In terms of gameplay, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is phenomenal. I was constantly invested in the combat, every fight was fun, even when the combat became routine. I felt so satisfied late game when I could easily swap between multiple weapons and absolutely obliterate the plethora of enemies in front of me. If I had to criticize the combat at all, I would say that some of the weapons could be a bit more unique. I felt like a few of the weapons were just better/slightly different versions of previous weapons that just made the previous weapons obsolete. But in all honesty, I was barely bothered by this, once I upgraded the weapons up to max level I didn't care how similar they might have been.
The story is pretty strong overall. I cared about all the characters, even the random side characters you only talk to once. I was invested in saving the multiverse from imminent collapse. At times though, I did feel the plot and even characters were a little too similar to Crash 4. (Not that there was any sort of plagiarizing, just that stories like these seem to follow some of the same steps). Overall though, I was invested the whole time, and I was overall satisfied with the story that was told.
There is one thing I could see Ratchet & Clank fans being upset with; the tone. The original games had this cynical tone of humor. Everyone was a jerk to everyone else. Hell, even Ratchet and Clank were constantly rude to each other. This, along with the combat and weapon variety, is what made the series stand out. There was this playful adult nastiness that hid underneath the surface of a funny kids' game. This allowed for jokes about socio-political economics, capitalism, war crimes, and yes even sex. Rift Apart has some of this, there are mentions about the people working for Emperor Nefarious being viciously overworked and a couple inappropriate jokes here and there, but overall that cynical comedic tone is almost entirely washed away.
Now, I wasn't a Ratchet & Clank fan in the slightest growing up, I was in the Jak and Daxter fan club (Where's Jak 4 Naughty Dog???). I never even experienced the original trilogy until they were remastered on the PS3, and even then I don't think I ever finished one of them. Because of this, I wasn't too bothered by the new overly friendly cute tone. Frankly, I think Rift Apart handles this tone leagues better than the last entry in the series. The writers know how to make jokes land and how to make characters shine here. So personally, I wasn't too bothered by it, but I could totally understand why a long time Ratchet & Clank fan wouldn't be a fan of this one.
Overall though, I highly recommend Rift Apart, I didn't platinum this one for no reason. If you have a PlayStation 5, this is a must own, just don't expect it to be exactly like the older games in the series.
The story is pretty strong overall. I cared about all the characters, even the random side characters you only talk to once. I was invested in saving the multiverse from imminent collapse. At times though, I did feel the plot and even characters were a little too similar to Crash 4. (Not that there was any sort of plagiarizing, just that stories like these seem to follow some of the same steps). Overall though, I was invested the whole time, and I was overall satisfied with the story that was told.
There is one thing I could see Ratchet & Clank fans being upset with; the tone. The original games had this cynical tone of humor. Everyone was a jerk to everyone else. Hell, even Ratchet and Clank were constantly rude to each other. This, along with the combat and weapon variety, is what made the series stand out. There was this playful adult nastiness that hid underneath the surface of a funny kids' game. This allowed for jokes about socio-political economics, capitalism, war crimes, and yes even sex. Rift Apart has some of this, there are mentions about the people working for Emperor Nefarious being viciously overworked and a couple inappropriate jokes here and there, but overall that cynical comedic tone is almost entirely washed away.
Now, I wasn't a Ratchet & Clank fan in the slightest growing up, I was in the Jak and Daxter fan club (Where's Jak 4 Naughty Dog???). I never even experienced the original trilogy until they were remastered on the PS3, and even then I don't think I ever finished one of them. Because of this, I wasn't too bothered by the new overly friendly cute tone. Frankly, I think Rift Apart handles this tone leagues better than the last entry in the series. The writers know how to make jokes land and how to make characters shine here. So personally, I wasn't too bothered by it, but I could totally understand why a long time Ratchet & Clank fan wouldn't be a fan of this one.
Overall though, I highly recommend Rift Apart, I didn't platinum this one for no reason. If you have a PlayStation 5, this is a must own, just don't expect it to be exactly like the older games in the series.