DJSCheddar
2002
Same excellent gameplay, even better presentation, a droll (but superfluous) story mode, but sadly (and crucially) the individual levels are nowhere near as good as the ones in the first game. Much of the challenge here is focused on timing your movement around big gimmick setpieces, which means a lot of start/stop gameplay that I feel like kind of betrays what made the first one so great. It's actually a lot easier overall (which is nice on the one hand, because the first one gets brutal, fast) but paradoxically the levels often seem more frustrating to navigate. This one gets tiresome to me in a way that the first one didn't.
2001
Just some good clean fun for your goddamn GameCube. Enjoy the first two difficulties and the goofy minigames with your friends, and then get ready to have your shit absolutely ruined by the hard mode levels. Take note: when they say "expert", they mean it. You'll be yelling at your screen in no time, but really, it's impossible to stay mad at this game.
P.S.: Replaying this on my nice Sony CRT with an S-video cable and a brand new 2018-made Smash Ultimate GameCube controller is a dream
P.P.S.: This along with F-ZERO GX and YAKUZA 3 specifically constitute that essential Nagoshi-core experience - ultra smooth, clean, and colorful aesthetic ... shiny frictionless worlds ... high FPS ... similar soundtracks ... echo-y announcer voice ... these are games that feel like they belong on Dreamcast dammit
P.P.P.S.: Gongon is my friend and brother.
P.S.: Replaying this on my nice Sony CRT with an S-video cable and a brand new 2018-made Smash Ultimate GameCube controller is a dream
P.P.S.: This along with F-ZERO GX and YAKUZA 3 specifically constitute that essential Nagoshi-core experience - ultra smooth, clean, and colorful aesthetic ... shiny frictionless worlds ... high FPS ... similar soundtracks ... echo-y announcer voice ... these are games that feel like they belong on Dreamcast dammit
P.P.P.S.: Gongon is my friend and brother.
1993
Asks the question: What if CONTRA had personality?
A glorious coming-out party for Treasure, and probably the quintessential non-SONIC Genesis game. An undeniable, irrepressible action classic. There is no way to play this and not have fun.
A glorious coming-out party for Treasure, and probably the quintessential non-SONIC Genesis game. An undeniable, irrepressible action classic. There is no way to play this and not have fun.
2006
Games this boring should be illegal.
2011
Yeah, I like a DYNASTY WARRIORS, and I don't care who knows it.
My understanding is that long-time fans dislike this one because it was kind of a reset on some of the mechanics and ended up simplifying a lot. As a more casual player of these games I can say that I definitely don't care about that. I'm mostly here for the story and the characters, and this version is absolutely better at depicting that stuff^ than any of the other ones I've played, including the ones immediately before and after it. I'm not looking for challenge, I'm not looking for any kind of depth, really, I just want to mow down guys in the thousands and enjoy my Three Kingdoms drama. This definitely gets me there.
^seriously, where is there anything this good anywhere else in this entire franchise
My understanding is that long-time fans dislike this one because it was kind of a reset on some of the mechanics and ended up simplifying a lot. As a more casual player of these games I can say that I definitely don't care about that. I'm mostly here for the story and the characters, and this version is absolutely better at depicting that stuff^ than any of the other ones I've played, including the ones immediately before and after it. I'm not looking for challenge, I'm not looking for any kind of depth, really, I just want to mow down guys in the thousands and enjoy my Three Kingdoms drama. This definitely gets me there.
^seriously, where is there anything this good anywhere else in this entire franchise
1995
The grabbing mechanic for attacking and traversal in this is a minor stroke of game design genius, and the first few levels do a really good job of training you in on it. Nothing ever gets too hard, per se, but unfortunately the quality of the levels does fall off rather precipitously towards the end and then the finale is kind of abrupt and unceremonious, leaving the whole thing feeling short and lacking in any kind of proper escalation. Nevertheless, this has to be one of the best-looking and sounding games on the Genesis.
Well worth playing for the graphics, music, and peerless Sega/Sonic Team vibes alone, but the action, while not particularly challenging, is cool as well.
Well worth playing for the graphics, music, and peerless Sega/Sonic Team vibes alone, but the action, while not particularly challenging, is cool as well.
There is no reason for this to exist and the game itself seems to agree.
Had an honest shot at being the best R&C game but the Clank sections are literal torture.
2002
Feels like some kind of modern fan-game made to old specifications, for better and worse - everything besides the look^ is amateurish. Boring levels, bad enemy design, floaty platforming, questionable hitboxes on everything, and, uh, some eyebrow-raising character design. That last one is no crime in itself, of course, but it's weirdly pervasive.
There's some halfway-interesting exploration stuff and an exciting-on-paper open world, but the areas are huge and just not well-made at all - I imagine backtracking through them METROID-style even once would be intolerable. I wouldn't know, I didn't get that far.
^which, it must be said, IS truly impressive for the Game Boy
There's some halfway-interesting exploration stuff and an exciting-on-paper open world, but the areas are huge and just not well-made at all - I imagine backtracking through them METROID-style even once would be intolerable. I wouldn't know, I didn't get that far.
^which, it must be said, IS truly impressive for the Game Boy
I'm a little confused about why this exists. It's essentially an expansion for TOOLS OF DESTRUCTION that's about a quarter as long, has -literally zero- new weapons (and about a quarter of the previous game's total arsenal), has no secrets, unlockables, or any kind of optional content, and since Clank isn't in it (for story reasons) Ratchet only has about half of his normal moves. There isn't even any shooting combat for close to half of the game, and all of the sudden, the focus is squarely on platforming and puzzle solving. It honestly plays like some kind of Ratchet UNCHARTED, and wow, that is not what I'm looking for from these games! Is this what CRACK IN TIME is like?! Yikes.
Definitely regret spending $15 on this. Three hours of the instantly-tiresome pirate crap from TOOLS with close to no new assets and zero replayability. Baffling.
Definitely regret spending $15 on this. Three hours of the instantly-tiresome pirate crap from TOOLS with close to no new assets and zero replayability. Baffling.
Since this was the series' first PS3 entry and the start of the new trilogy and everything, you can really see them straining for a big, epic, cinematic feel, way beyond what any of the originals were going for. There are a couple moments when it lands like they want, but in the end it's all totally overwhelmed by a fatally lame plot and way too much jank for a game of this profile.
First and foremost, who was asking for all of this LORE?? It is so jarring and they have to more or less retcon both main characters' personalities to make it work. The suddenly very complex backstory for Ratchet is terribly told and terribly integrated into the same general "goofy badguy tries to take over the galaxy" thing all the other games do, and since it's laid upon that standardized framework it makes it feel all the more out of place and tedious. Also they end it on a (totally uninteresting, lore-based) cliffhanger, which just leaves you with this wet fart-feeling as the credits start to roll.
Other problems include:
- the platforming is somehow worse than in every previous game. Ledge grabbing and wall-jumping are suddenly comically bad
- a few very unnecessary wannabe-STAR FOX levels
- kind of a mixed bag when it comes to the weapons, many seem redundant and splitting off "gadgets" feels pointless
- The new RYNO sucks
- TERRIBLE camera positioned way too low behind Ratchet which, in conjunction with all the particle effects going on, makes discerning incoming shots difficult. On top of that, there are some disastrous moments with a fixed-angle camera that ... just ... no
- tons and tons of bugs and glitches. This is the fifth game in this series guys, wtf
Some nice things to say? Well, Qwark's little storyline is fun. There are a few moments of good writing in the fake shows and some of the dialogue. And it certainly looks great for 2007!
I hope the next two improve SIGNIFICANTLY, or this might be a tough row to hoe for me.
First and foremost, who was asking for all of this LORE?? It is so jarring and they have to more or less retcon both main characters' personalities to make it work. The suddenly very complex backstory for Ratchet is terribly told and terribly integrated into the same general "goofy badguy tries to take over the galaxy" thing all the other games do, and since it's laid upon that standardized framework it makes it feel all the more out of place and tedious. Also they end it on a (totally uninteresting, lore-based) cliffhanger, which just leaves you with this wet fart-feeling as the credits start to roll.
Other problems include:
- the platforming is somehow worse than in every previous game. Ledge grabbing and wall-jumping are suddenly comically bad
- a few very unnecessary wannabe-STAR FOX levels
- kind of a mixed bag when it comes to the weapons, many seem redundant and splitting off "gadgets" feels pointless
- The new RYNO sucks
- TERRIBLE camera positioned way too low behind Ratchet which, in conjunction with all the particle effects going on, makes discerning incoming shots difficult. On top of that, there are some disastrous moments with a fixed-angle camera that ... just ... no
- tons and tons of bugs and glitches. This is the fifth game in this series guys, wtf
Some nice things to say? Well, Qwark's little storyline is fun. There are a few moments of good writing in the fake shows and some of the dialogue. And it certainly looks great for 2007!
I hope the next two improve SIGNIFICANTLY, or this might be a tough row to hoe for me.
2005
Hell of an excuse plot on this one, and I mean that as a compliment. The focus on the gunfighting is good, both because it's the best in the series thus far, and because the minimal platforming that's left over is so bad it's embarrassing. Feels a little light on weapons.
Your usual R&C action, but dominated by what feels like hours and hours and hours of the most obnoxious, unfunny cutscenes ever, I swear to God. There's no way that whoever wrote the last two games (which were legitimately funny at times) did this cringefest. Dr. Nefarious is beyond grating. The Secret Agent Clank stuff is this ill-fitting lolrandom thing that I can't believe turned into a recurring plot point. Anything that was ever funny about Qwark is driven into the ground far past the point of no return. The crude humor and winking sex stuff has been cranked up x100 for some reason. It's legitimately really rough.
Aside from that incredibly unfortunate new tone, it's clear they were stretching on this one. Lots of padding, super-linear levels, artificial difficulty by suddenly making checkpoints scarce. The guns are pretty good, but it feels uninspired at best.
This one's a slog.
Aside from that incredibly unfortunate new tone, it's clear they were stretching on this one. Lots of padding, super-linear levels, artificial difficulty by suddenly making checkpoints scarce. The guns are pretty good, but it feels uninspired at best.
This one's a slog.
Weaker plot and characters than the original but much, much better weapons and gunplay. There's also less platforming in favor of more linear shooting, which, eh. That's fine.
It's truly a toss-up, but for me, the first one has the edge over this by a tiny bit, even though you'd probably be right to say it's a "worse game". I liked the original story a lot better.
It's truly a toss-up, but for me, the first one has the edge over this by a tiny bit, even though you'd probably be right to say it's a "worse game". I liked the original story a lot better.
2016
It's a bit of a shame to see all the edges of the original RATCHET & CLANK sanded off in service of a very safe mid-2010s aggressively focus-tested AAA-game/Marvel-movie vibe, but it's not as though the original was some triumphantly transgressive piece of pop art to begin with -- it was a better-than-average action-platformer/shooter, and that's still the case here. It's fun fluff. It goes down easy.
Beyond the questionable changes to the plot there are some weak new gameplay interludes as well, but nothing showstopping (aside from a very strange, abrupt final boss and ending, but it's over so quickly (especially if you have the RYNO) that you'll hardly notice). The weapon selection and the visuals are quite good, and they make up for the couple bum notes in the campaign. Some pretty frequent glitches and bugs are less excusable.
Short and not particularly deep, but well-made and fun enough.
Beyond the questionable changes to the plot there are some weak new gameplay interludes as well, but nothing showstopping (aside from a very strange, abrupt final boss and ending, but it's over so quickly (especially if you have the RYNO) that you'll hardly notice). The weapon selection and the visuals are quite good, and they make up for the couple bum notes in the campaign. Some pretty frequent glitches and bugs are less excusable.
Short and not particularly deep, but well-made and fun enough.