Sometimes when I play a game with the intention of reviewing it I try and think too hard and ask too many questions. Are the graphics top notch, textured and without jaggies? Does the game achieve what it set out to do successfully? Is there anything innovative or revolutionary in the gameplay? Am I even enjoying it? And I have come to realise that in the majority of cases I do this because the games aren’t actually all that much fun and my brain is bored by levels that are over complex, badly designed or frankly ‘up their own arse.’
Fortunately, with Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction this thought process is wiped clean of doubt with the happy, bleach-like cleansing qualities that a game that is simply bloody well made can provide. No nasty germs of doubt here my friends, because Insomniac have wisely stuck to an old winning formula, thrown away any intentions of wasting precious time with online play and knocked a slick and gorgeous slice of platforming cum shooting right out of the park. Who needs to reinvent the wheel when you can stick gorgeous alloys and fat tyres on it?
Do great graphics make a difference to gameplay? Yes they do. When a game looks this colourful, this shiny and runs as smooth and silky as the slender hand of a space princess over a Lombax fur pelt then it makes a big difference, especially in a platformer. There is a solidity here that is hard to match. A satisfaction that you ARE landing on chunky metallic surfaces with every jump. That you ARE smashing up crates and soaking up a thousand bolts. Levels are busy with activity and movement but they never slow up and give you the incentive to explore and push on. A wonderful, high tech cartoon style is created and yet that little extra is put in with subtle and detailed texturing when walls and other surfaces are examined at close quarters and the reflective lighting is just awesome.
So many boxes are ticked that this game sits firmly in a golden zone of addictive gameplay straight from the off and throughout its entire length. It performs admirably as a shooter and provides you with a massive arsenal of weaponry, every single one of which is fun and quirky to use. The Groovitron is hilarious with its ability to make enemies dance helplessly under a disco ball and the Gelatin block producer gives a great bouncy dimension to the gameplay. But even the less comic and more standard weapons are a delight. Homing missiles are a wonderfully effective staple, the Lombax Disruptor is deadly against huge robots and fusion grenades are what grenades should be - a crowd obliterating treat. And because these weapons are simple and easy to acquire and upgrade, it makes searching for bolts and crystals addictive.
As a platformer it is equally adept, keeping things simple but spectacular, enticing you to explore and use simple logic but never frustrating you with tough goals that slow the all-action pace. Clank’s own sections use more thoughtful techniques with the aid of the mysterious Zoni powers and every now and then some Sixaxis tilt action is called upon. No cack-handed based groans are necessary because they are all implemented well and are fun. In particular the simple circuit breaking game to open locked doors gives a nice hacking edge and I enjoyed guiding the rock cutting laser, which blasts open a path through many a cliff and hidden wall. In fact everything is so smooth and tight it makes the game almost too much of a breeze but although this may annoy real hardcore platform fans, in reality it makes for a game that you want to complete, that you want to explore and get the most out of and there is plenty of scale in which to do that here.
After all, this is a fast-paced action title and it does have a storyline. In fact I found it pretty funny. The usual wit is evident in the cutscenes, the characters are as daft as ever and there is never an opportunity missed for a bit of gaming satire. Anyway, you have to love a game where just as you are concentrating hard upon killing loads of space pirates you hear a voice in the background broadcasting “this game is brought to you by the letter AAAAAAR!”
So there you have it. A game right up near the top of the PS3 tree. Insomniac should be given the key and freedom of Sonyland for the quality work they have done in the console’s early days. Ignore the pedants who claim ‘evolution but no revolution.’ This is a polished, brilliant sounding, looking and playing gem that has built upon a solid method and brought it right up to next gen standards. This isn’t Kate Moss looking plain and bored saying ‘get the London look” for the umpteenth time in a crap TV commercial. This is David Attenborough producing yet another, even more stunning looking quality documentary. You catch my drift?
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
