[Gamers' Day 2007] Sophomore Jump
Insomniac has dibs on the first second-gen PS3 game, and we had to take a peek at how next-gen Ratchet is turning out.
Published: May 17, 2007
By now, you've probably seen video of Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, but we're here to tell you that once you've seen it in motion, seen some of the animation and the sheer amount of polish that's already glinting off those oh so familiar quasi-campy locales, the power of the system really becomes apparent.
While we're all too willing to give credit to the development staff, it must be mentioned that Ratchet is technically running off the same engine that serviced Resistance: Fall of Man. How can you go from a game that was almost exclusively buried deep in the grey/brown/black end of the color palette (at least for most of the game), and then transition into something that gives the cones in your peepers a workout? Simple, the guys at Insomniac know what they're doing.
To hear them tell it, though, Tools of Destruction is so early that it needs to be prefaced by an apology. Now, we'll be absolutely frank here: what we saw was... well, it looked like Ratchet & Clank in hi-def. Yes, the textures were better, the lighting was better, and it was all running in glorious HD, but it wasn't a massive departure from what they were able to do with the PS2 hardware. But something anybody should be apologizing for? C'mooooonnnn...
We were walked through the same jungle planet of Kerchu that has been seen already, but almost immediately we were treated to the one thing that actually sold the game as having the promise to absolutely blow people away with the little things. The familiar weapons switching system is still in place (or at least was in the early build we were treated to), but the actual weapon busted out was new. The Groove-o-tron fired out a little disco ball that started shooting rainbow-colored rays out all over the place and when the little critters that were caught by the Bee Gees tune that started playing... well, they were slaves to the rhythm.
But they didn't actually hold to it -- or rather they didn't all dance in tune. Again, it was one of those little things that really sold the whole weapon. A couple of the guys started dancing before or after most of the others, letting you catch the whole silky smooth dance in its entirety before hauling off and beating on the little guys mid-boogie. Oh, and a fun little statistic? Nearly all of the enemies in the game will have their own dance. Think about that for a second; can you remember how many different enemies there were in the past couple Ratchet games? That's a lot of dancin'.
After getting demos of the SIXAXIS-controller Tornado Gun -- the name sorta says it all, right? Kick out tornadoes and then fly 'em around with the controller's motion sensor. The Visicopter was a little more involved in that it could fire off missiles, but it looked like it could do basic damage just by bumping into enemies too. A host of other upgradeable weapons will be added, and plenty of faves will return, but of course Insomniac is staying plenty mum on the deets there.
While we're all too willing to give credit to the development staff, it must be mentioned that Ratchet is technically running off the same engine that serviced Resistance: Fall of Man. How can you go from a game that was almost exclusively buried deep in the grey/brown/black end of the color palette (at least for most of the game), and then transition into something that gives the cones in your peepers a workout? Simple, the guys at Insomniac know what they're doing.
To hear them tell it, though, Tools of Destruction is so early that it needs to be prefaced by an apology. Now, we'll be absolutely frank here: what we saw was... well, it looked like Ratchet & Clank in hi-def. Yes, the textures were better, the lighting was better, and it was all running in glorious HD, but it wasn't a massive departure from what they were able to do with the PS2 hardware. But something anybody should be apologizing for? C'mooooonnnn...
We were walked through the same jungle planet of Kerchu that has been seen already, but almost immediately we were treated to the one thing that actually sold the game as having the promise to absolutely blow people away with the little things. The familiar weapons switching system is still in place (or at least was in the early build we were treated to), but the actual weapon busted out was new. The Groove-o-tron fired out a little disco ball that started shooting rainbow-colored rays out all over the place and when the little critters that were caught by the Bee Gees tune that started playing... well, they were slaves to the rhythm.
But they didn't actually hold to it -- or rather they didn't all dance in tune. Again, it was one of those little things that really sold the whole weapon. A couple of the guys started dancing before or after most of the others, letting you catch the whole silky smooth dance in its entirety before hauling off and beating on the little guys mid-boogie. Oh, and a fun little statistic? Nearly all of the enemies in the game will have their own dance. Think about that for a second; can you remember how many different enemies there were in the past couple Ratchet games? That's a lot of dancin'.
After getting demos of the SIXAXIS-controller Tornado Gun -- the name sorta says it all, right? Kick out tornadoes and then fly 'em around with the controller's motion sensor. The Visicopter was a little more involved in that it could fire off missiles, but it looked like it could do basic damage just by bumping into enemies too. A host of other upgradeable weapons will be added, and plenty of faves will return, but of course Insomniac is staying plenty mum on the deets there.