Ratchet and Clank (2016 video game)

Gameplay

The game shares many gameplay similarities with the other games in the series. The main playable character, who is playable for most of the game, is Ratchet; Clank is playable in several portions of the game. As Ratchet, the player navigates diverse environments, defeating enemies with an array of different weapons and gadgets, and traversing obstacles. Clank is attached to Ratchet like a backpack, performing several functions, such as allowing diving in water, gliding through the use of propellers, and on occasion, acting as a jetpack to allow flight. Clank's gameplay sections are drastically different, even though the premise of navigating environments and the controls remain the same. Clank is not equipped with weapons; instead, he utilizes punches to defeat enemies. Clank's gameplay sections mostly revolve around solving environmental puzzles, rather than defeating enemies.

Though the game is a re-imagining of the first game, it has a variety of gameplay elements from different entries in the series, such as strafing, automatic weapon and health upgrades, manual Raritanium weapon upgrading, and the inclusion of weapons that appeared after the first game. It also features brand new weapons, such as the Pixelizer, which, as the name suggests, gives enemies an 8-bit appearance. Environments are presented in a somewhat linear manner, although multiple paths are available for the player. The player progresses through the story by travelling from planet to planet. New planets are unlocked once story objectives on previous planets have been completed. Aside from battling enemies, the player will utilize a Swingshot to cross gaps, ride grind rails to travel through levels, walk on magnetic surfaces, activate switches to open new paths, and solve the occasional hacking mini-game.

The player unlocks weapons and gadgets as the story progresses, but some are bought through vendors. Bolts, which are found in crates, dropped by defeated enemies and given as rewards, act as currency. Crates also contain health and ammunition. Items are used in several different ways. Gadgets are automatically equipped at certain points in levels, weapons must be equipped manually, and lastly, the OmniWrench, which acts as a melee weapon, is always equipped as it has a dedicated button. Several collectibles are present, such as holocards, which provide information about the world, and gold bolts, which unlock aesthetical extras. Skill points, which were prominent features in the previous games in the series, do not return, instead entirely substituted by the PlayStation trophies system.

Racing, in the form of hoverboard races, and aerial combat missions, in which the player controls a spaceship, also appear in the game. Bosses, which are a mainstay in the series, are featured in some levels. After completing the game, the player may choose to enter "challenge mode", in which the game's difficulty level rises considerably, but most items, including all weapons, are carried through.

Plot

Prisoner Shiv Helix is being moved to a joint cell with the newly imprisoned Captain Qwark. As he is a huge fan of Qwark, he reveals that a game is being made based on his last adventure. Eager for attention, Qwark agrees to tell Shiv his side of the story.

On planet Veldin, Ratchet, a young Lombax who works as a mechanic for his adopted father Grim, dreams of joining the Galactic Rangers. While he quickly passes the physical exam, his criminal past convinces Qwark to reject him personally. Meanwhile, in a factory on planet Quartu, Chairman Alonzo Drek oversees the construction of a mechanical army built by Dr. Nefarious, a former Galactic Ranger himself. After the factory's mainframe locates a defective warbot trying to escape, Drek sends his lieutenant Victor Von Ion to destroy him. The defect escapes in a stolen ship, but Victor shoots out the engine, causing the ship to crash on Veldin. Ratchet rescues the defect seconds before the wreckage explodes. The defect explains that he needs to warn the Galactic Rangers of Drek's plans. Ratchet names him "Clank" and offers to take him to the Ranger Headquarters on planet Kerwan.

While flying over planet Novalis, the duo is shot down by Blarg forces. They rescue the mayor, Agnogg Buckwash, who asks them to save his nephew Skidd McMarx on Aridia, and a plumber who fixes their ship. Traveling to Kerwan, they discover that Drek's invasion is already in progress. Using their ship's arsenal, they destroy the Blargian transports and mothership but narrowly survive a bomb planted on the ship's hull by Victor's men. With help from Big Al, an electronics engineer, they foil an attempt by the invaders to destroy the Hall of Heroes with a train loaded with explosives. As a reward for their assistance, Qwark reluctantly allows them to join the Rangers and provides them with a new ship. Before undertaking their first mission, the two travel to Aridia and rescue Skidd and his agent from the Blarg. Skidd gives them his hoverboard, as well as an invitation to a racing tournament on planet Rilgar. Ratchet wants to participate but learns that the race has been canceled due to an outbreak of Blargian Ameboids. After he manages to wipe them out, the race is reopened, and Ratchet wins the grand prize.

Qwark contacts the duo with an assignment to investigate reports of activity at a remote Blarg bio-lab. They destroy several mutant specimens created by the Blarg, including a large Snagglebeast. Using intelligence retrieved from the Snagglebeast's handler, they head to a research facility run by Nefarious on planet Gaspar. A Blargian scientist hires them to collect brain samples from Nefarious's experiments, exchanging them for a jetpack and news that Drek is moving to attack a Ranger outpost on planet Batalia. The two arrive just in time to destroy the Blargian fleet with an energy cannon. They receive word from Grim that the Blarg are draining planet Pokitaru of its fresh water, threatening a nearby resort run by Grim's brother. Big Al, who happens to be staying at the resort, provides them with rockets to destroy the extraction equipment.

Qwark calls a meeting of the Rangers at the Starship Phoenix, where he proposes an assault on Quartu. The Rangers agree to the plan. They access Drek's files and discover his real plan: using the Deplanetizer, a weaponized space station created by Nefarious, Drek intends to destroy several planets so that he can combine their remains into an artificial world for his people. Learning that his first target is Novalis, Qwark goes to negotiate with Drek while the other Rangers battle his forces outside the station. During the fighting, Victor slips aboard the Ranger support ship Phoenix and inflicts severe internal damage before Clank disables him with the ship's sprinkler system. Ratchet enters the Deplanetizer and tries to shut it down, but Drek incapacitates him. Qwark reveals that he has been spying for Drek out of spite for Ratchet stealing his thunder. Drek then seals Ratchet in an escape pod and ejects him into space as the Rangers witness the destruction of Novalis.

For several weeks, the loss of Qwark's leadership cripples the Rangers, and Drek quickly destroys five more planets. When Ratchet returns to Veldin, he decides to take the blame and quit. Clank urges him to reconsider, as the Blarg are preparing to destroy their final target: planet Umbris, whose destruction will destroy countless other worlds due to a rare orbital convergence. Ratchet deduces the truth: Nefarious, angered by his defeat at the hands of the Rangers, has been manipulating Drek, using his resources to destroy the galaxy so he can discredit them. With his confidence restored, Ratchet heads to planet Kalebo III, where the Blarg have staged an attack on the headquarters of Gadgetron to acquire its stockpile of advanced weaponry. The company chairman asks him to drive off the attackers in time for an upcoming race championship, with a Holo-Guise as the prize. After winning the device, Ratchet confers with the Rangers before heading to the Deplanetizer.

An increasingly disillusioned Qwark confronts Drek for breaking his promise not to attack the Rangers any further. Nefarious arrives and mocks Qwark for his treason before sending him away. As Drek comments on how well their alliance has worked out, Nefarious turns him into a sheep and ejects him in a ship headed to the artificial planet. Meanwhile, Ratchet, disguised as Qwark, removes the Deplanetizer's power core, shutting off its firing capabilities. Before they can escape, the real Qwark shows up and tries to kill them until his jetpack malfunctions. Realizing the error of his ways, Qwark appoints Ratchet as the new leader of the Rangers so that he can take Nefarious into custody. Instead, Nefarious dons a mech suit and maneuvers the Deplanetizer to crash directly into Umbris. The duo lures Nefarious into the gravitational pull of a dwarf star, causing him and his suit to combust spontaneously. With the Deplanetizer disintegrating from the heat of Umbris's atmosphere, Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark use a teleporter to escape seconds before it explodes.

In the present, Qwark and Helix are picking trash near the Hall of Heroes. Ratchet and Clank stop by and greet Qwark. Seizing the opportunity, Helix steals Ratchet's ship and escapes. As the duo prepare to go after him, they ask Qwark if he would like to come along, which Qwark accepts.

Development

The game was announced during Sony's press conference at E3 2014. Insomniac Games' California and North Carolina studios cooperating on its development. Several developers from the first game, such as long time design director Brian Allgeier, returned for the remake. The game was originally slated for release in 2015, but was delayed into 2016 to tie-in with the film's release. Players who pre-ordered the game received access to an additional weapon, the Bouncer, which was featured in Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal.

On 11 January 2016, it was confirmed that the game would release in France on 15 April 2016, the rest of Europe on 20 April 2016, and the United Kingdom on 22 April 2016. Unlike the original Ratchet & Clank, the remake runs at a halved 30-frames-per-second frame rate.

The game was in parallel development with the film and shared the same character models, environments, animation and some writing. For example, Insomniac would send Rainmaker a 3D character model or environment, and Rainmaker would send Insomniac its slightly altered version for use in the game, so there would be parity between the pieces. Most of the assets in the film and video game had been touched between the two parties, and in some cases, Insomniac would try to match a movie scene as closely as possible in-game. The film and game also used the same color-correction tools.

Reception

According to the review aggregation website Metacritic, Ratchet & Clank received "generally favorable reviews".

Chris Carter of Destructoid praised the characters, pacing, and varied gameplay, saying that he would now welcome future Ratchet & Clank games after previously thinking that the series had run out of steam. Spencer Campbell of Electronic Gaming Monthly summarized his thoughts with: "Ratchet & Clank is a return to form for the series, but anyone looking for something more than that may be disappointed. The game tugs on many of the original’s addictive strings, but is also bogged down by a few slower, more passive segments."

Game Informer's Andrew Reiner particularly commended the game's visuals, specifically praising the amount of action on the screen at once and the designs of the environments. Even though Reiner thought the soundtrack was "quite good", he did find some of the dialogue "cringe inducing". Reiner made positive comments about the gameplay, with his only criticism of it being that the sections not focusing on fast-paced action break up the flow of the game. Ultimately, Reiner said that he "couldn't put the game down".

Game Revolution's Jeb Haught gave the game a positive review, praising the "outstanding" visuals, "funny" storyline, "addictive" gameplay, and "intuitive" controls. Cassidee Moser of GameSpot cited the humor, gameplay variety, weapons and gadgets, controls, and graphics as positives but criticized the story for feeling "under-developed".

Lucas Sullivan from GamesRadar summarized his review with: "Despite some wonky tie-ins with the film, this is a gorgeous, thoroughly great platformer and a worthy reboot for Ratchet & Clank." IGN's Marty Sliva wrote: "Ratchet and Clank is a culmination of everything Insomniac has done with the series over the past 14 years." Sliva complimented the "absolutely gorgeous" visuals, "rewarding" upgrading systems, "charming" story, and "creative" weapons.

Philip Kollar for Polygon wrote: "I'd stop short of saying that the new Ratchet & Clank is exactly what every fan of the series wants. It's a bit less sprawling in terms of hard numbers — fewer planets, fewer weapons and so on — but the sheer variety and polish prevents this excellent reboot from being dragged down too far. There's enough here to make longtime fans happy, but perhaps more importantly for Insomniac and the franchise's future, it should win over plenty of new fans as well."

VideoGamer.com's Tom Orry summarized his review with: "Ratchet & Clank is an easy recommendation. It's great fun, looks lovely, plays well and almost serves as a palate cleanser to the usual video game releases. Newcomers to the series will likely find a fresher experience (even though it's a proper remake, familiarity does creep in), but fans will love what Insomniac has done here. A remake done right in a series that rarely puts a foot wrong."

Sales

The game became the best-selling retail game in the UK in its week of release. The sales of the remake in its release week tripled the release week sales of A Crack in Time, the previous record holder. The remake also became the first game in the series to debut at No. 1 in the retail software sales chart, whilst being the best selling title on the PlayStation Store in Europe. On April 29, 2016, it was announced that Ratchet & Clank was the fastest selling title in the entire series. It was number 1 on the Australian charts during the week of release and became the second best selling game in the month of April in the U.S. at retail and on the PlayStation Store, making it the best launch of any game in the Ratchet & Clank series. NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan exclaimed that these sales recaptured success not seen for the franchise since the height of the PlayStation 2 era.