Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"All it's cracked up to be"

I love platformers. I love Mario and Sonic and yet for what seemed like an eternity I had to endure a platformer famine while FPSes migrated across the gaming landscape killing off anything too cute and colorful. Sadly all last gen I didn't own a PS2 meaning I missed out on the handful of non Mario platformers surviving. Including Rachet and Clank.

Now I will say this was my first Rachet and Clank so I don't have earlier ones to go by and I know it is a bit more focused on story so I worried I would be in the dark on some things but thankfully like Mario or Sonic, this is a series that can stand alone with each title and you won't feel lost.

The story adheres to story cliche #247 Rachet is last of the ___ now learning the history of his origin and apparently his race wiped out another more evil race and their leader, last of his kind wants to wipe out Rachet as well. It's a decent story with a lot of great humor but keeps cutscenes short and to the point and gets you back to the action.

First off I am happy that a modern game like this starts out with the action rather quickly. You get a short opening and BAM Rachet and Clank are thrown right into the fight. Those who played previous installments will also be pleased that you get to keep some items from before nor are you bogged down with a boring tutorial. The first stage provides a lot of action without being insanely hard for newer players.

Despite my first time playing the R&C series I will say this game wasn't just good, it was great. It has smooth, precise controls, coupled with excellent combat and great platforming. All too many games will give you tons of weapons but you'll only use some for a few places. Rachet's arsenal lets you play around with various items to find what works best for you. You can make tornadoes, or use a disco ball to make enemies get down and funky or just smash them all with your trusty wrench. Not since Banjo Kazooie/Tooie have I seen a game wonderfully balance so many types of gameplay so fluidly.

If I do have one complaint, it's in regards to any gameplay involving the sixaxis controls. After all this was an early PS3 game when Sony was using the sixaxis to compete with the Wii so you find yourself using the controls to steer Rachet while falling, or flying with robotic wings and some horribly frustrating puzzles like using a lazer to cut a wall or a rolly ball computer hacking game that will make you miss Bioshocks Pipe Dream hacking system. It was an interesting attempt to mix up some things and add something new but sadly, here it feels very forced.

Rachet's world is colorful and vibrant. Finding a nice balance between cute and grim. Its nice to see a sci-fi game using colorful locales and creatures as opposed to another grim and gritty wasteland.

So Rachet, I'm sorry I neglected you but thanks for being there for me when I found you.