Ratchet's Back!
Insomniac outdo themselves and deliver not only the best Ratchet game yet, but the best game currently on the PS3.
Published: November 4, 2007
These newer elements wrap around the pre-existing core of the game, which has always been a mix of shooting stuff with far-out weapons (check out our massive preview for a list of most of them and what they do) and participating in old-school reflex-based jumping puzzles. At the game's heart is Platforming 101, something that Insomniac knows all too well, but what makes it a truly must-have experience is all the extra little bits, the shooter parts, the grind rail segments, walking right up walls (in fact, anyone doubting the game's platformer cred needs to see the insane, twisting section around a massive lightning charged satellite array, it's platforming bliss), and of course all the leveling you can do of weapons and Ratchet's health.
In this sense, Tools of Destruction isn't any different from the PS2 games, the only real thing that's changed is the scope of things and the visual bump the game has gotten, both natural byproducts of a jump in hardware. Of course, to merely say RCF is higher-res or "prettier" would be doing the graphics a grave disservice. As we mentioned in the preview linked earlier, Insomniac spent plenty of time not only painting with colors -- and game is a bombastic, vibrant colorscape that varies wildly from planet to planet -- but there was just as much attention paid to textures, giving everything varying levels of gloss or bumpiness or sliminess.
It gives the different planets each their own unique feel and even pacing, but what brings it all together is the game's nigh-ridiculous attention to detail in the animation. Some have likened the game to effectively playing a Pixar movie, and it's easy to see why. The level of detail in each enemy's movements, their states of awareness and even just idle animations is staggering in smoothness and personality -- and it all comes to a head in watching all of the enemies dance with the Groovotron is thrown out.
The rainbow-colored disco ball makes every single enemy in the game dance, and they all have different dances. You'll see references to everything from MC Hammer to the Running Man, and I'm sure someone with more time than I have will do a breakdown on YouTube at some point. Just being able to lob out a disco ball and see even the biggest of bosses compelled to boogie in their own way is almost reason in and of itself to pick up the game.
Another sign of Insomniac's attention to detail: the Groovotron comes packed with double-digit numbers of little tunes, all presented like the rest of the game in glorious 7.1 if you have a sound system that supports it. The audio across the board is stellar, from the chimes of bolts being collected to the crunch of a wrench impacting the fishbowl of an enemy trooper's helmet, every single sound effect in the game sounds fantastic.
Moreover, the game's music and voice acting are fantastic as well. The cast of characters this time around has shrank a bit; you'll mostly be listening to Captain Qwark, Clank and occasionally Ratchet, with cameos from characters like Big Al, and even newcomers like Cronk and Zephyr, Captain Slag and Rusty Pete and of course Talwyn, the only female character (and possible love interest) that is a mainstay of the game's story. The music this time around isn't quite as plucky or campy (though fittingly the first few levels keep with the series' familiar cadence), instead treading more into slightly brassier, moodier ends of the spectrum. That's certainly not a bad thing, though, as it fits perfectly with the rest of the game's slightly more epic tone.
I already feel like I'm short-changing this review by not slavering over every little minute detail. The truth, though, is that I really don't need to gush more than I already have. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is the single best game you can find on the PlayStation 3 right now, and at the end of the day, it's the best in the series. If you own a PS3, you need this game in your library. It is the absolutely definition of a must-have title, and right now is the front-runner as game of the year, hands down. Now if you'll excuse me, I feel the itch of a third run-through of the game coming on...
