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TDouglass's Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
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| [March 6, 2008 01:56:21 AM]
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Gameplay
For the most part, little has changed over the course of my first couple sessions. There are of course bigger, shinier guns and new kinds of enemies, but at its core this remains a solid platform game that really doesn’t want to redefine itself a whole lot. The “free-falling” mechanic is pretty cool, but other than that this seems to remain true to its roots, and is definitely a lot of fun to play. This title seems to follow the idiom “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Design
Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction remains at its heart a platformer. You control your character in 3D, be it the “Lombax” Ratchet or his robot counterpart Clank, and you navigate through environments by jumping around or skating on rails. You come equipped with a whole arsenal of guns, and they’re pretty fun to play around with. The Tornado Launcher in particular speaks well of this game’s design, by utilizing the motion-sensitive capabilities of the Sixaxis controller.
As far as innovative design goes, or at least as far as I can tell so far, all innovation hinges around the PS3’s Sixaxis controller. There are some “free-falling” sequences where you tilt the Sixaxis to guide Ratchet as he falls, and the tornadoes you shoot via the Tornado Launcher are also controlled by tilting the controller. Other than these neat twists, so to speak, Tools of Destruction doesn’t break a whole lot of new ground. It’s yet another installment of the Ratchet and Clank series, which is nothing to be scoffed at, but this game doesn’t really break down any walls as far as level design or game mechanics. It’s a platformer, you run, jump, shoot, and collect arbitrary amounts of Bolts. But, this made for great games before, so there’s no reason that it can’t work again.
I’m actually pleased with this game, even though it doesn’t do a lot of new things, it does what the other Ratchet and Clank games have done, and it does them well. What else does a game need to do, right? It’s fun, and that’s really all that counts.
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| [March 6, 2008 01:21:51 AM]
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Summary
This iteration of Ratchet and Clank reminds me of why I first got interested in the series. The original was quirky, funny, and completely over-the-top, and Tools of Destruction seems to deliver on all those levels. I like the witty dialogue, and the story sets itself up quickly and effortlessly, allowing players to get right to the game play. The game itself throws a lot of enemies at players at once, and the first level is filled with explosions and mayhem, providing the perfect segue back into this series.
Gameplay
Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction does not appear at first glance to be very different from its predecessors, but this is definitely a good thing. As an avid fan of the first two games for the Playstation 2, I was pleasantly surprised to pop this game into my PS3 and immediately get right back into the fray. Right out of the gate, the screen was filled with enemies and bullets and bombs, most of which were mine. The first couple of guns this game gives you, a fireball shooter and a grenade launcher, are quite effective and visually impressive. I wasted no time in blowing the robotic enemies apart and racing around the level on the high-speed rails.
Many of the common mechanics from the original Ratchet and Clank were right in the first level of this game, but the scale was hiked up. This game looks like it plans on taking advantage of the PS3’s processing power with an insane amount of foes and particle effects from bullets on the screen. Oddly enough, this actually makes for a really fun game. The scale of this platformer immediately sets itself up for a lot of fast-paced action and some pretty crazy moments which I am definitely looking forward to getting back to.
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TDouglass's Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 6 March, 2008
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