Ratchet and Clank’s original trilogy hits the PS3…
I must confess that I never played the original Ratchet and Clank games, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the trilogy other than what I know from playing their outings on PS3 and PSP, which were impressive to say the least. The games have been remade in HD, 3D and support trophies for each game. But is it a worthy remake?
Well, it’s worthy of your cash as 3-in-1 really is value for money when it comes to the franchise. I was a little miffed that some cutscenes haven’t been converted to HD and are stuck in 4:3 letterbox resolution, but the actual game looks smooth and much better than the original games, it obviously can’t match the almost Pixar quality of the latter games, but the gameplay of the 3 is what put Insomniac on the map, making it almost revive the platform genre for consoles other than Nintendo’s.
It’s the little attention to detail that makes the original trilogy worthy of the HD treatment, although it’s odd that they didn’t include other titles like Deadlocked (or Gladiator for us Europeans) but it’s still a great package. Each game has a hilarious plot and I for one had no idea that it wasn’t till the 3rd game that Dr Nefarious makes his debut; I thought it was from the beginning of the series. The gameplay evolves from each game, although each sequel does feel very familiar, you collect bolts that you can spend on unlocking and upgrading your arsenal to use against your foes, while making your way to your objective.
In terms of presentation, the trilogy is handled very well. However it is frustrating that you need to exit the game through the PS3’s main menu to select one of the other games, why you can’t skip back to the main menu of the game so you can choose which game you want to play is a mystery and one that is common when it comes to these remakes, although the MGS HD collection managed to do it with a combo of buttons to reset the game.
Voice-acting is what makes the series shine with great lines of dialogue and characters that are memorable in so many ways, the series has gone a little downhill with the 4-player outing that was All-4-One, but hopefully it can pick itself up and regain the magic that this HD collection reminds us of.
The Verdict
The Ratchet and Clank Trilogy is brilliant and a great way to mark the 10th anniversary of the duo. It has its issues in the cutscenes department, but the gameplay still stands out after a decade and it’s truly great value for money. If you ever missed out on the original trilogy for whatever reason like I did, then you owe it to yourself to pick it up now.
