NOTE: Today’s edition of Rothbart’s Rant has secretly been replaced by Rothbart’s Rave #1 - “R&CF” Edition

Okay, while I haven’t completed the game, I now feel I’ve put enough hours into it to legitimately gush over Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction without jumping the gun or talking out my ass.  I feel I should mention that while I love playing videogames in general, I really love platformers; they have a special place in my heart.  Unfortunately, with the introduction of the “current” gen machines, it almost seemed like an alien force invaded earth and wiped the concept of platformers from the minds of all (non-Miyamoto) developers.  But now I have Ratchet & Clank Future, and I am completely content.  Let me tell you why…

To start off, let me tell you what Ratchet & Clank Future is and isn’t.  It’s the spiritual fourth (or fifth if you count the excellent Size Matters for the PSP) in a series of excellent Playstation 2 platformers from Insomniac games that had a string of excellent Spyro the Dragon platformers on the original Playstation.  Ratchet & Clank Deadlocked played a bit more like a shooter than a platformer so I didn’t count it as part of the lineage.

If you’ve played Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet & Clank Going Commando, or Ratchet & Clank Up Your Arsenal, you should know exactly what to expect.  Now take every aspect of those games, and improve on them.  Ratchet & Clank Future doesn’t represent a departure from the tried and true Ratchet & Clank formula.  If you didn’t like the previous games, don’t expect to be converted with this incarnation.  It looks and sounds phenomenal, but at its core, the gameplay is a finely honed 3D platformer with an excellent pedigree of the games that came before it.  And to fans of the series, this is a GREAT thing, not a detraction.

I’ve read reviews of this game that dog on the lack of a compelling story and honestly, I think this is really crap.  I’ve loved several of the Mario games and couldn’t give a rip about the story there (and reviewer’s scores will indicate they felt the same way).  A great story is something to be commended, but in certain game types I don’t really feel it’s justified to dock points from a review score.

Graphics: I’ve heard the name Pixar tossed around.  I’m not sure I’d go that far, but I might be convinced to agree with Pixar say three-ish years ago.  The graphics are really well done.  Insomniac has continued to work on their game engine(s) and R&CF is their first PS3 game that features streaming textures and level data, so they can create seamlessly loaded enormous levels that are quite varied throughout the level.  While Resistance loaded the entire texture set and level data into memory at once, R&CF manages to pull off (where appropriate) larger levels that allow you the freedom to go where you want without stopping for a loading screen.  I’ll go ahead and mention the art direction while discussing the graphics.  The artists for R&CF deserve some special kudos for pulling off various (often hilarious) themed levels at a consistently high level of quality.  Sure, there are the obligatory crates in ever level, but to see one R&CF level is NOT the same as seeing them all.  I found myself anxious to see what each new planet would bring in terms of graphics and level design.

Animation: Insomniac did a great job with the animation of the various characters.  I couldn’t notice any “different model, same moves” during the game.  Every character seemed to have some variety to their animations, so if you had a crowd of the same creature closing in on you, they weren’t all doing exactly the same thing.  Then, and I hate to be another one gushing about this, there is the Groovatron weapon that causes every enemy in the game to do their own dance moves to disco music while you take your time mowing them down with the weapon of your choice.  The fact that this weapon works on bosses (it doesn’t matter how big or small) is just downright hilarious at times.  Even the flying creatures get down and boogie to the Groovatron.

Sound: I have a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound setup and the game sounded excellent. It supports 7.1 surround if you’ve got the equipment to drive it.  You can easily use audio indicators to know if something is approaching from behind as the sound localization is done really well within the game.  If you listen, you can tell where things are coming from.  The musical score is exceptional as well.  It Just Fits™.  I’m not one that’s big on orchestral soundtracks or anything, but I can’t imagine a better score to the game.  It shifts from theme to theme as you travel from planet to planet.

Comedy: Sure, I realize “comedy” isn’t a traditional review subject, but the game’s just funny.  If you’re reading this rave on SarcasticGamer.com, chances are you appreciate humor, so I felt it important to mention.  There are several “LOL” moments during the cut scenes and one-liners throughout the game.  The writers did a great job of infusing “the funny” with “the fun”.  Clank definitely got the bulk of the humor in this game, but it’s not all one-sided.  There are even a ton of one-liners from the background dialog and set pieces.  A funny example is the line delivered when you enter “the arena” about the superfluous number of blades in the arena entrance tunnel, I can’t remember the quote exactly but they were discussing how they “calculated the appropriate number of blades necessary and then added more!” .  Funny stuff when you hear it within the game.

Weapons: I can’t think of a single game of any type that has more imagination and innovation when it comes to its weapons.  And I love the way the game lets you gather raritanium and enhance your weapons in the way that you choose.  Each weapon has a non-linear enhancement “honeycomb shaped grid” with each hexagon offering an enhancement at a particular cost (in raritanium).  As you gather raritanium, you can opt to enhance each weapon in categories such as: Power, Affected area (ie. blast radius), Firing Rate, Maximum Ammo, Bolt Gathering (bolts are “money” in the game and increasing your bolt gathering ability of a weapon means that as you shoot enemies, you’ll receive more bolts and are able to buy more devices and weapons), Raritanium Gathering (the same as bolts, but it will speed up the rate you get weapon enhancing raritanium), etc.  There are special enhancement sections that you first secure the enhancements on multiple sides of it before it becomes available.  These special sections usually cost more but offer a substantial enhancement.

The fact that you can favor and enhance weapons at your own rate and discretion really allows you to have a different gaming experience than your friends and also opens up the game for replay using different weapons and customizations.  Also, as each weapon gets used, it can level up, increasing effectiveness.  What you use the most will level up the fastest.  I won’t go into much details on specific weapons other than to say you will be surprised and impressed when you play this game.  The weapons of R&CF seem to have more imagination and effort in them than other complete games do.  Insomniac deserves major props for pulling all of these weapons off at the quality level they did.

Gameplay: Rock solid.  Controls are responsive and natural.  Anyone that’s played previous R&C games can likely jump right in and play like it’s second nature.  By the time you’re halfway through the game, you’ll probably be impressed with the amount of things you can do as a player.  While looking at a list of moves and button combos may be a turnoff on its own, but the time you’re using them in game, it’s not a problem at all.

R&CF also has some excellent motion control sections that don’t feel tacked on.  The flight sections remind me of playing Spyro back on the PS1 (imagine that) and the hacking mini-game was pretty well done as well.  The sky-diving sections were a little bland, but not due to the motion control aspect, it’s just rather hard to get accurate depth perception to avoid oncoming rockets and traffic on a 2D television.  Maybe when 3D consumer level TVs are a reality Insomniac can enhance segments like this.

Overall: Having recently ranted about reviews, I’m not going to give this game a letter grade, a percentage, or a fractional score…  not even thumbs up/down.  But I will say this, if you own a PS3 and like platformers, this is a “must buy”.  If you like platformers and don’t own a PS3 but are considering it, this is a “must buy” when you get your PS3 and potentially a system seller if you REALLY like platformers.  I would not think someone an idiot for claiming Ratchet & Clank Future was the best PS3 game out yet.  That statement would need to be founded in their particular gaming preferences, but it really is a great, great game.

In closing, don’t get used to the “Rave”, as I’ll be back to ranting again tomorrow.  I’ve been waiting for an appropriate topic to rave over for a while and the hours I’ve spent playing this game just screamed “Pick me!  Pick me!” so I knew the time was right.  Now I just need to go whip up some fancy Rothbart’s Rave logo that I can slap on here.  Maybe Doc or Lono will whip up some embarrassing logo to prompt me to work on a “real” one.

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