I played a bunch of these games when I was younger and (as is typical for child Whom) never beat any of em, so I wanted to at least finish this one before checking out Rift Apart.

I love the retrofuturism, I love the stretchy animation, I love Clank being a little cutie, I love the simple as can be environmentalism, I love the absolutely nuts electronic soundtrack, and I love the early 00s silliness of it all, right down to Ratchet being an asshole skater bro too self-absorbed to even care about entire worlds being destroyed. I truly hate that little shit but it's fun seeing that "whatever man" attitude being pushed to such a ridiculous extreme and getting the latest and least earned turnaround possible.

The moment-to-moment gameplay is what really comes up short and makes this not come together nearly as well as I would hope. It's all kinda crusty in a way its more polished peers never were. Beyond minor UX woes with the menus that add up, my main problem is that the optimal strategy in nearly every combat scenario is to stay out of range and pick everyone off at a distance. This isn't too much of a problem at first but up-close combat gets less and less viable as you approach the end of the game and there's a point where it's pretty much a forced playstyle. Not only is exploiting enemy sightlines not that engaging of a way to play, but in this kind of giant arsenal game I expect to have a lot of unique ways to approach combat encounters and those are pretty lacking. The last few levels are mostly spent shooting rockets at stationary enemies who would annihilate you if you got too close, and that's a shame because other than the combat you're mostly left with a few scattered distractions, as the platforming is rather barebones.

I do like those distractions though! They are relics of the era that I adore: minigames and other jarringly different modes of gameplay. Like sure, I'll take racing sequences and a one-off optional turret defense minigame in my action platformer. Not that stuff like that doesn't happen anymore, but it seemed to be obligatory back then, and I sure appreciated any reason to stick around and just hang out in a game as a kid with a limited library who only needed the smallest bit to work with to remain engaged for a long-ass time. Playing this now, I only wish there were more.

I can still find quite a bit to enjoy, but I think the OG Ratchet & Clank is mostly of interest to me because it's a nostalgic curiosity released in the exact time many of my first permanent memories were forming. Ratchet & Clank is neat but it's no Jak and Daxter, let's put it that way.

Pretty cool game that is sometimes really frustrating with his checkpoint system. The game is also hard sometimes with levels you'll have to do some try and retry if you don't have the proper weapons to fight the ennemies. Directions feels a bit clunky and I hope they'll find a way to attack the ennemies while moving because this is the main problem of the fight. Not much to say else, it's basically what you would expect from a 2000 adventure game. Cool weapons, cool graphics and lovely artistic direction, basic level design.
On the story part, I have to say I'm pleased to see they did a little bit more than what you could have with games like Sly 1 or Spyro and putting a bit of effort in the story. It's cool to see that the Ratchet & Clank serie started with the two protagonists not being able to stand each other for half of the game.
Can't wait to play the other games and see how the formula has improved ! There is a lot of potential in those two characters

El inicio de una gran saga de videojuegos:

Conocí este juego gracias a la demo que venia con la PS2, pero no seria unos años más adelante que puede jugar la versión completa gracias al remaster HD para PS3 y la verdad, es un titulo interesante en muchos aspectos.

Para empezar, gráficamente se ve bien para su época y al día de hoy, los modelos de los personajes están bien detallados, sus animaciones son fluidas y las caras son expresivas, los escenarios que muestran son coloridos y tiene mucha vida.

La banda sonora compuesta por el francés, David Bergeaud, tiene ese aire dosmilero que me genera cierta nostalgia de aquella época y pega bien con el ambiente de los planetas donde visitamos.

La jugabilidad, si bien en algunos aspectos no ha envejecido bien a comparación de sus secuelas, como no poseer desplazamiento lateral, los controles al menos responden bien a las acción del jugador.

Uno de los puntos más fuertes del juego y que muchos suelen decir que estuvo adelantado a su día es el humor, ya que tiene ese espíritu de shows como Futurama, tener ese humor negro con toques absurdos que satirizan al capitalismo excesivo.

En resumen, Ratchet & Clank es un titulo que en muchos apartados ha envejecido bien, aunque su jugabilidad diga todo lo contrario. Si eres alguien que nunca ha jugado a esta saga, yo te lo recomiendo para que conozcas los origines de esta saga de videojuegos, pero si eres alguien que solo jugo a sus entregas posteriores, te puede resultar algo incomodo sus controles.

This is a flawed but good first game in the series. While it lacks certain quality of life features that later games would include such as strafing, it does have a great sense of pace, fun characters and weapon variety. It looks really good for an early ps2 title as well. It doesn't have the most exciting story, but the character writing (aside from a point where Ratchet acts a certain way for a little too long and it was annoying me greatly) more than makes up for it. A solid foundation to build on.

Great game with very obvious flaws. No strafing means the shooting is tedious and annoying. Some of the puzzle mechanics are slow and shallow - the hydrodisplacer may have been a huge technical feat on the PS2 but it feels awkward nowadays.

BUT!! The world, the characters, the environments, the music, the animation... Everything is stellar. This game has a certain je ne sais quoi that the immediate sequels or the more recent remake just can't capture. This game is special and has impeccable vibes, and so it remains one of my favourites.

A great 3D action platformer, this game is extremely competent even by modern standards with fun movement, combat and exploration. It's extremely impressive to me that such a well-rounded game came out in 2002.

I have some nostalgia for this since I played the sequel and demo for this game a lot as a kid but I only got round to playing the full game for the first time a few years ago, replaying it now was surprisingly fresh but still familiar.

The visuals have certainly aged a bit but everything else is solid, the characters are fun, there is good variety in the gameplay and level design. Overall I don't really have anything to complain about besides the final boss being a big difficulty spike. If you want to experience some peak early 2000s action platforming then this series is a great choice.

Well, the start of a loong journey begins. Ratchet & Clank is a game series that really needs no introduction, and the first game was always something I used to play as a child but never fully finished. For some reason I always used to get to Quark’s Fortress and stop, but (15 years or so later) I’ve finally been able to complete it! So, here are my thoughts:

With this being the first Ratchet & Clank game, it's key to see Ratchet’s development. He initially starts out as very self centred, quite cocky & uncaring towards Clank, giving a certain edge to him that isn’t seen in later titles. Clank sadly doesn't have much of an arc with his character, minus one scene that was pretty touching, but he still has a lot of charm! The story isn’t something that hasn’t been done before, but it's the personalities of all of the characters you interact with that help flesh out the story that's being told, which is mostly trying to show how corporate & greedy most of the inhabitants are. This is what makes Chairman Drek an enticing villain to the storyline as he’s basically the epitome of said greed, and this is all told through great storytelling that doesn't treat kids that would’ve been playing this like idiots.

I can imagine being in LOVE with something this ambitious back in 2002, as I still am now. The scope of this game is no small feat, and they did an amazing job at making unique worlds that vary enough from one another that really sells that idea of exploring a galaxy of planets, even having multiple paths you could take in each level. Even the backtracking to previous worlds when you possibly didn’t have the gear yet never felt annoying either because it always opened up a new path that wasn’t explorable before. This great design paired with the gunplay and platforming, it feels like it opened up the genre to more experimentation than what was previously tried with Crash, Spyro & Jak & Daxter up to this point.

And ooo boy the game's soundtrack is a chef's futuristic kiss, it really does feel like every loop was built around trying to fit the atmosphere each world was going for. There are genuinely haunting soundscapes for Planet Orxon & the Gemlik Base but when going to Planet Kerwan I'm surprised at how well it fits the bustling city of Metropolis, EVERY world has their own distinct sound that compliments so so well. I also loved how separate paths sometimes included a deviation of the original song depending on what you were doing. David Bergeaud knocked it out the park with these tracks, and it's a shame that the modern Ratchet & Clank OST’s don’t have that same level of specialty he brought to the table.

So I think looking at the good, it’s clear R&C does a fantastic job at unique level designs, solid writing, & great exploration, but there are definitely some mechanics that could’ve been tweaked to be smoother or, well, maybe haven’t aged the greatest personally.

Speaking of the gear, it’s decent, but isn’t Insomniac's most creative collection like you see in the more modern titles. You have your typical machine gun, rocket launcher, bombs, etc etc, which whilst fun to use, especially weapons like the Visibomb, aren’t very distinctive. Some even feel pretty useless compared to others as well, I’m pretty sure in my whole playthrough I never used the decoy glove or the mine glove once, so whilst there are various ways you can tackle something, some lack the punch others do. But overall, it's a pretty solid collection to start things off alongside the gadgets (even though I wish they were on their own separate wheel).

I think depending on how much I enjoy the weapons also has something to do with how this game’s controls. For starters, the aiming can be awkward depending on what you’re trying to use, and whilst I give respect to Ratchet & Clank for being the first to merge shooter mechanics with platforming, it doesn’t feel as smooth as what I’d like it to sometimes, especially getting into the later worlds where it can start to push these mechanics to their limits, which can even start to hinder the platforming and make you realise how floaty it all feels. I also wish selecting items on the weapon wheel was a little faster as sometimes I try to switch weapons mid-fight and since the game doesn’t pause or slow down I end up taking damage in the process which always got on my nerves.

Another annoyance, grinding for bolts! Now I know the RYNO is meant to be obtained through multiple playthroughs, but that aside there were still a considerable amount needed for the more expensive weapons/upgrades like the tesla claw and the improved health, so I ended up doing grinding the giant clank fight for the most bolts which was definitely the most tiring part of this game.

Honestly though, whilst these complaints did dampen my experience they’re very minimal when looking at the entire journey which I'm very impressed by for a first outing. I can definitely understand why people were underwhelmed with the 2016 remake as whilst it might feel better to control and have better weapon progression, I think it lost the charm and style that made the original what it was (especially on the writing side where they made some very weird changes to the story) and doesn’t stand out near as much as what it did 20 years ago.

Overall, I highly recommend checking this out if you can, I think out of all the PS2 platformer mascots Ratchet & Clank to me had the strongest first entry from what I can gather, even with some bumps it has along the way. I’m very excited to continue playing through the series and seeing how the others stack up as I’ve only heard greater things!

This is a series I've neglected for a long long time, and I saw the original PS2 games for 300 yen a piece a month or so ago and thought it was a fine time to finally pick 'em up. I've still got the itch for 3D platformers in me after finishing Mario Sunshine and such, so this seemed like a perfect time to give Insomniac's PS2 hit a try. It took me around 11 hours to finish the Japanese version of the game, and I did not go and hunt for more collectibles.

Ratchet & Clank is the story of Ratchet, a wannabe hero who teams up with Clank, a robot on a mission to stop the evil Chairman Drek. Drek is a Blarg, and the Blarg's homeworld was overpolluted and overpopulated, so they need a new homeworld. Drek is harvesting chunks of other planets, destroying them in the process, and using the pieces to make a new homeworld for the Blarg. Clank and Ratchet set out to stop Drek's evil scheme, one step at a time, by collecting infobots slowly revealing where the evil chairman himself is hiding. It's a lighthearted and fairly simple story, but it's packed with lively characters and pretty locations.

It's a bit odd hearing the quite iconic voice cast (which I was familiar with despite not having played the games much at all before) in Japanese rather than English (especially Captain Qwark), but it really grew on me after a while, and the dub is well done, as is the localization. Lots of important signs re textured to be in Japanese rather than English, good voice talent, good lip syncing. I admit I didn't get a lot of the story, both because I was often talking with friends onilne while I was playing, and also because the game has pretty crappy subtitles (granted the subs are only in Japanese, of course). For the first part, it hides the option for them fairly well, by not having them in the main menu's option menu, but only accessible from the in-game option menu (for whatever reason), and even then, that's only subtitles for in-game dialogue. Pre-rendered cutscenes never have any subtitles, and that really sucks as far as accessibility options go.

The gameplay is a more linear action platformer, but with some adventure game elements. You travel to over a dozen worlds, each having several paths through them that lead to either optional or required items you'll need to progress. All the while you'll be collecting bolts (money) that you'll use to both buy more guns and ammo at the various store around the game, but you'll also need them to buy those required items at the ends of each of those paths (this IS from the Spyro the Dragon devs, after all XD). The levels are mechanically largely the same, but there's usually at least one gimmick in each to make it feel different than the last (including some levels where you play as either just Ratchet or just Clank).

The game's combat uses Ratchet's wrench as your default melee attack, but before long you'll get scads of guns to use to blow opponents away. There are some 18 guns in the game (with some quite well hidden super versions of some), and those that use ammo each have their own ammo requirement. You have everything from a flamethrower to a camera-guided missile launcher to a laser that turns your opponents into chickens, and it's good fun smashing stuff and blasting things away. The game can get quite mean with withholding ammo from you, particularly if you die, as enemies rarely (if ever?) drop ammo and ammo crates don't respawn between deaths.

This was quite a surprisingly challenging game. You can eventually upgrade your life meter about 2/3rds of the way in through the game, but you spend most of the game with only 4 hits between you and death, and the game is pretty stingy with handing out more health. it's also pretty darn mean with checkpoints and bottomless pits (especially on the magnet boot sections). Tie that all in with how this is a 3rd person shooting game with no strafing mechanic and the fact that Ratchet is pretty slow and has a big turning circle, and you're probably gonna die quite a bit. The game is pretty merciful in that there's no extra life mechanic, but the game has a lot of sections that didn't feel totally fair, and that I had to try over and over to see the best way of not getting overwhelmed by the hordes of enemies.

Those enemy horde rooms are just one of the frequent "ugh" aspects this game has to it. A lot of later game enemies both fly, shoot guns, and take several melee hits. Ratchet also has only a couple guns that have any meaningful range to them. I spent most of the game using only a small handful of weapons since your hotbar only holds 8 tools + weapons (and you have 6 tools + those 18 weapons), and only a few weapons seemed all that meaningfully effective. Running out of ammo in the later game is a real death sentence, and it made the action get more often frustrating than tense. Then there's the aforementioned tightrope wakling magnet boot sections, the awful hoverboard races, the turret and ship-flying sections. The game has a lot of rough aspects to its design that make for a game that is just as often fun as it is annoying.

For presentation, the game is fairly pretty graphically for a 2002 PS2 game. It's hardly the prettiest thing in the world, but the world has a colorful, fun style to it, and it really helps bring the zany, loud characters to life with how cartoony their designs are. The music is pretty darn forgettable though, and is very much "atmospheric" more than anything else.

Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. This is on the higher end of my hesitantly recommended list, but I really didn't feel comfortable giving this a recommended. It's not often I'm just "done" enough with a game to not even try to get the collectibles in it, but that was very much the case with this game. I'd say it's worth a shot if you can find it for cheap, but the overall product is such an "early 2000's platformer" for better and for worse that it very well might be more frustration than it's worth for a lot of people.