I've already beaten the DS and GBA versions, and I thought, I might as well finish the portable trilogy of Ratatouille videogames with the PSP version, which is also it's own unique version (not a port of Asobo or Heavy Iron Studios’ version, or aforementioned handheld versions). And you know what? This game is actually pretty good.
Ratatouille PSP is a proper 3D platformer with light combat. In your conquest of platforms, you can jump, and even double jump, and you can latch onto poles, both sideways and vertical, make precise landing on small platforms and walk on tight metaphorical “planks”, like small pipes or wires, showing a nice degree of acrobatics. You can also climb on nets and similar objects. Lastly, you can crouch down and run on all 4, it can be used to travel faster, but more importantly, run into tight spaces. Remy is also equipped with a few offensive moves, as there are plenty of enemies to content with (where’s pest control when you need it?). You can perform a swipe attack, which deals a fair bit of damage, but can leave you vulnerable if you don’t time it right, and it can be upgraded for more combos that do more damage. One problem I have with this attack is how sometimes it aims at enemies that are already dead from your assault, which can result in other living enemies attacking you while you punch essentially nothing. Then you can do a tail spin attack, which is a weaker maneuver, but it can hit low ground enemies and it works in air. Lastly, you can ground pound, a decent move that is especially useful for destroying stacks of cheese cans. Overall, a solid arsenal for the brave rat, and the game controls well. You can rotate the camera left and right with the shoulder buttons, and center it if you press both at the same time. You can press up on the d-pad to enter a first-person mode to look around. Expect a lot of camera jank, as it doesn’t work well in tight spaces, and it can get caught on obstacles, snapping onto the player after they move far away (of course, you can just snap it manually with L+R). Lastly, you can obtain an ability to dive underwater by purchasing it (more on that later).
Unlike other versions, Ratatouille PSP falls into a weird category of “sequel/prequel tie-in” instead of your typical adaptation that is released along with the movie, unlike all other versions. In this case, the game acts as a sequel to the movie, although the plot is very simple. Antagonist Skinner steals recipes from Linguini and co., so they can’t cook stuff at their new restaurant. Remy and other rats are tasked with locating all of the recipes and ending this madness. The recipes were carelessly scattered around, even in sewers and the rooftops. It’s a very straightforward premise, but it’s sufficient to get you going.
What makes almost any game is level design, and I think the game mostly excels. However, I do have to criticize the very first level of the game. It acts as an adequate tutorial, teaching you all the basics of the game, crawling, jumping and such. However, it also features a gimmick that may give you a bad first impression. Remy’s dad asks you to search around the rooms for various items, you have to come back to him each time to make a little bit of progress. As you can imagine, this type of fetch questing isn’t particularly engaging. Luckily, this is the ONLY level that happens to have this objective. Most other levels are linear A to B affairs, others may be a little more involved, like killing all the enemies or collecting X amount of things (the game teleports you to the sender automatically after you’re done, so it’s not like the fetch quest in the first level, which reminds me of Happy Feet GBA). There’s also a race level in each world, involving racing a teen rat. The first time you’ll probably trigger it without realizing that you can actually explore the level and familiarize yourself with it (and get rid of the enemies along the way) before triggering the race, but the level is easy enough, it’s the first race level after all. All other race levels have you do something before you can actually unlock it, so that way you can strategize on the fastest route along the way.
But wait, there’s more. There are a few traditional gimmicks, like fans that push you around, ice physics or a level that involves climbing clock mechanisms that remind me of similar levels in Super Mario 3D Land. There is some variety to be had here, though I think some ideas could’ve been pushed harder. There are also non-traditional elements, like a level where you have to find a box of dog snacks to distract the dog to run to the next section of the level, basically making a “floor is lava” type of level, and one escort level, which isn’t too bad – Emil is fairly quick and you can just scout ahead and kill the enemies that you find along the way.
There are also boss battles or chase levels after each location. The chase levels are about doing a few loops while Skinner is chasing you, each time the lap is more difficult since the place gets carelessly wrecked by Skinner. The only problem I have with these is that there are a few spots with some sticky substance, it significantly slows you down, and prevents you from jumping, and you’re pretty close to the camera, so it can be tough avoiding stepping on that. There are also two boss fights, a giant turtle in the sewers and Skinner himself at the end of the game, both are pretty solid fights, with patterns to learn. There is technically a third boss, crows from the rooftops, which is a second to last location you visit, but I wouldn’t really call it a boss, it’s more of a collection of obstacle courses, because the goal is to trap multiple crows, with platforming challenges and avoiding said crows when they swoop in.
The game has Guesto’s ghost or “figment of imagination” occasionally show up offering comments or tips throughout the game, and honestly, I think he’s pretty annoying in this game. For the most part, it’s just obvious “the next section is tricky” or “wow, that thing is spooky!”, or a confirmation that you did a right thing. Very little of what he says is useful info, so it feels pointless and a waste of budget that could’ve gone somewhere else, like more quality assurance.
I’ve already mentioned it briefly, but there’s an upgrade system – throughout the game, you’ll be collecting a lot of cheese, which can be exchanged in the hub for something extra – more health, more swipe combos, cheese magnet, swimming speed, and the ability to dive underwater and subsequent increasing of lung capacity. The latter two I feel are pretty situational, aside from the sewer location, which is the second one in the game, there are very few areas where you can swim or dive, so their usefulness is questionable. The diving in particular is only really useful if you care for 100% completion – there are a few keys underwater, and, of course, cheese collectibles. The remaining three upgrades will last you the entire game, so they’re far more useful.
Speaking of keys, 100% completion. It requires you to find a few keys in each of non-boss or chase type of level. There are a few tricky ones, but they do make an audible sound when you’re close, so that can clue you into its location. There is only one key I had to look up because it wasn’t visible until you performed a certain action (Guesto clues you in that the fountain looks interesting). In the hub, you can find a few chests that can be unlocked with a certain amount of keys to reward more recipes. Said recipes are real, and are from Ratatouille’s licensed cookbook, and they can be viewed in extras. One oddity regarding 100% completion is that you have to beat the final boss twice, which isn’t intuitive at all. It’s like the devs wanted a round number but couldn’t fit this last recipe in a logical place, so they just stuck it to beating the final boss twice. The last recipe is the titular ratatouille, if you’re curious.
Overall, Ratatouille PSP is a pleasant surprise, with competent level design and solid mechanics. The graphics are also good for the PSP, or so I think, I haven’t played many PSP games. It controls well, it plays well, and it’s better than its DS and GBA counterparts. While my preference still lies in Asobo’s Ratatouille, the PSP version is a good game in its own right. If you’re looking for a surprisingly good licensed game, Ratatouille PSP might be it.
Ratatouille PSP is a proper 3D platformer with light combat. In your conquest of platforms, you can jump, and even double jump, and you can latch onto poles, both sideways and vertical, make precise landing on small platforms and walk on tight metaphorical “planks”, like small pipes or wires, showing a nice degree of acrobatics. You can also climb on nets and similar objects. Lastly, you can crouch down and run on all 4, it can be used to travel faster, but more importantly, run into tight spaces. Remy is also equipped with a few offensive moves, as there are plenty of enemies to content with (where’s pest control when you need it?). You can perform a swipe attack, which deals a fair bit of damage, but can leave you vulnerable if you don’t time it right, and it can be upgraded for more combos that do more damage. One problem I have with this attack is how sometimes it aims at enemies that are already dead from your assault, which can result in other living enemies attacking you while you punch essentially nothing. Then you can do a tail spin attack, which is a weaker maneuver, but it can hit low ground enemies and it works in air. Lastly, you can ground pound, a decent move that is especially useful for destroying stacks of cheese cans. Overall, a solid arsenal for the brave rat, and the game controls well. You can rotate the camera left and right with the shoulder buttons, and center it if you press both at the same time. You can press up on the d-pad to enter a first-person mode to look around. Expect a lot of camera jank, as it doesn’t work well in tight spaces, and it can get caught on obstacles, snapping onto the player after they move far away (of course, you can just snap it manually with L+R). Lastly, you can obtain an ability to dive underwater by purchasing it (more on that later).
Unlike other versions, Ratatouille PSP falls into a weird category of “sequel/prequel tie-in” instead of your typical adaptation that is released along with the movie, unlike all other versions. In this case, the game acts as a sequel to the movie, although the plot is very simple. Antagonist Skinner steals recipes from Linguini and co., so they can’t cook stuff at their new restaurant. Remy and other rats are tasked with locating all of the recipes and ending this madness. The recipes were carelessly scattered around, even in sewers and the rooftops. It’s a very straightforward premise, but it’s sufficient to get you going.
What makes almost any game is level design, and I think the game mostly excels. However, I do have to criticize the very first level of the game. It acts as an adequate tutorial, teaching you all the basics of the game, crawling, jumping and such. However, it also features a gimmick that may give you a bad first impression. Remy’s dad asks you to search around the rooms for various items, you have to come back to him each time to make a little bit of progress. As you can imagine, this type of fetch questing isn’t particularly engaging. Luckily, this is the ONLY level that happens to have this objective. Most other levels are linear A to B affairs, others may be a little more involved, like killing all the enemies or collecting X amount of things (the game teleports you to the sender automatically after you’re done, so it’s not like the fetch quest in the first level, which reminds me of Happy Feet GBA). There’s also a race level in each world, involving racing a teen rat. The first time you’ll probably trigger it without realizing that you can actually explore the level and familiarize yourself with it (and get rid of the enemies along the way) before triggering the race, but the level is easy enough, it’s the first race level after all. All other race levels have you do something before you can actually unlock it, so that way you can strategize on the fastest route along the way.
But wait, there’s more. There are a few traditional gimmicks, like fans that push you around, ice physics or a level that involves climbing clock mechanisms that remind me of similar levels in Super Mario 3D Land. There is some variety to be had here, though I think some ideas could’ve been pushed harder. There are also non-traditional elements, like a level where you have to find a box of dog snacks to distract the dog to run to the next section of the level, basically making a “floor is lava” type of level, and one escort level, which isn’t too bad – Emil is fairly quick and you can just scout ahead and kill the enemies that you find along the way.
There are also boss battles or chase levels after each location. The chase levels are about doing a few loops while Skinner is chasing you, each time the lap is more difficult since the place gets carelessly wrecked by Skinner. The only problem I have with these is that there are a few spots with some sticky substance, it significantly slows you down, and prevents you from jumping, and you’re pretty close to the camera, so it can be tough avoiding stepping on that. There are also two boss fights, a giant turtle in the sewers and Skinner himself at the end of the game, both are pretty solid fights, with patterns to learn. There is technically a third boss, crows from the rooftops, which is a second to last location you visit, but I wouldn’t really call it a boss, it’s more of a collection of obstacle courses, because the goal is to trap multiple crows, with platforming challenges and avoiding said crows when they swoop in.
The game has Guesto’s ghost or “figment of imagination” occasionally show up offering comments or tips throughout the game, and honestly, I think he’s pretty annoying in this game. For the most part, it’s just obvious “the next section is tricky” or “wow, that thing is spooky!”, or a confirmation that you did a right thing. Very little of what he says is useful info, so it feels pointless and a waste of budget that could’ve gone somewhere else, like more quality assurance.
I’ve already mentioned it briefly, but there’s an upgrade system – throughout the game, you’ll be collecting a lot of cheese, which can be exchanged in the hub for something extra – more health, more swipe combos, cheese magnet, swimming speed, and the ability to dive underwater and subsequent increasing of lung capacity. The latter two I feel are pretty situational, aside from the sewer location, which is the second one in the game, there are very few areas where you can swim or dive, so their usefulness is questionable. The diving in particular is only really useful if you care for 100% completion – there are a few keys underwater, and, of course, cheese collectibles. The remaining three upgrades will last you the entire game, so they’re far more useful.
Speaking of keys, 100% completion. It requires you to find a few keys in each of non-boss or chase type of level. There are a few tricky ones, but they do make an audible sound when you’re close, so that can clue you into its location. There is only one key I had to look up because it wasn’t visible until you performed a certain action (Guesto clues you in that the fountain looks interesting). In the hub, you can find a few chests that can be unlocked with a certain amount of keys to reward more recipes. Said recipes are real, and are from Ratatouille’s licensed cookbook, and they can be viewed in extras. One oddity regarding 100% completion is that you have to beat the final boss twice, which isn’t intuitive at all. It’s like the devs wanted a round number but couldn’t fit this last recipe in a logical place, so they just stuck it to beating the final boss twice. The last recipe is the titular ratatouille, if you’re curious.
Overall, Ratatouille PSP is a pleasant surprise, with competent level design and solid mechanics. The graphics are also good for the PSP, or so I think, I haven’t played many PSP games. It controls well, it plays well, and it’s better than its DS and GBA counterparts. While my preference still lies in Asobo’s Ratatouille, the PSP version is a good game in its own right. If you’re looking for a surprisingly good licensed game, Ratatouille PSP might be it.