The 5th R&C game made by Insomniac, and a fairly early PS3 title, this game provides a very welcome return to form for the series after the strange, arcadey experiment that was Ratchet: Deadlocked. Not only that, but they really go above and beyond to try and imagine not just Ratchet & Clank as you've always known it, but Ratchet & Clank + a little bit more. It took me about 12 hours to beat the Japanese version of the game over the course of a couple days.
R&C Future's story starts at kind of a reset, but I mostly only mean that in terms of how this just starts with R&C hanging out in the city, repairing an old ship. It's very reminiscent of the first game in that regard, but it's notable in that this is the first Insomniac-developed game in the series not to pick up more or less directly from where we last left our heroes. They receive a distress signal from Captain Qwark as the city is suddenly under attack by a mysterious unknown force. On their way to meet Qwark, they're surrounded by these mysterious invaders and approached by their leader, the eccentric Emperor Tachyon, who informs them that not only is he only here to kill Ratchet, but that Ratchet is also actually the last of his species. They outsmart Tachyon, steal his spaceship, and end up in the system where Tachyon is originally from and embark on a quest to stop him.
R&C Future's story isn't just a reset to distance itself from the not very well received Ratchet: Deadlocked. It also marks a point where Insomniac are actually trying to tell more a more engaging and developed story beyond the buddy cop comedy that usually fill the runtime of the dialogue of these games. That's not to say the game isn't funny, but it's nice to have the game actually explore the motivations of Ratchet, Clank, and even their side characters and villains in a less binary way than past games. I didn't see the day coming when I'd suddenly care about the story in a Ratchet & Clank game, but here we are! XD
Mechanically, this game continues the (usually) consistent upward trend of each game improving on the last one. After four games you can FINALLY use the shoulder buttons to lock on and fire, meaning you can actually play without claw-handing the controller to hit both the face buttons to fire as well as using the right stick to turn. The guns are also a great balance of "situational" and "just damn good" that makes them all really fun to use (and you'll probably need all that firepower to survive, really). Ratchet also still plays great, the Clank sections are more fun than they've ever been before, and the Star Fox-esque spaceship parts are actually really fun. Most of the other games have at least one "oh heck, this part" moment, but R&C Future really doesn't and I love it. The game is pretty hard though, and I was routinely surprised at just how much damage I would take during the occasions I'd get hit ^^;
This is another R&C game, like 3, that actually has some pretty darn good music in it. My personal favorite was the pirate level theme, but overall I felt this game had a few more memorable tracks than the past games have. It's also a very pretty game, having a simple yet effective art style despite being such an early PS3 game. It has a physics system and some destructible terrain, which honestly feel more like they tax the PS3's CPU than anything (the intro level especially having some very noticeable framerate issues), but the game generally runs just fine despite the occasional enemy getting caught in a wall when it dies. Only once did I ever have to save and load due to a flag to progress not triggering, and that's an acceptable margin of error for me.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. Ratchet & Clank land onto the PS3 generation in a big splash and an excellent return to form. It has me super excited to play the next one, which I've heard is even better in just about every way. You don't need to play the previous games at all to appreciate this one, as Captain Qwark is really the only returning character who isn't one of the titular characters Ratchet & Clank, and this is probably one you can find under $10 that will be well worth your time if you like action platformers.
R&C Future's story starts at kind of a reset, but I mostly only mean that in terms of how this just starts with R&C hanging out in the city, repairing an old ship. It's very reminiscent of the first game in that regard, but it's notable in that this is the first Insomniac-developed game in the series not to pick up more or less directly from where we last left our heroes. They receive a distress signal from Captain Qwark as the city is suddenly under attack by a mysterious unknown force. On their way to meet Qwark, they're surrounded by these mysterious invaders and approached by their leader, the eccentric Emperor Tachyon, who informs them that not only is he only here to kill Ratchet, but that Ratchet is also actually the last of his species. They outsmart Tachyon, steal his spaceship, and end up in the system where Tachyon is originally from and embark on a quest to stop him.
R&C Future's story isn't just a reset to distance itself from the not very well received Ratchet: Deadlocked. It also marks a point where Insomniac are actually trying to tell more a more engaging and developed story beyond the buddy cop comedy that usually fill the runtime of the dialogue of these games. That's not to say the game isn't funny, but it's nice to have the game actually explore the motivations of Ratchet, Clank, and even their side characters and villains in a less binary way than past games. I didn't see the day coming when I'd suddenly care about the story in a Ratchet & Clank game, but here we are! XD
Mechanically, this game continues the (usually) consistent upward trend of each game improving on the last one. After four games you can FINALLY use the shoulder buttons to lock on and fire, meaning you can actually play without claw-handing the controller to hit both the face buttons to fire as well as using the right stick to turn. The guns are also a great balance of "situational" and "just damn good" that makes them all really fun to use (and you'll probably need all that firepower to survive, really). Ratchet also still plays great, the Clank sections are more fun than they've ever been before, and the Star Fox-esque spaceship parts are actually really fun. Most of the other games have at least one "oh heck, this part" moment, but R&C Future really doesn't and I love it. The game is pretty hard though, and I was routinely surprised at just how much damage I would take during the occasions I'd get hit ^^;
This is another R&C game, like 3, that actually has some pretty darn good music in it. My personal favorite was the pirate level theme, but overall I felt this game had a few more memorable tracks than the past games have. It's also a very pretty game, having a simple yet effective art style despite being such an early PS3 game. It has a physics system and some destructible terrain, which honestly feel more like they tax the PS3's CPU than anything (the intro level especially having some very noticeable framerate issues), but the game generally runs just fine despite the occasional enemy getting caught in a wall when it dies. Only once did I ever have to save and load due to a flag to progress not triggering, and that's an acceptable margin of error for me.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. Ratchet & Clank land onto the PS3 generation in a big splash and an excellent return to form. It has me super excited to play the next one, which I've heard is even better in just about every way. You don't need to play the previous games at all to appreciate this one, as Captain Qwark is really the only returning character who isn't one of the titular characters Ratchet & Clank, and this is probably one you can find under $10 that will be well worth your time if you like action platformers.