A Complete Critique of the ENTIRE Ratchet & Clank Series
Vložit
- čas přidán 5. 08. 2024
- The Ratchet & Clank series is one that I hold dearly, but as the series has continued over the decades, it's been difficult to maintain the enthusiasm. With every new entry, the personality, charm, and overall quality of the series has deteriorated, until what remains is a gaudy and overproduced shell with several times the noise but nothing left to say. Today, we're going over every mainline series entry to map this decline - from humble origins to the modern day - and to go into detail about what's been lost to diminishing returns over the years, and what creative choices have left the current state of the series so creatively barren.
This is a compilation of all my previous videos critiquing the Ratchet & Clank series, reedited and including both revised and additional new commentary, for those who prefer taking their content in a single course.
0:00 - Introduction
2:57 - Ratchet & Clank (2002)
17:15 - Ratchet & Clank 2 / Going Commando
29:03 - Ratchet & Clank 3 / Up Your Arsenal
39:54 - Deadlocked / Gladiator
48:08 - The 'Future' Trilogy
1:10:52 - Into the Nexus
1:19:05 - Ratchet & Clank (2016)
1:41:14 - Rift Apart
2:48:08 - Concluding Thoughts
Thank you for watching, both then and now.
--
My Twitch: / digitalman123
My Twitter: @TheRealScottyGJ
My Sci-Fi Novel: www.scottjacobson.me/alteration - Hry
The next ‘Actually Sucks’ video will be on God of War (2018). Sorry to keep you waiting, and I hope you enjoy!
Can’t wait I know it’ll be great.
Your critique is very well rounded, and you have fun with your videos which is basically the complete package. Thank you for the great work.
I always feel like something of a pariah when I point out how ridiculous it is that 2 builds up all this evidence that Fizzwidget is a horrible person and then everyone turns around and says "well he was stuffed in a locker last weekend so we can forgive his years of environmental destruction and other assorted horrible corporate crap!" Apparently Angela only thinks Megacorp are awful until they give her her job back, I guess. I do love 2 in every other regard though.
Thats one of the best videos about Ratchet series ever made as literally like 99% of the takes are what im constantly yaping about to my friends. Whenever im tired I can just link it to somebody to ''summary'' my feelings about these games, thank you
Saw this on the R&C subreddit, you’re great man!! Keep it up, fantastic commentary and editing
Ain’t no fuckin way you made a quality video & you literally have 1k subs Jesus man you seriously have talent & I hope you get the recognition you deserve. Great video & very informative while entertaining 🤙🏼
The scriptwriting for this video was amazing! Well done!
Great work man, i bet you will be at 100K subs in no time if you keep this quality up
Ok how do you don't have that big of a reach ?😮 the humor is damn good and everything from editing to writing is pretty darn good
Ratchet 3 is an odd one for me. It was the first Ratchet game I played, so it shaped my vision of what an ideal Ratchet game should look like. I think what I like so much about it is how it lacks the more clunky moments the first two had.
Ratchet 1's combat is little more than serviceable, its puzzles can be kind of a slog, and its Clank sections feel worse every time I play them. Half of Ratchet 2's gadgets feel half-baked or just pointless, and moments like the thug leader fight make it hard to revisit. The difficulty curve also just doesn't feel right at times, with planets like Snivelak and Grelbin being particularly egregious. Ratchet 3 feels like a more streamlined experience, with few gimmicks getting in the way. The weapon progression isn't perfect, but the selection of weapons more than makes up for that. Your enjoyment of Ratchet 3 will ultimately depend on how much you like the combat, and for me I can hardly think of a third person shooter with a more satisfying game loop. Story-wise, it could've been thought out more, but I still find it entertaining enough. It has some decent serious moments, and I'm glad its not bogged down by the high-concept stuff the later games went for.
I finally got the chance to play Rift Apart recently, and it just left me feeling empty. It felt good to play, but the personality and charm just wasn't there. Ratchet 3 may have a been a silly game that threw out most of the non-shooter elements of the first 2 games, but it still had a lot of heart. Upon retrospect it comes off as "the obligatory third game" that needed to be pushed out in a year to satiate Sony, but it's just sad that Rift Apart couldn't even capture what that game did. I don't think I feel this way only because I've grown up, I think Insomniac actually lost the plot on what made people fall in love with the PS2 games. I only hope they'll be a bit more daring with the next game, if that ever gets made.
Also, the weapon leveling system rocks. Simple as.
Bro I’ve been watching this over the last couple days and just finished. I’m an old school (PS2) ratchet fan who fell off after UYA and haven’t really played much since. Got rift apart when I landed a PS5 and just couldn’t get into it the way I wanted. Glad you were able to capture some of my thoughts. Phenomenal video. You’re bordering masterclass in writing/editing/narration. Keep it up!!!
You expected to get into Rift Apart while having not played any game since RnC 3?
No wonder you didn't.
YOU have no idea what happened before hand.
Don't bitch without knowing the context beforehand.
Man you missed deadlocked then, one of the best. Just feels great to play.
I think that what made ratchet and clank cool friends was the fact that they were both unique, one a mistake and the other a dude from an almost extinct race
Insomniac is all about "thank you for releasing me".
The love people have for the PS2 games makes it baffeling Insomniac have left them in such a bad state. I play the PS2 versions on PCSX2 instead of the HD PS3 versions. Tools & Future are running pretty good on RPCS3 now as long as you have a decent machine (you still get some crashes but they're few and far between now thankfully)
I think the reason the port is so bad is because of how hard the ps3 was to devalop for so it probably wasn't easy to port
And the OST of the first game hits like... DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYUUUUUUUUUUUUMMM... only that meme with a fancy dude, playing a burning piano comes to mind
Criminally underrated vid
Finally someone that respects Deadlocked.
Doesn’t pretty much everyone respect this game now? It’s very much one of those games that history has forgiven.
I totally agree with you on the PS3 games, I love ratchet and clank but those games I never liked.
ps3 R+C SUCKED. very sad. plus the music really sucked on the PS3.
So recently I have started going through the series again, currently I have just started UYA, and honestly I think I liked and appreciated the first game much more than I have in the past, not to say I didn't like it before, but something felt different to me this time through, and Going Commando, surprisingly I felt less invested in this go round, we'll see how the rest of the series feels for me but right now it I am kinda viewing the first game as peak
Deadlocked actually manage to make a more”serious plot” without make all character a npc
Tfw Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank both kept the 'double jump while strafing' thing while the Future Series didn't... Not to say I hate the games either, I actually really like them as stories and as games, that's just something I realized the PSP games have over those mainline titles that's funny.
I never managed to finish into the nexus I got to a certain part and then my dad decided to auction of my ps3 cause I had a ps4 and nexus was only available on ps3. At the time atleast pretty sure that still the case.
Anyway I througroughly enjoyed playing throught rift apart(typing this as I just finished it). I think the way the utilized the ps5 for transitioning and stuff was great but very streamlined and structured. and the haptic feedback kinda saved the enjoyment factor of it. it felt responsive enough. I liked collecting things like clothes and bolts 'n' stuff etc. It was fun. But a crack in time was definitely my favourite of the future saga by far. I played that game in one sitting. I was glad that it atleast had some emotion and intrigue packed into it's watered down version of itself. I think most games nowadays suffers from the same stuff ratchet and clank does. If you look at something from the past you remodel it to be a product rather than an actual remake take Medievil. if you were to look at the trailers for both games they're very 1 to 1 but one of the most important factors have been stripped away entirely. There's so much ratchet and clank could've been and i'm afraid I don't have hope for a satisfying return to good writing. Aight I don't where I was going with this anyway great video.
27:12 I remember Angela swearing and the subtle dick joke when it looks like Fizz!Qwark is pulling up his fly to undo the disguise
But that may also just be because I've played Going Commando so much. But I agree with nearly everything you've said here about it
i just had an idea. what if having a hanful of lombaxes in each dimensions was actually the plan? maybe the whole race Split up to keep an eye on each dimension and keep it safe? we know for sure than 1 or 2 lombax is enough for a whole dimension.
My headcannon is that Angela lost her tail in a factory acident, and with it her ballance. (sinse irl, cat use their tails for ballance.)
The news reporter was just making assumption about the lombax sexual dimorphism, because they had never seen any other female lombaxes.
Also, they were oviously illuding to another body part. (We know the series is known for that kind of hummor.)
Agree so much with your points on Rift Apart. In my opinion, the game could have been a solid 7/10. But the the fact that NO ONE WILL EVER SHUT. THE FUCK. UP. brings it singlehandedly down to a 5/10 for me. It's so damn annoying. Every single enemy has their own one-liners to throw out on repeat. Then the enemy lack of variety brings it down to 4/10. This game was such a disappointment for me
I get downvoted to shit everytime I criticize Rift Apart on the RAC sub reddit, but I agree with everything you said. Add to that that the game has very little of the classic branching paths and leans more towards large open-world like planets brings it even further down for me.
i already saw the whole series but it's the perfect lengh for work, i'll eat it whole tomorow👍
the PS2 Games rocked. After that, it got sad...very sad.
I just played the original triology the last few weeks again after not having played it since my childhood and i had such a blast i can't get enough of it to the point that i pretty much looked up every analysis of these games here on CZcams
Now I have found your very well made video about the series as a whole up to the last entry and you really hit the nail on the head with it, just a really sharp review of those games and their evolution I must say compared to some other reviewers
And I totally love how spot on you are about the games core premise from the 2002 Original to visit and explore unique planets and meeting different characters on those worlds on your own and how it already changed from this on with Going Commando in 2003, which still has much more of that awesome formula than Up Your Arsenal one year later did
And I really was baffled at how many reviewers and commentors seemed to have that game as their favorite in the series, it's just such a downgrade from what made Ratchet & Clank such an awesome game in the first place
Thankfully I have discovered that there are quite some people who also think that the first game is the best, which it just is
So thank you for making this complete and definitive documentation about how the series evolved as a whole
Let's see what the future holds up for us..
Cheers
37:20 It has almost nothing in common with Gradius. The comparison you're looking for is Tempest 2000.
RaC 3 FTW!
“Maybe this game (R&C16) has done for a whole new generation what the original Ratchet and Clank did for me.”
As someone who grew up on the Pierce Brosnan-era James Bond films (especially Die Another Day, one of the most vilified entries in the series) and has gone back to the beginning of the franchise to enjoy it in its entirety, I sincerely hope that this is what the reboot is most responsible for. Sometimes even a shattered mirror can lend you a glimpse into the history of a series and help one develop a love for it.
I just found an ytoutube gem. Cheers from portugal good sir!
The remake is not Main line
43:27 adding mods to guns is the best part of deadlocks combat hands down. I wish rnc became more like an actual rpg with true buildcrafting this was the closest we ever got tbh.
Mods gave the game depth shock was not op imo cryo was the true op element. Slap a bunch of speed mods on a vulcan cannon and you can freeze an enemy before they shoot and keep em locked down. Shock was good for clearin weak dudes but on my scorpion flail i can mod it out too up the area so i dont need shock and can run cyro.
I could spec into speed or impact in order to stagger enemies allowin my mele playstyle to work with a shock mod for aoe or cyro poison for bosses n big enemies.
Every weapon had a unique playstyle you could craft. You could slap 10 speed mods on your dual vipers and spit out all your ammo insanely fast or balance it with a few ammo speed impact n aim mods the choice was up too you. Puttin a time bomb mod on your arbiter made it not detonate on impact seemigly worse than a napalm but it actually gave it insane dmg and a shock like effect.
Morph mod and the brainwash mods were certainly gimmicks but heck with skill points we finally got the 1 and only reason to use the wrench since og rnc with the super morphing freeze wrench.
Jus imagine a combat system where ya have armor mods like from size matters more than jus wrench mods but actual perks and deadlocks mod system along with hoverboots clank flying and a swing mechanic using our trusty swingshot similarish to spider mans mechanics would be the perfect rpg with like a mix of doom eternal gunplay and resource managment speed n quick swaps mixed with a GOW style mele combat system.
36:29 it's mostly hitting the barrier dog 😅
There is a fine line between plagiarism and emulation
Breaking news: Anti-corporate message and edge of a piece of media stifled after becoming the product of a major tech corporation. "What's a theme?" Says major product manager. More at 11.
I remember the uya ps3 port, the sewer area with the crystals was so f laggy
After seeing that Insomniac roadmap that leaked online. Unless something crazy happens, Rift Apart is the only new Ratchet game in this entire generation which means potential wasted and that's very disappointing. I am not going risk holding my breath that the next game will try something fresh and interesting instead of being the same gameplay style but prettier like exactly what 2016 did.
I can guarantee that Ratchet & Clank PS6 will have a safer story, probably starring Rivet & Kit with Ratchet & Clank as the side characters this time with even more of a focus on G rated humor that talks down to you even harder than Rift Apart & especially '16. I'll be in my early 30s by that time. I really hate to be THAT boomer doomer nerd, but I FINALLY realized that Ratchet & Clank truely does not impress me like it used to.
Because the people making it now have no soul for it
Exactly@@FlamespeedyAMV
52:44 Don't ever play Size Matters.
I came into this like oh god I will have to type book why it sucks and u r about to do it so im gratefull lets enjoy this masterpiece
I was right since the start of the video this whole video is pure facts its sad
ok I totaly agree about Lawrence BUT even withouth him they missed out on an epic joke where dr. Neffy would glitch out end freeze into a mellodrama and emperor neffy would just like, leave him in his drama limbo. That would very nicely contrast the lack of Lawrence and mirror neffy's end in up your arsenal where he got stuck on a meteor but now he's stuck in mellodrama. Then in some next game he could like "finish marathoning all the seasons in one sitting" and finally be free and take revenge or something idk
Btw they made the ps3 versions of ps2 games easier but mby iam wrong
Why was ratchet and clank 3 rushed ? Because Ratchet and clank 2 was not
2, 3 and Gladiator were all rushed. 3 just had the creation on multiplayer and online multiplayer to contend with.
Uploaf
deadlocked is perfect, and im tired of pretending its not ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuun ratchet ruuun
Great video, but at the end you say "im not saying if you like the new ratchets you are wrong and stupid"
Most people/creators say stuff like this. But do you really belive it? Or is that just you protecting yourself from hate?
You made a 2 hour video about how crap the later games are. I personally belive the people that like the new games must be kinda dumb
Glad you enjoyed :) And of course I believe it. People like things for different reasons, and there are certainly reasons people might like Rift Apart or the reboot. I understand the reasons I once loved Ratchet may not be why others did or do, or that people may not care as much about the things that rankle me, and that's alright. I'm not happy with the series' current direction - I think that much should obvious lol - but that doesn't mean I think less of anyone who enjoys it.
@@TheDigitalMadHouse the digital man, u r wrong. Ppl who like new rocket and dank games are big dum dums.
You forgot size matters and secret agent clank🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
He only talked about the main line games and he even said in the beginning that he wont include these games 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Jeez, you're so nitpicky about R&C 2. But you didn't give a single convincing argument why the best game in the series is bad lol, just some minor nitpicks.
Please elaborate
@@Gearbottt R&C2 is a perfect game, its only downside is parts of the plot, but the game makes up for them with its great humour. And the RPG elements are fun, idk how anyone can find them unnecessary or boring. His criticism is just full of nitpicks that don't affect the game at all.
@@bartoszwojciechowski2270ppl who don’t play going commando more than 5 times in challenge mode don’t unlock everything you can out of the game ig
What ticks me off is when certain reviewers try to claim all “we” want is og ratchet back and nothing else. Basically just a shallow comeback from mindless drones whom think rivet is a well written, feminist icon (LOL.) I’d definitely wager Angela is a better written FEMALE character from EIGHTEEN years ago when that sort of thing was extremely rare and out of place. I don’t even mind the new story direction, however the writing, dialogue and beats within the narrative are so poorly foretold and cliché. Don’t even get me started on the uninteresting and bland level design, coupled with platformjng so poorly underused and underdeveloped, the mind actually boggles over those whom gush about rift apart. For me the game is basically obsolete without the graphics and acts as a continual disguise to cover up the cracks of what is a pretty mediocre experience all in all.
Facts
yeah those that say rift apart is a masterpiece has never played any of the original trilogy
The idea that well written female characters were u common and out of place 18 years ago is hilarious.
The first part is way too similar to the GamingBritsShow when he talks about the first game, I had to stop watching because of it.
I had the same vibes
Stopped as well
What wrong with that?
Wow two people can’t have similar thoughts. Your loss.
These are the stupidest comments I’ve ever heard on a analysis/opinion video, gee it’s not like it a popular opinion that many of us feel the exact same way or have the same verbiage to describe it. L comments if I ever seen one
@@ICE-BREAKER-9000 Upset much...