Back to the Future
We get a more detailed peek at the next-gen version of Ratchet & Clank. Now with shooting levels!
Published: August 17, 2007
It's a little weird to see how our general opinion of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction has slowly morphed the more times we see the game. Initially revealed at the Game Developers Conference a whopping two years ago, then finally shown in real game form at Sony's Gamers' Day event a few months back, every time we see the game it ends up becoming more and more polished, and Insomniac shows off more of the game. The E3 build started to show some of the developers' trademark polish and attention to detail, but it wasn't until we were invited out to their Burbank offices that it all started to click.
There's definitely work that still needs to be done, but with even just weeks in between showings, the progress Insomniac is making is telling. Ratchet Future now runs at a fairly stable framerate -- somewhere between 30 and 45 frames a second -- and the developer is working to get the game running at the series' usual 60 frames a second by the time all is said and done. The visit to the studio was for more than just hands-on time with the latest build of the game, though. Four breakout sessions went a little deeper into the four key areas that Insomniac really wanted to highlight; the levels, the weapons, the animation and the art/style of the game.
[The Levels]
Though we'd seen two of the environments from the game already, the impressive sprawl of Kerchu City and the glinting skyscrapers of Metropolis (the very same city that was first used in that GDC teaser we mentioned earlier), our lust for the whacked-out environs that Insomniac had come to be known for was insatiable. Luckily, Brian Allgeier, Insomniac's Creative Director, took us through the paces on a couple more planets.
The first was Sargasso, a green-tinged world that was clearly less developed than some of the other locales in the city. Rather than massive futurescapes of whizzing, criss-crossing air traffic, the only thing in the skies of Sargasso were pterodactyls, lazily flying by in slow arcs and, yes, straight lines not unlike those ships from other planets. Apparently pirates had already found Sargasso, and were mining Gelatonium, but before we could take them on, we had to explore a bit of the level.
We almost immediately bumped into a Smuggler who would give us some needed goodies, but first we had to get him some souls from the Leviathan, which was easier said than done. Rather than making a bee line through the level, Allgeier instead showed us some of the level design and fauna in it. Ratchet's Robo-Wings let him glide though a handful of rings, but the whole level was more or less open to explore if we wanted to. While in the air, we came across a massive Troglosaurus, which had scales that actually served as platforms, and as Allgeier let slip, climbing to the heads of all the beasts would also net one of those handy little Skill Points that are part and parcel with the series.
Moving quickly from Sargasso to a completely different locale gave us a nice sense of just how varied some of the levels were. The next planet wasn't really a planet at all, but a frozen comet hurtling through space. Apparently at the core of the comet was IRIS, a supercomputer that stored all of the knowledge in the known universe, and would be crucial to Ratchet finding out about his race (especially after he came across Talwyn, a female Lombax).
Here, too, though, pirates were busy mining, and while it gave us a chance to see some of the new weapons (which we'll get to in a bit), the real fun came when we got to use the Holo-Pirate Disguise, which transformed Ratchet into a little robo-peglegged pirate, complete with adorable little "yarrrrrgh!" But while it was possible to sneak past the pirates without notice, getting into the IRIS stronghold was a little tougher, and required using the SIXAXIS to move up, down, left and right to a pre-set pirate jig. Missing the jig would blow their cover and a little mini-fight would beak out.
We'd be remiss if we didn't at least touch on the visuals of IRIS too, because they really were amazing. Between the list dusting of snow that was constantly falling and the inky black of space whizzing by, the level really did feel like something different from the previous games, which was a definite plus.
There's definitely work that still needs to be done, but with even just weeks in between showings, the progress Insomniac is making is telling. Ratchet Future now runs at a fairly stable framerate -- somewhere between 30 and 45 frames a second -- and the developer is working to get the game running at the series' usual 60 frames a second by the time all is said and done. The visit to the studio was for more than just hands-on time with the latest build of the game, though. Four breakout sessions went a little deeper into the four key areas that Insomniac really wanted to highlight; the levels, the weapons, the animation and the art/style of the game.
[The Levels]
Though we'd seen two of the environments from the game already, the impressive sprawl of Kerchu City and the glinting skyscrapers of Metropolis (the very same city that was first used in that GDC teaser we mentioned earlier), our lust for the whacked-out environs that Insomniac had come to be known for was insatiable. Luckily, Brian Allgeier, Insomniac's Creative Director, took us through the paces on a couple more planets.
The first was Sargasso, a green-tinged world that was clearly less developed than some of the other locales in the city. Rather than massive futurescapes of whizzing, criss-crossing air traffic, the only thing in the skies of Sargasso were pterodactyls, lazily flying by in slow arcs and, yes, straight lines not unlike those ships from other planets. Apparently pirates had already found Sargasso, and were mining Gelatonium, but before we could take them on, we had to explore a bit of the level.
We almost immediately bumped into a Smuggler who would give us some needed goodies, but first we had to get him some souls from the Leviathan, which was easier said than done. Rather than making a bee line through the level, Allgeier instead showed us some of the level design and fauna in it. Ratchet's Robo-Wings let him glide though a handful of rings, but the whole level was more or less open to explore if we wanted to. While in the air, we came across a massive Troglosaurus, which had scales that actually served as platforms, and as Allgeier let slip, climbing to the heads of all the beasts would also net one of those handy little Skill Points that are part and parcel with the series.
Moving quickly from Sargasso to a completely different locale gave us a nice sense of just how varied some of the levels were. The next planet wasn't really a planet at all, but a frozen comet hurtling through space. Apparently at the core of the comet was IRIS, a supercomputer that stored all of the knowledge in the known universe, and would be crucial to Ratchet finding out about his race (especially after he came across Talwyn, a female Lombax).
Here, too, though, pirates were busy mining, and while it gave us a chance to see some of the new weapons (which we'll get to in a bit), the real fun came when we got to use the Holo-Pirate Disguise, which transformed Ratchet into a little robo-peglegged pirate, complete with adorable little "yarrrrrgh!" But while it was possible to sneak past the pirates without notice, getting into the IRIS stronghold was a little tougher, and required using the SIXAXIS to move up, down, left and right to a pre-set pirate jig. Missing the jig would blow their cover and a little mini-fight would beak out.
We'd be remiss if we didn't at least touch on the visuals of IRIS too, because they really were amazing. Between the list dusting of snow that was constantly falling and the inky black of space whizzing by, the level really did feel like something different from the previous games, which was a definite plus.
