Celebrating 20 Years of Greatness

Game Review by Daniel O'Loughlin

I have been a gamer for as long as I can remember and a question I get asked a lot is “What is your favourite game”? Upon hearing this question, a few dozen titles spin in my head. However there is one game that sticks out; Ratchet and Clank (2002), an Action Platformer set in a Sci-Fi world that satirizes popular culture. These satirical themes reference humans’ greed for money for money and consumerism as well as our obsession with celebrities.

The gameplay consists of using various weapons and gadgets to defeat enemies and explore an assortment of planets in the Solana Galaxy. The planets are the game’s levels. They are expertly designed, and offer missions and minigames different from each other, and consistently feels fresh and exciting. These range from Hoverboard races, Space-ship combat, puzzles, and platforming.

Ratchet’s arsenal can consist of conventional artillery like a flamethrower, pistol, and bazooka. Then there are the weapons that are much more creative and bizarre; the Suck Cannon which can suck smaller enemies that can be fired as projectiles against the bigger enemies, the Decoy Glove which creates a balloon of Ratchet tricking enemies into attacking it instead of Ratchet, and the Morph- O-Ray which can turn enemies into chickens.

The plot starts on planet Veldin. Ratchet is a mechanic and Lombax(an alien race) working on his spaceship. His life changes forever when on Planet Quartu, a robot factory, a defective diminutive robot escapes the planet and crashes on Veldin. He tells Ratchet of a sinister plot by an evil business tycoon, Chairman Drek, that involves stealing pieces of planets to add to his own new one. The pair escape the clutches of the war bots from Planet Quartu. They embark on an epic planet hopping adventure in search of Captain Qwark, the Legendary Superhero. Unfortunately, oblivious to our heroes, Qwark could be hiding a dark secret of his own…

Available on PS2 and PS3.