Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One Review (PS3)

By Neal "NeoMahi" Evans

I've said it before, and I'll continue to say it again and again, 2011 has definitely been the best year for gaming than there has ever been in the history of this generation of consoles and gaming and Sony Computer Entertainment America have really pushed this year to show the gaming world that they are still the absolute best as what they do. I think, for me, that Sony has that knack for seeking out the best developers to develop software for there consoles. Those internally within Sony then know how to work with that developers to help bring something to platform that really emphasis' what the console can do and what separates it from the pack much like I feel Sega was able to do so many years ago.

Insomniac Games have been one of those studio's that have been there with Sony since day one when the PlayStation hit the market entering the gaming world competing head-to-head with Sega and taking on Nintendo as well. While Nintendo had Mario, Sega had Sonic, Sony has Crash Bandicoot for a time and the Spyro became the mascot for Sony. Eventually, Activision quired them both and Ratchet & Clank took over. We've seen so much from Insomniac Games during their stay with Sony and the PlayStation mostly, with Resistance and Ratchet & Clank and now it sounds as though Insomniac Games are ready to move on. We've heard time and time again that PlayStation 3 games look amazing and I think that Insomniac Games have never really been given their dues and maybe feel they've become the 'runt' of the litter and possibly are going multiplatform to try and reclaim that name by trying with other audiences. I believe that Resistance has come to a close and Insomniac Games are ready to close that book and move on as I believe as well that Insomniac Games are ready to close to the book with Ratchet & Clank as well and I also believe that Insomniac Games final PlayStation exclusive concludes their chapter of exclusive development on the PlayStation 3 as well.

I've never been a huge Resistance fan as most gamers but, Ratchet and Clank I feel have given us something different. We've gone back to platforming rather than the many shooters we see today on consoles and I find it difficult to take that I think its all coming to a close and an end. I think, even though Insomniac will continue to develop games multiplatform for Sony, that 'eye single' of focusing on one vision is a valuable asset that Sony has lost and Microsoft eyes wide open seeing value in what Sony's once had coming to their console they'll capitalize on and do everything in their power to gain favor and establish a good relationship quick with Insomniac Games to bring that power to the Xbox 360.

The question is though, is Insomniacs final exclusive outing on the PlayStation 3 what we've always hoped for and does a part of that development team that has that affection for the PlayStation 3 and will continue forward remain with that desire to develop exclusively for that well-known hardware, or are they ready as with the company as a whole felt abandoned and seek that love again with other audiences to reclaim that love on other platforms and the PS3 becomes an afterthought as has happened with other developers?

STORY & PRESENTATION

I will readily admit that I've played Spyro a few times on the PSX and have never really played anything else from Insomniac since onto the PlayStation 2 and even at first glance didn't really care for Resistance: Fall of Man. But, when I saw Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction on the PS3, I knew I had to play it. I played through and absolutely loved it and followed it up with Quest for Booty and finally with A Crack in Time. Ratchet & Clank has easily become my favorite platforming game of all time. Even moreso than Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter and Mario. There simply isn't anything to me like Ratchet & Clank. When I heard from Insomniac Games and Sony that Ratchet & Clank would be making their return in All 4 One, I became really excited. I heard those around me say they weren't sure with the new direction of Ratchet & Clank but I didn't care what they thought. This was a series I really loved and was geared up to take on the villain's, Ratchet in hand and love every comical moment of the game.

Ratchet & Clank has taken quite the turn this time around with the series. The menu's are still very straight forward and its extremely easily to get a game setup and going, this time with buddies. Everyone simply selects their character either as Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark or as Dr. Nefarious and select start to get going. You can even choose a 'Chapter Select' type of menu which is pretty cool. The game is extremely easy to navigate.

Ratchet and Clank has never had a really deep storyline. In All 4 One, Ratchet and Clank have been asked to escort the newly elected President Captain Qwark to receive his 'Tool of Intergalactic Justice Award only to find it was a complete setup as Dr. Nefarious shows up ready to take out his life-long rival and their President only to find someone other is running the show and Dr. Nefarious as well has no idea what's going on. Ratchet and Clank have grown tired and have been ready to leave heroics and saving the galaxy to others but are again roped into saving a civilization as well as Captain Qwark's city and the four must work to get over each others annoyances and personality quirks if they want to live to see another day running things as president or tearing cities apart by their own command. So the quartet set out to discover who's behind this evil and put a stop to them and save their own hides. And thus the classic and stylized humor ensues.

Insomniac, even though again without a deep story, delivers in spades. Their writer has always been superb and really creative. His writing has always been geared toward a really broad audience that really appeals to everyone. His sense of humor translates really well. Its flashy and clever for a young demographic causing laughter but, its humor is most appreciated by an older demographic of gamer. What's most impressive, and why I refer to it as "creative" is that, in my opinion, is comedy that requires a tremendous amount of skill. Its not reliant a cheap sexual humor like is found in most comedy films, but takes the old school style humor of maybe that "Bill Cosby" sort of humor and can really get you laughing. I love it! Ratchet & Clank has never failed to impress.

The soundtrack and voice acting for the game are as good as they've always been. Occasionally, however, I noticed moments in the game in which the sound got really quiet and I had to set my receiver to the stereo setting in order to bring it back up to the point to where I could really everything clearly towards the end of the game.
PRESENTATION (9.5)


GRAPHICS (3D)


Ratchet and Clank has always been renowned for its graphics as being the game that finally achieves that 'Toy Story' sort of graphical style. The series has always paid special attention to those finer detail's in the game such as the fur on Ratchet's ears with some of the fur that grows out just a little bit more. The texturing of Captain Qwarks uniform, the imperfections of Clank or the texturing of environments. The color of the game really pops as well.

Something this time however, seems to be missing. The cut-scene's really seem to do really well but the presence of jaggies have really seemed to go up as doesn't seem to have that smooth polish it once had that could be attributed to the inclusion of 3D with the game. At the end of the day, characters models still look great as well as the enemies and various bosses throughout the game that you'll face.

I really enjoyed the 3D of the game throughout the experience as well. Its clear in all 3D games that texture resolution seems to take a bit of a hit and that the game still looks better in its 2D mode though that 3D really adds that extra dimension to the game giving it a different sort of feel and experience that doesn't really take much from its 2D counterpart. Though Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One doesn't quite meet up to the visual prowess of its predecessors, its still a great looking game.
GRAPHICS: 9.0


GAMPLAY


The gameplay for Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One is where things really differ for the Ratchet and Clank series. Rather than being a single-player platformer as the series has always been, Insomniac Games Creative Directors and Game Designers opted to go mutliplayer this time around putting four players, hence the '4,' on screen in some Dungeons and Dragons type fashion. I'm assuming this may have been part of Sony's strategy in appealing more to the casual gamer. I don't know. I really don't think this is the sort of approach that I really would have taken with the series, and to be direct with you, I think this could be what hurts the game the most.

While its fun to play with friends in the Ratchet & Clank universe, its equally as difficult and can really become frustrating trying to play through the game. I didn't play with friends through the whole game but, one thing that really struck me early on was infrequent game saves were. When you're playing this sort of game with friends, I found it difficult to really sit down and play through it all in one sitting. My friends live a life outside of my four walls and during the fall, kids still want to and their parents are insistant on them getting outside and getting exercise. The casual gamers attention isn't going to hold that long and it seemed like the save points were always in the most awkward points, unlike other games of the series that saved at the start of a new planet or stage. The save system I think was pretty strangely done and really didn't work for me.

I think the biggest thing for the gameplay of this game was clearly the camera. I found myself, by habbit from so many other games, trying to use the right analog stick to the control the camera during singleplayer and ended up switching weapons when I was trying to change the camera to look in other area's for crates or hidden items. It was frustrating as well when a swarm of enemies would be on screen and I'm trying to get out of there but, I'm too small and swarmed with gigantic enemies around me while Clank is all the way over on the other side of the screen and I can't get out of there to smash open a health crate to revive myself. I found boss battles frustrating as well as died a lot.

Finally, the game seemed to really repeat itself a lot. You start a new stage after a cutscene, go through the first bit fighting enemies that just required your melee combat and as the stage progressed, enemies would get bigger and nastier until you'd hit the boss. You'd defeat him and then move on. I actually started to get bored through the game and would look at my watch wondering how much of the game I had left. A cutscene would kick in and I'd laugh and that would refuel me. The boss battles were excellent for the style of game it was and I had a lot of fun with them, the final boss battle was really satisfying.

A lot of the games problems when it comes to the camera aren't game breaking, but you'll find yourself getting frustrated from time to time. I was using Ratchet and was boot with Clank and Clank 90% of the time did really well as far as A.I. goes. The game itself is still a lot of fun and maintains that spirit the series has always had. You're still collecting bolts that you can spend to buy and upgrade your weapons with as well as solving puzzles in what I guess I'd call side-missions, and collecting things to boost your bolts to upgrade even more with. I was working to collect as many bolts as I could. It was addicting and having those upgrades were really fun. I was quick to upgrade Mr. Zurkon as he's easily my favorite weapon in the game. I couldn't wait to use him. The game is still fun to get together with friends and play as well. You can even intentionally do things to try and frustrate them just for fun, though I'd suggest being careful as you really need to work together as a team. I think most gamers however who play this game will likely play it through solo though as that 's just how the game has always been. Small camera issues, a little repetition and most bizzare save system I've ever seen aside, its still quite the adventure and a blast, it just could have used some polish. The game almost felt like it was some sort of test that maybe Insomniac Games are using for their multiplatform game we still have yet to see gameplay for.
OVERALL: 8.0

OVERALL

At the end of the day, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One really tries to stick to what its always been. I fun and comical experience. The developers of the game put their heart and soul into the experience as they always have. They just wanted to try and do something different and unique to close out the series. When I finished the game, I was left with the impression and got that feeling that this would be it for Insomniac Games and they were ready to move on. If there is going to be a Ratchet & Clank game in the future, I honestly don't think I would have any interest in playing it and 'Hero's On the Move' is a good example of why. Its really not going to be the same without Insomniac Games just as Halo isn't going to be the same without Bungie and Call of Duty Modern Warfare isn't going to be the same without Infinity Ward that is now Respawn with EA.

Its still a great game worth playing at the end of the day but, I don't think I had nearly as much fun and would be as quick to recommend the game as the other Ratchet and Clank games, which I still recommend you play if you haven't yet already. I like and prefer having that complete control over my camera and like that third-person view. I like having that right analog stick to aim with as well as adventuring at my own pace rather than feeling constricted to whether or not my friends want to jump in. As a multiplayer game its great, though its not really one of those pick up and play and put it down when you have too sort of games that it should have been and I think most gamers that play the game are already fans of the series and are used to its style and will choose to play it singleplayer anyway, which again, the A.I is still really good and will heft its share of the load.

Its a sad thing that Insomniacs full focus and attention won't be focused on one single area any more. I think the best experiences and best games come from first-party developed games where they're not so worried with meeting certain expectations of a equal experience across two to four consoles, rather than just focusing and developing a quality game. I think Insomniac will notice and automatic difference in the quality of their games when feedback hits of their first game, though I could be wrong. Insomniac could have left on a better note, but it wasn't as though their leaving on a bad note. They're just ready to move on I suppose.