Ratchet & Clank

Posted Jan 3, 2003 by TBO.com

Updated Sep 7, 2007 at 02:17 PM

System: Sony PlayStation 2

Publisher: Sony

Reviewer’s rating: A-

ESRB rating: Teen

Game type: Platform adventure

Kind of like: “Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy”

Best feature: Countless inventive weapons keep gameplay from getting stale.

Worst feature: It’s not exactly a novel concept, but that’s nitpicking.

The bottom line: Other game developers could learn a lesson or two from Insomniac. They do games right.

With a little imagination and a lot of attention to detail, they breathe new life into a tired, old genre (the platform game) with ” Ratchet & Clank.”

We’re not surprised. They did the same thing with their charming “Spyro the Dragon” series.

This time, they just did it a little better.

Ratchet is a furry, mechanically inclined, intergalactic critter with a robot sidekick (Clank) and an unlikely interest in saving the galaxy from the evil Chairman Drek.

Controlling Ratchet (and, occasionally, Clank), players explore a series of vast, lush planets rendered in colorful 3-D. Levels are expertly designed, as if the Insomniac gang has actually played — and learned from the mistakes of — previous platformers. The balance of combat, puzzles and pure exploration is just right; there’s plenty of variety from one planet to the next; the controls are as surprising for their ease-of-use as they are for their depth; and there’s rarely if ever any backtracking.

As with all platformers, you’ll spend plenty of time gathering items. Where Mario had coins and Spyro had gems, Ratchet collects nuts and bolts. But instead of simply boosting your score, they can be exchanged at any Gadgetron kiosk for new weapons (our favorite is the Suck Cannon), ammunition and other upgrades.