This review contains spoilers
Weirdly, both the best and worst thing about this is that it's "just" another Zelda game. That means it has some incredible music, atmosphere, puzzles, set pieces, and a story that is both dark, yet whimsical and fairy tale-like. The bad part is that it doesn't do much to stand out apart from that, other than of course the motion controls, which I'll get to.
Other than the sand ship, no temples truly stand out, but the rest of them are still good just by being virtue of being Zelda temples.
The weakest aspect of the game is the sheer amount of backtracking. There's only 3 main areas in the game (other than Skyloft) and you have to visit them all no less than 3 times for main quests, multiple times for smaller things that are still tied to main quests, and then more times for optional side quests. What makes it worse is how slow you move in the sky portions - I wouldn't call it bad by itself, but with the amount of times you need to go back and forth, the speed can definitely get on your nerves when you need to leave the fire area to make a small 5 minute trip to the grass area and back again. Land travel also becomes a chore with the tiny stamina bar that never gets any permanent upgrades. The game would benefit massively for having flight speed and stamina increases later in the game, so that after you've explored these areas for the first time, you have faster ways to get through them when re-treading them multiple times in the future. Also there's two separate bosses that you need to fight 3 times each.
It is very, very clear this game banked hard on the motion control gimmick being THE thing that makes it worth while, which is kind of ironic considering most people are saying the game became better with stick controls.
I actually played with motion controls on since it's my first time playing the game, and I wanted the true Skyward Sword experience. It wasn't awful honestly. Like there were a few annoyances with desyncing and general clunkiness with it, but it led to some unique mechanics like fighting enemies from, specific angles. It just felt too shoehorned into everything. I really did not need motion controls for moving when swimming.
The game suffers a weird artstyle that affects characters faces. They all look very weird... But Impa gets the worst of it, her entire model is just ew.
The finale of the game is super cool though. I loved charging through the horde of enemies to get to the last boss(es). Admittedly the very very final boss lacked a lot of grandeur once the fight actually starts, and was generally too easy.
This is the video game equivalent of trying to stretch a 1000 word essay to 3000 words.
Other than the sand ship, no temples truly stand out, but the rest of them are still good just by being virtue of being Zelda temples.
The weakest aspect of the game is the sheer amount of backtracking. There's only 3 main areas in the game (other than Skyloft) and you have to visit them all no less than 3 times for main quests, multiple times for smaller things that are still tied to main quests, and then more times for optional side quests. What makes it worse is how slow you move in the sky portions - I wouldn't call it bad by itself, but with the amount of times you need to go back and forth, the speed can definitely get on your nerves when you need to leave the fire area to make a small 5 minute trip to the grass area and back again. Land travel also becomes a chore with the tiny stamina bar that never gets any permanent upgrades. The game would benefit massively for having flight speed and stamina increases later in the game, so that after you've explored these areas for the first time, you have faster ways to get through them when re-treading them multiple times in the future. Also there's two separate bosses that you need to fight 3 times each.
It is very, very clear this game banked hard on the motion control gimmick being THE thing that makes it worth while, which is kind of ironic considering most people are saying the game became better with stick controls.
I actually played with motion controls on since it's my first time playing the game, and I wanted the true Skyward Sword experience. It wasn't awful honestly. Like there were a few annoyances with desyncing and general clunkiness with it, but it led to some unique mechanics like fighting enemies from, specific angles. It just felt too shoehorned into everything. I really did not need motion controls for moving when swimming.
The game suffers a weird artstyle that affects characters faces. They all look very weird... But Impa gets the worst of it, her entire model is just ew.
The finale of the game is super cool though. I loved charging through the horde of enemies to get to the last boss(es). Admittedly the very very final boss lacked a lot of grandeur once the fight actually starts, and was generally too easy.
This is the video game equivalent of trying to stretch a 1000 word essay to 3000 words.
This review contains spoilers
I've been reading through Naruto for the first time lately and figured I'd try the games. I'm way past this one in the story, but I wanted to start at the beginning to see how the games evolved.
In terms of making use of the franchise it's a pretty good game. Lots of aesthetic, using things like ninja missions as a mode, and the stages themselves are FULL of little nods to the series.
The gameplay is unfortunately way too janky. I do like that it's the kinda game where learning one character means you'll at least be competent with the others, but still different enough to feel excited about using new characters. But overall the game feels like it can't decide if it wants to be more like a traditional fighter, or a smash clone. Items are EVERYWHERE in the stages - you'll have one assist character who will show up every 5 seconds to give you an item, along with breakable objects that give items. I like the idea of the assist character, especially as they each have a specific assist move they can give out, but they need to appear way less frequently.
The stages do this thing of having 2 layers, which is an okay idea in theory, but in practice it just leads to you and your opponent constantly trying to chase each other through layers like 2 people trying to side step each other in a corridor.
It's an okay start for the franchise I guess. Not unplayable, but the fights just feel very "too many cooks in the pot" with all the ideas they had going on.
Also it's kinda funny how they try to make a story mode for each character despite the fact only like 3 of the characters in the game had enough fights to justify the 6-fight-long stories in the game. You'll get some characters whose canon opponents aren't even in the game, like Shikamaru's opponents, so 90% of the story mode is just making up reasons for 2 characters to fight. It's basically just arcade mode disguised as a story.
In terms of making use of the franchise it's a pretty good game. Lots of aesthetic, using things like ninja missions as a mode, and the stages themselves are FULL of little nods to the series.
The gameplay is unfortunately way too janky. I do like that it's the kinda game where learning one character means you'll at least be competent with the others, but still different enough to feel excited about using new characters. But overall the game feels like it can't decide if it wants to be more like a traditional fighter, or a smash clone. Items are EVERYWHERE in the stages - you'll have one assist character who will show up every 5 seconds to give you an item, along with breakable objects that give items. I like the idea of the assist character, especially as they each have a specific assist move they can give out, but they need to appear way less frequently.
The stages do this thing of having 2 layers, which is an okay idea in theory, but in practice it just leads to you and your opponent constantly trying to chase each other through layers like 2 people trying to side step each other in a corridor.
It's an okay start for the franchise I guess. Not unplayable, but the fights just feel very "too many cooks in the pot" with all the ideas they had going on.
Also it's kinda funny how they try to make a story mode for each character despite the fact only like 3 of the characters in the game had enough fights to justify the 6-fight-long stories in the game. You'll get some characters whose canon opponents aren't even in the game, like Shikamaru's opponents, so 90% of the story mode is just making up reasons for 2 characters to fight. It's basically just arcade mode disguised as a story.
2016
This review contains spoilers
Gets old at like layer 2 of area 1. Rail shooting is usually the worst part of most games that have it, so making an entire game around it rarely works. And this one isn't even that good by rail shooter standards. The reticle moves too slow, and the visuals make it too difficult to see which shape damaged you. Not that you need to worry about being damaged 90% of the time, as enemies seem to only come on screen and fly off if you don't kill them, which makes the few that do try to attack you all the most dangerous. But chances are you won't get hit by the enemies in normal gameplay, as their attacks are generally slow moving projectiles, but during the bosses this same idea of only a few things being dangerous is present, but now which things are dangerous is far less telegraphed. In the third boss there's a phase where you have to destroy a bunch of lasers. Some of these lasers could hit me, and most of them couldn't. I had no idea which ones were even hurting me so I couldn't even focus on them.
I also found the whole lock on to 8 enemies mechanic to be pretty wasteful in this game. It seemed far more effective to just spam the X button to get 1 hit at a time, but at a faster rate. Since there didn't seem to be any bonus for hitting more targets at once, it just seems like hitting them one at a time is literally the exact same thing, but without the delay between shot 1 and shot 8, and not having to worry about any time between accidently going over "MAX" and letting go of the fire button.
The final boss goes on for way too long, having more forms than Freeza.
Area X is easily the best thing about the game, but even that gets boring before it even finishes its short playthrough. It also seems to remove the few things an already shallow game had, namely the evolution and overdrive. There did seem to be something regarding the character that worked like evolution, as they changed colour, but there's no evolution power-ups to make it clear, nor any indication of how it works in the tutorial for Area X. It just seemed kinda weird.
I also found the whole lock on to 8 enemies mechanic to be pretty wasteful in this game. It seemed far more effective to just spam the X button to get 1 hit at a time, but at a faster rate. Since there didn't seem to be any bonus for hitting more targets at once, it just seems like hitting them one at a time is literally the exact same thing, but without the delay between shot 1 and shot 8, and not having to worry about any time between accidently going over "MAX" and letting go of the fire button.
The final boss goes on for way too long, having more forms than Freeza.
Area X is easily the best thing about the game, but even that gets boring before it even finishes its short playthrough. It also seems to remove the few things an already shallow game had, namely the evolution and overdrive. There did seem to be something regarding the character that worked like evolution, as they changed colour, but there's no evolution power-ups to make it clear, nor any indication of how it works in the tutorial for Area X. It just seemed kinda weird.
This review contains spoilers
For the first half of this I was wondering why everyone thought it was by far the worst. I thought it was on par with the 2nd honestly, and far better than the first. The second half though...is a mixed bag. Still better than the first game overall though imo.
The main complaint I see is that this game has too many gimmick levels, which...is true, but so did the second game. And it's not like the gimmicks in either game were too intrusive, they both made clever use of mechanics, enemies, items or otherwise DKC themed obstacles. Of course, the last couple worlds happened and then we get shit like reversed controls, or the weird sniper stage. One of the boss fights is even a freaking snowball fight - which tbf was based on a minigame you had a chance to play many times, so it didn't come COMPLETELY out of nowhere...but still.
These types of gimmick levels were in the minority, and some of them were pretty inventive if nothing else, but they did kinda spoil the endgame.
I have no real problems with Kiddy Kong. While I prefer Diddy overall, I think he and Dixie made for a good duo that made neither objectively better than the other, although admittedly Kiddy was mostly just good for finding secrets via his higher throws, or water bouncing ability. DIxie is definitely the best as far as just general completing stages goes.
Also in the decision to get rid of animal buddies why remove the freaking Rhino and Snake, 2 fun ones, but keep the damn bird. Flying and water levels still suck ass.
Still a few problems with enemies coming too fast to react, mostly in stages that force you to move fast. The worst of it was in that stage where you had to climb the burning rope.
Overall I'd put it between DKC 1 and DKC 2
The main complaint I see is that this game has too many gimmick levels, which...is true, but so did the second game. And it's not like the gimmicks in either game were too intrusive, they both made clever use of mechanics, enemies, items or otherwise DKC themed obstacles. Of course, the last couple worlds happened and then we get shit like reversed controls, or the weird sniper stage. One of the boss fights is even a freaking snowball fight - which tbf was based on a minigame you had a chance to play many times, so it didn't come COMPLETELY out of nowhere...but still.
These types of gimmick levels were in the minority, and some of them were pretty inventive if nothing else, but they did kinda spoil the endgame.
I have no real problems with Kiddy Kong. While I prefer Diddy overall, I think he and Dixie made for a good duo that made neither objectively better than the other, although admittedly Kiddy was mostly just good for finding secrets via his higher throws, or water bouncing ability. DIxie is definitely the best as far as just general completing stages goes.
Also in the decision to get rid of animal buddies why remove the freaking Rhino and Snake, 2 fun ones, but keep the damn bird. Flying and water levels still suck ass.
Still a few problems with enemies coming too fast to react, mostly in stages that force you to move fast. The worst of it was in that stage where you had to climb the burning rope.
Overall I'd put it between DKC 1 and DKC 2
Big improvement over the first game. They try so many things, making each level feel pretty unique. Level design is pretty good, sound track is bangin', and Dixie is a great new character with a standout "ez mode" for jumps.
I found most of the animal buddies to be really fun to play as, except for one in specific circumstances, which I'll get to later.
The game has a ton of bonuses and collectables. They did feel a bit inconsistent on how well hidden they were though. Sometimes they had a literal arrow pointing at them, or a stray banana(s) that tells you an otherwise dead-end may hold secrets. Other times you better hope to catch a glimpse of the 1 pixel that showcases that there's a secret in an otherwise bottomless pit, or worse yet, have a random ass wall that you can just pass through for no reason with no indication it is any different from other walls.
I went half way through the game getting every secret before it became a challenge just to pass the level, never mind trying to squeeze into every nook and cranny. I really feel like the harder ones are designed for people who already know the levels inside and out.
My complaints mostly come down to a few things that make it harder than it really should be. The first is that the screen can often feel too far zoomed in, and enemies or obstacles come too fast to react properly. It's not the worst case ever, and I'd even say it's definitely a problem in the minority of levels.
The other thing is that hit boxes can feel a bit janky at times. The hornet enemies, and brambles stages definitely highlight this (and God help you if you're playing as the parrot in a brambles stage - which is the animal buddy thing I referenced early).
Both of these things wouldn't be too bad by themselves if it had a system like Sonic where you could easily power through if you kept your 1 safety ring, but this game has a maximum of 2 hit points at any one time. The game is already hard (in a very fair way) just by design, so having these 2 things costing you health, can really make this game walk the line between masterpiece and fucking annoying piece of shit.
I found most of the animal buddies to be really fun to play as, except for one in specific circumstances, which I'll get to later.
The game has a ton of bonuses and collectables. They did feel a bit inconsistent on how well hidden they were though. Sometimes they had a literal arrow pointing at them, or a stray banana(s) that tells you an otherwise dead-end may hold secrets. Other times you better hope to catch a glimpse of the 1 pixel that showcases that there's a secret in an otherwise bottomless pit, or worse yet, have a random ass wall that you can just pass through for no reason with no indication it is any different from other walls.
I went half way through the game getting every secret before it became a challenge just to pass the level, never mind trying to squeeze into every nook and cranny. I really feel like the harder ones are designed for people who already know the levels inside and out.
My complaints mostly come down to a few things that make it harder than it really should be. The first is that the screen can often feel too far zoomed in, and enemies or obstacles come too fast to react properly. It's not the worst case ever, and I'd even say it's definitely a problem in the minority of levels.
The other thing is that hit boxes can feel a bit janky at times. The hornet enemies, and brambles stages definitely highlight this (and God help you if you're playing as the parrot in a brambles stage - which is the animal buddy thing I referenced early).
Both of these things wouldn't be too bad by themselves if it had a system like Sonic where you could easily power through if you kept your 1 safety ring, but this game has a maximum of 2 hit points at any one time. The game is already hard (in a very fair way) just by design, so having these 2 things costing you health, can really make this game walk the line between masterpiece and fucking annoying piece of shit.
This review contains spoilers
As well as being an absolute masterpiece visual marvel, it's an extremely solid Ratchet & Clank game. It brings quite a lot of new ideas to the table, while returning some of the better old ones. Some of the largest and longest planets, in some cases even requiring you to do return visits with new areas unlocked. Possibly the largest array of weapons yet, featuring a fair amount of new ideas like turning enemies into topiary art. Rivet was a great new character, and the whole mirror dimension thing in general provided some new, yet familiar lore and characters.
I was also super excited to see the return of customisable armour with bonus perks. And the best part is you get all the bonuses even if you don't equip that specific armour.
But it's definitely not the definitive R&C experience. Many things are still missing - the racing minigames have still been gone since the PSP game, the arena likewise feels pretty watered down compared to many past games, especially the PS2 ones.
While the levels in this one are massive, some of the bigger ones have problems with invisible walls, or platforms that should clearly be solid but you just fall through anyway, or certain platforms that you end up sliding off instead of landing on despite looking the same as other solid platforms etc. There's only really 2 planets that have that problem, but it's still noticeable (I did end up realising the reason was because I was trying to sequence break and explore a planet that you would later need a flying dinosaur to get to certain parts, so it feels like a very cheap way of doing that).
The bosses in the game are insanely forgettable. Other than the Nefarious battles, they're all basically just interchangeable robots.
There's very few new planets in the game, and I can say for at least one planet they straight up copy and pasted the layout from the previous game up until the final section. I can kinda understand given the whole alternate dimension thing, they might have wanted to showcase how the planets differed, but... they just kinda didn't? We've already had repeating planets in the past from the same dimension that felt different from before, since of course we never explore an ENTIRE planet, and this felt little more than what we've done there. Even some of the planets that are technically new feel like renamed versions of old planets (I thought for sure that underwater laboratory was the same one from Up your Arsenal)
I did like what they did with gold bolts, adding a new unlockable extra with each one collected, whether it be new skins for weapons, new effects for photo mode (which admittedly I never used), going right up to infinite health and ammo if you really wanted to use them. But for some reason, for a first in the series (maybe, I've missed a couple of games), they straight up removed skill points. That's a darn shame and could have really added some replayability.
While being one of the greatest visual experiences may be this games claim to fame, it doesn't detract from the fact it's still an amazing game. It just quite misses the mark on being what the first brand new Ratchet & Clank game should have been after the series longest hiatus ever imo.
I was also super excited to see the return of customisable armour with bonus perks. And the best part is you get all the bonuses even if you don't equip that specific armour.
But it's definitely not the definitive R&C experience. Many things are still missing - the racing minigames have still been gone since the PSP game, the arena likewise feels pretty watered down compared to many past games, especially the PS2 ones.
While the levels in this one are massive, some of the bigger ones have problems with invisible walls, or platforms that should clearly be solid but you just fall through anyway, or certain platforms that you end up sliding off instead of landing on despite looking the same as other solid platforms etc. There's only really 2 planets that have that problem, but it's still noticeable (I did end up realising the reason was because I was trying to sequence break and explore a planet that you would later need a flying dinosaur to get to certain parts, so it feels like a very cheap way of doing that).
The bosses in the game are insanely forgettable. Other than the Nefarious battles, they're all basically just interchangeable robots.
There's very few new planets in the game, and I can say for at least one planet they straight up copy and pasted the layout from the previous game up until the final section. I can kinda understand given the whole alternate dimension thing, they might have wanted to showcase how the planets differed, but... they just kinda didn't? We've already had repeating planets in the past from the same dimension that felt different from before, since of course we never explore an ENTIRE planet, and this felt little more than what we've done there. Even some of the planets that are technically new feel like renamed versions of old planets (I thought for sure that underwater laboratory was the same one from Up your Arsenal)
I did like what they did with gold bolts, adding a new unlockable extra with each one collected, whether it be new skins for weapons, new effects for photo mode (which admittedly I never used), going right up to infinite health and ammo if you really wanted to use them. But for some reason, for a first in the series (maybe, I've missed a couple of games), they straight up removed skill points. That's a darn shame and could have really added some replayability.
While being one of the greatest visual experiences may be this games claim to fame, it doesn't detract from the fact it's still an amazing game. It just quite misses the mark on being what the first brand new Ratchet & Clank game should have been after the series longest hiatus ever imo.
1990
Surprisingly solid controls, with good track layouts that compliment them (except for one bitch-ass track). Good difficulty ranges for anyone from beginners to people who want to master the game. Amazing soundtrack, of course. I like the elimination style racing too, although admittedly it is a little pointless because chances are if you're not in at least the top 5 for all laps, you were never going to qualify (being in the top 3) in the first place. The power system is fine, and I wanna say it'd have been more interesting if there were more tracks where you had to choose between healing or going the faster path, but seeing as the Ai don't seem to need healing, this would probably have led to a lot of unfair moments, so making it as accessible as they did was perfect.
The only real reason I'm not rating this higher is because in terms of playing it in 2021 it just doesn't offer much. The flat stages, as in the case in Super Mario Kart, just do not interest me at all. I play a couple of races and have some decent enjoyment, but nothing made me wanna keep playing other than the simple thought of finishing the game. So the only "flaw" in the game is that I played it 30 years too late.
The only real reason I'm not rating this higher is because in terms of playing it in 2021 it just doesn't offer much. The flat stages, as in the case in Super Mario Kart, just do not interest me at all. I play a couple of races and have some decent enjoyment, but nothing made me wanna keep playing other than the simple thought of finishing the game. So the only "flaw" in the game is that I played it 30 years too late.
This review contains spoilers
Short and sweet. There's only 4 planets in this one (not counting the arena as a planet), but they're all fantastic, with kinds of areas never seen before in the R&C games like the orphanage or the museum.
I do love that they brought back the weapon upgrading from Tools of Destruction. There's also some pretty cool new weapons in this one, along with the mainstays.
It does ultimately feel a little weak compared to the other games though due to the lack of substance. Lots of things are straight up removed - there aren't even any skins to unlock. Even the arena feels like one of the most basic yet (it's kinda crazy how the PS2 games went the furthest with the arena). It's Ratchet & Clank lite. But Ratchet & Clank, even lite, is still fun.
I do love that they brought back the weapon upgrading from Tools of Destruction. There's also some pretty cool new weapons in this one, along with the mainstays.
It does ultimately feel a little weak compared to the other games though due to the lack of substance. Lots of things are straight up removed - there aren't even any skins to unlock. Even the arena feels like one of the most basic yet (it's kinda crazy how the PS2 games went the furthest with the arena). It's Ratchet & Clank lite. But Ratchet & Clank, even lite, is still fun.
This review contains spoilers
The game feels larger than any before it, both in story and in the worlds themselves. Unfortunately this is compensated by having far less planets than previous games, with a bunch of moons thrown in for filler. The best of these moons provide platforming challenges, the rest provide just simple "kill X enemies" or busy work like towing something somewhere.
The game does have probably the best Clank sections so far, with a little bit of combat, and fun time puzzles thrown in. Albeit this at the cost of them being much more prominent and taking you away from the fast paced Ratchet gameplay even more.
The game also took away the great weapon customisation from the last game for some reason?? And replaced it with some weapon modding, which sounds great in theory...but it's limited to 3 weapons lol. And the 3 most boring weapons at that. Such a weird choice.
The arena is pretty good, definitely a huge step up from ToD's. While there's a lot of your typical stuff - kill enemy waves, rotating weapons, timed fights, fighting bosses etc, there's a few unique ones such as killing enemies with their own bombs, or preventing enemies from reaching the goal posts for 2 minutes (though that last one did appear in Deadlocked which was kinda like a game for arena challenges).
I was pretty happy with how they substituted Clank with the hoverboots. I thought they might have gone through the whole game with bare Ratchet gameplay, like QfB.
The game does do a lot of great things, but when you're the 8th(?) game in a series of very similar games, it's hard not to realise what has been sacrificed to make the story larger. It's the second main game in a row without a racing minigame. Even the bloody PSP game had one. Heck even the bonus skins start to feel less and less interesting (though these are far better than ToD's). There's like...5 of them to unlock, and you can only unlock them in the order the game wants you to.
I will say this one probably had the best soundtrack thanks to the ships radio music.
So in short, I think this is the best R&C game for its core gameplay (up to this point, haven't played the PS5 one yet), and has the most ambitious story, which helps flesh worlds out a lot (each world has its own unique race of interesting characters). Buuuut it's also probably the 2nd worst in terms of giving the player variety in gameplay and generally trying new things.
The game does have probably the best Clank sections so far, with a little bit of combat, and fun time puzzles thrown in. Albeit this at the cost of them being much more prominent and taking you away from the fast paced Ratchet gameplay even more.
The game also took away the great weapon customisation from the last game for some reason?? And replaced it with some weapon modding, which sounds great in theory...but it's limited to 3 weapons lol. And the 3 most boring weapons at that. Such a weird choice.
The arena is pretty good, definitely a huge step up from ToD's. While there's a lot of your typical stuff - kill enemy waves, rotating weapons, timed fights, fighting bosses etc, there's a few unique ones such as killing enemies with their own bombs, or preventing enemies from reaching the goal posts for 2 minutes (though that last one did appear in Deadlocked which was kinda like a game for arena challenges).
I was pretty happy with how they substituted Clank with the hoverboots. I thought they might have gone through the whole game with bare Ratchet gameplay, like QfB.
The game does do a lot of great things, but when you're the 8th(?) game in a series of very similar games, it's hard not to realise what has been sacrificed to make the story larger. It's the second main game in a row without a racing minigame. Even the bloody PSP game had one. Heck even the bonus skins start to feel less and less interesting (though these are far better than ToD's). There's like...5 of them to unlock, and you can only unlock them in the order the game wants you to.
I will say this one probably had the best soundtrack thanks to the ships radio music.
So in short, I think this is the best R&C game for its core gameplay (up to this point, haven't played the PS5 one yet), and has the most ambitious story, which helps flesh worlds out a lot (each world has its own unique race of interesting characters). Buuuut it's also probably the 2nd worst in terms of giving the player variety in gameplay and generally trying new things.
Even though it basically reuses all of Tools of Destructions assets, in a very limited format, it still has a few unique mechanics to it. For one thing the wrench now has an actual use outside of battle other than turning cranks.
It focuses a lot more on platforming - probably the most since the original games, which I guess was them making use of the fact there's no Clank, and thus half your "easy" movement options are gone.
It does ultimately feel a little pointless though. I played it on PS Now so I dunno the release history of this game, but it feels like it should have been a prologue to the next game rather than a standalone thing between releases that you have to pay for. It's not bad but it's just such a limited version of R&C to spend your time (and money depending on how you get it) on.
It focuses a lot more on platforming - probably the most since the original games, which I guess was them making use of the fact there's no Clank, and thus half your "easy" movement options are gone.
It does ultimately feel a little pointless though. I played it on PS Now so I dunno the release history of this game, but it feels like it should have been a prologue to the next game rather than a standalone thing between releases that you have to pay for. It's not bad but it's just such a limited version of R&C to spend your time (and money depending on how you get it) on.
It's still a good game, but it's definitely pretty vanilla as far as Ratchet & Clank goes. There's little here outside of the core gameplay, which luckily is still fantastic. Lots of the new levels are cool. Many new weapons are included, but admittedly you can see the struggle to come up with truly new weapons even beyond the staples like shotguns, bombs and rapid-fire pistols.
There is a brand new upgrade system to the weapons which I love. Unfortunately the old level up system is still here, which I've stated my problems with in the past - the fact it promotes using bad weapons in wrong situations to gain exp, the fact that some weapons are infinitely harder to level up due to ammo count, or completely ignoring maxed out weapons etc. But now there's a new reason to dislike it: the inclusion of "devices" which are disposable items to help in battle. Except I never used them because it'd just be wasting weapon exp. It's such a shame the system continues to thrive so much when this game offered a completely new way to upgrade weapons that could have replaced it without making the player feel like they're missing out if they use literally anything else except a level-up-able to kill an enemy.
But that's my only major gripe. Everything else just feels like "yeah it's good, but it could have been better". Even the arena feels super watered down, with very few courses and most of them just amounting to a few rounds each while introducing no new ideas.
I will say that it's some of the most fun Clank sections I've played so far (other than maybe some of the minigames in Size Matters). The slow down mechanic really made them better than the "puzzle" versions in older games, which were less like puzzles and more like very slow "press a button to proceed and then wait for something to happen".
There is a brand new upgrade system to the weapons which I love. Unfortunately the old level up system is still here, which I've stated my problems with in the past - the fact it promotes using bad weapons in wrong situations to gain exp, the fact that some weapons are infinitely harder to level up due to ammo count, or completely ignoring maxed out weapons etc. But now there's a new reason to dislike it: the inclusion of "devices" which are disposable items to help in battle. Except I never used them because it'd just be wasting weapon exp. It's such a shame the system continues to thrive so much when this game offered a completely new way to upgrade weapons that could have replaced it without making the player feel like they're missing out if they use literally anything else except a level-up-able to kill an enemy.
But that's my only major gripe. Everything else just feels like "yeah it's good, but it could have been better". Even the arena feels super watered down, with very few courses and most of them just amounting to a few rounds each while introducing no new ideas.
I will say that it's some of the most fun Clank sections I've played so far (other than maybe some of the minigames in Size Matters). The slow down mechanic really made them better than the "puzzle" versions in older games, which were less like puzzles and more like very slow "press a button to proceed and then wait for something to happen".
Gotta hand it to them, they really tried to make this game standout instead of just being R&C but limited. The dream level feels like one of the most creative Ratchet and Clank levels I've played yet. And what they did with Clank by turning his usual boring parts into a series of minigames was pretty genius. Even the skyboarding felt far better than hoverbike or hoverboard races thanks to the whole flying mechanic.
But it IS still a PSP game and the limitations do come through. It's super short even by Ratchet & Clank standards, there's a pretty limited supply of weapons (though maybe not as few as Deadlocked?), and the controls were compensated in many ways, including, most annoyingly, camera turning being mapped to the shoulder buttons.
But overall I'd say it was a fun game that wasn't nearly as half assed as it could have been.
But it IS still a PSP game and the limitations do come through. It's super short even by Ratchet & Clank standards, there's a pretty limited supply of weapons (though maybe not as few as Deadlocked?), and the controls were compensated in many ways, including, most annoyingly, camera turning being mapped to the shoulder buttons.
But overall I'd say it was a fun game that wasn't nearly as half assed as it could have been.
I can't believe Google went so hard for this. Not just 7 pretty fun minigames, but an entire island with its own unique themes and citizens, complete with sidequests. And you can pick a team to compete against players all over the world while feeling that sense of unity.
If I'm being honest though I think it could have dropped the sidequest part. While exploring the world the first time is fun, and a neat way to give a bit of personality to the minigames themselves, actually going back and forth to complete them gets too repetitive, especially with the slow walking speed.
The minigames are mostly pretty fun. I especially like the Rugby and Rhythm games. But of course it's ultimately nothing great in and of itself, it's just impressive that Google put so much effort into a promotional game like this.
If I'm being honest though I think it could have dropped the sidequest part. While exploring the world the first time is fun, and a neat way to give a bit of personality to the minigames themselves, actually going back and forth to complete them gets too repetitive, especially with the slow walking speed.
The minigames are mostly pretty fun. I especially like the Rugby and Rhythm games. But of course it's ultimately nothing great in and of itself, it's just impressive that Google put so much effort into a promotional game like this.
2021
This game would be pretty shit if it wasn't Pokémon.
2005
Retains all the smooth, fun Ratchet & Clank battle gameplay and brings it into the full focus. In fact these first 4 R&C games are kinda like slowly changing from exploration-based to pure combat-based. The story is still dumb fun, with a very cartoony style and tone to an otherwise serious plotline.
The concept does feel heavily underutilised though. A perfect excuse to try out many different gimmicks, gameplay styles or other fun mechanics. Instead most missions boil down to "move through the area and/or kill the enemies". It's basically like taking snippets of real R&C levels and making them "missions".
I'm kinda indifferent on the robot helpers, but I do wish they had more feedback for when you gave them a command. Like sometimes if I told them to hack an orb, they'd continue hacking all the other orbs in the area without me needing to do anything else, but other times the game would need me to individually press the command for every one. It was generally kinda hard to tell what they were doing at any one time when I was in the middle of combat.
They didn't even really try anything new with the weapons. Not only is there a pretty small roster, but most of them just take weapons from past games. And only really the simple ones, like the shotgun-type weapon, the uzi-type weapons, the bazooka-type weapon etc.
Like it's fine and it's still fun, I just think a game with a premises like "Ratchet goes through gladiator style gauntlets" should have done more with it.
The concept does feel heavily underutilised though. A perfect excuse to try out many different gimmicks, gameplay styles or other fun mechanics. Instead most missions boil down to "move through the area and/or kill the enemies". It's basically like taking snippets of real R&C levels and making them "missions".
I'm kinda indifferent on the robot helpers, but I do wish they had more feedback for when you gave them a command. Like sometimes if I told them to hack an orb, they'd continue hacking all the other orbs in the area without me needing to do anything else, but other times the game would need me to individually press the command for every one. It was generally kinda hard to tell what they were doing at any one time when I was in the middle of combat.
They didn't even really try anything new with the weapons. Not only is there a pretty small roster, but most of them just take weapons from past games. And only really the simple ones, like the shotgun-type weapon, the uzi-type weapons, the bazooka-type weapon etc.
Like it's fine and it's still fun, I just think a game with a premises like "Ratchet goes through gladiator style gauntlets" should have done more with it.