Besides Metal Gear Solid 4, I now own another PS3 title: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (what a mouthful!). I've played all of the main Ratchet games (except for Deadlocked) and until I played Tools of Destruction (from here out abbreviated ToD), I thought that Going Commando was still the watermark for the series. I beat ToD earlier this week and now I'm going through challenge mode, so how does it stack up?
The first thing I have to say is that I respect Insomniac Games immensely. They create consistently fun and enjoyable titles and I think that the Ratchet series was the best new franchise established from the last generation of consoles. However, I feel that some aspects of ToD are still stuck in the PS2 era, the primary aspect of which being storytelling. Part of this is because the story of ToD is on auto-pilot as it lacks all of the charm and humor that I've come to expect from the series.
However, I feel the main reason that the story didn't shine is perhaps the execution of the cutscenes. They still have jarring transistions as residue from the PS2 games where the screen suddenly goes black or the scene doesn't quite end on a note that makes sense. They are overly brief and illustrate only sketchings of what's going on. Now, I don't want Ratchet & Clank to be War or Peace or some such overplayed analogy, but I do think there's an elegant way to handle the story so that you get all the information you need while being brief. Instead, this blatantly feels like a way to herd the player from one environment to the next so that they can try out their new weapons. People who've never played a Ratchet game before will be left cold to the characters since series superstars Clank and Captain Qwark aren't allowed to be their charming selves.
That said, the gameplay side of things is still spectacular. While it feels like there's only a few really good weapons this time around (why they have to bring the anemic buzzsaw gun back, I've no idea), it's still pretty fun leveling up your weapons to new levels of mayhem. The platforming is more balanced than it was in Up Your Arsenal, but I still felt like I could have used some more jumping around. Captain Qwark's 2D missions are entirely absent from ToD (the best element of Up Your Arsenal), but I think that in part that's due to this being the first installment on the PS3.
The environments aren't the most inspired this time around and I yearned for more types of Leviathan-type enemies (basically mini-bosses), but despite all of the shortcomings in these areas the gunplay is still fun. Fundamentally, it hasn't changed from Going Commando, other than having R1 be the new fire button. Still, if you've got a system that works... I will say that even though there are a lot of disapointing elements in ToD (No secret Insomniac area?), it's still pretty good and I will glady be buying Quest for Booty later this month.
Moving on, I've also managed to subscribe to Qore this week. I've watched all of episode 2 and I'm about to trek through episode 1. I have to say, for the most part, I'm pleased. I do feel like $3 is perhaps a dollar too much for the amount of content you get, but then I also think that I'm able to see Veronica Belmont in HD so... That said, she is clearly the best part of the package. Because she's such a charming host, I managed to watch videos on Silent Hill and Naruto that I'd never have watched where it not for her involvement. Transversely, while Microsoft's Major Nelson is also an amiable guy, I'm not going to watch a video on Madden or Fracture or Need for Speed simply because of his sparkling personality. In summary, cute girls equals win.
The Calling All Cars game that I got for subscribing... Eh. I remember Luke Smith saying that it was like NBA Jam back when he was on 1UP Yours. I'd say that's pretty fair. I'm sure it's more fun with multiplayer, but seeing as I know hardly anyone with a PS3, I'm not able to test that out (I'm also not going to buy a Bluetooth headset so I can chat on my PS3).
So I can say that if it weren't for the Blu-Ray support and the very few triple-A exclusive titles it does have, the PS3 would be gathering dust. The PS3 desperatley needs more compelling exclusives and Little Big Planet is looking more appealing all the time despite my lack of faith in quality community content. InFamous could certainly be the PS3's answer to Crackdown, but I'm looking for something that's really system defining. Speaking of upcoming games, I'll probably end up buying Bionic Commando: Rearmed for the PS3 since it supports trophies and because I'd like another game to round out my PS3 library.
So there you go. I'm sure my excitement for the platform will be elevated when the game business picks up in the fall and when Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Forgetting Sarah Marshall appear on Blu-Ray on September 30th.
The first thing I have to say is that I respect Insomniac Games immensely. They create consistently fun and enjoyable titles and I think that the Ratchet series was the best new franchise established from the last generation of consoles. However, I feel that some aspects of ToD are still stuck in the PS2 era, the primary aspect of which being storytelling. Part of this is because the story of ToD is on auto-pilot as it lacks all of the charm and humor that I've come to expect from the series.
However, I feel the main reason that the story didn't shine is perhaps the execution of the cutscenes. They still have jarring transistions as residue from the PS2 games where the screen suddenly goes black or the scene doesn't quite end on a note that makes sense. They are overly brief and illustrate only sketchings of what's going on. Now, I don't want Ratchet & Clank to be War or Peace or some such overplayed analogy, but I do think there's an elegant way to handle the story so that you get all the information you need while being brief. Instead, this blatantly feels like a way to herd the player from one environment to the next so that they can try out their new weapons. People who've never played a Ratchet game before will be left cold to the characters since series superstars Clank and Captain Qwark aren't allowed to be their charming selves.
That said, the gameplay side of things is still spectacular. While it feels like there's only a few really good weapons this time around (why they have to bring the anemic buzzsaw gun back, I've no idea), it's still pretty fun leveling up your weapons to new levels of mayhem. The platforming is more balanced than it was in Up Your Arsenal, but I still felt like I could have used some more jumping around. Captain Qwark's 2D missions are entirely absent from ToD (the best element of Up Your Arsenal), but I think that in part that's due to this being the first installment on the PS3.
The environments aren't the most inspired this time around and I yearned for more types of Leviathan-type enemies (basically mini-bosses), but despite all of the shortcomings in these areas the gunplay is still fun. Fundamentally, it hasn't changed from Going Commando, other than having R1 be the new fire button. Still, if you've got a system that works... I will say that even though there are a lot of disapointing elements in ToD (No secret Insomniac area?), it's still pretty good and I will glady be buying Quest for Booty later this month.
Moving on, I've also managed to subscribe to Qore this week. I've watched all of episode 2 and I'm about to trek through episode 1. I have to say, for the most part, I'm pleased. I do feel like $3 is perhaps a dollar too much for the amount of content you get, but then I also think that I'm able to see Veronica Belmont in HD so... That said, she is clearly the best part of the package. Because she's such a charming host, I managed to watch videos on Silent Hill and Naruto that I'd never have watched where it not for her involvement. Transversely, while Microsoft's Major Nelson is also an amiable guy, I'm not going to watch a video on Madden or Fracture or Need for Speed simply because of his sparkling personality. In summary, cute girls equals win.
The Calling All Cars game that I got for subscribing... Eh. I remember Luke Smith saying that it was like NBA Jam back when he was on 1UP Yours. I'd say that's pretty fair. I'm sure it's more fun with multiplayer, but seeing as I know hardly anyone with a PS3, I'm not able to test that out (I'm also not going to buy a Bluetooth headset so I can chat on my PS3).
So I can say that if it weren't for the Blu-Ray support and the very few triple-A exclusive titles it does have, the PS3 would be gathering dust. The PS3 desperatley needs more compelling exclusives and Little Big Planet is looking more appealing all the time despite my lack of faith in quality community content. InFamous could certainly be the PS3's answer to Crackdown, but I'm looking for something that's really system defining. Speaking of upcoming games, I'll probably end up buying Bionic Commando: Rearmed for the PS3 since it supports trophies and because I'd like another game to round out my PS3 library.
So there you go. I'm sure my excitement for the platform will be elevated when the game business picks up in the fall and when Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Forgetting Sarah Marshall appear on Blu-Ray on September 30th.
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