Insomniac celebrates the duo's 10th Anniversary with a new downloadable only game.
We all knew that the folks at Insomniac Games were preparing something for Ratchet and Clank’s 10th anniversary this fall, but there weren’t many who were expecting a brand new entry in the popular series. Well, that’s exactly what we’ll be getting this fall with Ratchet and Clank: Full Frontal Assault.
The PS2 classics will make their debut in glorious HD later this year.
Insomniac Games has decided to just come on out and confirm what we pretty much already knew – that a Ratchet & Clank HD collection is on its way to the PlayStation 3. The announcement was made by Ted Price via the Official PlayStation Blog and kicks off the Ratchet & Clank 10th Anniversary Celebration.
The posting also mentions a May 16 release date.
Eurogamer is reporting that a listing has gone up on Amazon France for Ratchet & Clank HD Collection - one of the few series left that Sony has yet to modernize in high resolution on the PlayStation 3. The listing has since been removed for reasons unknown. Before coming down, the collection was listed for release on May 16 with no details on the included games.
It's alright when controls are tight.
I’ve gotten further than I ever had in Ratchet & Clank. I’m on Planet Oltanis and I made my way through the various light guards, sentry robots, and machine gun turrets. It hasn’t been easy, with Clank not available for this level. I lack a lot of the various platforming upgrades I’ve acquired through my playthrough. However, I’m here, and the shiny bright aura surrounding my prize is in my sights. All that remains are some floating platforms with slingshot orbs above them. I grapple onto the first one. No problem. The next one is easy to reach as well after waiting for it to be in line. I grapple onto the third and final orb. It pulls me in. I drop down. I land on the floating platform. Something’s wrong. I’m stuck in the falling animation.
All 4 One, and one for dull.
It's been a long nine days since we started running our Ratchet & Clank recap feature, but it has served as a great refresher on all of the games in the series. Having played them all individually over a number of years, it was easy to miss many of the trends the series has exhibited over time. For one, roughly half of the games in the series are actually side quests that only exhibit some of the traits of the core titles. Two, Insomniac is and has always been willing to utilize the series as a testing ground for all sorts of different ideas. All 4 One, being a co-operative four player title, is their latest test. The title sacrifices much of what makes the core series great in an effort to appeal to those looking for a co-op experience with friends. Like Ratchet: Deadlocked (Insomniac's other testing ground), All 4 One both succeeds and fails in different ways, but doesn't even begin to approach the bar set by A Crack in Time.
What once made for a great holdover between Tools of Destruction and A Crack in Time is now a side quest that's mostly forgettable.
At this point in time, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty serves little purpose. The PSN release is an extremely short 2-3 hour experience that served only as a holdover for the (at the time) upcoming release of A Crack in Time. The entire quest is focused around contacting Clank, given the events that concluded Tools of Destruction. As such, he's not available for use and Ratchet is provided with a few nifty tools to get the job done.
Qwark and Ratchet spoil Clank's fun.
Secret Agent Clank is the second PSP spin-off title in the Ratchet & Clank series, and like its counterpart, Size Matters, was also developed by High Impact Games. Released originally for the PSP in 2008, Secret Agent Clank was eventually ported to the PS2 in 2009 by Sanzaru games. Since I'm not a big fan of the analog nub on the PSP, I opted for the PS2 version instead, and it seems as though I chose poorly. While I can't vouch firsthand on the improved quality of the PSP version, the difference in review scores paints a pretty clear picture. What I can say is the PS2 version of Secret Agent Clank is a sloppy experience full of issues that sadly ruins the unique gameplay and overshadows the quirky character of the title.
After a foray on the small screen and a side quest for Ratchet, the duo are back for a traditional experience, now in HD.
Ratchet & Clank's HD debut brings some mixed successes. On one hand, the series has translated beautifully to a higher resolution thanks to its rich worlds full of color and detail. On the other, despite the improved look, the game's mechanics haven't managed to improve significantly enough to handle the often increased on-screen havoc. The resulting experience still proves enjoyable, if only due to the already solid footing of the series and the improved graphics.
A sidequest that implements some good gameplay concepts but has its share of problems.
It was clear pretty early on that Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters was not created by the usual developers, Insomniac Games. When I touched my first exploding box, and heard a foreign countdown sound, rather than the one I was familiar with, I knew something was different. After learning that Size Matters was developed by High Impact Games, some of the tweaks and deviations from the norm made a bit more sense. It's like the Minish Cap of Ratchet & Clank; it fits in pretty well with the rest of the series, but definitely has its own character and set of drawbacks.
While it's not explicitly stated, Ratchet: Deadlocked marks the first spin-off title in the series. Drop in and see what's changed!
I'm not quite certain what Insomniac Games was going for when they created Ratchet: Deadlocked. It's clear that it wasn't meant to be a traditional Ratchet & Clank game, as the experience is something similar, but quite different at the same time. Rather than the typical action-platformer gameplay, Ratchet: Deadlocked is a third person shooter, through and through.
