A year after the release of Resistance: Fall of Man, Insomniac Games released the first Ratchet & Clank game on the PS3,
which serves as the first part of the Future sub-series.
Story
On Metropolis, Ratchet & Clank receive a call from
Captain Qwark who was under attack by heavily armed robotic commandoes. As they
make their way to the Planetary Defense center, Metropolis was under attack and
the Intergalactic Duo runs into the Cragmite leader, Emperor Percival Tachyon, who was
responsible for the disappearance of the Lombaxes, Ratchet’s race.
Ratchet and Clank escape to the Polaris Galaxy, where they
meet a Markazian named Talwyn Apogee and her two robotic caretakers, Cronk and
Zephyr. They find out that Tachyon is after a device that the Lombaxes used to
defeat the Cragmites in order to rule the universe and they have to find it
before he does.Emperor Percival Tachyon |
Gameplay
The gameplay remains unchanged from its predecessors. The player controls Ratchet with Clank on his back as he can purchase weapons and gadgets with bolts. Your health and weapons can still be upgraded with experience points, and upgrading weapons to the maximum level will change their appearance, as well as making them more powerful. In addition, you can further upgrade weapons by collecting Raritanium, similar to the Alpha and Omega mods from Deadlocked. Armor can still be bought in order to protect Ratchet from harsh attacks.
"Mr. Zurkon does not need Nanotech. Mr. Zurkon lives on fear!" |
The duo up against a Leviathan. |
There are two types of collectibles hidden throughout the
game: Gold Bolts and Holo-Plan pieces. There are a total of 32 Gold Bolts
hidden and collecting them will unlock skins for Ratchet. Once you collect all
the Holo-Plan pieces, you return to the Smuggler and he will construct the
weapon.
The space combat makes a return, this time in style of a Star Fox rail shooter, where you fly
on-rails and shooting at targets. There is usually a boss at the end, where you
shoot it down until its health is depleted.
Clank’s gameplay remains similar, only this time he controls
beings of pure energy called Zoni, who can attack enemies, repair bridges, and
power up machinery. Clank also has the ability to slow down time to get past
obstacles quickly.
Tools of Destruction
is one of the earliest PS3 titles to use the SIXAXIS controller, where during
the freefalling, Geo-laser, and Decryptor sections, you tilt the controller.
There is also a weapon called the Tornado Launcher where you control the
tornado by tilting the controller. If you don’t like motion controls, you can
turn them off, but it is still needed for the Tornado Launcher regardless.
Using the Tornado Launcher requires the use of SIXAXIS. |
For an early PS3 game, the game looks gorgeous. I’ve heard a
lot of people compare the graphics to a Pixar movie, which pretty much sums up
how good the game looks. The character models were even given a nice update.
The Groovitron |
The audio is yet another mixed bag for me. The voice acting
is great, as usual, but the score by David Bergeaud, while still combining
(mostly) orchestra, ambient, and electronic music, they felt less memorable. However, I will give credit to the Groovitron music and the end credits song "Let's Celebrate", for their catchy beat that made me bop my head like there's no tomorrow.
Conclusion
Ratchet & Clank
Future: Tools of Destruction is a great game overall and yet another one of
the stronger installments in the series. While it tries to experiment on some
new things like the motion controls, which were kind of gimmicky, the series
formula is still going strong and it does not show any signs of growing tired.
This is a must-buy game for any fan of the series or PS3 owners in general.
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