After the success of my on-going Sonic Retrospective, we are going to blast into PlayStation with the Ratchet and Clank Retrospective!
The Ratchet and Clank series is one I really love, but the original game I played far later; my opinions on the original changed a lot from when I first played it too when I played it recently on my Vita, so let’s start this retrospective on the Lombax and Robot with not a whipper, but a grand blast!
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The series origins stem post the release of Spyro: Year of the Dragon, as Insomniac Games moved on from the Spyro series after feeling like they retched a limit on what they can do with a four-legged creature.
So, Sony and Insomniac dropped the Spyro IP in favor for making a new series that Sony owned.
They called the original game 'Girl with a Stick' and it was going to be more of a Zelda-like adventure but they changed it to something closer to their past work on Spyro, but in space.
After prototyping with various creature prototypes, they came to the final designs of Ratchet and Clank. Once this process was done, they gave the game its 'gimmick' being the various weapons they collect and exploring unique planets.
Fast forward to November 2002, they release Ratchet & Clank a year after the release of Insomniac’s friendly rival, Naughty Dog's Jak & Daxter. Both games shared the same tech (core engine) across the PS2 Era too
. The game was going to be a success and Sony expected this, with them greenlighting a sequel to this game well before its launch (three months before the game went gold).
So, with this game having lofty expectations, how does its gameplay fare?
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Ratchet & Clank feels like a natural successor to Insomniac’s past work with Spyro the Dragoon; large open levels to explore with various paths and objectives to complete. It can also be argued that the guns are less for heavy combat and to just push foes away faster (like the Spyro series). The guns do not having a strafing feature until later in the game, so you are pushed into using your wretch far more (the melee weapon of the game). Guns come in a large variety, and they are the heart of the series going forward.
The blaster, the bomb glove, the agents of doom (little robots that attack your foes when planted on the floor), flamethrower (more or less a gun version of Spyro's breath ability but far more affective), Sheep-Ray (that turns your foes into sheep)......and the RYNO.
THIS games BFG gun, the nuke, the most powerful weapon in the game and while it takes a while to buy, its soooo worth it
! 
This gun comes back in every single Ratchet game and it works different depending on the game.
One last element about the guns, is that you need bolts to collect them. You get them from bashing creates, collect bolts on the ground or from defeated robots/creatures. Using the bolts you collect, you can buy various gadgets, weapons and later in the series, armor to increase your health. It’s as if your coins from Mario can be used to get stronger power-ups or if the Rings in Sonic can be used to purchase upgrades to your spin dash; it GIVES greater meaning to your currency and it makes collecting them addicting and really rewarding. Plus, the feeling of smashing boxes and hearing that iconic bolt sound……so good XD!
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So, you must be asking "Wait.....this IS a platformer, right? You only are talking about the weapons now....."
Yes! This game is a platformer, and a really fun one at that.
The original Ratchet and Clank is very close to being a core platformer compared to the rest of the series (which taps into its gunplay a bit more), with Ratchet having a lot of weight, feeling a bit slippery and his double jump not being that effective. This leads to level design focusing on fun platforming sections and each level has at least 2-3 paths to take.
Each paths offers something 'different'; climbing up a sewer system, exploring an underwater cavern and fighting through a construction site in Novalis for example. Every world works like this and it makes every planet feel like, well, a full planet!
You really get the impression that you are exploring a galaxy in the original Ratchet & Clank, and that is its greatest accomplishment. One more thing before moving on to the story, the gadgets and Clank sections.
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Ratchet gets a lot of gadgets across the game like a slingshot, gravity and grind boots, hoverboard, thruster for faster swimming, heli-pack to hover in the air, jet pack that allows you to strafe and more! They make exploring the world really fun and it makes things really replayable (as some level chunks require specific gadgets you get on latter planets).
Clank has sections where you can control little robots that can attack foes, enter switches and stop in place. These sections are a bit challenging and they offer some fun puzzle elements. This mechanic stays in the series for a very long time and it only gets more & more in-depth as the series goes on.
We also get......GIANT CLANK! He destroys everything in his path, shoots a barrage of missiles and is raw destruction! ......It’s fun
. It only gets better in latter games where Giant Clank has more usage . 
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My only issue with the gameplay is very small things and I will list them:
-No pause screen when selecting weapons/gadgets
-Weapon wheel too small, so you frequently go into the menus to re-adjust the wheel
-No strafing or lock on feature for your weapons until very late in the game
These issues are minor….because later games eradicate them and make them non-issue, but will get to that when we talk about later games
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The story is where this game really shines bright, as Insomniac tried hard to make more or less a playable cartoon. And I feel they do a good job here.
Ratchet is a bit of prick who is open to adventure but is quite selfish until latter in the game, Clank is a little robot who wants to become a hero, Dreck is a great core villain that is quite funny at points, and Captain Quark is more or less a kid friendly Zap Brandagan from Futurama....its as amazing as it sounds XD!
The core plot is that Dreck's species is trying to make a new planet after destroying their homeworld and they are using parts of other planets to accomplish this.....but that will destroy them. Clank gets wind of this after being made and crash lands on Ratchet's planet of Velden. Ratchet and Clank come to an agreement to work together to save the day with distractions and other problems having them but heads after a while.
Ratchet is a really prick here, very different then latter games. He disagrees with Clank a lot, he outright yells at the little robot and he is very vengeful/angry latter in the game. But that makes him more human and makes his friendship with Clank all the more realistic. They dislike each other, but slowly become friends over time. Leads to funny scenes and the game as a whole being really rewarding to play through
. The other characters are really funny as well. Skid Midmarks being a 'chill' dude, the Plumber being quite funny, bikers that have a soft side to them; the game has a strong personality and the story opens this up in spades.
Overall, its a great plot and it sets up for a really enjoyable series to follow.
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The presentation is really impressive, with detailed textures, massive locations to explore and every level looking different. The world also looks very alien and futuristic, setting up the location greatly. We also got a lot of strong visual effects, shaders and a lot of detail on the character models; a lot of care was put into making this cartoony world feel 'alive'.
This effect is only enhanced with the sound. Explosions sound great, ambiance is done well and the sound of smashing creates just pushes you to keep on breaking them XD!
Musically, the game is strong too.
Velden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHQos_kVWYQ&list=PLD913041344F737E9&index=2
Kerwan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjGxXK_ltcs&index=8&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Kerwan Training Course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KtQMxAUSjY&index=9&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Euroda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYPLPobwXdQ&index=11&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Blarg Station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDTVZxkK1no&index=13&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Rilgar City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMPsMETuaNc&index=16&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Hoverboard Race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuFCqEt51yo&index=17&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Umbris Quarks Base: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prf9SN5H2i0&index=19&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Batalia Rail Grinding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzKSFxPjllM&index=22&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Olantis Orbit - Base: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JnOlg6zrr4&index=31&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Olantis - Planet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0jVB-xwDMg&index=33&list=PLD913041344F737E9
Velden in Peril: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6S1UfspRP0&index=40&list=PLD913041344F737E9
It sets up a very strong mood and is more varied in comparison to the latter games in the series. Love this soundtrack a lot
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This game is a great title that offers a lot of reasons to replay it. You can go back to the game when you beat it to get gold weapons using bolts/gold bolts you collect, play with your weapons some more and have an easier time with the larger health you have (if you upgraded it across the game originally).
Overall, I love this game and while I prefer the later games in the series more, Ratchet & Clank 1 is a very strong title that sets up a lot for future games in the series.
Lets go commando when we join Ratchet and Clank on a new adventure soon enough
. 
