Ratchet and Clank is a true next gen experience. Insomniac by now are a guarantee for visually striking and wonderfully crafted action games. If you are into scripted action events, the first party Sony studios are the uncontested champions. May that be Naughty Dog‘s insane set pieces with Uncharted or the tense and raw moments of The Last of Us. Santa Monicas extended battle sequences in God of War and beautifully animated enemies in Guerilla Games‘ Horizon. While Ratchet and Clank is not on the same level story-wise, it sure knows how to up the ante with the action sequences and the visual fidelity of the worlds you visit. In the center of it all, are the rifts, that add layers of literal dimensions for you to explore. From the ability to teleport through rifts as shortcuts, within the area, to the ability to hit a crystal and change the entire world around you within a blink, to one of a kind scripted sequences that hurl you through a multitude of detailed surroundings in the shortest amount of time - it’s unbelievable that all of this happens with a steady 60fps on a 400 bucks console, considering it’s one of the most beautiful games that has ever been released.
Gameplay-wise it plays it safe, besides the aforementioned rift mechanics there is not much that differentiates it from its predecessors. It’s still full of wonderful environments, full of crazy characters, even crazier guns to use and a bunch of cool platforming mechanics. The moment to moment gameplay is pure joy, there is nothing that gets tedious because everything is polished to the maximum. It’s not as innovative as the best of Nintendo, not as wildly creative as ‚It takes two‘ was this year, but it’s still a showcase game for PlayStation in general, for the next generation of games and for a studio that’s at its prime.