Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

by Alex Shepherd - 2007/11/24 12:07pm

When you start playing the latest iteration of the Ratchet and Clank series, you’ll probably wonder why they decided to put the word “future” in the title. In fact, if we’re being honest, some of our more cynical readers might wonder why they advertised this game as a sequel and not just as an expansion pack. The gameplay is almost identical to that of the previous instalments; a mixture of platforming, puzzle-solving and blowing away hoards of enemies with the biggest gun you can lay your hands on. Good news for fans of the franchise, but if you’re looking for originality then this game is not for you. Like its predecessors it’s just a fun, colourful, action-packed, story driven adven… wait a second, story driven? Surely some mistake?

Well actually it’s the truth. The plot in R&C Future seems fairly basic on paper: centuries ago the galaxy was ruled by a vicious, cruel race called the Cragmites. The Lombaxes (Ratchet’s species) led a rebellion against these tyrants, and eventually wiped out their home-planet. Now, however, the Lombaxes have vanished. Without them to lead the resistance the galaxy is falling under the rule of the one Cragmite that survived the war; Emperor Percival Tachyon. As the last Lombax left in the galaxy it falls to Ratchet to fight Tachyon and bring an end to his evil empire.

You do this in traditional R&C style; go from planet to planet defeating waves of increasingly difficult enemies with a series of increasingly impressive weapons and navigating your way through various platforming sections. It’s all very well put together, and a challenging level of difficulty is maintained throughout, but the real difference that you’ll notice is that you’ve always got a sense of purpose. In the old games you often felt as though there was no real reason to visit a particular planet except to unlock the next one, but here the plot drives your progression through the game and you’ll start to actually care about what happens next. The effect is certainly helped by a witty script and fantastic voice acting.



Of course that’s not to say that there haven’t been improvements in other areas. A new upgrade system for your weapons allows you to focus on particular areas like range, power or the amount of ammo it can hold, although the currency used for these upgrades (raritanium) is so easy to come by that fully upgrading your favorite weapons can become a bit of a formality. There’s also a new range of one-shot weapons called “devices” which are expensive but can give you the edge when you’re in a tight spot. At first these might seem unnecessary but in some of the later levels you’ll be glad you have them, especially in the case of the leech bomb which sucks energy out of your opponents and gives it to you in the form of a health boost. There are also a handful of very enjoyable space combat levels. These are handled like an on-rails shooter with your ship following a set path; you’ll do your bit by shooting down waves of enemies and avoiding the return fire. These may be a little easy but they’re certainly impressive to watch.

The game’s depth is helped along by the huge number of side-missions. There are skill points to earn, gadgets to acquire, gold bolts to collect and a secret weapon to unlock, not to mention a challenge mode which can be started once you’ve completed the game. In this mode you play through the game again with much tougher enemies and puzzles. The enemies won’t be too much of a problem due to the fact that you’ll be able to upgrade your weapons even further the second time round, but when it comes to the puzzles you’re just going to have to rely on your wits. Finding the gold bolts and skill points will unlock a wide variety of bonus content such as concept art for the game, new skins for your character and cheats that can be activated.



It’s also worth mentioning that one of the biggest problems in the previous games has now been fixed. I’m talking of course about getting stuck in an impossible boss battle. In the old R&C games once you entered a boss arena that was it; you couldn’t leave without winning the fight, and if you died then you would restart in the arena with no way of escaping. This meant that if you weren’t prepared for the fight you would be stuck there, unable win without the right weapons and unable to buy the right weapons until you win. That problem has now been rectified; if you die in a boss fight then you restart just outside the arena, right next to a weapons vendor. It may sound like a small change but believe me, you’ll be thankful for it. Of course the universal law of balance means that for every problem that gets fixed, a new one appears to take its place. In this game the new problem is the use of the six-axis controls. They don’t come up often, but when they do they’re incredibly unresponsive and frustrating to use. It won’t ruin the experience but it does get a little aggravating in a game where everything else is so well designed.

The graphics are amazing, a perfect example of how a game can be cartoony and still look next-gen. The scale of some of the environments is impressive, the frame-rate stays rock solid even when there are dozens of enemies on the screen and the character animations are flawlessly smooth. In fact (coming full circle) the graphics add another important aspect to the game’s story: the expressions on the faces of the main characters are fantastic and give a real sense of personality, even for the robotic characters. It’s hard not to care about their fate when their emotions seem so believable.



So, after all this, is Ratchet and Clank Future enough of a step up from previous games to be worth buying? Absolutely. Although the gameplay hasn’t changed much you’ll soon find yourself being drawn in, and by the time the credits roll you’ll have realised that this isn’t just an entertaining diversion. The Ratchet and Clank series has grown up.