(Single player, hard difficulty, played Qwark exclusively)
All 4 One is an even more family friendly addition to the long running Ratchet & Clank series that attempts to bring you and your loved ones (or possibly strangers online) closer together through a team based journey through the critter ravaged planet of Magnus. You will have to work with old companions and rivals to best minions, titanic bosses, and a wide variety of puzzle and action sequences to save the galaxy once more all while trying to survive the new uncontrollable overhead camera. A traditional Ratchet & Clank it is not, but it is done well enough that any Insomniac fan should play once and those that constantly play with friends should purchase.
/Review score is not determined by the addition of flaws and strengths/
Flaws
- Major Combat is dull and repetitive.
- Major Cutscenes are often too short, insignificant, and scarce so occasional bits of chatter are tasked with moving the plot along, and due to this the great story is ineffectively told, tremendous characters are unable to add to your experience, and all chance of you being truly captivated is lost.
- Major Camera prohibits immersion, causes several avoidable deaths, and frequently makes traversing the environment much harder than it needs to be.
- Moderate New art and writing style handicaps dialogue and depreciates character's images.
- Moderate Weapons lack any sort of punch or flare, are not fun to use, and most are largely useless against tougher opponents and even with upgrades ammo is very limited with the more useful weapons resulting in a multitude of predicaments while playing alone.
- Minor Sometimes friendly AI get confused what to do, usually its a easily fixed inconvenience but it can result in you not being revived in some dire situations.
- Minor Can't continue game from checkpoints so if you leave the game at anytime during a section you will be forced to redo the entire section from the beginning once you return.
- Minor The multiplayer focus is extremely evident even in while playing single player and consistently makes you feel like you're being jipped out of the whole experience.
Strengths
- Major Characters, dialogue, general humor, and setting is true to the Ratchet & Clank series which means it has some of the best of these characteristics in all of gaming.
- Major Gorgeous visuals both graphically and stylistically (some character models are inferior to the past ones but are still stunning overall).
- Major Utterly legendary voice acting and perfectly suited music.
- Major Incredibly varied maps and amusing puzzle/action sequences
- Major (joke its actually Minor) You get to play as Capt... ahem... President! Qwark! (did not play as him but the addition of Dr. Nefarious is awesome as well).
- Moderate Good plot on paper with unforeseen and delightful twist at the end (reminiscent of Jak III).
- Moderate Though too few and often largely insignificant to the plot, the cutscenes are impeccably done and are good for a chuckle or two.
- Minor Many different kinds of good looking adversaries, though unfortunately none are especially pleasurable or challenging to slay.
- Minor Some very good one liners that actually aren't too irritating after the thousandth time you've heard each one and banter between protagonists makes you want to pay attention to the gameplay a little bit more.
All 4 one is either for those aching for another Ratchet & Clank or people who love cooperative gaming, if you fall into both categories this game is a great investment; however, if you are not partial to either even renting this would likely be a waste of your time and money.
P.S. Please remember that this review pertains only to the single player portion of the game.