Arguably the most consistently good Ratchet & Clank game if that makes sense. As an action game its sequels surpassed it but i don’t think any of them entirely meet with R&C1 achieving its goals as an action-platformer. The level design’s largely great, the weapons across your arsenal have utility so (with a few exceptions) it feels like they always serve a purpose instead of being outclassed by the next time buy or come across one
Writing-wise there’s not much to write home about here imo, the immediate sequels are both funnier and snappier - Though looking back Ratchet as a character feels very inconsistent here, I appreciate what Insomniac was going for here but it’s no wonder how people found him so unlikeable back in the day when the game speedruns his development regarding his relationship with Clank so fast it feels like he’s flip-flopping off screen lol.
Chairma-Sorry, I mean Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman Drek is probably my favorite villain in the series though, on account of him being an extremely opaque “I know writers who use subtext, & they’re all cowards”-tier implementation of the corporate/consumerist satire that would continue throughout the later games in the series, he hits a good line between being a little silly and coming across as a huge, despicable threat that really pays off as when you wipe the floor with him at the end of the game.
Really interesting how much this game feels like the culmination of Insomniac’s work on Spyro the Dragon, they’re still very different games ofc but you can feels bits and pieces of what would end up as part of Ratchet’s core design DNA forming across Spyro 1 and especially its sequels