I've only played the two most recent Ratchet and Wank games so maybe the characters are different in the older ones, but I fucking despise both Ratchet and Clank (but especially Clank) as characters and think they are easily the worst part of these games.
These two characters being together is treated like it has some sort of godlike cosmic power, and that a universe in which they never meet becomes a literal miserable distopia. AND YET, there are sections where you play as Ratchet without Clank, AND THE GAME PLAYS THE EXACT SAME! The plot acts like it's the two of them working together that is the magical key for all happiness and joy in the world and yet in the gameplay Clank is completely fucking pointless and his only skill he adds (hovering) is done easily by a pair of shoes without any kind of explanation.
Ratchet is such a boring character in these games, he has no interesting character traits at all. Now this wouldn't necessarily be a problem, Crash Bandicoot isn't exactly a deep complex character, but he works fine for his games. The main difference being that Crash Bandicoot doesn't have HOURS OF CUTSCENES AND CONSTANT ANNOYING QUIPPY DIALOGUE. Ratchet really needs to shut the fuck up sometimes.
I haven't mentioned girl Ratchet and girl Clank in this review, mainly because they are the exact same as the main characters, only slightly less annoying because they have a bit more of a personality, and less grating voices.
Now onto the worst character, and unironically one of my least favourite fictional characters of all time, Clank. Clank is a pathetic loser who might as well not have any free will because he only exists to help other dipshits around him and seems to have no goals or ambitions of his own.
Now a character only existing to help the protagonist isn't automatically a bad thing. This may seem like a bit of an odd comparison but look at Wallace and Gromit. Gromit mostly helps out whatever Wallace is doing throughout most of his screentime. But he has disagremeents with Wallace, such as when Wallace links up with that bread hoe and Gromit has to sleep outside. And most importantly Gromit is actually essential to Wallace's success.
Clank is such a loser. He just sits on Ratchet or girl Ratchet's back and makes crappy sentimental statements while constantly saying 'oh dear' and doing his horrible creepy laugh. Piss off you weirdo.
I can only assume that these characters (and the game's writing in general) are written this way in order to appeal to children. Most of the conversations in this game come across as being written by a child psycologist trying to teach kids how to properly communicate in the most obvious least entertaining way possible. But do kids have any intrest in a Ratchet and Clank game? not only that, do kids even have any intrest in the PS5?
I have quite a few younger cousins, aged around 6-11, and all of them play videogames. The perfect audience for this game. And yet, not only have they not shown any intrest for this game, but for any game currently on the PS5. They want to play Roblox, Fortnite, Mario and for some reason this weird game involving different coloured gorillas. They want games on the Iphone, the PC and the Nintendo Switch. Not the vastly more expensive and non portable PS5. While i'm sure many children would have a great time playing this game, I'm certain they would quickly get bored of the cutscenes, get sick of the gameplay and probably never even finish the game.
These two characters being together is treated like it has some sort of godlike cosmic power, and that a universe in which they never meet becomes a literal miserable distopia. AND YET, there are sections where you play as Ratchet without Clank, AND THE GAME PLAYS THE EXACT SAME! The plot acts like it's the two of them working together that is the magical key for all happiness and joy in the world and yet in the gameplay Clank is completely fucking pointless and his only skill he adds (hovering) is done easily by a pair of shoes without any kind of explanation.
Ratchet is such a boring character in these games, he has no interesting character traits at all. Now this wouldn't necessarily be a problem, Crash Bandicoot isn't exactly a deep complex character, but he works fine for his games. The main difference being that Crash Bandicoot doesn't have HOURS OF CUTSCENES AND CONSTANT ANNOYING QUIPPY DIALOGUE. Ratchet really needs to shut the fuck up sometimes.
I haven't mentioned girl Ratchet and girl Clank in this review, mainly because they are the exact same as the main characters, only slightly less annoying because they have a bit more of a personality, and less grating voices.
Now onto the worst character, and unironically one of my least favourite fictional characters of all time, Clank. Clank is a pathetic loser who might as well not have any free will because he only exists to help other dipshits around him and seems to have no goals or ambitions of his own.
Now a character only existing to help the protagonist isn't automatically a bad thing. This may seem like a bit of an odd comparison but look at Wallace and Gromit. Gromit mostly helps out whatever Wallace is doing throughout most of his screentime. But he has disagremeents with Wallace, such as when Wallace links up with that bread hoe and Gromit has to sleep outside. And most importantly Gromit is actually essential to Wallace's success.
Clank is such a loser. He just sits on Ratchet or girl Ratchet's back and makes crappy sentimental statements while constantly saying 'oh dear' and doing his horrible creepy laugh. Piss off you weirdo.
I can only assume that these characters (and the game's writing in general) are written this way in order to appeal to children. Most of the conversations in this game come across as being written by a child psycologist trying to teach kids how to properly communicate in the most obvious least entertaining way possible. But do kids have any intrest in a Ratchet and Clank game? not only that, do kids even have any intrest in the PS5?
I have quite a few younger cousins, aged around 6-11, and all of them play videogames. The perfect audience for this game. And yet, not only have they not shown any intrest for this game, but for any game currently on the PS5. They want to play Roblox, Fortnite, Mario and for some reason this weird game involving different coloured gorillas. They want games on the Iphone, the PC and the Nintendo Switch. Not the vastly more expensive and non portable PS5. While i'm sure many children would have a great time playing this game, I'm certain they would quickly get bored of the cutscenes, get sick of the gameplay and probably never even finish the game.
TheQuietGamer
4 months ago
The writing and characters of this series have been long since sucked dry of any charm or personality they once had back when Insomniac approached the series with a mindset of “what if 3D mascot platformer, but edgy?” Now it’s all cutesy, harmless fluff devoid of anything deeper that’s being protected from criticism by a fanbase that grew up with the originals and are blinded to the fact that the property is a shell of its former self from a narrative standpoint.
At least the gameplay is still fun?