It’s a substantive upgrade to the very flawed original in my eyes. Gameplay is much snappier and more fun with strafing in the game and lock on which sometimes worked and sometimes did not. The upgrade system with weapons and life also adds much more to the gameplay loop, and the weapons here are really cool, though combat encounters don’t really challenge me to change or experiment much with my loadout. Level design and aesthetics of the planets are also very samey thoughout, which got more and more stale as I progressed through the game. I feel that there should have been a lot less levels here to keep the pacing going and prevent any stinkers coming in to drag the game down.
There’s also a whole lot more to do here with minigames and side content, but they feel very rough and not executed well such as the space ship missions and hover bikes contests and their terrible controls. The change ups do add intrigue to the overall gameplay experience but nevertheless they really detracted for me.
Electrolyzer puzzles similarly I’m not a fan of with the emphasis on reaction time rather than a decent level of puzzle solving with the last game’s trespasser puzzles. The arena was such a fun time though! It exemplifies GC at its best for me personally. The game really needed more combat encounters like this and a LOT less pedestrian platforming challenges.
The story here is…fine, very predictable. I might not be the target audience for the games, but I just find the characterization, comedy, and story overall to just be alright but never amounting to much. The whole “villain is actually not a bad guy thing and the good guy is actually bad” thing is here, and it exists. The story started out a bit ambitious but it never really took off into anything substantial. Ratchet and clank themselves don’t really have much interesting interactions compared to the last game, besides the part where Clank is captured for like one minute of the storyline.
I will say, it is interesting playing though these games with the hindsight of Insomniac being crunched to hell and back while making these games in the 6th and 7th generation. The cracks definitely show a lot despite this game being a step above the original. GC is an enjoyable time but some elements really drag it down for me to fully love or like, though the central gameplay loop here is excellent! Overall, it’s decent lol
There’s also a whole lot more to do here with minigames and side content, but they feel very rough and not executed well such as the space ship missions and hover bikes contests and their terrible controls. The change ups do add intrigue to the overall gameplay experience but nevertheless they really detracted for me.
Electrolyzer puzzles similarly I’m not a fan of with the emphasis on reaction time rather than a decent level of puzzle solving with the last game’s trespasser puzzles. The arena was such a fun time though! It exemplifies GC at its best for me personally. The game really needed more combat encounters like this and a LOT less pedestrian platforming challenges.
The story here is…fine, very predictable. I might not be the target audience for the games, but I just find the characterization, comedy, and story overall to just be alright but never amounting to much. The whole “villain is actually not a bad guy thing and the good guy is actually bad” thing is here, and it exists. The story started out a bit ambitious but it never really took off into anything substantial. Ratchet and clank themselves don’t really have much interesting interactions compared to the last game, besides the part where Clank is captured for like one minute of the storyline.
I will say, it is interesting playing though these games with the hindsight of Insomniac being crunched to hell and back while making these games in the 6th and 7th generation. The cracks definitely show a lot despite this game being a step above the original. GC is an enjoyable time but some elements really drag it down for me to fully love or like, though the central gameplay loop here is excellent! Overall, it’s decent lol