Game Review: Ratchet and Clank (PS2)

Ratchet and Clank is a video game series I’ve always played out of order.  My first exposure to the series was through a demo disc of Going Commando for the PS2.  Then I leant Up your Arsenal from a friend soon after.  Then after that I skipped to A Crack in Time for the PS3 and then moved onto Rift Apart on PS5. Despite never playing the series in a consistent fashion, I’ve found myself thoroughly enjoying each and every game in the series I did pick up.  Despite that however, I’ve always yearned to go back and experience the franchise from the very beginning, so after dusting off an old PS3 and buying the original trilogy’s HD remaster, that’s just what I did.

Developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, Ratchet and Clank released exclusively on the PlayStation 2 console in November 2002. The game serves as a third-person platforming/shooter game set in a futuristic sci-fi setting. Coming off the conclusion of the Spyro the Dragon trilogy on PlayStation 1, it was noted Insomniac were eager to break ground on a new IP with the help of Sony’s newest hardware at the time.  There drive for a new direction brought forth the intrepid sci-fi duo Ratchet and Clank and the rest was history.  Upon release the original title received critical and commercial success, touting a high 88% on Metacritic and sales figures were reported to be more than 3.7 million units by June 2007.

The story of Ratchet and Clank follows, well who else? A Lombax by the name of Ratchet and a small robot by the name of Clank. After Clank comes off the production line as defective on a Blargian robot factory, he soon escapes and crash lands on Ratchet’s home planet of Veldin. Together the duo team up with the sole intent of finding aid to take down the dastardly Chairman Drek who is out to harvest a number of planets in his nefarious scheme to build a brand new homeworld for his race, the Blarg.  Their adventure will take the duo to a number of different planets all facing their own separate threats induced by the Blarg. Despite their good intentions, it becomes clear quickly that Ratchet and Clanks motivations aren’t exactly on the same page and the journey soon has the two coming to terms with one another and trying to find even ground if they are to ever save the galaxy. 

As far as the quality of the story goes, it’s perfectly fine all things considered.  I do take issue with Ratchet’s characterization in this game.  He’s not all that well defined in this first entry, coming off as rather shallow in a lot of his interactions with key characters.  I take particular umbrage with the way he treats Clank in this game too. I think the wider narrative of the story is enough to follow but it does suffer from a rather disjointed feeling as you leap from planet to planet with little unifying plotline besides the Blarg threat.  A lot of the main appeal from the writing comes from it’s humor I found.  The writers layered a lot of the cinematics and dialogue with witty and sharp comedic elements that give a unique flair to it. 

The big selling-point behind Ratchet and Clank is its gameplay.  The mix of platforming and third person shooting is made all the more engaging with just how refined Insomniac have made these components.  Ratchet will gain access to a wide array of weapons and gadgets during his time exploring the galaxy and they all offer a truly unique function to make taking on enemies fun.  The versatility of the weapons depends on the said weapon you are using of course.  I feel some weapons feel way gimmickier than they do viable but the balance is definitely skewed towards the more useful weapons for sure.  What probably doesn’t help too much though is the clunky control scheme.  There’s no conventional free aim mechanic here and you will have to rely on the game auto locking on enemies when you get close enough to them, which in turn puts you more at risk of being hit.  It’s a finnicky system for sure but it’s not an inherently flawed experience despite that. 

The explorative and platforming elements of the game definitely work in the game favor and really showcases the scope of Insomniacs design philosophy when working with the PS2 hardware at the time.  Each of the games planets is wonderfully designed and invites the player to explore multiple pathways and find secrets and gear tucked away.  The maps are designed in such a way too that they all wrap around on one another to allow you to easily navigate the different pathways without backtracking too much.  From a visual end Ratchet and Clank also showcases a lot of creative ingenuity from its level design all the way to its characters. It is such a visually solid game that it helps the experience refrain from feeling dated or old due to its unique art style.  It’s soundtrack also sticks out nicely with compositions by David Bergeaud.

When I look at Ratchet and Clank, it’s easy to see the blueprint for what this series becomes so beloved for.  I don’t quite feel the first game fully captures the potential of its ideas all that well though as it stumbles more than it strides.  I think the core intent is there though and clearly despite its issues; the game went on to draw a core audience that would lead it onto notable success with a plethora of future entries that cements the series as a PlayStation icon to this very day.