Quest for Booty is an inoffensive trip with some neat ideas, but utlimately lacks the impact of its siblings.
There are no new weapons; they're all taken from Tools of Destruction (yet the player's full arsenal isn’t present). Item-grabbing and the wrench tether seem like original mechanics at first, but they're both used later in A Crack in Time (CiT)
Major fights from Tools of Destruction (ToD) are also reused: Destroying a slew of pirate ship cannons was a particularly memorable moment in ToD, so having it implemented in a less challenging way feels cheap. It’s also disappointing that the player does this fight on a turret, as shooting shit with a turret is perhaps the series’ least engaging gimmick. The large mechanical pirate bosses also make a return, and since they were already overused in ToD, having to fight even more of them was tiring. Additionally, many battles are treated as "waves." Essentially, the player sits in one spot and fights tons of enemies as they spawn on top of them. R&C usually has the player progressing through areas and fighting enemies that are naturally placed; I assume this new system was implemented to pad the game's length.
Quest for Booty suffers from a severe re-use of assets in general. The game begins and ends around a collection of pirate ships (from ToD of course) that are sailing across a terribly animated sea with a few shittily modeled rocks placed to create the illusion of motion. The pirate enemies are also reused from ToD.
Quest for Booty being a direct sequel to ToD cheapens the game’s ending. ToD ended on a significant cliffhanger, and at the time, it was the most story-driven game in the series. To have it continue with mediocre filler is mind-boggling. I wouldn’t mind if it were a spin-off, but the events of this game are unfortunately necessary to bridge the gap between ToD and CiT.
I also have mixed feelings on how long it takes for the action to begin. Quest for Booty’s first and second levels are exclusively platforming puzzles (not including the introduction). This is a cool idea conceptually, but many of these puzzles felt a bit too simple to be engaging. Some of the windmill puzzles are clever though, like when you grind across a rail and have to quickly pick up a bomb to toss at a weakened gate. And avoiding ravenous winged creatures while cautiously traversing narrow platforms in a dark cavern is Quest for Booty’s most inspired quality.
Thankfully, the final boss is mechanically exciting. Jumping between pirate ships throughout a multi-phased fight is a fun idea; however, like I stated earlier, the environment itself isn’t original. I would have enjoyed it more if the player’s full arsenal from ToD was available and Insomniac treated the fight itself as a super-boss. I was playing Quest for Booty on Hard, yet the base game for ToD featured a far more challenging final boss.
Even after all the issues I have with this game, Quest for Booty features ToD’s excellent mechanical foundation. This instantly makes parts of it fun, regardless of how unoriginal half of the content is.
There are no new weapons; they're all taken from Tools of Destruction (yet the player's full arsenal isn’t present). Item-grabbing and the wrench tether seem like original mechanics at first, but they're both used later in A Crack in Time (CiT)
Major fights from Tools of Destruction (ToD) are also reused: Destroying a slew of pirate ship cannons was a particularly memorable moment in ToD, so having it implemented in a less challenging way feels cheap. It’s also disappointing that the player does this fight on a turret, as shooting shit with a turret is perhaps the series’ least engaging gimmick. The large mechanical pirate bosses also make a return, and since they were already overused in ToD, having to fight even more of them was tiring. Additionally, many battles are treated as "waves." Essentially, the player sits in one spot and fights tons of enemies as they spawn on top of them. R&C usually has the player progressing through areas and fighting enemies that are naturally placed; I assume this new system was implemented to pad the game's length.
Quest for Booty suffers from a severe re-use of assets in general. The game begins and ends around a collection of pirate ships (from ToD of course) that are sailing across a terribly animated sea with a few shittily modeled rocks placed to create the illusion of motion. The pirate enemies are also reused from ToD.
Quest for Booty being a direct sequel to ToD cheapens the game’s ending. ToD ended on a significant cliffhanger, and at the time, it was the most story-driven game in the series. To have it continue with mediocre filler is mind-boggling. I wouldn’t mind if it were a spin-off, but the events of this game are unfortunately necessary to bridge the gap between ToD and CiT.
I also have mixed feelings on how long it takes for the action to begin. Quest for Booty’s first and second levels are exclusively platforming puzzles (not including the introduction). This is a cool idea conceptually, but many of these puzzles felt a bit too simple to be engaging. Some of the windmill puzzles are clever though, like when you grind across a rail and have to quickly pick up a bomb to toss at a weakened gate. And avoiding ravenous winged creatures while cautiously traversing narrow platforms in a dark cavern is Quest for Booty’s most inspired quality.
Thankfully, the final boss is mechanically exciting. Jumping between pirate ships throughout a multi-phased fight is a fun idea; however, like I stated earlier, the environment itself isn’t original. I would have enjoyed it more if the player’s full arsenal from ToD was available and Insomniac treated the fight itself as a super-boss. I was playing Quest for Booty on Hard, yet the base game for ToD featured a far more challenging final boss.
Even after all the issues I have with this game, Quest for Booty features ToD’s excellent mechanical foundation. This instantly makes parts of it fun, regardless of how unoriginal half of the content is.