Fractured worlds, Fresh Faces, and a Fantastic tale of Friendship
The longstanding Rachet and Clank series is one that I have missed over my gaming career. There is a big chunk of time during the first half of the 2000s where I did not play anything but sports games and Call of Duty. I was enamored with playing sports, hanging out with my friends, and being ashamed to call myself a gamer. Similar to the Far Cry series, I missed a lot of large gaming franchises during this lapsed phase of gaming. I regret this phase because of the awesome history of gaming I openly missed.
Ratchet and Clank is a series of action platformers and third person shooter games. The eponymous heroes travel and save the galaxy from various evil threats. Their newest installment, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, was released on June 11th, 2021 on the Playstation 5 exclusively. This game was one of my favorites of 2021. It’s gorgeous, a technical masterpiece, and a heartwarming tale from start to finish.
Galaxy, we’ve got a problem
Our story starts during a celebration of Ratchet and Clank, themselves. The other Galactic Heroes have thrown them a massive party with a parade, however Dr. Nefarious has come back for one specific goal: the Dimensionator. Clank created this weapon for Ratchet, the lone Lombax in the galaxy, to find others like himself. Best laid plans often go awry, unfortunately, as Nefarious, Ratchet, and Clank’s fight destroys the Dimensionator. This causes all of space and time to fracture, which separates them into different distant areas. Ratchet and Clank must now separately figure out how to fix multiple dimensions and save the galaxy, again.
The overall story is not one of crazy complexity. Time and space being broken isn’t fresh ground. What is fresh, however, is creating a Ratchet and Clank game not about Ratchet and Clank. The titular characters aren’t overshadowed, but these two new characters get the spotlight:
Rivet and Kit
These two fresh faces are one of many alternate versions of established Ratchet and Clank characters, but none of the others shine like these two. Rivet is the lone Lombax from her dimension, brash, and missing an arm. Kit is a regretful former WarBot from the evil Emperor Nefarious (Dr. Nefarious alternate). After the dimensions split, they team up with Ratchet and Clank to take on both Doctor and Emperor Nefarious.
Insomniac Games did a very good job writing the two of them. It would be easy to make carbon copy Ratchet and Clank alternates, but they’re given fantastic backstories to explore throughout the game. I hope future Ratchet and Clank games allow us to play as them again. Wouldn’t be surprised if we get a Rivet and Kit game, in all honesty.
All in all, the story of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart was great. There were parts that I did not see coming, but the ending path was still predictable. It was simply a feel good story about friends. Can’t be mad about that.
Bang for your Buck
The gameplay in Rift Apart is very similar to the other Ratchet and Clank games. It’s a 3D action platformer with numerous guns and weaponry to cause as much chaos as you want. The main playable character is Ratchet, but you also switch back and forth with Rivet. Both characters navigate a vast array of different planets over the course of the journey. However, neither character is different from the other outside of aesthetics. I would have enjoyed Ratchet and Rivet having slight differences in their gameplay styles, but that didn’t take anything away from the game. The stories of Ratchet and Clank aren’t groundbreaking, by any means. However, the core gameplay is always a blast, quite literally. Rift Apart ups the ante by adding a little something to the formula.
This game shows off the capabilities of the PS5 in one crazy way: a Rift Tether. At the press of a button, the player can instantly transport themselves across worlds. This even happens during combat! Getting surrounded by enemies? Teleport across the map to blindside them. It is such a cool mechanic that I hope returns in future installments.
They even expanded that idea by creating ‘pocket dimensions’ inside each visited world. These dimensions are fun and optional platforming areas to acquire new gear. These quick little side missions varied just enough to warrant me going through them all.
The awesome tech inside the PS5 allowed them to create an Inception-like design in their worlds. Very cool and incredibly creative.
I just cannot rant and rave about how much fun the core elements of gameplay were. It was a blast traversing through each world because they made the platforming fun. Example A:
That was just a small, but representative, snippet of the cool platforming mechanics used throughout. I had an absolute blast. Combining the crazy gunplay with the varied platforming options made for an awesome experience that never became stale. The gameplay as a whole was incredibly engaging. Towards the end you feel unstoppable with all of the weapon possibilities, but I didn’t feel the game held my hand at all. Some of the bosses were a challenge after my favorite weapons ran out of ammo.
Visuals
Visuals aren’t things I usually spotlight in a video game. Most of the time I cannot tell any difference between X and Y visual performance settings. Everything looks good to me. In Rift Apart however, there were some worlds that just took my breath away.
Games are getting to a point where everything looks great, but I can still appreciate a beautifully crafted world.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart was a great game, first and foremost. Insomniac Games crafted an amazing world with creative and awesome gameplay. It took me awhile to get this review because of technical difficulties, but if you haven’t played this game yet I recommend you do so. I’m aware acquiring a PS5 is a little difficult, but this should be on your short list of games to play first. Really showcases the power of the PS5.
Verdict: 4.25/5