While a departure from the cynical and edgy style of the PS2 titles, Tools of Destruction introduces players to a more cinematic presentation style, reminiscent of a space-opera.
The stakes are higher, there is more melodrama, and the overall vibe is more emotional and grandiose. Clank deals with his true origin story and cosmic beings called the Zoni, and Ratchet begins to deal with being the last of his race, and why.
Emperor Tachyon is this entry's villain, and he's basically a smaller, creepier, but just as maniacal version of Doctor Nefarious. Talwyn Apogee is introduced as Ratchet's female counterpart for this series, but seems to completely retcon Angela from Going Commando. Despite this, Talwyn ends up being quite a good character, and as an NPC, ends up being pretty helpful.
The game is slightly more linear than previous entries (bar Deadlocked) but still retains the multiple pathway design from 1 and 2. It also goes back to basics with more platforming than 3 and Deadlocked.
The graphics are improved, Ratchet's design is altered slightly to appear more "cuddly" but still retains the personality he's developed over past titles. The same is done with Clank, minus the visual redesign.
The story itself is great. Moving on from the cynical nature into the cinematic style narrative felt natural, and I personally enjoyed it. There were also space pirate sections with a Pirates of the Caribbean style theme to go with them, which I also personally enjoyed (David Bergeaud is still the composer for this title, that wonderful genius).
Gameplay itself was fantastic. New weapons, updated mechanics, more chaos and spectacle. The works. I felt even the Clank sections got better (minus some tedious checkpoints).
The only other minor gripes that I have are that towards the end, enemies turn into bullet sponges, even with end-game fully upgraded weapons. There are also a fair amount of technical issues with the game, such as cutscenes where the audio desyncs and small things like character animations freezing akwardly mid-frame when running into a hitbox. Swinging the wrench tends to spin Ratchet in the opposite direction sometimes, too, and some enemies, when knocked back, glitch out and freeze in place, refusing to die or get back up. Other audio issues include weirdly placed audio in the stereo spectrum, and some sounds disappearing completely amid the chaos.
If it weren't for the immersion-breaking technical issues, this game would've gotten a 4 from me, but it was disappointing to see the gameplay lack the technical polish the narrative demanded. But all in all, it still felt like Ratchet and Clank, but with more cinematic flair.
The stakes are higher, there is more melodrama, and the overall vibe is more emotional and grandiose. Clank deals with his true origin story and cosmic beings called the Zoni, and Ratchet begins to deal with being the last of his race, and why.
Emperor Tachyon is this entry's villain, and he's basically a smaller, creepier, but just as maniacal version of Doctor Nefarious. Talwyn Apogee is introduced as Ratchet's female counterpart for this series, but seems to completely retcon Angela from Going Commando. Despite this, Talwyn ends up being quite a good character, and as an NPC, ends up being pretty helpful.
The game is slightly more linear than previous entries (bar Deadlocked) but still retains the multiple pathway design from 1 and 2. It also goes back to basics with more platforming than 3 and Deadlocked.
The graphics are improved, Ratchet's design is altered slightly to appear more "cuddly" but still retains the personality he's developed over past titles. The same is done with Clank, minus the visual redesign.
The story itself is great. Moving on from the cynical nature into the cinematic style narrative felt natural, and I personally enjoyed it. There were also space pirate sections with a Pirates of the Caribbean style theme to go with them, which I also personally enjoyed (David Bergeaud is still the composer for this title, that wonderful genius).
Gameplay itself was fantastic. New weapons, updated mechanics, more chaos and spectacle. The works. I felt even the Clank sections got better (minus some tedious checkpoints).
The only other minor gripes that I have are that towards the end, enemies turn into bullet sponges, even with end-game fully upgraded weapons. There are also a fair amount of technical issues with the game, such as cutscenes where the audio desyncs and small things like character animations freezing akwardly mid-frame when running into a hitbox. Swinging the wrench tends to spin Ratchet in the opposite direction sometimes, too, and some enemies, when knocked back, glitch out and freeze in place, refusing to die or get back up. Other audio issues include weirdly placed audio in the stereo spectrum, and some sounds disappearing completely amid the chaos.
If it weren't for the immersion-breaking technical issues, this game would've gotten a 4 from me, but it was disappointing to see the gameplay lack the technical polish the narrative demanded. But all in all, it still felt like Ratchet and Clank, but with more cinematic flair.