(Originally published to Glitchwave on 3/18/2021)
[Image from igdb.com]
Ratchet & Clank
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Genre(s): 3D Platformer, Third-Person Shooter
Platforms: PS2
Release Date: November 4, 2002
The only difference was that the flow of total inferiority from third-party developers stopped at only one game for both franchises instead of a constant slew of disappointment, indefinitely shelving Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper into the memories of the early 21st century. Ratchet & Clank, on the other hand, lived on. Insomniac held on to the duo like a child holds on to their favorite toy and gave them life in a new generation on the PS3. Ratchet & Clank was treated to spinoffs, mobile games, and a new mainline trilogy that arguably rivals the original three games on the PS2. How did they manage to do this? Was it just luck that Insomniac never let Ratchet & Clank abscond from their watchful eye? Perhaps, but I don't believe in luck. These aforementioned PS2 trilogies are like my children, and I refuse to pick one over the other (because I honestly can't decide which one I like the most). However, if I had to attribute a superior factor to the Ratchet & Clank franchise, it would be consistency. Ratchet & Clank had a winning formula of platforming and shooting with a humorous, cartoony presentation. This formula was tweaked over time instead of revamped like the other two PS2 franchises. This is even apparent from Ratchet & Clank's first outing in 2002.
It's hard for me to discuss the first Ratchet & Clank without comparing it to Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal. I played the trilogy backward as a kid and was spoiled by the advancements brought about by the sequels. The first Ratchet & Clank was still solid, but it was rather underwhelming comparatively. I'll try my best to highlight the strengths of this game on its own merits as if it's 2002 and I'm just playing this game for the first time.
Comparing the first game to its sequels is much easier with the Ratchet & Clank games than the other PS2 trilogies because Insomniac never strayed too far from the foundation they laid out. Ratchet & Clank is a platformer that emphasizes using a myriad of futuristic weapons and gadgets to traverse each level. If there's anything that the Ratchet & Clank franchise is known for, it's the level of creativity Insomniac implements in crafting unique weapons and gadgets. These were even the game's selling points in the commercials that aired in the early 2000s. The weapons can range from a blaster that shoots individual rounds at a quick pace to explosive items that are used at a shorter range to dispatch a larger array of enemies. There are also melee weapons that can be substituted for Ratchet's trusty wrench. There are also more creative weapons, like one that shoots electricity and one that dispatches a little army of tiny robots that attack enemies. If you're familiar with this series, you know as well as I do that the best weapon in the game is the ray that turns enemies into farm animals. I will not debate this with anyone.
The design philosophy for each level is rooted in the standard variety of platformer games but under a different scope. Space is the place in the realm of Ratchet & Clank, and space is limitless. The titular duo travel to a smattering of different planets across the universe, and the infinite space allows them to visit many places differing in ecological climates. There are fire worlds, ice worlds, grass worlds, urban worlds, etc. In the language of the platformer, these are the standard levels that give a variety to the game. The unique way that Ratchet & Clank gets away with this without seeming derivative is in the natural vastness of space. No one questions the fire, ice, grass, water, etc. template at play here because the foreground of space travel suspends any disbelief. Each level consists of one or more straight paths to some endpoint or loop around the beginning. Even planets with multiple routes end with either a dead end or a loop around with a flying car or another vehicle taking you back to your ship. It's hard to get lost at a Ratchet & Clank level. Some objectives will take you further into the story, some of them will give you the coordinates to a new planet, and some of them will earn you a new weapon or gadget.
The game is also incredibly charming. It has the art style and presentation of a Saturday morning cartoon. The game is really funny and the characters, major or minor, amount to the overall comedic and light-hearted tone of the game. The science fiction elements presented in Ratchet & Clank take inspiration from Star Trek, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Futurama. It's a zany, science-fiction universe where every possible futuristic trope seems to have come to fruition. Everything in this universe has progressed so far past the 21st century that the stretch of time between our world and the game's world is unfathomable. The crux of the humor in Ratchet & Clank is a satire of society, corporations, and commodities. It's sort of like Futurama for kids, and it mirrors the foibles of present-day society through a futuristic lens. Ironically, in a time where flying cars, teleportation, and intergalactic travel exists, no one has found a cure for depression, bad breath, or erectile dysfunction (or so to speak), and the mother of invention is still active in the form of first world capitalism.
Of course, this brief analysis summarizes the entire Ratchet & Clank series, not just one game. The formula for the franchise has not stagnated, and it seems to have gotten better and more refined over time. It had to start somewhere, however, and the first Ratchet & Clank served as the building blocks to expand on. Nowadays, the first game feels like a beta test for what is to come. The foundation was there, but it's a tad rough around the edges. This does not mean that the first game cannot stand on its merits.
The first Ratchet & Clank also serves as an origin story for the duo. Ratchet is a humble ship mechanic living in a small area on a remote planet. Clank is a very small robot, a dud that malfunctioned from a conveyor belt. They meet each other by circumstance when Clank crash lands on Ratchet's planet looking for Captain Qwark, a celebrity superhero who Clank thinks is the only person capable of stopping Chairman Drek, the game's main antagonist. Ratchet and Clank start looking for Qwark and then find a way to stop Chairman Drek. Ratchet and Clank work off each other well in this game because their first adventure is a growing period. Their contrasting personalities work off each other quite well in the first game. Ratchet is an everyman protagonist with the flaws you'd expect from a guy who accidentally had to be a hero at the spur of the moment. He's capable, but he's distracted. He's more focused on using this opportunity for fame or to meet famous people. When he does finally meet a certain famous person, this ends up biting him in the ass and makes him bitter. His character comes to its closure when he realizes that this mission isn't about him, and he finally gets to live out his full potential. His voice and demeanor in this game also remind me of Jeff Spicoli. Clank, on the other hand, is more pragmatic and is a great foil to Ratchet. Since I was more used to the less character-driven sequels, I thought it was upsetting that Ratchet and Clank bickered with each other for more than half of the game. I've grown to like the dynamic here because this is the only game (out of the original trilogy) in which the duo grows as characters.
So what are Ratchet & Clank fighting for? To stop the enterprise of one Chairman Drek, an intergalactic imperialist of short stature, an iron-pressed suit, and a black ponytail. If Napoleon Bonaparte and American Psycho have taught anyone anything, it's that short imperialists and yuppies are both terrifying. Drek's home planet has been polluted to the point where it has become absolutely uninhabitable by anything or anyone (except for ugly hostile creatures like red-eyed toads and long-necked beasts with eight legs. You visit his home planet at least three times in the game). He decides to make a new planet from parts of already existing planets, sucking up their resources whether they like it or not. The ecological premise here turns into a biting take on capitalism when it is revealed that Drek polluted his own planet for financial gain and intends to eventually do the same for his new planet. Drek isn't my favorite Ratchet & Clank antagonist, but he is arguably the most effective when establishing an evil, foreboding villain. He's pure scum, and the scariest aspect of his character is how his business tactics resemble some powerful men in real life. On the other side of the coin, Captain Qwark is a villain you can forgive. His character becomes likable as he tries to redeem himself, but in the first game, he's just a pathetic tool. He's secretly working for Drek on the promise that Drek has endorsements for him that will resurrect his career. He sets Ratchet & Clank into a trap and becomes the focal point for a good portion of the game, directed by Ratchet's selfish anger towards him. Quark's presence in this game is middling, but I think that's the point. He's a satire of the dark side of celebrity life, a buoy trying to stay afloat, so he doesn't have to start sucking extraterrestrial cock for food.
The first Ratchet & Clank is a platformer first and a shooter second. The elements that are readily apparent in this game scream second-generation 3D platformer. It has all the common tropes like double jumping, gliding, wall jumping, etc. All of these tropes are executed quite well, and the phenomenal framerate really helps. However, the same cannot be said for the shooting. The more close ranged weapons like the Bomb Glove, and the Pyrocinator do just fine with multiple enemies. I have to give a special shout-out to the Walloper for being my favorite weapon in the game and being a fine substitute for the wrench. Long-ranged weapons like the Blaster and the Devastator are essential in combat but not utilized to the best of their abilities because of the game's shortcomings. There is a green circle that indicates that your shot with these weapons is likely to hit, but nothing is guaranteed. In spots with multiple enemies that you can't approach directly, I ended up taking them out from a distance which never feels like the intended method, but it turns out to be the most practical one. The RYNO might be the most powerful weapon in the game, but good luck trying to target enemies with it. I love the Morph-O Ray, but I never use it because I can't target an enemy with it without potentially harming myself in the process. Speaking of harming myself, the health in this game is a series of single hits. You have four blocks of health that deplete after getting hit by anything. Whether it's an explosive or a shot from a blaster, it all takes away one block of health. It works in a game like Crash Bandicoot because Crash isn't supposed to get hit more than maybe twice. It's different here because the range of obstacles is more diverse. It's an exemplary system, but it's very indicative of the developers emphasizing platforming rather than shooting.
Besides jumping and shooting, the game provides many other opportunities to switch up the gameplay. On several levels, there are physics puzzles involving draining water to reach a higher point or swimming through a series of tunnels. I wouldn't mind these so much if the swimming controls weren't so inflexible. This problem is done away with once you acquire the H2 Mask. There are also security puzzles in most of the levels that require you to match up beams with the colored slots. One could argue that these puzzles require you to completely stop breaking the game's pacing, but I quite like them. It feels like I'm breaking into an inaccessible place when I succeed at solving them. The turret sections can be difficult only because a lot is happening simultaneously, and the PS2 controls are inverted. There are space battle sections that just come and go and seem trivial. As a result, not even the space battle against Qwark proves to be a challenge. The stealth sections where you disguise yourself as a clunky robot minion are quite tense, and it's hilarious that you can sneak past these hulking tin cans without them even questioning your shorter stature. The racing sections are garbage. This was when X-games and extreme sports were popular, so I guess Insomniac figured that this radical trend would persist into the future in hoverboard fashion. However, it's not radical to control the hoverboard sluggishly and become as fragile as a piece of glass. I'm definitely glad they did away with these in the sequels.
My favorite sections that deviate from platforming as Ratchet are each section you can play as Clank. How could the Clank sections not be everyone's favorite? He goes from being Ratchet's backpack to outcharming him in every cutscene, so getting to play as him becomes a point of curiosity. Clank can't dole out a lot of damage, but he can command tiny robot minions to attack enemies and open doors for him. It's platforming with minor changes, but getting to play as Clank is still fun. Unlike another certain small platformer sidekick on the PS2, Clank proves to be useful as he can traverse sections that Ratchet can not, like the space station and the polluted planet Orxon. This game probably has the longest Clank sections in the trilogy, so that is definitely an advantage in my book. Coincidentally, my least favorite area in the game is the only one where you can't use Clank, so that adorable little toaster is more than just Ratchet's sidekick. He's my favorite part about these games. Giant Clank is also a blast.
The Ratchet & Clank franchise has remained one of the lasting franchises in the now unfashionable 3D platformer genre. As much as I'd like to attribute this to Insomniac being a little more assertive in keeping their IPs than other developers, I've played too much of Ratchet & Clank to chalk it all up to luck and persistence. It's one of the most consistent franchises I've played. The first game of the series may be a little elementary in comparison to its sequels, but all of the elements that make Ratchet & Clank a beloved franchise are all here. Fortunately, it gets much better from here.
It's hard for me to discuss the first Ratchet & Clank without comparing it to Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal. I played the trilogy backward as a kid and was spoiled by the advancements brought about by the sequels. The first Ratchet & Clank was still solid, but it was rather underwhelming comparatively. I'll try my best to highlight the strengths of this game on its own merits as if it's 2002 and I'm just playing this game for the first time.
Comparing the first game to its sequels is much easier with the Ratchet & Clank games than the other PS2 trilogies because Insomniac never strayed too far from the foundation they laid out. Ratchet & Clank is a platformer that emphasizes using a myriad of futuristic weapons and gadgets to traverse each level. If there's anything that the Ratchet & Clank franchise is known for, it's the level of creativity Insomniac implements in crafting unique weapons and gadgets. These were even the game's selling points in the commercials that aired in the early 2000s. The weapons can range from a blaster that shoots individual rounds at a quick pace to explosive items that are used at a shorter range to dispatch a larger array of enemies. There are also melee weapons that can be substituted for Ratchet's trusty wrench. There are also more creative weapons, like one that shoots electricity and one that dispatches a little army of tiny robots that attack enemies. If you're familiar with this series, you know as well as I do that the best weapon in the game is the ray that turns enemies into farm animals. I will not debate this with anyone.
The design philosophy for each level is rooted in the standard variety of platformer games but under a different scope. Space is the place in the realm of Ratchet & Clank, and space is limitless. The titular duo travel to a smattering of different planets across the universe, and the infinite space allows them to visit many places differing in ecological climates. There are fire worlds, ice worlds, grass worlds, urban worlds, etc. In the language of the platformer, these are the standard levels that give a variety to the game. The unique way that Ratchet & Clank gets away with this without seeming derivative is in the natural vastness of space. No one questions the fire, ice, grass, water, etc. template at play here because the foreground of space travel suspends any disbelief. Each level consists of one or more straight paths to some endpoint or loop around the beginning. Even planets with multiple routes end with either a dead end or a loop around with a flying car or another vehicle taking you back to your ship. It's hard to get lost at a Ratchet & Clank level. Some objectives will take you further into the story, some of them will give you the coordinates to a new planet, and some of them will earn you a new weapon or gadget.
The game is also incredibly charming. It has the art style and presentation of a Saturday morning cartoon. The game is really funny and the characters, major or minor, amount to the overall comedic and light-hearted tone of the game. The science fiction elements presented in Ratchet & Clank take inspiration from Star Trek, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Futurama. It's a zany, science-fiction universe where every possible futuristic trope seems to have come to fruition. Everything in this universe has progressed so far past the 21st century that the stretch of time between our world and the game's world is unfathomable. The crux of the humor in Ratchet & Clank is a satire of society, corporations, and commodities. It's sort of like Futurama for kids, and it mirrors the foibles of present-day society through a futuristic lens. Ironically, in a time where flying cars, teleportation, and intergalactic travel exists, no one has found a cure for depression, bad breath, or erectile dysfunction (or so to speak), and the mother of invention is still active in the form of first world capitalism.
Of course, this brief analysis summarizes the entire Ratchet & Clank series, not just one game. The formula for the franchise has not stagnated, and it seems to have gotten better and more refined over time. It had to start somewhere, however, and the first Ratchet & Clank served as the building blocks to expand on. Nowadays, the first game feels like a beta test for what is to come. The foundation was there, but it's a tad rough around the edges. This does not mean that the first game cannot stand on its merits.
The first Ratchet & Clank also serves as an origin story for the duo. Ratchet is a humble ship mechanic living in a small area on a remote planet. Clank is a very small robot, a dud that malfunctioned from a conveyor belt. They meet each other by circumstance when Clank crash lands on Ratchet's planet looking for Captain Qwark, a celebrity superhero who Clank thinks is the only person capable of stopping Chairman Drek, the game's main antagonist. Ratchet and Clank start looking for Qwark and then find a way to stop Chairman Drek. Ratchet and Clank work off each other well in this game because their first adventure is a growing period. Their contrasting personalities work off each other quite well in the first game. Ratchet is an everyman protagonist with the flaws you'd expect from a guy who accidentally had to be a hero at the spur of the moment. He's capable, but he's distracted. He's more focused on using this opportunity for fame or to meet famous people. When he does finally meet a certain famous person, this ends up biting him in the ass and makes him bitter. His character comes to its closure when he realizes that this mission isn't about him, and he finally gets to live out his full potential. His voice and demeanor in this game also remind me of Jeff Spicoli. Clank, on the other hand, is more pragmatic and is a great foil to Ratchet. Since I was more used to the less character-driven sequels, I thought it was upsetting that Ratchet and Clank bickered with each other for more than half of the game. I've grown to like the dynamic here because this is the only game (out of the original trilogy) in which the duo grows as characters.
So what are Ratchet & Clank fighting for? To stop the enterprise of one Chairman Drek, an intergalactic imperialist of short stature, an iron-pressed suit, and a black ponytail. If Napoleon Bonaparte and American Psycho have taught anyone anything, it's that short imperialists and yuppies are both terrifying. Drek's home planet has been polluted to the point where it has become absolutely uninhabitable by anything or anyone (except for ugly hostile creatures like red-eyed toads and long-necked beasts with eight legs. You visit his home planet at least three times in the game). He decides to make a new planet from parts of already existing planets, sucking up their resources whether they like it or not. The ecological premise here turns into a biting take on capitalism when it is revealed that Drek polluted his own planet for financial gain and intends to eventually do the same for his new planet. Drek isn't my favorite Ratchet & Clank antagonist, but he is arguably the most effective when establishing an evil, foreboding villain. He's pure scum, and the scariest aspect of his character is how his business tactics resemble some powerful men in real life. On the other side of the coin, Captain Qwark is a villain you can forgive. His character becomes likable as he tries to redeem himself, but in the first game, he's just a pathetic tool. He's secretly working for Drek on the promise that Drek has endorsements for him that will resurrect his career. He sets Ratchet & Clank into a trap and becomes the focal point for a good portion of the game, directed by Ratchet's selfish anger towards him. Quark's presence in this game is middling, but I think that's the point. He's a satire of the dark side of celebrity life, a buoy trying to stay afloat, so he doesn't have to start sucking extraterrestrial cock for food.
The first Ratchet & Clank is a platformer first and a shooter second. The elements that are readily apparent in this game scream second-generation 3D platformer. It has all the common tropes like double jumping, gliding, wall jumping, etc. All of these tropes are executed quite well, and the phenomenal framerate really helps. However, the same cannot be said for the shooting. The more close ranged weapons like the Bomb Glove, and the Pyrocinator do just fine with multiple enemies. I have to give a special shout-out to the Walloper for being my favorite weapon in the game and being a fine substitute for the wrench. Long-ranged weapons like the Blaster and the Devastator are essential in combat but not utilized to the best of their abilities because of the game's shortcomings. There is a green circle that indicates that your shot with these weapons is likely to hit, but nothing is guaranteed. In spots with multiple enemies that you can't approach directly, I ended up taking them out from a distance which never feels like the intended method, but it turns out to be the most practical one. The RYNO might be the most powerful weapon in the game, but good luck trying to target enemies with it. I love the Morph-O Ray, but I never use it because I can't target an enemy with it without potentially harming myself in the process. Speaking of harming myself, the health in this game is a series of single hits. You have four blocks of health that deplete after getting hit by anything. Whether it's an explosive or a shot from a blaster, it all takes away one block of health. It works in a game like Crash Bandicoot because Crash isn't supposed to get hit more than maybe twice. It's different here because the range of obstacles is more diverse. It's an exemplary system, but it's very indicative of the developers emphasizing platforming rather than shooting.
Besides jumping and shooting, the game provides many other opportunities to switch up the gameplay. On several levels, there are physics puzzles involving draining water to reach a higher point or swimming through a series of tunnels. I wouldn't mind these so much if the swimming controls weren't so inflexible. This problem is done away with once you acquire the H2 Mask. There are also security puzzles in most of the levels that require you to match up beams with the colored slots. One could argue that these puzzles require you to completely stop breaking the game's pacing, but I quite like them. It feels like I'm breaking into an inaccessible place when I succeed at solving them. The turret sections can be difficult only because a lot is happening simultaneously, and the PS2 controls are inverted. There are space battle sections that just come and go and seem trivial. As a result, not even the space battle against Qwark proves to be a challenge. The stealth sections where you disguise yourself as a clunky robot minion are quite tense, and it's hilarious that you can sneak past these hulking tin cans without them even questioning your shorter stature. The racing sections are garbage. This was when X-games and extreme sports were popular, so I guess Insomniac figured that this radical trend would persist into the future in hoverboard fashion. However, it's not radical to control the hoverboard sluggishly and become as fragile as a piece of glass. I'm definitely glad they did away with these in the sequels.
My favorite sections that deviate from platforming as Ratchet are each section you can play as Clank. How could the Clank sections not be everyone's favorite? He goes from being Ratchet's backpack to outcharming him in every cutscene, so getting to play as him becomes a point of curiosity. Clank can't dole out a lot of damage, but he can command tiny robot minions to attack enemies and open doors for him. It's platforming with minor changes, but getting to play as Clank is still fun. Unlike another certain small platformer sidekick on the PS2, Clank proves to be useful as he can traverse sections that Ratchet can not, like the space station and the polluted planet Orxon. This game probably has the longest Clank sections in the trilogy, so that is definitely an advantage in my book. Coincidentally, my least favorite area in the game is the only one where you can't use Clank, so that adorable little toaster is more than just Ratchet's sidekick. He's my favorite part about these games. Giant Clank is also a blast.
The Ratchet & Clank franchise has remained one of the lasting franchises in the now unfashionable 3D platformer genre. As much as I'd like to attribute this to Insomniac being a little more assertive in keeping their IPs than other developers, I've played too much of Ratchet & Clank to chalk it all up to luck and persistence. It's one of the most consistent franchises I've played. The first game of the series may be a little elementary in comparison to its sequels, but all of the elements that make Ratchet & Clank a beloved franchise are all here. Fortunately, it gets much better from here.
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