1 which increases the weapon’s ammo capacity, one which increases its overall strength and the elite upgrade, which the is the equivalent to fully upgrading a weapon in most of the games

Health Restrictions

In this game you only get 4 health and it doesn’t upgrade. You take 1 damage no matter what you get hit by. Again this feels like going backwards but the difference is Nanotech restores your full health and if you die, anyone living (including your AI buddy if you’re single player) can restore you using an early gadget.

Weapon Combinations

If more than one player uses the same weapon the rate of fire begins to increase and eventually it causes a massive explosion which deals more damage and can increase the area of effect of certain weapons. It’s a neat idea to encourage co-operation.

Competitive Elements

Whilst the game is largely a co-operative game there are competitive elements to it. At the end of each level you’re compared based on bolts collected, critters collected, number of kills and number of deaths. You also have mini-races to see who can twist their analogue stick the fastest. It’s nice to have some friendly competition but the issue comes when your co-operative friend is a dick who keeps shooting you off a cliff. You lose bolts when you die folks.

Scenario Dialogue

There is a lot of this in this game, when you defeat a certain amount of enemies without being hit, collect a few bolts, use certain weapons, need to use certain weapons or collect critters. It’s actually really annoying.

Smash crates

Some crates now require a jump smash attack rather than just a wrench smash

Protosuit challenges

There are 6 secret areas accessible during the game, some are hidden out of sight so keep a look out, if you’ve captured enough critters, you are transported to one of Doctor Croid’s secret labs, if you complete the challenge, you gain a piece of the suit, complete all 6 and you gain access to the weapon, the RYNO VI Protosuit

There are 16 weapons in this game, and they of course include your generic blaster, bomb launcher, flame thrower and rocket launcher, Mr Zurkon also makes a return and it explodes in elite upgrade, I will not be covering him in detail again until (Into the) Nexus

Arc Lasher

The third weapon from the game, this weapon stuns enemies around the battlefield. The elite version allows the stunning to last even longer. It’s an OK weapon but not a vital one.

Thundersmack

This weapon shoots out storm clouds which combine into a massive tempest. Before upgrading it’s not that useful unless it’s fully charged, it’s also difficult to aim given that it doesn’t lock onto a specific target.

Doppelbanger

This is a Ratchet only weapon, a variation on the decoy glove that upgrades to have turrets and shoot the enemy. Whilst useful in a jam, it’s not especially powerful

Zoni Ray

A Clank only weapon that slows down any enemy it hits, useful especially since AI clank uses it too

Cloaker

Nefarious only weapon, allows Nefarious to become invisible, upgrades so Nefarious can teleport behind enemies and attack. I really haven’t played as Nefarious so I can’t judge this much but it’s a neat idea

Quantum Reflector

A Qwark-only weapon which creates a temporary impenetrable bubble around him which reflects fire back at enemies, the elite upgrade makes it bigger and last longer. It’s an OK defensive weapon like the shield charger but you’re incapable of using any weapons whilst the bubble is active.

Blitzer

Another walloper-like weapon but the ability to lock onto an enemy does make it more useful. I personally don’t use this weapon much, it’s useless against enemies in the sky, and there are a few of those about.  The elite upgrade essentially makes them more powerful and bigger

Darkstar Fission Tether

This is an electrical charge weapon which fires electrical cables at enemies. This is great against small enemies but its obscenely short range is its biggest drawback. The elite version is more or less the same but more powerful

Critter Strike

The Morphing weapon of the game turns enemies into pigs, upgraded versions turn them in attacking wild boars. The lock on ability makes this useful against large enemies, especially when upgraded and used with another player/AI. It’s also the first morphing weapon to carry ammo, so keep that in mind

Omni-tech frost cannon

There really hasn’t been a freeze ray in the Ratchet games, this weapon freezes enemies usually, after a while. It doesn’t slow them down in the meantime though so be careful, again it locks onto enemies so it can work against larger ones.

RYNO VI Protosuit

These giant mech suits fire missiles, when used together they provide a massive power explosion that destroys any enemy around. The only issue is that it only carries 12 ammo and the explosion isn’t useful against some of the bigger bosses.

The gameplay is varied and the basic elements of a Ratchet game are still there, there’s still combat, there’s still guns and there’s plenty of platforming. A few areas seem a little inbalanced in terms of difficulty as if they were designed to have 4 players rather than two. But most of the game can be accomplished with 2 players, which begs me to ask why they didn’t just stick with 2 and put the camera back in 3^rd person mode where it belongs. I don’t see why experience upgrades were dropped other than a need for you to spend money on something after all the weapons were bought.

Without a doubt, unfortunately, this is my personal least favourite of the Ratchet series. Its story is by far the weakest of the franchise thus far and whilst there are strong elements to it, it’s departure from the formula may have worked against it on this occasion. 

Rating 60/100

Memorable Quotes
"Ladies and Gentlemen, your President"
"You would've done the same for me, right" "Yeah..."
"Can I kill him now?"
"If you two are done, I'm going to need that wrench back"

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Images/clips used in this review are from Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One and Minions and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.