https://www.cybersport.ru/games/articles/obzor-ratchet-and-clank-samaya-krasivaya-igra-v-istorii-kotoraya-mogla-by-byt-chem-to-bolshim

Disclaimer: The review contains information that the developers asked to mark as a spoiler. In my opinion, acquaintance with it cannot spoil the pleasure of the game for you, but read on at your own peril and risk.

Red constructor

In one of the reviews, I already wrote that Sony frankly did not work out with exclusives in the new generation. The role of launch platforms-sellers inevitably had to be played by the remake of Demon’s Souls and DLC for Spider-Man – for some reason everyone tried very hard to pass it off as a full-fledged game, but we all know. And all would be fine, but in the near future, large releases for the PlayStation 5 are not really expected: if the “four” had at least the announced Uncharted 4 (and six months later Bloodborne appeared, which successfully sold the console to me), then in the “five” only God of War 2 and Horizon Forbidden West loom on the horizon, and they, as it was recently found out, with due desire, can be passed on the last generation.

So that PS5 owners who won the war with resellers did not have existential questions about why all this was needed at all, Sony had to hastily set up the release of less loud, but still exclusives of the new platform. At the moment, this list of rescue games includes Returnal (released at the end of April) and, in fact, Ratchet & Clank, which will be available for purchase from June 11th.

To be honest, I doubt that Sony planned exactly this sequence and frequency of releases from the beginning. The rhetoric of the corporation’s speakers over the past six months suggests that the pandemic has nevertheless made adjustments to the schedule of all internal divisions – and therefore the current situation with the games can hardly be called optimal.

The work of all studios has slowed down due to covid restrictions, the releases on which Sony is making a special stake have been postponed to 2023 in order to have time to polish everything. But Returnal had to take the rap for everyone and, probably, come out ahead of schedule. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart met with the same fate: the game is painfully clear with uneven seams, with which the developers hastily sewed together disparate elements in time to close the window in the empty schedule of releases for the PlayStation. The paradox is that even after such a barbaric surgical intervention, “Through the Worlds” still works great.

Ratchet in Wonderland

The Ups and Downs is not a Ratchet & Clank story. The franchise about the adventures of a heroic Lombax and an overly polite robot today already consists of 16 games and, despite periodic restarts, feels comfortable in the changeable world of gamedev. Insomniac Games only once dared to experiment, making Deadlocked (Gladiator) darker due to the increased popularity of Halo and GTA. And although fans were pleased with even this interpretation of Ratchet’s adventures, since then the series has remained true to its good childish style.

Rift Apart does not retreat from the well-oiled scheme: here Ratchet has to once again make new friends, defeat all the villains and, of course, save the universe, simultaneously collecting an arsenal of the most incredible devices. You can’t expect anything less from the hero – the game even begins with a parade in his honor. Ratchet himself from the start, however, surprises and asks an uncharacteristic question for the series, is he worthy of such attention, isn’t he blown away, isn’t he soft? However, the intrigue will remain at most for a couple of minutes – then the protagonist will forget about any doubts and go to razudalo to beat the enemies with a wrench.

This time, the chances are in the Measuring device, a special device that allows you to open portals to other worlds. It was originally designed by Clank to help Ratchet find other Lombucks, but then the miracle gadget went to the supervillain Dr. Nefarius. What exactly was the antagonist’s plan is not fully understood, but the main character, according to tradition, decided to prevent him. A well-aimed shot of Lombax from a blaster directly at the Meter led to an explosion that violated the integrity of the very fabric of space and time: portals to other worlds began to appear everywhere uncontrollably, wreaking havoc and destruction. The main characters were sucked into one of them. So they ended up in an alternate reality, where all power is concentrated in the hands of the Emperor – a much more successful version of Nefarius.

Disclaimer: The next paragraph describes characters from an alternate universe. Skip it if you don’t want to spoil yourself what characters you can meet there.

The new reality, as it should be in such stories, in fact turns out to be rather a slightly edited version of the old, the artist’s fantasy on the theme “What would happen if …”. Therefore, it contains not only the alternative Nefarius, who made work on the mistakes, but also other familiar faces who made some other decisions at the fork in life. Local Captain Quant was tired of being a hero and wanted to try himself in an unexpected role. Racer Skidd McMarks has turned into a Phantom, who, in dystopia, has become a little less up for hoverboards. Well, Rusty Pete still remained a pirate, but acquired the manners of a caricatured musketeer and now plows space under the proud name of Pierre le Fer.

This world also has its own Ratchet – a Lombax girl named Rivet. Like her counterpart from the more familiar dimension for fans of the franchise, she is a talented mechanic and an even more talented shooter. The only caveat is that at the beginning of the journey, Rivet did not meet her Clank and therefore did not succeed in the battle with evil, allowing Nefarius to seize power. Now, when a second Lombax unexpectedly appeared in her dimension, she had a chance to correct her mistakes.

Somebody once told me

Let’s be honest, the fundamental plot of all parts of Ratchet & Clank is not far from the classic formula of children’s cartoons: the hero lives a carefree life, the course of which is suddenly disrupted by the appearance of the villain. Being initially in a weak position, the hero overcomes all adversity and returns everything to normal – of course, becoming a little wiser in the process and making new friends. Happy end!

Rift Apart is another game about Ratchet Balboa, who starts the fight against the whole evil empire with one key at the ready, but turns the situation in his favor due to his ingenuity and impenetrable optimism. On this simple basis, which Insomniac has been using without hesitation for almost 20 years, the theme of Ratchet’s origin, which is quite important for the franchise, is layered.

In 2002, the hero was introduced to us as an orphan, the only Lombax in the entire universe, who wants to finally understand what place he occupies in this world. And even if, under our leadership, Ratchet went from a simple ship mechanic from the planet Weldin to a real superhero, breaking up with relatives is the pain that he carries with him to this day. This is evidenced by the opening cut-scene, in which Clank gives his friend the Measurer, offering to go together in search of the Lombax race. The moment is solemn, festive, but for Ratchet himself it is also alarming – what if the long-awaited meeting with relatives turns out to be not what he imagined? What if he’s the wrong pawn shop?

The meeting with Rivet is intended to help Ratchet overcome fear and decide on a journey. The girl is very similar to the main character: she never loses her optimism, she throws jokes in battle and just as deftly controls the cannons, which seems to reduce the risk of getting burned for the protagonist when meeting other relatives. But that’s the catch: Rivet is an analogue of Ratchet from an alternate universe, which means that both of them, in theory, may turn out to be defective Lombucks.

Clank also gets its moment of fame in Rift Apart. As the brain of a heroic tandem, he must sort out the disaster that has occurred with gradually mixing universes and find a way to fix everything. Rift Apart aims to show that the robot is not an addition to the main character, but an important part of their tandem. The encyclopedia in the game directly says: it was the meeting with Clank that allowed Ratchet to become the hero we all know. Without his metal friend, the hero could have remained a mechanic on the outskirts of the world, and then who knows – perhaps the local Nefarius would now also be honored as an emperor.

At the same time, Clank himself is also more than provided with personal pain: he goes the path of self-awareness. In the course of the fracture of the worlds, he found himself in the epicenter of the explosion and lost his hand. Does what happened make him a broken, unnecessary robot? Will it become a burden for Ratchet, having lost some of the usual functions? Does physical form determine it at all? By the way, Rivet is also missing an arm – what a parallel! Perhaps Clank will now have even more in common with her than with Ratchet?

But here’s a caveat: the game states these storylines and then somehow easily throws them halfway through. And it would be fine if the problem was in a torn narrative, but no – these third-party stories do not receive development and for the most part break off in mid-sentence. At the same time, phrases periodically slip in the dialogues of the heroes, very clearly hinting that all these plots should have been revealed.

For example, at some point, the heroes will meet a robot whose software has bugged a little, making him think that the whole world is broken and can no longer be repaired. Clank will be able to save his kinsman by giving a short monologue about his lost hand – they say that at first he felt broken without it, but in fact the trauma gave him individuality and, in a sense, made him even more whole. We approve of talks about inclusiveness, but the trouble is that no way of becoming a new Clank in Rift Apart has been shown. This remark is literally the first time a robot even remembers that it has no arm. And there are a lot of such sloppy decisions of the scriptwriters in the game.

At the same time, the main plot has everything that you expect from a franchise: the pathos inherent in superheroics, touching tear-crushing scenes and, of course, a pompous ending, which, however, leaves the player with a feeling of understatement, and, together with a wide palette of declared, but not disclosed topics, is even capable of upset the most corrosive gamers a little.

A step back for the series …

The reason for disappointment is simple – in the final credits you suddenly realize that Rift Apart simply does not realize the potential that lies in it. For example, Rivet is the main innovation in Through the Worlds. The second Lombax appears in the series for the first time in 20 years, to some extent Ratchet has been preparing for this meeting all his life! However, in reality, the characters practically do not interact: they coordinate actions to fight the Emperor – yes, but they do not at all try to get to know each other, discuss the situation of their race … but at least start a relationship!

Directly in terms of the mechanic, the game also stubbornly refuses to attach importance to Rivet – the girl in Rift Apart performs the duties of an ordinary skin for Ratchet. The characters do not differ in capabilities or combat techniques, and even use the combined arsenal from the very beginning of the game, although at that time they did not know each other yet. When one Lombax acquires a new barrel, it automatically becomes available to another, because of which the system of separating heroes itself loses its meaning: for the player it makes no difference whether Ratchet or Rivet gets control over the next planet.

It is especially strange in this situation that Clank – whom, let me remind you, the game itself calls the fundamental reason for Ratchet’s success – also turns out to be unnecessary in gameplay. If in the classic parts of Ratchet & Clank the small robot was the main source of mobility, then in Rift Apart the heroes do an excellent job of jumping through the levels without it. The submarine engine, jetpack and other devices built into the Clank are not used in the new game (although the character himself remembers them once), and the helicopter propellers perform a purely cosmetic function: they turn on when it is necessary to slow down the fall, but heroes can do the same without Clank. glide using jet boots.

With the latter, things are also easier than we would like – all key devices are available to the heroes from the very beginning. There is no classic progression for the franchise with the discovery of new tools in Rift Apart, and therefore, there is no proprietary backtracking. In the original Ratchet & Clank, you could, conditionally, on the tenth planet, find a mechanic who would give Ratchet a diving mask, and then apply the same mask in the very first locations, discovering completely new quests, cut scenes or at least collectibles … However, Rift Apart abandons this tradition. Almost any planet in it can be passed 100% immediately upon arrival: collect two or three pieces of armor, a couple of gold bolts and a spy robot, and then forget about its existence forever.

And even if in the process of passing this you don’t notice at first, but in the end it becomes clear that all the planets in Rift Apart are prohibitively small and, in fact, serve only as decorations for story events. Each of them includes at most one side-quest – by the way, rather primitive: no hoverboard races, no riddles, no interesting activities. Because of this, the Rift Apart is unable to give you the pleasant feeling of exploration, revealing local level design secrets, usually inherent in Ratchet & Clank.

Even the concept of an alternative universe, which the game does not try to develop, flies into the pipe. Once in a new world, Ratchet accepts the rules of the game in 20 minutes and no longer remembers that he is no longer in his own dimension. The latter in this regard reciprocates and, if you do not take into account the alternative versions of familiar heroes, does not at all try to show itself from some unusual side: the same planets could just as well be in Ratchet’s native dimension. The influence of the formidable tyrant Emperor Nefarius is felt only in the starting location – in which, by the way, there is a kind of backtracking (as far as it is possible to organize it within the framework of one planet), and an interesting change of dynamics in the best traditions of the series. Unfortunately, there is only one such planet – and this suggests that the developers simply did not have time to bring others to its level by the release date.

… but a step forward for the industry

Such understatement and in some places even incompleteness are skillfully hidden behind a very striking facade of the game. You can (and probably should) go through the new Ratchet & Clank without being distracted by excessive analytics, and in this case, you will have little comparable pleasure from the gameplay itself.

In combat (that is, in almost all) gameplay situations, Rift Apart decides to take the number – the number of enemies, weapons, explosions and special effects. The scheme is simple, but it works like a clock: after completing the passage, I immediately went to the “New Game +”, simply because right in the final battle I pumped another gun to the maximum and did not have time to enjoy the changed shooting to the fullest.

Mowing down crowds of alien foes in Rift Apart has become more enjoyable than in any other game in the series. Firstly, simply because of the scale of what is happening on the screen, because, as we know, there are never too many enemies. Secondly, because of the tactile feedback of the DualSense controller: thanks to its sophisticated vibration system, each gun in Ratchet’s hands really feels different. For example, a blaster and a minigun are practically the same in nature – both deal relatively low damage at a long distance, compensating for this with a high rate of fire. However, the recoil from the second feels sharper, as if the barrel is actually cutting off the cartridges from the tape. The blaster fires just as fast, but much more “gently” – as if balls of pure energy were actually generated in the controller at this moment.

DualSense triggers also play an important role. While teaching me how to use the local shotgun, Rift Apart wrote: “Press R2 halfway to fire one barrel, or all the way to fire two at once.” Frankly, I almost broke a sweat, imagining how in the heat of battle I would try not to press the fire button too hard, but everything turned out to be much simpler: in the middle of pressing the button literally blocks, and to press it, it really takes a little effort. Звучит как что-то слишком незначительное, чтобы упоминать это в обзоре, однако такая механика вкупе с уникальными звуками, которые контроллер издает при стрельбе из каждого вида оружия, действительно меняет ощущения от игры, превращая боевую систему в одно из двух главных достоинств Rift Apart.

На фоне арсенала из 24 видов огнестрельного оружия даже немного меркнет фирменный ключ Рэтчета (или кувалда Ривет, которая, как вы могли догадаться, не отличается даже мувсетом). Избиение врагов в рукопашном бою довольно быстро теряет любой функциональный смысл и становится развлечением для эстетов. Пушек в игре так много (и каждая из них настолько эффективна), что экономить патроны в Rift Apart совершенно незачем, даже на высоких уровнях сложности: отстрелять больше половины снарядов из арсенала мне не удалось даже в финальной битве на местной арене (самом масштабном сражении в игре). С одной стороны, это, конечно, заметно упрощает геймплей — чтобы умереть в Rift Apart, придется очень серьезно постараться. Но с другой, такой подход «в моменте» делает перестрелки гораздо приятнее: даже видя песчаных акул, убить которых можно одним попаданием из любого оружия, вы все равно можете позволить себе достать миниган и хорошенько зажать гашетку.

Лучшая картинка в истории

Есть у новой Ratchet & Clank и второе секретное оружие после геймплея — графика. К мультяшной стилистике серии, если очень захотеть, по-прежнему можно придраться, но непосредственно по качеству картинки Rift Apart на данный момент, пожалуй, самая красивая игра в истории индустрии.

Дисклеймер: многие локации из игры запрещено показывать в раннем обзоре из-за эмбарго.

Журналистам был доступен только режим «картинки» с 30 FPS, но повышенным разрешением текстур и трассировкой лучей. В режиме 4К с такими настройками качество графики поражает воображение, выжимает из консоли все соки и заставляет вспомнить все остальные жуткие штампы, которые принято поднимать в индустрии в подобных случаях.

Игра наполнена эффектами, из которых некоторые звучат даже в какой-то степени комично. Например, блестящий Кланк в реальном времени отражает все, что происходит вокруг него, но при этом для реалистичности картинки поверх отражений все равно натянуты матовые текстуры, которые по большей части «убивают» отражения — Xzibit бы гордился Insomniac.

Текстуры тоже на высоте. Забудьте про само понятие «мыльца»: в Rift Apart даже у самых мелких противников в фоторежиме можно рассмотреть складки кожи, а, например, у Фантома — царапины на подошве ботинок. И речь здесь не только про кат-сцены — так персонажи выглядят даже во время геймплея!

При этом с графикой злую шутку, как ни странно, играет ставка Rift Apart на перестрелки. Во время боевых сцен все выглядит фантастически ярко, однако затем игрок, если он вдруг решит вернуться в уже пройденные локации, вполне может разочароваться в левел-дизайне: без мобов некоторые зоны выглядят крайне бедно и совершенно не пахнут некстгеном.

Но искать такие места необходимо специально. Если же ехать вперед по рельсам, которые щедро подставляет игра, картинка будет исправно радовать глаз, напоминая, что консоли вообще-то сделали огромный технологический шаг вперед. Ну а еще Insomniac удалось сделать ломбаксов крайне пушистыми — и это прелестно.