We've often said that Playstation platformer Ratchet & Clank reminds us of many a Pixar animated film - witty dialogue, well-crafted cut-scenes and lovable characters galore, all wrapped up in a classic good vs evil intergalactic story. And it seems we weren't the only ones who thought so, as last year brought with it the announcement of a Ratchet & Clank film (due for release sometime this spring), which promises to be a retelling of the lovable Lombax and his robotic companion Clank's first adventure. And what better way to celebrate this momentous occasion than with a remake of the original PlayStation 2 game, now enhanced for the PlayStation 4, almost fourteen years later. It's fair to say the graphics have come on a long way since then...
The dynamic duo.
For those who missed out on their first outing (which includes us), the PS4's Ratchet & Clank remake gives you the perfect chance to get into the series. Part platforming adventure, with plenty of exploring to do and hidden trinkets to collect, and part third person action, where Ratchet must use all kinds of weapons and gadgets (Disco guns! Sheepinators! Vacuum-powered cannons!) to defeat enemies and solve puzzles, it's well worth a go if you miss the mascot-driven platformers of years gone by. If ever there were a game that proved it isn't just Nintendo that can do a good platformer, Ratchet & Clank is it.
In their first adventure, the cat-like alien 'Lombax' Ratchet and his robotic friend Clank discover that nefarious villainous Chairman Drek plans to create a new planet for his species, the Blarg, while destroying a load of other planets in the process. And so, they set off on a galaxy-trotting mission to locate the famous superhero Captain Quark, although they soon find he's not all he's cracked up to be...
To call Ratchet and Clank a remake isn't really doing it justice, though, as according to James Stevenson, the Community Lead on the project, Ratchet & Clank is "the game based on the film based on the game". Which means, in English, that instead of just doing a carbon copy of the original adventure, developers Insomniac Games have put a lot of work into redesigning, retelling and re-jigging the origin story, to better fit the upcoming film - and that means new weapons, new sections, and new levels. Both the game and the film will complement each other, offering a more in-depth look at the intergalactic super heroes' origins, with the game revealing more of what happens between key scenes of the film.
We kind of feel sorry for Clank sometimes - strapped to Ratchet's back, he must miss out on a lot of the action...
They've also chosen to tell the game's side of the story in a bit of a unique way - with the whole thing being narrated by the narcissistic Captain Copernicus L. Qwark, who reminds us a little bit too much of Futurama's Zapp Brannigan. This means that, while you'll get to relive all the key moments of the story, it'll be told in a slightly skewed, self-serving way, embellished with what we can only imagine will be plenty of Qwark's heroic (and largely false) deeds along the way. Arguably one of the funniest characters in the series, alongside the trash-talking robot sentry Mr. Zurkon of course, we can't wait to play our way through Quark's warped version of events - and as we only really jumped on board the Ratchet & Clank train with the Playstation 3 'Future' series, it'll be nice to see where the dynamic duo started too.
Ratchet & Clank fans who decide to pre-order the game - either digitally via the Playstation Store or from 'participating retailers' (GAME, Amazon and ShopTo to name but a few) - will also be able to nab themselves an exclusive 'Bouncer' downloadable weapon. A fan favourite from Ratchet & Clank 2, this gun launches a bomb that then explodes into a plethora of smaller homing bombs that bounce towards your enemy targets. Which, for someone (like us) who's aiming is atrocious, is surely a blessing.
Ratchet & Clank will be blasting their way onto the PlayStation 4 sometime next month - supposedly, if the recent PlayStation Blog post is to be believed, on the 15th April, a week earlier than we'd previously thought, having seen both the 20th and 22nd April batted around previously. The film meanwhile should be hitting cinemas "shortly thereafter" - from the 29th April in the USA, although once more it seems the UK has been shafted with that too, seeing as neither our local Odeon or Showcase appear to know the film even exists yet. Disappoint.
