"Ratchet without the Clank". My review of "Ratchet: Gladiator" (UK PS3 PSN Store).
About as bad as I remembered from my PS2 playthrough as a kid, maybe a tad better as I appreciated the writing and jokes more as an adult. Any extra rating I'd give this compared to my rating as a kid though is subtracted due to the issues with the PS3 port. Cutscenes have a lot of stutter (and some other visual bugs) in the port and this isn't overexaggerated in reviews.
The game has some good points. The writing of its cartoonish villains, parts of the soundtrack (Ghost Station and "Landstalker Stalkin'" are highlights) and some of the later levels are great. The weapons becoming rainbow coloured at level 99 is also a fun bonus.
The bad outweighs the good despite this. The movement without Clank is jarring compared to the original trilogy and the mod focused weapon system plus the quick select is odd. While the insanely high level cap makes this game a huge grind for completionists. The PS3 Platinum Trophy doesn't require getting maximum level to be fair, but I did it anyway.
There are parts of this game where you can feel it getting good, but it just fails to hit the landing. One example is the Landstalker, awesome in concept, but awful to control. Constantly having to rotate to fire the mortar cannons is frustrating at best and nigh-unplayable at worse.
It's a shame that this really doesn't live up to even the worst parts of the original trilogy. The shift to third person shooter missions over platforming (which while not completely absent, takes a large backseat and without Clank feels hollow where it does appear) is something that I don't care much for, although those that do might get more out of it. The high difficulty doesn't help this shift, although admittedly I could have mitigated this by playing on a lower difficulty.
3/10, as per my memory of the PS2 release as a kid. If it wasn't for the cutscene bugs with the PS3 port this would be a easy 4/10.
Original Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/DaelinZeppeli/review/563146
About as bad as I remembered from my PS2 playthrough as a kid, maybe a tad better as I appreciated the writing and jokes more as an adult. Any extra rating I'd give this compared to my rating as a kid though is subtracted due to the issues with the PS3 port. Cutscenes have a lot of stutter (and some other visual bugs) in the port and this isn't overexaggerated in reviews.
The game has some good points. The writing of its cartoonish villains, parts of the soundtrack (Ghost Station and "Landstalker Stalkin'" are highlights) and some of the later levels are great. The weapons becoming rainbow coloured at level 99 is also a fun bonus.
The bad outweighs the good despite this. The movement without Clank is jarring compared to the original trilogy and the mod focused weapon system plus the quick select is odd. While the insanely high level cap makes this game a huge grind for completionists. The PS3 Platinum Trophy doesn't require getting maximum level to be fair, but I did it anyway.
There are parts of this game where you can feel it getting good, but it just fails to hit the landing. One example is the Landstalker, awesome in concept, but awful to control. Constantly having to rotate to fire the mortar cannons is frustrating at best and nigh-unplayable at worse.
It's a shame that this really doesn't live up to even the worst parts of the original trilogy. The shift to third person shooter missions over platforming (which while not completely absent, takes a large backseat and without Clank feels hollow where it does appear) is something that I don't care much for, although those that do might get more out of it. The high difficulty doesn't help this shift, although admittedly I could have mitigated this by playing on a lower difficulty.
3/10, as per my memory of the PS2 release as a kid. If it wasn't for the cutscene bugs with the PS3 port this would be a easy 4/10.
Original Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/DaelinZeppeli/review/563146