Game Review #3 Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
During the summer “Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart” released on the PlayStation 5. There hadn’t been too many ps5 exclusive games yet so I was excited to try this game out. I’m not an expert on the Ratchet and Clank series so keep that in mind as I review this game. The only game I’ve actually played was the Ratchet and Clank 2016 game which was just titled “Ratchet and Clank”. Either way I went into “Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart” with limited knowledge but the game does a great job at getting you up to speed. The beginning of the game starts with a festival celebrating Ratchet and Clank and you play through little dioramas of previous games’ events. You also get a character page were you can look at their bios which is a nice little detail. Either way the festival gets interrupted by Doctor Nefarious who is one of the series’ main villains. Nefarious steals the Dimensionator which was rebuilt by Clank. Nefarious uses this device to go to a dimension where he always wins. Ratchet and Clank get separated and the main adventure is about traveling through this alternate universe where Nefarious is on top. You also get to play as this universes’ version of Ratchet and Clank who are named Rivet and Kit. They both have their own personalities and haven’t joined forces in this universe. Rivet and Kit both have their own character arcs and it’s interesting to see how similar and different these characters are from Ratchet and Clank.
The story is really fun in my opinion. There’s a good amount of comedy but also serious moments as well. The characters are what really sell the story though. They all have so much personality. Doctor Nefarious alone entertained me a lot as a villain. Nefarious is so over the top and manages to be funny but also threatening. Rivet is a great new addition who has trust issues but still has a good heart. Kit is also a new addition. Kit doesn’t have much confidence and has trouble trusting herself. As the story goes on it’s interesting to see what made these new characters the way they are.
Gameplay wise the game is really enjoyable. As you get new guns each one feels different thanks to the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers of the ps5 controller. You can really feel how different they work along with just seeing how different they work. The haptic feedback also helps with immersion when walking on different terrains or interacting with things as you can feel it in your controller. It’s really cool and seamless. As you would imagine the game controls really well which adds to the games enjoyment. There is also some platforming in the game which works really well and is incredibly fun. Sometimes during fighting and platforming sections you’ll see rifts which you can use to quickly get to a different position. It’s a really cool addition that will quickly become second nature. There are also puzzle sections with Clank and Kit that are really unique as they use the dimension theme of the game to create some really unique puzzles. There is also a small character named Glitch who is used to get rid of viruses in interesting sections where you shoot viruses as a small spider tank. It’s hard to explain but the sections are pretty fun and break up the main gameplay like the Clank and Kit puzzles.
If you’ve seen any pictures of this game you would know that it graphically looks very impressive. It feels like your playing through an animated movie. The quality of the animation looks like something you’d see in theaters. There are a few different modes you can choose for the game’s frame rate and while some modes might be more graphically intensive all the modes look really impressive and not too different from each other. The game also has no loading screens which is really impressive. The game’s music while not amazing is pretty decent. The music fits with the game and gets the job done. I do wish some of the music was a little more catchy but overall it still does a great job at setting the mood. One song specifically is actually pretty catchy but you can only hear it during the credits of the game which is unfortunate. It’s almost a crime that they couldn’t fit this song into the main game as I would have loved to see it animated. The song is goofy but really stands out in the soundtrack as it involves two characters singing that you probably wouldn’t expect to sing.
The only real complaint I have about the game is that it’s a little short. Granted this is a good thing in a way as it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome but I would have liked more post game content. There are collectibles to collect but that’s about it. Collecting these collectibles was fun but only took so long. There is one other piece of post content actually. You can play a new game plus on a harder difficulty with all the weapons you’ve already collected. This is cool but it’s not something that I really felt the urge to do after finishing the game as it would mostly be repeated content. I could see it being fun after not touching the game for a while though. Either way if you were lucky enough to get a PlayStation 5 then I would definitely try this game out if it’s peaked your interest.
