Imagine your nearly 20 year-old, 10+ game-filled franchise peaking with the very first entry. That's Ratchet & Clank. Whether you agree or not will likely depend on what you value more; original games with strong visions, or iterative sequels that refine what came before. I'm sure you can guess where I fall.
The franchise's claim to fame is the massive arsenals you obtain in each installment. It's what's advertised in the commercials, on the game's cover, and no reviewer ever fails to mention all the cool shooty-shooty-bang-bang stuff you can do. So you might be a bit surprised that a lot of the weapons in the first R&C are largely situational and aren't meant to be fired rapidly. A double-edged sword with every Ratchet game past the first one is how destructive each individual weapon is. It's as if the designers at Insomniac were competing with each other to develop the most outlandish, overpowered guns they could. While there's an undeniable fun to just blasting away foes with your deliciously violent weapons, most weapons start to blend together. Sure, some weapons might be a bit better at crowd control, firing speed, or long-distance targeting, but most of your guns are still equipped to deal with whatever the game throws at you. Every weapon ends up playing the jack-of-all-trades role with only a hint of individuality. I can only get so excited for a gun that shoots razor blades all over the place when I have 5 other guns that deal with groups of enemies just as efficiently.
This is where the first R&C stands out. While some guns might seem a bit dubious at a glance, it turns out that every death machine has a purpose. Few are capable of outright solving all your issues so you can't rely on the same old favorites over and over. With checkpoints being so painfully infrequent and your health so limited, you need to assess each fight in a way you never do in later titles. The level of deliberation required by the player is how I learned that the Taunter can help you single out enemies and lure them into traps. It's how I learned the Walloper gives you massive priority over your enemies' melee attacks, completely trivializing certain close encounters. It's unfortunate that a couple of the late game weapons do end up becoming overly useful against just about every kind of enemy but I'd say there's a good balance for roughly 3 quarters of the adventure's length.
What I find most peculiar about how the weapons are handled is how they tie into the game's strong anti-capitalist message. It's hardly subtle but nearly every NPC asks for money before offering any sort of assistance and that goes doubly so for the weapons merchant. Guns are super expensive and the economy seems to be in a bit of a recession since you acquire bolts (game's currency) at a tepid pace throughout. For a game where weapons are so specialized and experimentation is required in order to make the most of your kit, this seems like a way to make sure players don't buy a weapon and then immediately write it off when you don't find an easy use for it. What will likely happen is the player will just reload their last save prior to buying the weapon they assume is bad. Still, I have to give Insomniac props for using the game's economy to add some extra character to the worldbuilding. It's an aspect of the series that has infamously disappeared ever since Insomniac, ironically, got a bit greedy with where they set their sights for this franchise of theirs.
It all comes back to how every new entry needs to be a sterile, wanna-be-DreamWorks-narrative and lack anything interesting to say about its world. No longer can the shooting require actual thought. Even the music was only allowed to have an identity within the first game. For as "playable" and "pleasant" as many later entries are, the first Ratchet & Clank still has them beat because it doesn't just feel like a thinly veiled vehicle for shoveling out the same few ideas ad nauseam but with "better graphics". Long running franchises can exist and even lead to loads of excellent, exceptional games, but when the best you're shooting for is "like the original, but without the soul" you start to lose me.
The franchise's claim to fame is the massive arsenals you obtain in each installment. It's what's advertised in the commercials, on the game's cover, and no reviewer ever fails to mention all the cool shooty-shooty-bang-bang stuff you can do. So you might be a bit surprised that a lot of the weapons in the first R&C are largely situational and aren't meant to be fired rapidly. A double-edged sword with every Ratchet game past the first one is how destructive each individual weapon is. It's as if the designers at Insomniac were competing with each other to develop the most outlandish, overpowered guns they could. While there's an undeniable fun to just blasting away foes with your deliciously violent weapons, most weapons start to blend together. Sure, some weapons might be a bit better at crowd control, firing speed, or long-distance targeting, but most of your guns are still equipped to deal with whatever the game throws at you. Every weapon ends up playing the jack-of-all-trades role with only a hint of individuality. I can only get so excited for a gun that shoots razor blades all over the place when I have 5 other guns that deal with groups of enemies just as efficiently.
This is where the first R&C stands out. While some guns might seem a bit dubious at a glance, it turns out that every death machine has a purpose. Few are capable of outright solving all your issues so you can't rely on the same old favorites over and over. With checkpoints being so painfully infrequent and your health so limited, you need to assess each fight in a way you never do in later titles. The level of deliberation required by the player is how I learned that the Taunter can help you single out enemies and lure them into traps. It's how I learned the Walloper gives you massive priority over your enemies' melee attacks, completely trivializing certain close encounters. It's unfortunate that a couple of the late game weapons do end up becoming overly useful against just about every kind of enemy but I'd say there's a good balance for roughly 3 quarters of the adventure's length.
What I find most peculiar about how the weapons are handled is how they tie into the game's strong anti-capitalist message. It's hardly subtle but nearly every NPC asks for money before offering any sort of assistance and that goes doubly so for the weapons merchant. Guns are super expensive and the economy seems to be in a bit of a recession since you acquire bolts (game's currency) at a tepid pace throughout. For a game where weapons are so specialized and experimentation is required in order to make the most of your kit, this seems like a way to make sure players don't buy a weapon and then immediately write it off when you don't find an easy use for it. What will likely happen is the player will just reload their last save prior to buying the weapon they assume is bad. Still, I have to give Insomniac props for using the game's economy to add some extra character to the worldbuilding. It's an aspect of the series that has infamously disappeared ever since Insomniac, ironically, got a bit greedy with where they set their sights for this franchise of theirs.
It all comes back to how every new entry needs to be a sterile, wanna-be-DreamWorks-narrative and lack anything interesting to say about its world. No longer can the shooting require actual thought. Even the music was only allowed to have an identity within the first game. For as "playable" and "pleasant" as many later entries are, the first Ratchet & Clank still has them beat because it doesn't just feel like a thinly veiled vehicle for shoveling out the same few ideas ad nauseam but with "better graphics". Long running franchises can exist and even lead to loads of excellent, exceptional games, but when the best you're shooting for is "like the original, but without the soul" you start to lose me.
ProudLittleSeal
1 year ago