Considering that Extra Credits mentioned game reviewing today, I figured I would too. This technique has been floating around in my head recently, since everyone I know IRL seems to convey their favourite games with the bugs or the annoyances conveniently omitted, which interests me. We know a perfect game hasn't been made yet, so why do we kid ourselves on the ones which we prefer? I think that spotting flaws in something you still hold with high regard would be a useful technique to practice in gaming and the reviewing thereof.
Here's my submission:
The original Ratchet and Clank trilogy on the Ps2 were close to my heart throughout my childhood years and I've clocked many an hour on them. However, looking back on the original I noticed that it was particularly less refined that I remembered. For the first, buying ammo was finicky and time-consuming, as was the whole concept of buying a new gun with a fraction of ammo in it, Ratchet's voice acting sounded croaky and too adolescent for the character (while on the subject, I'm glad Neil Flynn didn't get typecast for every lizard creature he voices in this game.) Also the difficulty curve takes several jarring jumps, particularly with the suicide bombs and sentry robots. The final boss battle in particular is an exercise in frustration and failure, which seems to serve only to suck up money on extra ammo. Luckily, sucking up money is something you've been doing from the halfway point with the Metal Detector gadget, which can f*ck right off as the back-tracky, anciliary gimmick that it is. Dying has no penalty as in the other games, but some levels have Continue Points so far and few between that you can literally be halfway across the map only to die and spawn right back by your ship. Lastly, the story takes a completely silly turn halfway through with the conflict between the two main characters, which is completely unbelievable and makes you think Ratchet has blinkers on his brain or something.
The sequel's voice acting improved, however Ratchet's body modelling got caught on the torture rack as he looks ridiculously tall in the new body armour. The extra minigames work well although at the top end are more about blind luck than skill. I like the weapon upgrade system, although psychotic players like me will find that grinding the progress bars on the weapons will totally break the game's difficulty at points. Thankfully Ratchet can strafe in this one without having to hover on Clank's Rocket pack, but even with this aiming can be wavery and some boss battles in particular seem to have been coded for a much faster protagonists, and so the old damage-loop-to-death will rear its ugly head more than once in gameplay. The beginning of the game separates the characters which does help the learning curve somewhat, but those who have played the first game beforehand will be annoyed at the stunted move catalog.
Ratchet and Clank 3 threw in a bold storytelling move as for once the duo don't get *spoiler warning* betrayed throughout the course of the game in the most obvious of manners, although they do go through a large portion expecting it, which efficiently punches a nice hole through the fourth wall. Mainstay Captain Qwark is characterised at his best in this game as an over-the-top, incompetent boob who everyone inexplicably heaps praise on, but their unlikeable character is in earshot for a little bit too long. Also while striving for 100% in most areas of the game is fun and encouraged, the Qwark minigame full completion can of course go rot. The weapons are nice and varied, although a few are completely useless and levelling up things like the portable shield devolve into throwing it in front of enemies and watching them dumbly fire round after round into it. Speaking of enemies, the big bads in the previous games were hard to take seriously but Dr Nefarious takes the cake, being an over-arching ninny until one point right near the end that even has a semblance of the "Holy Sh*t" quota. The gladiator battles are still there and have been thankfully balanced so as not to be a complete walk in the park, apart from the platform sections which pretty much are, but the racing, hoverboarding and space dogfighting sections have been replaced with sci-fi style castle siege and defence war games, which while fun are nowhere near as varied, and now there's no real reason to upgrade your ship. The robotic squadron under your command are funny and well characterised, although the initial base-jumping section under heavy mortar fire is unnecessary, irritating and luckily skippable after you die.
That being said, definitely check these games out
Here's my submission:
The original Ratchet and Clank trilogy on the Ps2 were close to my heart throughout my childhood years and I've clocked many an hour on them. However, looking back on the original I noticed that it was particularly less refined that I remembered. For the first, buying ammo was finicky and time-consuming, as was the whole concept of buying a new gun with a fraction of ammo in it, Ratchet's voice acting sounded croaky and too adolescent for the character (while on the subject, I'm glad Neil Flynn didn't get typecast for every lizard creature he voices in this game.) Also the difficulty curve takes several jarring jumps, particularly with the suicide bombs and sentry robots. The final boss battle in particular is an exercise in frustration and failure, which seems to serve only to suck up money on extra ammo. Luckily, sucking up money is something you've been doing from the halfway point with the Metal Detector gadget, which can f*ck right off as the back-tracky, anciliary gimmick that it is. Dying has no penalty as in the other games, but some levels have Continue Points so far and few between that you can literally be halfway across the map only to die and spawn right back by your ship. Lastly, the story takes a completely silly turn halfway through with the conflict between the two main characters, which is completely unbelievable and makes you think Ratchet has blinkers on his brain or something.
The sequel's voice acting improved, however Ratchet's body modelling got caught on the torture rack as he looks ridiculously tall in the new body armour. The extra minigames work well although at the top end are more about blind luck than skill. I like the weapon upgrade system, although psychotic players like me will find that grinding the progress bars on the weapons will totally break the game's difficulty at points. Thankfully Ratchet can strafe in this one without having to hover on Clank's Rocket pack, but even with this aiming can be wavery and some boss battles in particular seem to have been coded for a much faster protagonists, and so the old damage-loop-to-death will rear its ugly head more than once in gameplay. The beginning of the game separates the characters which does help the learning curve somewhat, but those who have played the first game beforehand will be annoyed at the stunted move catalog.
Ratchet and Clank 3 threw in a bold storytelling move as for once the duo don't get *spoiler warning* betrayed throughout the course of the game in the most obvious of manners, although they do go through a large portion expecting it, which efficiently punches a nice hole through the fourth wall. Mainstay Captain Qwark is characterised at his best in this game as an over-the-top, incompetent boob who everyone inexplicably heaps praise on, but their unlikeable character is in earshot for a little bit too long. Also while striving for 100% in most areas of the game is fun and encouraged, the Qwark minigame full completion can of course go rot. The weapons are nice and varied, although a few are completely useless and levelling up things like the portable shield devolve into throwing it in front of enemies and watching them dumbly fire round after round into it. Speaking of enemies, the big bads in the previous games were hard to take seriously but Dr Nefarious takes the cake, being an over-arching ninny until one point right near the end that even has a semblance of the "Holy Sh*t" quota. The gladiator battles are still there and have been thankfully balanced so as not to be a complete walk in the park, apart from the platform sections which pretty much are, but the racing, hoverboarding and space dogfighting sections have been replaced with sci-fi style castle siege and defence war games, which while fun are nowhere near as varied, and now there's no real reason to upgrade your ship. The robotic squadron under your command are funny and well characterised, although the initial base-jumping section under heavy mortar fire is unnecessary, irritating and luckily skippable after you die.
That being said, definitely check these games out
