Probably the weakest mainline Ratchet & Clank game that i’ve played honestly, your arsenal is a step down from past games and there’s just a lot about the gameplay in general that doesn’t work for me - the early 7th gen jank curse is real. Really uneven difficulty spikes later on too iirc
It’s also where the series becomes pixarified tonally which i don’t care for and it’s at its worst here with a plot that’s just very, very bland and a comic relief character disguised as a main antagonist (granted, past R&C villains were silly too…but they still felt like actual threats you really wanted to take down)
Remember when we had way more cutscenes where R&C talked to side characters, fully animated, voiced and all? this game is where the series started having out of place, very stiff & one-sided semi RPG style choose-your-questions conversations and it’s just strange and boring imo

What a game. Coming back to it there’s elements of it that don’t entirely hold up gameplay-wise but when it works it works really well, and ofc the presentation and writing is a big step up from metal gear 2 (considering that it’s all in-game the cutscenework is so good for its time like omg)
Now when it comes to it being a sequel to MG2, it’s… pretty interesting how much this feels like a stealth remake of that game, lots of similarities and outright reused scenarios here. In some ways it’s cool (especially given how MGS2 ultimately weaves that approach into its story) and in others it feels a little been here, done that.

Angry Dad Simulator: 2012 Edition
Jokes aside, it’s pretty good within the lens of being an impressive, interactive anime. as a game the core gameplay is… extremely weak but i think there’s a lot of good there in terms of how it interfaces with the medium, i’d argue its combined strengths and weaknesses make it a better game than it would be a broadcasted anime
Beyond that there’s so much to love here too, the artstyle that mixes together hinduism and buddhist mythologies with a high tech twist is beyond sick imo, especially when you realize how Asura and the other demigods are essentially cyborgs with mechanical innards, bodies that audibly creak when under extreme pressure etc.
Shame about the ending being paid DLC, but tbf it absolutely is worth the price of admission - I don’t know if I would recommend the game without Part IV tbh
One thing that’s kind of interesting to look back on is how Asura’s Wrath is very much a take on the hot blooded man-literally-too-angry-to-die power sim games that were (somewhat) all the rage at the time. It’s not entirely like something such as classic God of War, both in terms of themes or gameplay but it definitely exists within the same vein… that said, it always felt like this game came out just in time for that fad to start fading away, QTEs became dramatically less omnipresent too iirc

Pretty cool game, clunky and simplistic ofc but I think it’s rad for something that formed the backbone of a whole series going forward.
I played through some of the major pre-MGS5 games years ago (as in solid 1-4) but until this year i actually hasn’t played the first two games until I decided on playing & replaying as much of the series as possible, it was cool going back and getting to experience MG1 and MG2 beyond the recaps in solid 1.
Anyways I don’t have much to say really, but turn off the device you’re reading this review on, now!

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

A stunning & stylish albeit occasionally frustrating TPS. Just very, very cool imo. I love how Remedy just had their staff, friends & family provide their likeness for the characters, gives the whole thing a sort of homemade quality to it so to speak.
I played it on Xbox via One/Series backwards compatibility, but honestly… it controls pretty roughly on a controller. I’d recommend playing on PC it should def be a better time there even if it needs some prep work to get up and running these days.