Sunday, October 6, 2024

Ratchet and Clank are back, babbbbby and they are aging like fine wine. Picking up where the last game left off, the dynamic duo are back for an all new adventure across the multi-verse. You might want to be sitting down for this next fun fact, but this is the 16th (!!!) game in the series. 

Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart takes place after 2016’s, Ratchet & Clank. Which was a reimagining of the game that started it all way back in 2002. That’s older than most of the people that will tell me “I’m a Sony Suckup” and that “YOU DIDN’T GIVE A GAME I HAVEN’T PLAYED THE SCORE IT DESERVED” when this review goes live. I love the internet, and yes I loved my time with this game.

Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart has a lot to love. I want to keep away from spoilers as much as possible and a lot of what I loved comes later in the game and is better left as a surprise to players but I will share a few things that stood out without ruining anyones playthrough or enjoyment.

What I Loved:

The Length – The game is around 10-12 hours to complete and avid fans can either start a New Game+ or go back and unlock all the goodies and hidden treasures they missed. The game is full of collectibles and none of them should give you much trouble. Each collectible found does unlock some fun features, so it’s worth exploring.

K.I.T. – Clank can be tossed right in the garbage compactor, cause K.I.T. is the real star of the game. I’m so glad she wasn’t revealed leading up to the game because she is amazing. I would die for this silly little robot.

The visuals –  this is hands down the best looking game I’ve ever seen and probably will see for the foreseeable future. It truly is the first game in the “next console generation” that actually looks shiny and new. I’ve seen things I’ve never seen before. The game is bursting with life and beautiful scenery, it’s so easy to get lost in it. I tried explaining how great the draw distance was to my girlfriend who did not seem to care, but I got it Insomniac. Your graphics are insane.

Panzer Dragoon Inspired Level – There’s a part that reminded me of Panzer Dragoon and I clankin (I’m coining this phrase) lost it.

Liked:

The gun variety –  There’s plenty of guns to choose from, but I would have loved to see some more wild inventions and new guns we’ve never seen before. Even me, a casual fan of the series, recognized a lot of the guns on display. They are fun, but by the end there were only a few I was really leaning heavily on, most of which I got in the back half of the game. The rest were just in case my ammo ran out. I’ll also give the game props and say using the weapon wheel felt fun and not like a chore, like in so many other games.

Collectibles and Achievements – Tons and tons of them. Getting 100% is actually obtainable easily enough in this game without me wanting to break my controller, or do the adult thing and move on to another game in my backlog.

Disliked:

The Story – at least it’s not tied into a movie like the last game, but it still isn’t all that great or memorable. There’s some great heartfelt beats a third of the way through but there’s also a lot of filler. 

The RIFTing – I’m gonna break some hearts here, the rifting isn’t as cool as I was led to believe. It’s cool looking but at the end of the day it really didn’t feel any different from the typical game elevator or long slide.

Enemy Variety – Could have used more than a handful of enemies, since 80% of the game is blasting waves of baddies.

Hated:

The Ending, I can’t spoil anything, but the ending left me less than satisfied. Hate’s a strong word and I don’t love tossing it around but in an otherwise pretty great game this left me bitter.

Overall, Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart is a really great game and the first real showcase of the PS5. At the end of the day it’s just really, really fun and wildly different compared to the big Sony game I was reviewing at this time last year, The Last of Us 2. It’s still a platformer with a bad story but I just had a hoot tearing through baddies while experimenting with a variety of fun games all in beautiful 30fps (60fps was not available for this review) with no stutter. This game truly looks magical on the television and I’m excited for other people’s eyes to melt, like mine did. Insomniac Games has created one hell of a beautiful fun game fit for the whole family.

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