Video Game Series Review: Ratchet & Clank (Original and Future Series)

From the creative minds of Insomniac Games, comes Ratchet & Clank. A series of platform games that have been PlayStation exclusives since the PS2 era and while many people enjoy the series, it's recently started to go down hill (thanks to All 4 One). Despite this, they've been around for 10 years so in honour of the 10th anniversary, I'm doing a series review of the original series in PS2 and the future series on PS3. So let's get to it:

Ratchet & Clank

As the first game in the series, Clank arrives on Veldin (after being shot down from a robot factory in Quartu) and comes across Ratchet who is reconstructing his spaceship. Clank gives Ratchet some dire news about some little guy's plan to destroy all planets and get resources for his new planet to help his people. While Ratchet needs to be convinced hard about this, Clank helps him find any additional equipment for the ship which then gets Ratchet convinced to help him. And so starts the first of the duo's many adventures in space. The majority of the game sees you go to various planets to complete various missions and also acquire new gadgets and gizmos to assist the duo later on. Overall, its a very fun and enjoyable, if not repetitive game, and a great start to the franchise. 9/10

Going Commando

Continuing from the last game, Ratchet and Clank, begin to enjoy being superstars after saving the universe from Drek (the main antagonist from the last game). They then get contacted by the CEO and founder of Megacorp, who reveals to the duo that a biological creature has been stolen from their HQ and ask the two to assist in the matter, which they both agree to do. The game begins with the duo separated, but they do get back together later on. Most of the game has some differences to the previous game, such as new weapons, seeing things from a third person perspective and a selection of minigames. It's a step up from the last game, but only a slight one. Still fun to play though. 9/10

Up Your Arsenal

Now we come to the third game. Veldin is under attack by a new enemy named Dr. Nefarious (who later becomes the main antagonist for the majority of the franchise). After saving the planet, Ratchet then gets word of this new enemy and is then given orders to go and find the disgraced Captain Qwark (who up until now, has been an antagonist for the first two games) who surprisingly has gone insane and has become a tribe leader. Relieved of the new outcome, Ratchet and Clank, bring him in to the mother ship of the Alliance (which is what I'm going to call them for now as I don't know the real name) and begin their quest to take down Nefarious and his forces. What makes this game great is that it can show things from a first person perspective, has a hub world (or in this case, a mother ship), has many of the characters of the original game return and for the first time in the series, offers online and offline multiplayer, which works well. A major step up from the last games, makes this game the best in the series so far. 10/10

Deadlocked

Serving as the last game in this series, Ratchet, Clank and Big Al (a reoccurring and long time ally of the duo) are teleported and forced to compete in a tournament known as Dreadzone (which is also in this franchise, a TV show).  This tournament is one that is basically a fight to the death. This is the first game to have only Ratchet playable while Al and Clank serve as his mechanic for his gadgets and weapons and also serve as a mission engineer. The game does show much more of a darker tone compared to the other games, as well as being mostly a combat than platforming game. It's not the greatest game in the series, but it does have it's good and bad sides to it. 7/10

Tools of Destruction

Taking place sometime in the future of the franchise's universe, Ratchet and Clank receive a distress call from none other than Quark, which they respond to. They come across a large army of robotic commandos, led by Emperor Percival Tachyon, the crown prince of the Cragmites, who has hated Lombaxes for years and quite ironically, wants to kill Ratchet, the last known Lombax in existence. Escaping Metropolis (the city that is being attacked by the robots), Ratchet and Clank set out to find out more about the antagonist of the game (which will resort to Ratchet having to make a very difficult decision and Clank finding out his true purpose in life). Much of the gameplay from the previous games are seen here along with a load of new gameplay mechanics (possibly due to the amount of stuff that you can put onto a Blu-Ray disc). It's another great game in the series and also a great introduction to Ratchet and Clank on the PS3. 9/10

Quest for Booty

This game serves as the first Ratchet and Clank game released as a downloadable game from PSN. Ratchet, teamed with a new ally (in this case, its Talwyn), continues his quest to find Clank, who has been kidnapped by the mysterious Zoni, which leads him to a pirate named Darkwater, who claims to know a lot about the Zoni. While it is a step down in length, it offers much more platforming than previous instalments and also introduces the ability to pick up objects with Ratchet's wrench. Despite the length, its still a good and enjoyable game. 9/10

A Crack in Time

As the conclusion to this series, Ratchet, now teamed up with Qwark, continues his quest to find Clank, which leads them to the only other Lombax in the galaxy who has met Ratchet's father, and can help Ratchet, find Clank. Meanwhile at a place known as The Great Clock, Clank, now freed from the Zoni, discovers his true purpose and journey's round the Great Clock with the Janitor to rebuild it using a special staff. This game offers a vast amount of new Gameplay mechanics, such as trophy support, space travel, using the power of time to assist in puzzles and time travel, and loads more. Its the best game so far in the franchise, in my personal opinion. 10/10

Overall, the franchise has had its ups and downs, but is overall fun, exciting, funny and (at times) dark. 10/10