My first foray into the Ratchet & Clank series, and the beginning of a new part of my life.
I'd played the three first games sporadically at friends who had them and at a resort one time. I eventually decided I'd like one for myself and as fate would have it, I got UYA the following Christmas.
Since then, I've grown to become a full-fledged Ratchet & Clank fan, I have all the released games and I've played all of them for hours on end Ratchet & Clank are without a doubt my favorite video game franchise.
As usual, I'll split my review in six criteria: graphics, gameplay, story, sound, difficulty and enjoyment.
GRAPHICS
The four first games of the Ratchet & Clank series, also known as the "Original Series", had pretty much the same graphics, only with minor improvements here and there. The graphics were, all in all, good. A little outdated now, but that doesn't mean a thing to me, they're still good. All kinds of environments and movements are well presented and rarely slip.
GAMEPLAY
In the Ratchet & Clank series, the basic formula of the gameplay goes like this: The player will most of the time control Ratchet, and be travelling to multiple exotic and bizarre alien worlds in order to mercilessly gun down the local evildoers like nobody's business using over-the-top ridiculous weaponry. With jokes and hilariously awkward situations lightly scattered throughout the game's cutscenes.
Ratchet & Clank 3 is no exception, and as usual the formula works so well you'll be glad Insomniac didn't change it.
The game's array of guns include many weapons that I just find to be "neat" (in the positive sense), but also some of my personal favorites, the Rift Inducer that creates black holes to suck in enemies and the Plasma Whip to scorch them just to name a few.
I was a bit disappointed by this game's RYNO design, the RY3NO, more specifically; I didn't like the final upgrade.
***SPOILER ALERT***
It was the RYNOCIRATOR, and I didn't like it mainly because it's main function was to discharge a huge energy blast (that blacked out the screen too), which wasn't really how I wanted a RYNO to function, it was the Zodiac from Going Commando that filled that niche.
***END SPOILER ALERT***
Ratchet & Clank 3 borrows many elements from its predecessor. As is now pretty much a no-brainer, an arena planet is included: "Annihilation Nation" to be precise. Here you get to compete in deadly combat challenges for cash prices, which is always nice.
There are also valuables other than bolts to collect. There's a certain planet's sewer in which you get to hunt down "Sewer Crystals" (creative, I know) which you can sell for bolts.
By comparison, the powers that be decided this was too ridiculous a concept from Deadlocked onward and stuck with the arena setting. Too bad, I would have liked an opportunity to hunt for precious objects in some of the PS3 games, though the bolts were still plentiful.
The aforementioned "Bolts" are the game's currency, and you'll primarily be using those to buy weapons and ammunition.
Sadly, there's no sort of racing mini game in Ratchet & Clank 3
Ratchet & Clank will also be offered the opportunity to go on "Ranger Missions", in which you accompany the Galactic Rangers in combat missions to defend the presidential palace on Marcadia or liberate Blackwater City from the Tyrrhanoids, among others. These missions usually yield plenty of valuable rewards for completing them, some of which are essential to completing the game.
Another gameplay mechanic is the Qwark vid-comics. In these neat little adventures you get to control the duo's former enemy through cute 2D environments with side-scrolling action. It's basically Mario, but with a gun.
But the Captain is not out to save some princess, oh no. The vid-comics are your key to finding out the backstory of Qwark and the game's primary big baddie: Dr. Nefarious, stay tuned for the words "chalkboard" and "pants" occurring in the same sentence.
STORY
Ratchet and Clank are hanging out in their condo in Megapolis when a news report from the Solana Galaxy shows Planet Veldin under attack by a Thyrrhanoid invasion force.
As the two quickly make their way back to Solana they meet up with the Galactic Rangers, who mistake Ratchet for a sargeant, eventually the invasion is fought off, and the duo learns of the evil mastermind Dr. Nefarious, and his plan to rid the galaxy of all organic life, leaving Solana entirely populated by robots. Now it's up to Ratchet, Clank and the rest of Qwarks "Q-force" to stop Nefarious.
SOUND
I have nothing bad to say about the game's sound effects, the many noises made by the game's weapons fit quite nicely with their intended functions. James and David do as good a job as ever on voicing Ratchet and Clank, and all the other voice actors are also fantastic. With that said, we'll move on.
DIFFICULTY
As usual, Ratchet & Clank 3 offers a good challenge for any fan of platformers or shooters; you have plenty of enemies to battle, and plenty of challenges to overcome. The game is never incredibly hard, nor is it incredibly easy, it's just right, at least in my experience.
ENJOYMENT
It doesn't matter how many times I play this game, it hits me with nostalgia every time I do, since it was my first full experience with Ratchet & Clank. I enjoy every second of it, and I always will.