Ratchet & Clank: Into The Nexus
Review
The Ratchet & Clank series, created by Insomniac Games, has spanned two home console and handheld generations, providing fans of the series with fantastic single player stories about the adventures of a furry Lombax and his trusty robot companion Clank.
Over the last few years the series has somewhat wavered with the development teams attempt to add some spice with co-operative play in All-4-One and tower defense in Full Frontal Assault. Unfortunately this led to a bitter taste for most veterans of the series, but thankfully Insomniac went back to their roots and came up with Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus.
Story: 7/10
Into the Nexus acts as an epilogue to the Future trilogy (Tools of Destruction, Quest for Booty and A Crack in Time) on PS3.
Ratchet is tasked to escort criminal Vendra Prog to the Vartax Detention Centre for her crimes committed against the galaxy.
Unfortunately once awakening her from cryo-sleep, she, with the help of her brother Neftin, wreak havoc and destroy the ship, leading to Ratchet and Clank ending up landing on Planet Yerek of the haunted sector at the edge of the galaxy. Ultimately they attempt to recapture Vendra and Neftin.
The story as a whole was slightly different to its predecessors. Even though it housed a few jokes here and there, the overall tone was far more serious and much darker. The antagonist Vendra was much more cunning than the other villains, but she was far more human as well. Her actions were somewhat justifiable, mirroring that of what could have been for Ratchet if he wanted to take the leap.
The main issue with the story is that it is too short lived. Into the Nexus feels like it begins somewhere in the middle of a story: The original classic R&C games built up the villain and then unleashed their fury. This dives straight into the action, feeling a bit rushed.
Another minor issue is that the sidekicks such as Talwyn and Captain Qwark have near enough non existent roles. But seeing as this story was more focused on Ratchet and Vendra themselves it isn't too much of an issue.
Gameplay: 9/10
Into the Nexus makes a well received return to form with its classic action platforming gameplay with additional extras that definitely boost the experience.
+Classic Ratchet gameplay is back
Once again Ratchet is back to his crate breaking, heli-pack hovering, platforming ways. It certainly plays by the rule "If it isn't broken, don't fix it". It is fantastic as it brings in a whole culmination of platforming ideas that have appeared in each installment.
The upgradable weapons through leveling up, first showcased in R&C2: Going Commando still remains, with its Raritanium upgrading system from Tools of Destruction getting expanded even more.
Even the hover boots from A Crack in Time eventually return, allowing for more fast paced action platforming.
+Weapons
The crazy weapons are still as strong as ever with some great new ideas including the Winterizer which turns your enemies into snowmen whilst playing Christmas tunes and the Netherbeast which shoots out the haunted creatures to attack the enemy.
Admittedly the sense of imagination is wavering a little bit with the weapons with a few returns of older weapons and some that are carbon copies of previous entries with a cosmetic overhaul and name change, but it is understandable considering how many Ratchet & Clank games have been made. My favourite by far was the return of Mr Zurkon. The final upgrade is absolutely fantastic.
Onto the new elements, yhese include: The Grav-Tether, Jet Pack and Clanks side missions.
+Grav Tether
This device opens specific pink portals located within the different planets, dragging Ratchet to previously unreachable areas. It is great as it acts as a small form of puzzle solving to reach certain checkpoints. It is on the easy side with little room for expanding into more complex puzzles to reach collectibles such as gold bolts.
+Jet Pack
Although it has been a prominent feature in the previous entries, the jet-pack was used best here out of all of the series. In select areas and one entire planet the player can use the jet-pack to fly across the entire map, creating new ways to attack the enemy with a new sense of verticality. It is also beneficial for finding hidden items.
Planet Thram was the best example of this as Ratchet can flying across the entire world. It was fantastic as it emphasised the sense of scale of the worlds created. It also provided a great sense of exploration. It would make welcome return to the series if it ever happens to appear on the PS4.
+Clank in the Netherworld
The third new addition is Clank's side missions. Thanks to an upgrade to Ratchet's torchlight it can detect rifts in the walls, leading to the netherworld. Here Clank enters the world in a gravity based mini game using four directions to alter the force of gravity to find a netherbeast and lure him back to the rift and destroy the obstruction. It is fairly simple, with the puzzles being the likewise too.
A personal gripe of mine, being so used to the button layout of the original PS2 games and the initial "Future" trilogy, the new layout took a bit of getting used to. For example having the trigger button mapped out onto R1 instead of "O" was a bit confusing. But eventually after the small learning curve I realised that it was for the better as it was more precise.
Graphics: 7.5/10
Again Ratchet & Clank is a stunning game, with the flair of Disney/Pixar animation. The locations are absolutely gorgeous, filled with amazing detail and and impressive draw distance.
But there is an issue which is a bit of a problem. Oddly the framerate is lower and not as stable. Running at 30fps rather than 60fps like R&C: A Crack in Time, it was immediately noticeable, having compared the two side by side.
Additionally the game seems to have drops quite heavily when enemies appear on screen. It is not always the case but still is an annoyance, especially considering that this is a shorter entry in the series so you would assume there would not be as much processing pressure.
Sound: 8/10
As per usual the voice acting is still great with the majority of voice actors reprising their roles. Ratchet was still filled with his usual sarcasm. Vendra Prog actually felt like a ruthless villain but with a nice humane touch to her. It was also nice to see Talwyn make a small return after making no appearance in A Crack in Time. She too had some good lines, although one or two emotional set pieces did not work entirely well.
The music was very subtle in this entry, but still had provided a sense of grand adventure when it began to build up.
The sound effects themselves were great with noises culminating from near enough anything from the crates that shatter and the chime when collecting bolts, the simple atmospheric sounds of creatures squawking, to the the torrential downpour of rain.
Conclusion:
Overall Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus is a fantastic new entry into the saga. Yes the story was incredibly short, clocking in at around 6-7 hours including all my scavenging for every collectible and upgrade during the first play-through, but thankfully there's the trusty challenge mode once you complete the game to double its length.
The narrative itself was good and surprisingly I would prefer the darker tone to continue if the series moves on to the Playstation 4. The story was more sincere and with the open ended nature of its conclusion it would make a whole lot of sense considering the path it could potentially take.
Insomniac Games have made the right move, reverting back to its original action platforming ways. That is how the R&C universe works best. So fingers crossed that they unveil a PS4 follow up on a much grander scale which could even potentially tie in with the movie releasing next summer.
8/10
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