

Ratchet & Clank Developer Insomniac Games Publisher Sony Computer Entertainment Release date PlayStation 2 NA 4 November 2002 EU, AU 8 November 2002 JP 3 December 2002 PlayStation 3 NA 28 August 2012 EU 29 June 2012 AU 28 June 2012 JP 6 September 2012 PlayStation Vita NA 29 July 2014 EU 2 July 2014 AU 9 July 2014 4 November 20028 November 20023 December 200228 August 201229 June 201228 June 20126 September 201229 July 20142 July 20149 July 2014 Genre Platformer Modes Single player Ratings ESRB Teen (T)

PEGI 3 Platforms PlayStation 2

PlayStation 3 [HD]

PlayStation Vita [HD] Media DVD-ROM

Blu-ray

Digital [HD] Followed by Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando Ratchet & Clank is the first installment in the Ratchet & Clank series, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was initially released in November 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and re-released for the PlayStation 3 in June 2012 and PlayStation Vita in July 2014, both individually and as part of the Ratchet & Clank Collection. A remake of the game was released for the PlayStation 4 in April 2016.

The game is set in the year 5354,[1] and it follows lone lombax mechanic Ratchet, who lives on Veldin and has a longing to leave the world. His life is changed forever when blargian robot Clank crash-lands on his planet and enables him to leave. The two then embark on an adventure to seek the help of intergalactic celebrity Captain Qwark in their fight to save the galaxy from Chairman Drek, a businessman who wants to create a new world for his people by extracting parts from other planets.

Ratchet & Clank is a third-person action-adventure title, with elements of platforming, shooting, role-playing games, and puzzle-solving. Players explore many planets to complete objectives, obtain an infobot that provides coordinates to another planet, and progress through the story. Along the way, they acquire many weapons and gadgets, as well as earn bolts, the main form of currency in the series, which can be used to purchase new weaponry and many other in-game items.

Fourteen years later, a movie retelling the events of the game was released in theaters on April 29, 2016, along with a PlayStation 4 re-imagining based on the movie told from Qwark's perspective, released earlier on April 12, 2016, in North America.

Gameplay

Overview

Ratchet & Clank is a third-person three-dimensional platformer, in which the player controls Ratchet, a lombax mechanic from Veldin, who carries his robot friend Clank as a backpack. Ratchet has a basic moveset that allows him to jump ( ) and double jump, wield his OmniWrench as a melee weapon ( ), and fire one of many equippable weapons or gadgets ( ). The player can select them from the pause menu or quickly cycle between them in battle using their customizable quick select menu ( ). To aim some weapons better, the player can aim through first-person by holding . Using Clank as a backpack, with the additions of the Heli-Pack and Thruster-Pack upgrades, can allow Ratchet to jump higher by crouching before a jump ( + to high jump), jump further to reach new distances ( + while running), and glide in the air (holding ). The player has a set amount of nanotech (or health) and once depleted, the player respawns from the most recent checkpoint, with no consequences (but must re-purchase all ammo).

Ratchet and Clank travel between many different available planets on a ship (which changes throughout the story). On each planet, they must complete a set of objectives to obtain an infobot so that they can travel to a new planet and progress the story or to obtain a gadget that might be required to complete objectives on other planets. Objectives typically require the player to progress through a linear section using gadgets to traverse obstacles and puzzles or weapons to defeat enemies, but some may require the player to complete a minigame or pay bolts to proceed. Other objectives have limitations, in which they require a gadget that can only be obtained on another planet. The player can, at any time, revisit any planet they have previously explored.

Aside from story objectives, several optional objectives are also available. Completing them only grants a weapon or gadget that is not strictly necessary to further the story (such as the Metal Detector). Most weapons are purchased with bolts, though some can be found during side objectives (such as the Suck Cannon or Morph-o-Ray). The player can also collect gold bolts on planets, which are used to purchase gold weapon upgrades of existing weapons. Additionally, players can earn skill points on each planet, which unlock menu extras such as behind the scenes concept art by Insomniac Games.

After completing the main storyline, the player can either choose to warp back to before the final boss was defeated to collect gold bolts and skill points they may have missed, or to begin a new game known as challenge mode and restart the story with all their weapons and a few items carried over.

Equipment

Ratchet begins with four units of nanotech, which can be replenished by breaking nanotech crates. This is a fixed amount until the player reaches Orxon, on which it can be upgraded to five units by purchasing Premium Nanotech, and to eight units by purchasing Ultra Nanotech. Unlike later installments, each hit always depletes one unit of nanotech, with no way to reduce damage dealt.

Ratchet & Clank features fifteen equippable weapons. The Bomb Glove is available for free upon starting the game, while all other weapons are either purchased with bolts at vendors or found on planets. Most weapons have set ammo, that can be replenished by purchasing ammo from vendors or breaking ammo crates. Some weapons, such as the Walloper and Taunter, have unlimited ammo and can be used as often as the player chooses. The most powerful weapon is the R.Y.N.O., a weapon that is so pricey that the player is unlikely to obtain it on a single playthrough.

The game also features fourteen gadgets, of which six are usable in place of a weapon, two are equippable boots, three are equippable helmets, and three are backpacks for Clank. Some gadgets are non-essential (such as the Metal Detector, PDA, and Sonic Summoner) while others are required for story purposes. For example, the Swingshot is required to traverse many large gaps, the Grind Boots are required to traverse rails, and the Hologuise is required to sneak past enemies and fool them into granting access to locked rooms.

Clank gameplay

Occasionally, the player will be placed in control of Clank instead of Ratchet. Clank's moveset is more limited, as he can only jump, perform melee attacks and glide in the air. Most of his segments revolve around commanding Gadge-Bots, small robots half his size which can take commands via the quick select menu ( ) of Follow, Attack, Enter, or Wait. Follow is the default state of Gadge-Bots, Attack causes them to attack enemies nearby, Enter commands them to enter a blue terminal, and Wait causes them to stay in place. These segments normally require guiding enough Gadge-Bots to enter a terminal and unlock a new area. Gadge-Bots can be destroyed, but they will just respawn at the same place Clank found them.

Additionally, Clank can also transform into Giant Clank, which makes him much more powerful in combat, and allows him to fire missiles ( ) and launch bombs ( ) at enemies. These segments normally require Clank to defeat most of the enemies on screen and proceed to the next area.

Minigames

Aside from core gameplay, Ratchet & Clank sometimes involves minigames. The most recurring minigame is hoverboard racing. This requires the player to navigate through a track, taking advantage of speed boosts along the way to proceed through the level, and once the Platinum Zoomerator is acquired, to perform tricks ( , , , or plus a combination of ) in order to boost for further distances.

When using the Trespasser gadget to hack into terminals, the player must complete a minigame to hack into it. This involves aligning lasers on the screen to reach the center and cause enough of the central gaps to light up green.

Synopsis

Setting

Ratchet & Clank takes place in the Solana Galaxy, set in the year 5354.[1] The galaxy is populated mostly by humanoid aliens and sentient robots. Planets vary from enormous cities such as Kerwan, Rilgar, and Kalebo III to less inhabited worlds like Hoven, Gaspar, and Aridia. The main character, Ratchet, lives on Veldin, while Clank was created in a blargian robot factory on Quartu.

The galaxy is dominated by Gadgetron, a mega-corporation that has vendors located on all planets from which their weapons and ammo are sold. Their main competitors are the blarg, the primary antagonists of the game, a race operating as a single corporation led by Chairman Drek. Many in the galaxy also admire celebrity superhero Captain Qwark, who primarily makes appearances in commercial endorsements, but is also looked to as opposition to Drek. News in the galaxy is broadcast by Darla Gratch of Channel 2 News. Hoverboard racing is a popular sport in the galaxy, with many hoverboards being created by Gadgetron.

Plot

The story began on a backwater planet in the Solana galaxy, known as Veldin, where a young lombax named Ratchet was adding the finishing touches to his new homemade spaceship. Upon checking if there is anything else he needed to complete the ship via the Gadgetron HelpDesk, he discovered that he needed a robotic ignition system, a special way for certain robots to start up a ship. Without one, he would never be able to fly his ship.

Meanwhile, at a robot manufacturing plant elsewhere in the galaxy, a machine creating Sentry-bots malfunctions and accidentally created a small, inferior robot, XJ-0461. Upon watching an infobot's prerecorded message revealing Chairman Drek's plans to create a new planet by harvesting parts of other planets in the galaxy, he fled Quartu. Electroids followed him in their ships; however, and shot him down over Veldin. Ratchet felt surprised as he watched the robot's ship streak through the sky and crash somewhere out in the Kyzil Plateau. Bewildered, Ratchet began to investigate.

He approached and cautiously observed the area, discovering the robot in standby mode. He carried the robot out of the crash site and back to his garage, where he placed it on a rock shelf so that he could return to it after he was finished with his ship. While he was adding the last few calibrations to his ship; however, the robot awoke and approached Ratchet to ask a few questions. Ratchet engaged in conversation with the tiny robot (after being startled by it), and in the process, learned about Drek's plan and the encroaching forces on Novalis. He also learned about the robot's quest to contact Qwark. Ratchet disagreed at first to help the robot, but only because he knew he would need a robotic ignition system to leave the planet. Thereafter, the robot told Ratchet he has been equipped with the latest in robotic ignition systems and could start his ship for him if Ratchet agreed to assist the robot in his quest to defeat Drek and stop his plan. After watching three Electroid ships land on the surface of Veldin, Ratchet accepted the deal and the two left the planet.

While flying through space, the robot and Ratchet decided to take some time to introduce themselves. The robot introduced himself as B54269 but was cut off as Ratchet jerked the ship's control stick, throwing the robot into the side of the ship. Ratchet decided to give the robot a nickname, and after watching it collide into the side of the ship, he decided to coin the name Clank after the sound he made.

They crash-landed on Novalis after Ratchet's ship collided with a cliff face. While they were on the planet, they traveled through the destroyed Tobruk Crater and saved the planetary chairman from Drek's clutches. The chairman gave them an infobot, which revealed that Captain Qwark filmed a commercial on Kerwan. The chairman also provided them with a courier ship which they used to travel between planets. They also explored the sewer system and purchased an infobot from a plumber. The infobot showed the famous hoverboarder Skidd McMarx and his agent under attack and crash-landing on Aridia.

Their next destination was planet Kerwan. Here, they traveled through Metropolis and purchased an upgrade for Clank from Big Al. They then caught up to an infobot that gave them the coordinates to Eudora. They also traversed Qwark's fitness course and purchased a gadget called the Swingshot. Ratchet and Clank then proceeded to Aridia, where they rescued Skidd from the sandsharks and received the reward of a brand new Gadgetron Z3000 Hoverboard to use in the tournament. They also traversed Outpost X11 and found a Trespasser, which allowed them to pick locks. Ratchet also found Skid's agent, who told him to bring the prize from the hoverboard races to him for a reward.

The duo then traveled to Eudora, where they ventured through the cliffs. After an anti-climactic confrontation with the Robot Lieutenant, they discovered the coordinates to the Blarg Tactical Research Station. Afterwards, they went to the station and found out that the hoverboard racing tournament was taking place on Rilgar.

They then flew to Rilgar to meet up with Captain Qwark for the first time. Qwark told Ratchet how impressed he was by his talents, and that he would make a great hero. He told the two to come to his secret headquarters on Umbris. They followed the coordinates and met Qwark at his HQ, where he then told them that they would need to complete an obstacle course to become a hero. They traversed it and met Qwark at the end. However, Qwark set up a trap for them and unleashed the blargian snagglebeast to kill them. Before Qwark left, he explained to them that the reason for his treachery was because he was the official spokesperson for Drek's new planet and that he was not going to let them get in the way of his comeback.

After they have defeated the snagglebeast, they found an infobot that showed a Commando on Batalia, who requested assistance, as he was fighting alone against an invasion from the Blarg. Ratchet, angered for being set up, wanted revenge against Qwark and became bitter and hostile toward Clank. Clank; however, told Ratchet that they had to stop Drek from putting innocent lives at stake. They boarded Qwark's tour shuttle and Ratchet agreed to help since he still needed Clank to start his ship.

Upon reaching Batalia, they made their way to the opposite side of where the bolt crank was. The Commando rewarded them for making it that far by giving them an infobot, which contained coordinates to the blargs' former home planet, the polluted Orxon. They also paid a Deserting Soldier for an infobot that had coordinates to Gaspar, where they found the Pilot's Helmet. On Orxon, Clank explored alone since Ratchet, being an organic lifeform, would not have survived the polluted air. Clank found the Magneboots and an infobot that led him and Ratchet to the Jowai Resort on Pokitaru. There, they purchased another upgrade for Clank, the Thruster-Pack, and stopped the Blarg from polluting the sea any further, with the reward being the O2 Mask. After that, they returned to Orxon and found out from an infobot that Drek was planning to destroy an unnamed planet with the PlanetBuster Maximus.

After stopping the PlanetBuster Maximus, they went to the Gemlik Base where they encountered Qwark once again. They defeated Qwark and found an infobot that showed the destruction of Gorda City on Oltanis. This caused Ratchet to realize how selfish he was focusing on Qwark and the importance of stopping Drek. Ratchet and Clank made amends and boarded the blarg fighter, then headed to Oltanis. Ratchet explored the planet alone because Clank attracted lightning from the storm and would not be safe outside. He encountered Qwark at an old Gadgetron stand, trying to pass himself off as "Steve". Ratchet asked him where Drek was, but Qwark gave him a Gadgetron PDA, allowing him to purchase ammo wherever and whenever. Upon exploring more of Gorda City, he purchased an infobot from Sam, which advertised the Ultra-Mech Unlimiteds on Quartu, the planet where Clank was created.

On Quartu, they helped a scientist destroy the Ultra-Mechs he helped create. The scientist rewarded them with an infobot, which led them to the Gadgetron site on Kalebo III. There, they met the CEO of Gadgetron. Ratchet volunteered to be a star that would represent their newest line of hoverboards. The CEO gave him the Hologuise and they returned to Quartu to infiltrate the robot factory. Upon searching the factory, they came across the computer that created the sentry bots, which Clank referred to as "Mom". An infobot came out and revealed that Drek was planning to destroy Ratchet's home planet, Veldin, using his latest invention, the Deplanetizer, to place his new completed planet in an ideal orbit. Angered by this, Ratchet made it his objective to stop Drek, much to Clank's delight. They headed to Drek's fleet and found out Drek's location and where he was going to be setting up the Deplanetizer.

When they encountered Drek (piloting a giant mech-suit) on Veldin, he revealed that he was the one who polluted his planet in the first place and that he was making money in the process. Once his new planet was populated, he would pollute it, thus starting the whole process all over again. Ratchet and Clank managed to defeat Drek on the Deplanetizer platform, which caused him to propel across space and crash into his own constructed planet, resulting in his death.

With the superweapon flipped and facing the constructed planet, Ratchet and Clank found the opportunity to activate it and destroy Drek's world. Unfortunately, this causes fragments of the planet to fall onto Veldin. One of the fragments knocked them off the platform. Clank grabbed a ledge while Ratchet grabbed onto his leg, which caused Clank's arm to break, sending them both falling. Clank broke their fall with his Thruster-Pack, which Ratchet was grateful for. Clank was very concerned with his broken arm, but Ratchet started to walk home, saying he would be alright. Clank, misunderstanding this and feeling disappointed, started to walk away until Ratchet came back and told Clank that he still needed to fix his arm, which caused a smile to appear on Clank's face. The two walked home together, ending their first adventure.

In a post-credits scene, Ratchet and Clank watched Qwark, who was still going by the name "Steve McQwark" at the time, advertise the Personal Hygenator on TV. Horrified by what was happening on-screen, Ratchet shouted at Clank to turn it off, which Clank did without hesitation.

Development

Background

Before completing Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Insomniac Games began planning for their PlayStation 2 project, which would decidedly move away from brighter colors, cartoony characters and platforming mechanics in favor of a much deeper story.[2] The idea was that the audience that consumed games was now older on average than those who had played Spyro, so Insomniac sought to appeal to a changing market.[3] Their first project was a game codenamed I5, representing their fifth game, and Girl with a Stick, as the game featured a female protagonist who whacked enemies with her stick, which would be an adventure-role playing game similar to the Tomb Raider and The Legend of Zelda series.[2][4][5] The game would have involved magic, "big lumbering beasts", and have a darker tone. Development on the game lasted 6–8 months.[3]

The team were unenthusiastic about the project, and when presenting it to Sony Computer Entertainment America's executive producer Connie Booth, they were advised against it, and ultimately made the decision to drop the project.[2][4] It was suggested that Insomniac return to platformers. Insomniac CEO Ted Price objected to this, but he was in the minority and conceded to the development team.[3] This led to the brainstorming of ideas for what would eventually become Ratchet & Clank. One idea that Insomniac was a game titled Monster Knight, featuring a knight named Madi who would catch, grow and wield intelligent monsters as weapons, armor, gear, and vehicles, that would grow throughout the game; this idea formed the basis for the weapons, gadgets, and role-playing game-like progression systems seen in Ratchet & Clank.[6]

Ultimately, the proposal for Ratchet & Clank by Insomniac employee Brian Hastings of an alien traveling through planets and collecting weapons was adopted.[4][7] This took several influences, including The Little Prince, Marvin the Martian, Star Wars, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Banjo-Kazooie, Super Metroid, The Iron Giant, Super Mario 64, and The Legend of Zelda.[8]

The game was shown to Sony, though as the technology had been underdeveloped due to scrapping the original project, Mark Cerny instead encouraged them to create dioramas of the levels the artists had created to showcase to achieve Sony's greenlight, and the levels showcased were a "'Metropolis' Diorama" and "'Jungle' Diorama", early versions of Kerwan and Pokitaru respectively.[9]

Insomniac avoided referring to Ratchet & Clank as a platformer, wishing to distance the game from "collectathon" platformers of the time after having made three in a row. Insomniac wished to elevate the genre, and as such referred to it as an action-adventure game instead, although the video game press referred to it as a platformer nonetheless.[10]

Concepts

Insomniac employee Brian Hastings first proposed the idea of a reptilian alien traveling through planets and collecting weapons.[4][7] His original reptilian design barely resembled the final form, aside from the large hands and pilot gear, and his design became more cat-like as time went on.[11] He was then conceptualized as a fuzzy caveman, led to space by a robot on a mission to save the galaxy, before the caveman's club was replaced with the OmniWrench 8000, and the caveman became a mechanic.[4] This led to the final design of Ratchet.

Originally, it was decided that the protagonist would have a backpack containing several robots performing functions, but this was scrapped and the robot instead became the backpack, as it was less of a visual mess.[11][12] The original design for the robot, much like the protagonist, was very reptilian, and the large eyes were retained for the final design of Clank.[11] Giant Clank initially had red eyes and two giant cannons in his back.

The first few levels designed by Insomniac dictated the visual rules governing the universe: lush brightly colored environments; ambient movement in the background such as waterfalls, spaceships, and air cars; retro-future architecture; and long vista views to direct the player towards a traversable destination and a more visually impressive environment.[11][13] Architecture was designed to be plausible but chunky in its construction, similar to a Tonka truck, and combined science-fiction architecture with the natural world. Planets would have large easy-to-read traversable paths to fit with the hybrid platformer and shooter gameplay.[14]

The team were careful to set reasonable design goals, and not aim to cram too much into an initial design, to avoid making cuts later.[15]

The story was thought of as a "Lethal Weapon meets Saturday morning cartoons" type of narrative.[16][17] The tone of the humor for the game, with the right level of snarkiness and dry humor, was determined after seeing Jim Ward's performance as Qwark in the scene providing an advertisement for Al's Roboshack.[10] Chairman Drek was inspired by the environment surrounding Insomniac Games' offices while they were working at Universal Studios. The staff surrounding them, which Insomniac employees often assumed to be movie executives, inspired Drek's design as a corporate villain.[10]

60 weapons had been designed for the game, though this was dialed back as the team discovered that weapons needed a strategic use for players to engage with them.[17]

Technology

When showcasing the project to Sony, Insomniac initially used the unfinished I5 engine to build and run levels,[11] but they were mostly behind technology-wise due to shelving the original Girl With a Stick project,[15] and their engine was incapable of coping with long draw distances necessary to showcase the levels their artists had created.[9]

When Naughty Dog showed Insomniac Games much of the technology it had been developing for Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, the team took a keen interest in the background rendering engine (used to render seamless environments with no load times in Jak and Daxter), and took Naughty Dog up on their offer to share the technology in exchange for also sharing improvements made.[15] The team would continue to use and optimize the technology throughout the development of the series.[18] One improvement made by Insomniac was their polygon occlusion code developed for Ratchet & Clank, which was more efficient than Naughty Dog's original occlusion routines and allowed the game to use less rendering power on out-of-sight polygons and more on objects in player view, and would later be shared by Insomniac for Naughty Dog to use in Jak II.[19] On reflection, Ted Price stated that Naughty Dog's generosity gave them "a huge leg up and allowed us to draw the enormous vistas in the game".[15]

The game was heavily focus tested, beyond what the team had done during the Spyro days, with over two hundred consumers testing before release, allowing them to test the technology and to fine-tune the difficulty and item pricing.[15]

The team came across many difficulties however. The disc burning process changed drastically from the PS1 days to the PS2, meaning the team would often leave entire levels out of the burned disc memory.[20] As the game featured a much more involved story, their late state on developing the cinematics proved problematic, as they waited until the script and story were finalized first, but it left them little time.[20] Despite reducing their ambitious goals with many levels, they nonetheless would often work on immense level designs that could not be achieved, though this did lead to a much more collaborative level-design process.[20] Finally, the team decided early on to use the Maya software to create 3D models as well as to render particle effects and textures, but frequently pushed it to its breaking point, meaning they would have to use proprietary tools instead for gameplay setup, lighting and texturing.[20]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by David Bergeaud, who had previously scored the Insomniac title Disruptor and who would score the next games in the series up until A Crack in Time. Scoring the game was a collaborative experience with the studio and he was given a great deal of creative freedom, blending orchestral, electronic, and rock together for many tracks.[21]

# Song title Length 01 Veldin - Kyzil Plateau 4:16 02 Novalis - Tobruk Crater 3:52 03 Novalis - The Caves 5:10 04 Novalis - Underground Diving 3:45 05 Kerwan - Metropolis 7:53 06 Kerwan - The Fitness Course 4:26 07 Kerwan - Chasing The Infobot 4:05 08 Aridia Outpost X11 3:57 09 Aridia - Saving Skidd McMarx 4:12 10 Aridia - Traversing The Fortress 4:26 11 Eudora - Logging Site 4:08 12 Eudora - Scaling The Cliffs 5:02 13 Nebula G34 - Blarg Station 4:26 14 Nebula G34 - Clank In Space 3:57 15 Nebula G34 - The Warship 4:06 16 Nebula G34 - The Warship's Self... 0:53 17 Rilgar - Blackwater City 4:02 18 Rilgar - Hovercon Intergalactic... 3:22 19 Rilgar - Sewer Escape 4:02 20 Umbris - Qwark's HQ 4:19 21 Umbris - Captain Qwarks Snagglebeast 4:11 # Song title Length 22 Batalia - Fort Krontos 4:16 23 Batalia - Rail Grinding 4:02 24 Gaspar - Blarg Depot 4:20 25 Orxon - Clank's Second Foray 3:46 26 Pokitaru - Jowai Resort 3:37 27 Pokitaru - Ratchet's Dogfight 4:15 28 Pokitaru - The 'Scenic' Sewers 4:15 29 Orxon - Ratchet On Orxon 4:16 30 Hoven - Bomb Factory 4:44 31 Hoven - Hydrodisplacer Puzzle 4:17 32 Oltanis Orbit - Gemlik Base 4:10 33 Oltanis Orbit - Captain Qwark's Ship 4:20 34 Oltanis - Gorda City Ruins 4:01 35 Oltanis - Gravity Boot Loops 4:12 36 Quartu - Robot Plant 3:52 37 Quartu - Giant Clank! 3:52 38 Kalebo III - Gadgetron Site 3:58 39 Veldin Orbit - Drek's Fleet 4:02 40 Veldin Orbit - Destroying The Cannons 4:18 41 Veldin in Peril- Kyzil Plateau 4:05 42 Veldin in Peril - Chairman Drek 4:04

Cut content

A weapon called the Revolverator was going to be included but was cut during development. It was designed as a drill that Ratchet would strike enemies with, then proceed to spin them over his head. It was cut as this action would leave Ratchet open to attack, and that it would require additional development resources while not fitting the tone of the series. The weapon's model was reused as a drill owned by the Miner on planet Hoven, and later featured in the Insomniac Museum in Going Commando.

International changes

A few changes needed to be made in order for the game to work best for the Japanese market. This included changing the inside humor that would be less well received outside Japan, as well as changing character models as three fingered hands was not culturally acceptable.[10][22]

Reception

Critical reception

http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/33463-a-good-mechanic-is-hard-to-find-review

Ratchet & Clank received positive reviews from critics upon release. Reviewers noted that while fatigued by platformers at the time, its challenges and depth made it unique, and praise was given to its graphics and soundtrack and the fact it could be recommended to a broad range of players.[25][27][29]

GameSpot praised it for avoiding "most of the traps that hold back the majority of modern platform games" and presenting a "fantastic, well-balanced story-driven adventure", commenting that both fans of platformers and third-person shooters would enjoy it.[27] IGN noted that while not "the most innovative or original" experience, it was "beautifully crafted, deep with scenarios, long and filled with various challenges, weapons, and gadgets". It was a worthwhile purchase for platform, action, or regular game fans.[29]

The game has also received criticism. Many reviewers criticized the game for feeling familiar to other games of the time.[25][27][29] GameInformer noted its slow start prior to planet Rilgar due to familiarity with other platformers, even if it was noted that it rapidly picked up the pace afterwards and became more enjoyable.[25] IGN criticized Ratchet's character as not being unique.[29]

Commercial performance

Ratchet & Clank reached Greatest Hits status, showing it had sold over one million copies. It was also the first Western game to be bundled in with the PlayStation 2 in Japan after breaking into the top 100 charts, showing its appeal in Japan.[4]

Legacy

Work began on a sequel before the completion of Ratchet & Clank, due to Sony's confidence in its success.[15]

A reimagining of the game was released in 2016, tying into a movie based on its story. In the game, many levels, weapons, and characters could not reappear, as the team was low on time and resources to implement them.[22]

Retroactively, Insomniac Games believed the humor included in the original game to be cringeworthy and less sophisticated, and therefore toned it down for the 2016 reimagining.[22]

Production credits

Staff

Designer Brian Allgeier Programmers Alexander Hastings

Brian Hastings Artists John Fiorito

Dave Guertin

Greg Baldwin Composer David Bergeaud

Voice cast

Ratchet Mikey Kelley Clank David Kaye Qwark Jim Ward Drek Kevin Michael Richardson HelpDesk Girl Mona Marshall The Plumber Neil Flynn Big Al Chris Hatfield Helga von Streissenburgen Mona Marshall Skid McMarx Neil Flynn Novalis mayor Jack Angel Darla Gratch Sylvia Aimerito Hoverboard Girl Melissa Disney Drek's Lieutenant Neil Flynn Shady Salesman Chad Einbinder Scrap merchant David Kaye Bob David Kaye Blarg scientist David Kaye Deserter Jim Ward Gadgetron CEO Jim Ward Commando Kevin Michael Richardson Announcer Kevin Michael Richardson Bouncer Kevin Michael Richardson Edwina Mona Marshall Inventor Neil Flynn Foreman Neil Flynn Resort owner Chad Einbinder

Gallery