A rift has formed between our heroes. Despite their misaligned goals and mutual animosity, they are driven together by circumstances outside their control, each of them needing something from the other.
Can they keep their tempers in check long enough to see their journey though, or will their bickering lead to their defeat?
Let us find out.
One of the most fascinating aspects of replaying this original game is observing how rough it feels compared to the sequels, where they had greater opportunity to refine the game’s mechanics. Back in 2002, we were still in the design mentality of PlayStation 1-era 3D Platformers, and that fundamental design became core to Ratchet & Clank’s identity.
Though the game was advertised for its various weapons and gadgets, the truth is the gunplay wasn’t as much a core focus as it would become. Most enemies can be easily dispatched with the wrench, and the Bomb Glove we start with can deal with almost anything from close to mid-range. The only weapons one truly needs are either the Devastator or the Visibomb to deal with long-range threats.
Most of what we’re actually doing in the 2002 original is platforming, traversing a map to get from point A to point B. In between segments of jumping, swinging, and puzzling our way around are small sections of combat that rarely take more than a few seconds to resolve. As we start to play later games in the franchise, the balance will start to tip the other way, bringing it closer to the more modern entries, but that will come later.
A lot of what we would come to see as series staples later exist merely in rudimentary forms now. More pertinent to this episode are the concepts of health upgrades, where we can only double our starting health (for a hefty price), and strafing. While strafing does exist in the game, it lacks the smooth controls that we would start to see in the sequel and onward. The fact that the falling animation is recycled for it suggests that it was likely made quickly after a need or desire to see it implemented was detected.
The franchise has come a long way since then, but it’s also made great changes for better and worse. If we ever play the Future games, I would love to go into more detail about it.
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