Before I get into the review, I think I should talk about the particular version of the game I am playing. In 2012, the entire Ratchet & Clank trilogy would be released on the PlayStation 3 as Ratchet & Clank HD Collection. This version adds 16:9 widescreen support, and very poor widescreen support, at that. Some HUD elements just linger on the side of the screen, and there are many things that just aren't supposed to be shown in the frame. It feels like applying a generic 16:9 patch on an emulator. Most are probably expecting that, but considering the fact that it released just about a year earlier than the likes of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix, another PS2 remastered collection for PS3, which has fantastic widescreen optimization and a fantastic 1080p with a very consistent 30fps. I can't speak for the original, but this version performs at 720p 60, with very rare cases of slowdown. Not much to complain about with this port outside of that stuff. I also think I should mention the PS4 remake, reboot, reimagine, re... thing. I've never touched it, and I don't plan on doing so. After watching TheGamingBritShow's video on the topic, I think I've come to the realization that if I played it, I would kill myself. I almost always impolore people to actually play games, instead of just coming to baseless conclusions, but I am absolutely sure that this is one of the worst remakes ever made. Go watch that video.

Ratchet & Clank opens with a cutscene depicting a... thing named Ratchet fixing a ship, and a small robot (who would later be nicknamed Clank) escaping a... thing, unintentionally launching off to the same planet as Ratchet. The two then strike an accord to travel the galaxy in search of one Captain Qwark, who Clank says will help him with saving the galaxy from the evil Chairman Drek and his army of aliens known as the Blarg. SPOILER TIME MY BOY (this game's plot is actually great, please play the game before reading this story summary)
While the plot itself is quite unremarkable, the dynamic between the main duo is very engaging, and watching the inhabitants react to them and the current state of their world is very entertaining, helped a lot by the mostly great voicework and fantastic animation. Holding all of this together are the themes of consumerism, and the fantastic satire that comes out of that. Combine that with a heartwarming ending, and you got quite the enjoyable story.

Ratchet himself can jump with X and smack things with a wrench, with the square button. With this, he can perform either a generic 3-hit combo, or he can throw it by holding R1. Things get a little more complicated when we start considering this game's biggest new mechanic; guns. The player can equip a gun, either from the quick-select wheel (activated by holding triangle), or by selecting it from the pause menu. By holding O, you can shoot that weapon. These guns can do a variety of things, from just shooting Megaman lemons, to blasting fire, to a completely controllable missile. While the guns never get sUpEr cRaZy, they are all useful in their own right. The game lacks dual stick aiming, or even a strafe feature. While the game does have a first person mode (activated by holding L1 or L2), it doesn't fix it entirely. But, and this surprised myself, I think the kinda inaccurate auto-aiming encourages the player to strategize. This is helped by the limited ammo the player has at his/her disposal. Every weapon has its own special usecase, and it always keeps the player thinking about every encounter.

The enemies are also very aggressive, which always keeps you on your toes. Maybe a bit too much. I'm not lying when I say that absolute biggest issue with Ratchet & Clank is checkpointing. Sometimes you can be set back for upwards of 15 minutes, and this is especially terrible because the game often encourages the player to take is slow and experiment with the different weapons that Ratchet has at his disposal. But players who experiment will often be set back by huge portions, and by the end of the game, it can be a fucking grind. Yes, the auto-targeting is mostly fine, but I'd be lying if I said it was always perfect. Particularly when you have a huge lot of different enemies in one room, it is just an absolute clusterfuck, and don't you worry, if you die, you get to go WAAAY back.

The platforming control is a bit rough, but perfectly playable. After jumping with X, Ratchet can double-jump by pressing X again. Although it is kinda weak. I think it just kills forward momentum, and provides slightly more height, probably helpful for evading enemies and obstacles. General movement in general is good, but Ratchet's turning feels... delayed? It's hard to explain, you have to play it for yourself. Thankfully, it becomes natural soon into the adventure. Shortly into the game, the player unlocks a expansion thingy majiggy for Clank. This really expands the player's toolset, allowing Ratchet to do a high jump, a long jump, and a slower descent. Much later into the game, the player will unlock a jet expansion, allowing the player to... do basically the same things, except much faster and more smoothly.

Thankfully, all of this is redeemed (kinda) by the fantastic level design. Stages are usually tons of straight, challenging paths stringed together by a few open areas, sometimes with objectives that encourage exploring the areas and complete the most difficult paths. The opens areas are very fun to explore, if a bit meandering at some times. They often have fantastic platforming as well, which often bridges many different sections of the open area. The linear paths tend to have very engaging platforming, often combined with combat, or at the very least so use of Ratchet's toolset. The combat parts itself are great, but again, they can be rough. I think my biggest problem is that sometimes they pretty much require some purchasable weapons. I haven't mentioned this yet, but most of the weapons are purchased via the Gadgetron Vendor with bolts, which are obtained by either defeating enemies or destroying crates.

For an early release PS2 game, Ratchet & Clank looks pretty damn good. I'd like to remind you that I'm playing on the PS3 HD Collection, which bumps up the resolution to 720p, along with extending the aspect ratio to a full 16:9 widescreen. Unfortunately, the widescreen aspect ratio shows quite a few artifacts throughout the game. Not enough to be a dealbreaker, mind you, it is just very lazy. The game has a very dirty, grubby sci-fi aesthetic, which fits very well with the hardcore protagonist and the consumerism satire. The environments look great... well, for the most part. Yes, Ratchet & Clank does suffer from PS2-itis, which means blurry ass textures and 480i. Thank god I'm on the PS3 version, so it isn't interlaced, but the textures still look like crap some of the time. I say that because most of the time, the textures lend themselves well to the game's art style, but sometimes it just looks like crap. Despite these textures, the environments still have great looking structures. All complaints about the visuals are redeemed though, because this soundtrack is fucking kickin'! Constant banger after banger after banger after banger after banger after banger after banger after banger.

So, to answer the question that I couldn't fucking write at the beginning of the review, is Ratchet & Clank still good? Well, I've gotta say this now, I was not going into this game with very high expectations. As someone who just saw the series from the outside, this first game seemed extremely archaic, and while some of that did turn out to be true, it is still great. Good mechanics, great level design, fantastic presentation, sublime soundtrack, and enterienting story really blew away. It is far from perfect, but Ratchet & Clank really is something special, and despite all of its problems, I strongly recommend that you give it shot.