Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault (PS3/Vita) review

Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus comes out in North America tomorrow and today I finish my retrospective of the series by reviewing the latest game, Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault. Originally, the game was only going to be downloadable like Quest for Booty, but Insomniac Games decided to release it as a physical copy as well. Since it is yet another experimental Ratchet & Clank game, was it worth the $20 overall? Let’s find out.

Story

The story begins with Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark aboard the Starship Phoenix II (what happened to the original?). Qwark, after losing the presidential election, becomes bored that there is nothing to do in the Private Sector. That is until a mysterious foe calls them, warning them that the Planetary Defense Centers are going to be run over by the Grungarians. Finally able to get in on the action, Qwark reassembles the Q-Force once again to protect the Defense Centers and defeat this mysterious foe.

The story is pretty forgettable, though story isn’t really the series’ biggest strength, unless it’s the Future trilogy. One thing that really bothered me, however, was the humor, which I thought was pretty weak compared to the other games. The humor is chock full of references to Internet memes (“You mad, bro?” and “Like a boss” for example), which I thought immediately dates this game. Though despite that, the part where the main antagonist hacked the Phoenix to play the Trololo song left me bursting with laughter. It's too bad that years from now, people who play this for the first time won't get any of the references. The same could be said with some of the humor from Up Your Arsenal.

Gameplay

You play as Ratchet, Clank, or Qwark in the main campaign which can be played alone or cooperatively with a friend. The platforming and shooting elements remain, but it adds a tower defense element, as well as combining the Siege gameplay from Up Your Arsenal and the hoverboot gameplay from A Crack in Time. What you must do is purchase defenses on each level to keep enemies from destroying your base, while you find weapons scattered throughout each planet before taking the Defense Centers back.

The shooting mechanics have been tweaked to play more like your typical shooter, where you aim with L1 and shoot with R1. Weapons can still be upgraded by gaining experience points from fallen enemies.

After completing a level, you are awarded medals for completing certain achievements like not letting any generators on your base get destroyed or completing a level within a certain time. Once you’ve earned a certain number of medals, you will be promoted a rank and awarded upgrades like better armor and faster hoverboots.

The Gold Bolts and Skill Points return to increase the replay value. Collecting Gold Bolts will unlock skins for the competitive multiplayer. Skill Points are additional tasks that you are given and the more you complete, the more cheats you will unlock.

Full Frontal Assault is another Cross-Buy game, along with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, where you can purchase the PS Vita version for free as well as the HD remastering of Ratchet: Deadlocked.

Multiplayer

In addition to online/offline co-op play in the campaign, there is also competitive multiplayer. It remains similar to the gameplay in the campaign, which revolves around the players protecting their own base, but each phase has a time limit in order to make things fair.

The three phases are: Recon, Squad, and Assault. Recon phase is where you roam about the battlefield, searching for weapons and capturing nodes. Squad phase is where you prepare for the Assault phase by purchasing defenses. The Assault Phase is where the player(s) have to defend the base from a wave of enemies as well as attacking the opposing team's base. Whichever team destroys all the generators in the opposing team's base wins the match.

There is a 1v1 and 2v2 mode, the latter which I prefer the most since I like to work with a partner. After a patch, Full Frontal Assault mode was also added which removes the phases and includes free defenses at the start.

I do have some things to comment on about 2v2 mode. If there is one thing I wish the developers could have added is the option to have a local player join you in the 2v2 match. I also wish that you could be given a new partner if your current one drops out. The Host Migration doesn’t do a thing since it will let me work alone against two opponents. Also, you and your partner share bolts, which can be a pain because there is something you wanted to buy but your partner already wasted bolts on something else.

There are two types of matches: Ranked and Custom. Ranked Matches are where you earn points and increase or decrease your rank every time you win or lose a match, respectively, but you cannot choose a map. Custom matches are where you do not earn points, but it serves as good practice for the Ranked Matches.

Graphics, Level Design, and Audio

I can’t comment much about the graphics and level design since it has the same visual style and character models from All 4 One, but it looks good overall.

The voice acting and sound effects are great as usual. By the way, was anyone surprised that Barry, the Starship Phoenix computer, was voiced by Mikey Kelley, Ratchet’s original voice actor? Michael Bross returns to compose the game’s music, and while it’s sort of reminiscent of David Bergeaud’s music, it’s just as unmemorable, minus the main theme.

Conclusion

I’m not familiar with tower defense gameplay, so I can’t say whether or not it’s up there with other well-known games in that genre, but on its own, it’s okay. While the length of the campaign is as short as Quest for Booty, it has more replay value with the Skill Points and the competitive multiplayer, and to be honest, I had more fun with that than the multiplayer in Up Your Arsenal.

There are some things about the game that bother me, though. One, the humor was pretty weak. Two, playing the campaign alone felt really punishing, especially in the snow level, yet playing the co-op was less frustrating.

Lastly, I hate the fact that the series is now falling into the DLC (downloadable content) fad. You have to download additional multiplayer characters off the PlayStation store. On the bright side, Insomniac Games did offer free multiplayer maps included on certain patches, which I’m fine with. But I, along with many others, am really tired of downloading additional content when the developers should have given us the complete package, but that’s a rant for another time.

Overall, Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault is a decent game and to my surprise, it wasn’t overpriced since it was sold for only $20, which was a fair price, considering the length of the campaign (about 3 to 4 hours). Like I said in my All 4 One review, I’m okay with the series being experimented on because for the most part, they work, and most importantly, they’re playable. It wasn’t the best way to celebrate the series’ 10^th anniversary (the Ratchet & Clank HD Collection was), but it’s still a decent installment with a good price, just not one that I can really look back at.

That concludes my review on the Ratchet & Clank series. I am glad to have done a written review on all games and I will conclude Ratchet & Clank month with a review of Into the Nexus. Stay tuned.