Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Ratchet & Clank (2016) (or referred to as Rachet & Clank: The Movie: The Game) is a 2016 run & gun platform game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It is a re-imagining of the first game in the Ratchet & Clank series, is commonly considered as a reboot of the series following a similar plot to the original Ratchet & Clank game. It was released as a tie-in of the movie of the same name, which in turn, is based off the game series of the same name.

Ratchet & Clank (2016)

New generation, new continuity!

Genre(s):	Run & Gun Shooter Platformer
Platform(s):	PlayStation 4
Release Date:	NA: April 12, 2016 PAL: April 20, 2016 UK: April 22, 2016
Developer(s):	Insomniac Games
Publisher(s):	Sony Computer Entertainment
Series:	Ratchet & Clank
Predecessor:	Ratchet & Clank Future: Into the Nexus
Successor:	Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Both Continuities)

Plot

The game opens with prisoner Shiv Helix being marched into a prison cell, which happens to hold Captain Qwark. As a fan of the superhero, Shiv asks Qwark to recount the events of the film upon which this game is based. Minor differences aside, the plot is mostly a recollection of the film's plot, only told from Qwark's perspective. The main plot points from the original game are mostly intact, such as Drek's quest a build a new planet, Ratchet and Clank meeting when the latter's ship crashes on the former's home planet, the discovery of the Deplanetizer super weapon, etc.

Why It Rocks

The graphics are absolutely gorgeous and well-done, especially by PlayStation 4 standards, the character models look like they were redesigned but look polished and the cinematics feel so true to the movie that they make you feel like you're watching a Pixar movie.
Many awesome futuristic gadgets and weapons to use, such as Glove of Doom, the RYNO, the Swingshot, and a Jetpack.
Ratchet is given his more noble personality rather than his selfish arrogant one from the original game.
The story is told from Captain Qwark's point of view with him as the narrator.
This game's incarnation of Captain Qwark is a legitimate superhero rather than a fraud sellout like in the original. He still remains an incompetent egomaniac and still becomes an antagonist out of jealousy towards Ratchet.
Pre-ordering the game gives you the Bouncer weapon.
- The Bouncer is impossible to obtain after the release of Ratchet & Clank (PS4) unless you obtain an unused pre-order code from someone who pre-ordered the game.
All weapons in the game are upgradable up to level five. Each upgrade makes the weapon more powerful, and the level five upgrade changes the appearance of the weapon drastically as well as giving it a new ability. Every weapon can also be upgraded with Raritanium; the higher the weapon's level, the more upgrades the weapon can have, adding a new layer of depth to the weapon leveling system.
In "Challenge Mode" (this game's term for New Game Plus) you can purchase Omega weapon upgrades which allow you level up the weapon to level 10.
Trading Cards are a new collectable to the series. Whether they are found in the levels, or drop by fallen enemies, they are added to a pretty vast collection. Completing sets of 3 will grant small gameplay boosts, such as increasing the drop rates for bolts, raritanium, and trading cards.
- There is no need to worry about duplicates here; you can trade five duplicates for a card you don't have yet. Plus, these cards can only earned via gameplay; no buying these things with real money here!
After collecting 9 special RYNO cards you get the RYNO weapon, the strongest weapon in the game, easily able to destroy enemies.
Jet pack allows Ratchet to boot upwards into the sky, with a boss fight being based around this mechanic.
Many secret Gold Bolts are hidden in every level.
Most of the levels are based on the original game with new layouts. In the background of some planets, you can see geometry ripped from the original game, as a throwback to the original game.
Doctor Nefarious is seen in his organic form and the game hints at how he became a robot.
The Pixelizer has a cool effect of temporarily turning enemies into a 3D pixelated object.

Bad Qualities

The plot is more generic than the original game and the characters aren't as interesting due to having to adjust to the movie's more dull and generic plot and characters.
The plot is extremely unfaithful (in a bad way), removing many of the late game planets, and changing others beyond recognition. Even though it is meant to be based on the movie, it could still have done more.
Although good, the soundtrack is forgettable compared to other Ratchet & Clank games.
Most weapons are recycled from previous games, which is a problem because the reused ones are the more lazy and less exciting weapons like the Combustor, with some weapons (including the Combustor and Mr. Zurkon) first being introduced from Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and already used in lots of games.
- Not only that, but there are only 2 weapons from the original game it is based on, the pyrocitor and bomb glove (which is called something else in this version).
Sometimes the script drops to resorting to outdated meme humor for laughs, for example the Gadgetron agent says "The kids love their social media! Hashtag Gadgetron!", which is pure cringe at its finest.
Similarly to A Crack in Time, the humour is poor, mostly consisting of the aforementioned meme humor, and like the movie, couch gags, fart jokes, and really bad puns.
Chairman Drek, the main antagonist of the original game, is reduced to the secondary antagonist so Nefarious can have the spotlight (it does however, establish Dr. Nefarious as the series' main villain). He also has an extremely flanderised personality, being incredibly silly and not threatening in the slightest.
The Bouncer weapon is a pre-order only weapon, meaning it's impossible to obtain it unless someone didn't use the pre-order code that came with the game.
Due to the movie's nature, Ratchet and Clank hardly interact after they meet, which leads to the game being more bland than the original.
Much like Into the Nexus, there is only 1 save file, and it is locked at 30fps instead of 60fps (unless it's played on the PS5's backwards compatible with the latest patch).
This is the only game in the Reboot universe, because Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is confirmed to be a sequel to Into the Nexus, along with the film's sequel being cancelled, which likely means this game will never get a sequel. Though Rift Apart does have references to this game (such as the Hall of Heroes and Nefarious' mech being reused as his party crasher) it's technically not a full sequel regardless.
The new personality of Ratchet heavily clashes with his use of weapons, as Ratchet instead of being a person with edge, he is a person with a heart of gold, who randomly murders thousands of people.
- While Ratchet's noble personality is good to keep, he does not even argue with Clank even once; even in Tools of Destruction, Ratchet did yell at Clank once.

Reception

The game was met with critical acclaim upon release, earning an average review score of 85% at Metacritic.

Trivia

From early to late March of 2021, Sony gave the digital copy of the game out to all players for free via download from the PlayStation Store, with no PS Plus required.

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