Really conflicted about this collection. While it's easily my favorite way to play the original Ratchet & Clank trilogy, it also has a lot of problems that frustrate me to no end as someone who grew up with this series.

These games look absolutely incredible in HD. They were some of the best-looking titles on the PS2 and graphically they still hold up really well. The colors pop in a way they never did in standard definition, making the levels look far more interesting. The wider FOV from implementing true 16:9 makes the games much easier to play - not only can you now see just about everything in front of you at all times, the weapons seem to have a larger and more consistent lock-on radius as well. The frame rate is also far smoother than it was on the PS2, though there are still a couple of moments where the FPS plummets in each game (and weirdly enough, they're places that had no issues originally).

Unfortunately, these remasters have a lot of audio/visual bugs, and I mean A LOT. They're relatively minor and new players probably won't notice most of them, but they're so omnipresent that, as a huge fan since childhood, I cannot help but feel annoyed constantly while playing. The music doesn't loop properly, HUD elements are misaligned and remain on-screen permanently when they shouldn't, helmets are too large, sound effects lag or play for too long, FMVs stutter every other second, in-level dialogue doesn't play, textures are the wrong color, the list goes on. None of these things impact gameplay directly but they really add up and become obnoxious when you know how things are supposed to look/sound.

Overall, having revisited the original versions and remasters of these games back to back, I've settled on this collection as my preferred way to play them because I think the enhancements outweigh the downgrades. Unfortunately, there is no perfect way to enjoy the original Ratchet & Clank trilogy in 2020, and I hope someday Sony decides they're worth another crack at remastering.

Technically mindblowing for what is mostly a one-person project, with arresting visuals and great music. The early levels are more effective at horror than most actual horror games and, while not fun in the slightest, the spaceship sequence may very well be the most impressive thing I've ever seen on the Source engine. There are even sections with alternate paths leading to entirely different sets of maps from each other!

G String is a clear labor of love with an unprecedented amount of effort and care put into it, but the experience ultimately feels hollow when you reach the ending in which nothing is accomplished and suddenly realize that over half the game was a sewer level. Very little of the gameplay is particularly good or memorable, even if the world design surrounding it is the polar opposite. This is an undeniably interesting piece of art from a creator with an extraordinary vision and immeasurable persistence, but not one I think many people would enjoy. Which is okay.

Remember: having one auto-turret is enough, two is a problem and three is illegal.

Down the winding forest path leading deep into the woods, the blue, green, and orange van sputtered as it made contact with the road’s various protrusions; that is to say, if it could even be called a “road” at all. Perhaps another word would better suit the zig-zagging trail of dirt stretching into the heart of that interminable tree line.

Grinding to a halt in front of a large, peculiar mansion – seemingly displaced from centuries prior – the automobile unceremoniously gave up the ghost.

“Like, where are we?” the young man in the green shirt inquired of his four companions. He was not what one might typically describe as handsome, but there was a certain allure to his lanky appendages, scraggly beard, and… unique voice. It is entirely possible that, with a fair amount of grooming, he could be considered modestly attractive.

“I’m not sure,” replied the man with the orange ascot, “but it seems we lucked out – there’s a large house not twenty yards in front of us!” His cocksure demeanor and optimism instantly made apparent his friend’s lack of masculinity by comparison, though there was something vaguely irritating about the way he spoke.

“Gosh, that sure is a creepy old mansion, though,” interjected the woman wearing a purple mini-dress. She was conventionally beautiful – suspiciously so, in fact – but did not outwardly project any positive traits aside from that. It was obvious from the way she and the previous speaker made eye contact that they were regularly engaging in carnal relations.

Turning to a page in the large textbook she had been lugging around, the bespectacled, orange turtleneck-clad young woman spoke next. “Jinkies! According to the Encyclopedia of Haunted 10th Century Estates, that’s the House in Fata Morgana!” She gave off the impression of being a know-it-all, but not to the point of inherent obnoxiousness; she was simply well-read.

“Ruh rouse in rhat now?” the final passenger of the doomed vehicle asked. This one was not a human at all, but a brown dog covered in black spots. (Though my knowledge of the animal kingdom is embarrassingly limited, my impression is that he was a canine of the Great Dane variety.) None of the other four seemed at all surprised that he could communicate in English, however broken it may have been.

“The House in Fata Morgana,” the bespectacled woman repeated. “It says here that a witch lives there!”

“Wow, that sounds perfect, doesn’t it gang!?” the beascoted man exclaimed in response. He appeared to be the leader of the merry band.

“A r-ritch?” the dog responded, noticeably frightened.

“Now, xxxxxx, everyone knows witches aren’t real!” the woman in purple reassured.

“Oh, and not just any witch – a cursed witch!” the bookish young lady clarified.

“Zoinks! A r-regular witch is bad enough! Like, count me out,” the skinny coward declared, promptly exiting through the back door of the van.

“Reah, me too,” the Great Dane quickly nodded in agreement, following suit. However, the moment his quadrupedal frame touched the ground, he gave a quick glance back toward the mansion, and froze in place. The green shirted-boy was already long gone, dashing down the road.

“What is it, xxxxx?” the leader asked of his faithful hound.

“I… reel rompelled to renter… Romething is rrawing me roward it…” the dog replied in a hushed tone, his voice quivering.

[A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story, please comment and subscribe if you’d like to see more! Sorry this one is so rushed, I only had a few minutes to work on it this week because my grandpa is in the hospital (my dad poisoned him so we could inherit his property, but don’t tell him I found out!). I promise the next one will be better! ^___^]

Barely functions on an actual PS3 and the official PC port crashes every 20 minutes but when played on the RPCS3 emulator this is easily the definitive version of the game.

Gotta say I take issue with people calling Deadly Premonition "so bad it's good." There are certainly aspects of it that are unbelievably terrible but they only serve to augment the experience if you're into weird games, and at its core this is absolutely something special with a lot of heart.

I missed the infinite magnum (the only missable thing in the game!!!) so I guess my playthrough was more like 99% completion but whatever

I was so thirsty after the Ratchet & Clank PS5 announcement that I decided to finally check out the one game in the series I'd never played before: the side-scroller made for Java-based flip phones in 2005. I even sought out and played through the completely different, barely-functional Series 40 version as well (though I did not 100% complete that one, as it takes playing through half the game to level up a single weapon one time).

The main Series 60 iteration of the game is surprisingly solid, provided you find the 1.0.10 version that actually runs at a decent frame rate without hitches. The controls, if you try to play it on an Android-based emulator (or, I assume, an actual 2005-era phone), are godawful, but if you use a PC-based one and plug in a gamepad, you can create a fairly comfortable control scheme of your own.

Going Mobile isn't a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but considering that it's a mobile game released two years before the original iPhone, it's a miracle it's any fun at all. The level design and combat aren't particularly good but work well enough within the massive constraints provided by the hardware, and the game features nearly all the series' staples - upgradeable weapons, an arena with different modifiers, rail grinding, both small currency bolts & large collectible ones, and a challenge mode (though more of a straight new game+ with no real differences here). It's incredible how much they packed into less than 300 KB.

There are about five sound effects total and no in-game music, but the game still retains some of the series' charm with its graphics (I actually love the pixel art renditions of Ratchet/Clank and Maximillian) and silly storyline about the characters being trapped inside your cell phone. This is also technically the first entry in the series where you unlock the RYNO by hunting for collectibles instead of grinding money.

While nothing to write home about outside of its status as one of the few genuinely playable pre-smartphone mobile games, it's hard not to be impressed by what Handheld accomplished here as a huge fan of the main series. If they'd been assigned to develop this for the PSP instead, I think they could've made something really special and we'd still be seeing 2D R&C spin-offs to this day.