Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
Insomniac finally goes where no action platformer has gone before: online.
Published: May 4, 2004
Besides being one of the best reviewed games we've ever featured on PSX2.com, Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando ranks as one of the few games that are an unequivocal example of getting your money's worth. The game is already massive, requiring a double-digit time investment just to beat, and at least twice that unlock all the included goodies (you have found the Insomniac Museum, right?).
It looks like multiple run-throughs and the introduction of RPG elements to the whole mix just weren't enough improvements to the already heady mix of incredibly tight platforming action and unapologetically polished presentation. All of the humor, innovation and smatterings of plot development are about to get a significant upgrade with Insomniac's third Ratchet & Clank outing.
When plugged for games programming meccas, Burbank certainly doesn't stand out as one of most high-profile hot spots. Still, Insomniac has managed to carve out quite the niche among the assorted Hollywood power offices and high life denizens. The modest, sparse office space seems to embody everything that the developer's past digital compositions; no-nonsense presentation and a decided lack of theatrics when it comes to giving the goods. After a brief rundown of Insomniac's motivation for development (hint: it involves the previous Ratchet games selling like crazy, if only a little), company president Ted Price began the rundown of what will become Ratchet 3's storyline.
Fame is a bitch, plain and simple, and given enough time, any duo can give birth to a rising star and a falling... well, you get the idea. With Clank finally getting the props we all knew he deserved as a bona-fide action star. Secret Agent Clank, the R&C universe's version of James Bond isn't just popular, it's huge, and while the bonds of friendship between our title characters are still there, it's clear that Ratchet has settled in the shadow of Clank's 15 minutes of fame. The fact that Ratchet plays second fiddle and ubiquitous sidekick to Clank's Bondian action star probably isn't helping things.
Fate, it seems, isn't ready to let the pair be pulled apart just yet, however, as Ratchet's planet comes under attack from the deliciously clichéd Dr. Nefarious. The evil N's plan of wiping Ratchet's home planet of Veldin (yes, the same Veldin visited in past games) clean of all life not only sits poorly with Ratchet, but the Galactic President as well, who dispatches the only pair with back-to-back universe saving sessions to put a stop to Nefarious' plans.
With the only lead on stopping Nefarious coming in to the form of info from a mysterious stranger residing on the planet Florana, the pair rocket to the planet only to be greeted by a decidedly insane Captain Qwark, who's fall from grace after the first two games means he's living life as a feral version of the end 45 minute mark of an E True Hollywood Story. Finally culling a previous recollection of how he beat Nefarious in days of yore from his soggy noggin, Qwark rallies a hodgepodge of R&C alums into a "team" to take on the mad doctor.
The team, consisting of portly trainer Helga (most will remember her from the training course early on in Going Commando), Big Al (the Al in Big Al's Robo Shack), and star hoverboarder Skidd McMarx. The newly-assembled Q Force will provide portions of comic relief and the occasional helping hand while the game's heroes dole out punishment on a handful of new planets, as well revisiting some of the older ones.
Bringing the pain itself has, impressively, been made even easier, with more than 20 gadgets weapons (5 returning from Going Commando) - 14 of the futuristic firearms upgradable up to four times. The boys and girls at Insomniac took us through a few of the upgrades (and let us experience them first had, but more on that later), demonstrating an N60 Storm's upgrade to the Hurricane and the increase in firepower for a basic taste of the upgrades system.
For a more pronounced example, however, the team showed off the new Infector, and how upgrading not only allowed for more infection radius, but the ability for enemies to carry the infection to former friends. The final upgrade resulted in a mushroom cloud that consumed a whole group of enemies and then we watch with giddy delight as they all turned on any remaining uninfected baddies. It's this kind of imagination in weapons (we particularly liked the Rift Inducer, which created little black holes that could be combined for bigger and bigger voids) that keeps Insomniac far, far ahead of any of the action platformer wanna-bes.
Of course, the other part is how the game plays, and though the game looks and plays largely the same (which makes sense given that the engine got only a light visual touch-up with subtle effects like spectral highlights on some surfaces). The improved weapons upgrade system was plenty fun to experiment, as was the improved and expanded hit point system, but to be honest, if you want a run-down of the single-player experience replay the first two games.
It's the multi-player, the ONLINE multi-player that deserves the real highlight right now. Though the contribution is comparatively small when put up against the girth of the single-player experience, the six arena (with multiple themes) offering seems rather small. If the two levels and the multiple hours we spent tooling around in them were any indication of the amount of replay value inherent in what Insomniac is trying to do, there's more than enough to keep gamers entertained.
Up to eight players with full duplex (read: hear smack talk coming in as you give it) voice support can get down online - so long as they're broadband-equipped. The main objective for each level is to take out four cannons and then infiltrate the enemy base they were defending. This is easier said than done, of course, since the levels are dotted with mannable turrets and multiple vehicles. Some of the vehicles allow for two players to jump in, Battlefield 1942-style, with one player controlling the vehicle and another on the weapons.
This was particularly cool when we jumped into a bomber, where one player could rain fire down on opposing characters while the other maneuvered the ship into position. The whole mix is further enhanced by the fact that parts of the level can be destroyed to reroute ground troops and in effect change the flow of the levels. In fact, there was something intangibly badass about zipping around a level trying to bomb the crap out of a bunch of little Ratchets swingshotting around the levels. The combo of traditional firepower with select R&C off-the-wall gadgets adds an entirely unique multiplayer experience.
E3 will no doubt give birth to a whole new flurry of "holy $#!^ this is AWESOME!" comments from first time players, but for now suffice it to say that this is more than just a sequel or incremental upgrade. In typical quote-worthy fashion Ted Price called Ratchet 3 "the most ambitious game we've ever made." Clichéd as it may seem, there's no better way of putting what Insomniac is up to with Ratchet 3. It will, without a doubt, change the face of the action platformer genre, and could give rise to a whole new kind of online addiction. Our Network Adaptors are already standing by...
It looks like multiple run-throughs and the introduction of RPG elements to the whole mix just weren't enough improvements to the already heady mix of incredibly tight platforming action and unapologetically polished presentation. All of the humor, innovation and smatterings of plot development are about to get a significant upgrade with Insomniac's third Ratchet & Clank outing.
When plugged for games programming meccas, Burbank certainly doesn't stand out as one of most high-profile hot spots. Still, Insomniac has managed to carve out quite the niche among the assorted Hollywood power offices and high life denizens. The modest, sparse office space seems to embody everything that the developer's past digital compositions; no-nonsense presentation and a decided lack of theatrics when it comes to giving the goods. After a brief rundown of Insomniac's motivation for development (hint: it involves the previous Ratchet games selling like crazy, if only a little), company president Ted Price began the rundown of what will become Ratchet 3's storyline.
Fame is a bitch, plain and simple, and given enough time, any duo can give birth to a rising star and a falling... well, you get the idea. With Clank finally getting the props we all knew he deserved as a bona-fide action star. Secret Agent Clank, the R&C universe's version of James Bond isn't just popular, it's huge, and while the bonds of friendship between our title characters are still there, it's clear that Ratchet has settled in the shadow of Clank's 15 minutes of fame. The fact that Ratchet plays second fiddle and ubiquitous sidekick to Clank's Bondian action star probably isn't helping things.
Fate, it seems, isn't ready to let the pair be pulled apart just yet, however, as Ratchet's planet comes under attack from the deliciously clichéd Dr. Nefarious. The evil N's plan of wiping Ratchet's home planet of Veldin (yes, the same Veldin visited in past games) clean of all life not only sits poorly with Ratchet, but the Galactic President as well, who dispatches the only pair with back-to-back universe saving sessions to put a stop to Nefarious' plans.
With the only lead on stopping Nefarious coming in to the form of info from a mysterious stranger residing on the planet Florana, the pair rocket to the planet only to be greeted by a decidedly insane Captain Qwark, who's fall from grace after the first two games means he's living life as a feral version of the end 45 minute mark of an E True Hollywood Story. Finally culling a previous recollection of how he beat Nefarious in days of yore from his soggy noggin, Qwark rallies a hodgepodge of R&C alums into a "team" to take on the mad doctor.
The team, consisting of portly trainer Helga (most will remember her from the training course early on in Going Commando), Big Al (the Al in Big Al's Robo Shack), and star hoverboarder Skidd McMarx. The newly-assembled Q Force will provide portions of comic relief and the occasional helping hand while the game's heroes dole out punishment on a handful of new planets, as well revisiting some of the older ones.
Bringing the pain itself has, impressively, been made even easier, with more than 20 gadgets weapons (5 returning from Going Commando) - 14 of the futuristic firearms upgradable up to four times. The boys and girls at Insomniac took us through a few of the upgrades (and let us experience them first had, but more on that later), demonstrating an N60 Storm's upgrade to the Hurricane and the increase in firepower for a basic taste of the upgrades system.
For a more pronounced example, however, the team showed off the new Infector, and how upgrading not only allowed for more infection radius, but the ability for enemies to carry the infection to former friends. The final upgrade resulted in a mushroom cloud that consumed a whole group of enemies and then we watch with giddy delight as they all turned on any remaining uninfected baddies. It's this kind of imagination in weapons (we particularly liked the Rift Inducer, which created little black holes that could be combined for bigger and bigger voids) that keeps Insomniac far, far ahead of any of the action platformer wanna-bes.
Of course, the other part is how the game plays, and though the game looks and plays largely the same (which makes sense given that the engine got only a light visual touch-up with subtle effects like spectral highlights on some surfaces). The improved weapons upgrade system was plenty fun to experiment, as was the improved and expanded hit point system, but to be honest, if you want a run-down of the single-player experience replay the first two games.
It's the multi-player, the ONLINE multi-player that deserves the real highlight right now. Though the contribution is comparatively small when put up against the girth of the single-player experience, the six arena (with multiple themes) offering seems rather small. If the two levels and the multiple hours we spent tooling around in them were any indication of the amount of replay value inherent in what Insomniac is trying to do, there's more than enough to keep gamers entertained.
Up to eight players with full duplex (read: hear smack talk coming in as you give it) voice support can get down online - so long as they're broadband-equipped. The main objective for each level is to take out four cannons and then infiltrate the enemy base they were defending. This is easier said than done, of course, since the levels are dotted with mannable turrets and multiple vehicles. Some of the vehicles allow for two players to jump in, Battlefield 1942-style, with one player controlling the vehicle and another on the weapons.
This was particularly cool when we jumped into a bomber, where one player could rain fire down on opposing characters while the other maneuvered the ship into position. The whole mix is further enhanced by the fact that parts of the level can be destroyed to reroute ground troops and in effect change the flow of the levels. In fact, there was something intangibly badass about zipping around a level trying to bomb the crap out of a bunch of little Ratchets swingshotting around the levels. The combo of traditional firepower with select R&C off-the-wall gadgets adds an entirely unique multiplayer experience.
E3 will no doubt give birth to a whole new flurry of "holy $#!^ this is AWESOME!" comments from first time players, but for now suffice it to say that this is more than just a sequel or incremental upgrade. In typical quote-worthy fashion Ted Price called Ratchet 3 "the most ambitious game we've ever made." Clichéd as it may seem, there's no better way of putting what Insomniac is up to with Ratchet 3. It will, without a doubt, change the face of the action platformer genre, and could give rise to a whole new kind of online addiction. Our Network Adaptors are already standing by...
