Ratchet and Clank

   So, some news from the hospital has told me to play less games for a couple of years which is a pain in the arse, but it just means I'll have to replace a lot of gaming time with TV time, but I'll live with it, rather than sitting around mindlessly playing Rocket League for hours on end I'll have to watch some meh TV show instead (plenty of tipping point to watch). I'll still be playing some games, mostly just games I'm excited about rather than just anything (though if my next post is what I'm planning then you might question this self promise). Added bonus, Euro's are soon so that will be most of my free time gone, but in a good way (none of this is answering why I just bought 6 games of Steam, 1 of which I'll ever invest more than 5 minutes in to). Before all of this started though, I played, and completed (the remaster/ re-imagining/ remake) of Ratchet and Clank.
   I've never played a single Ratchet and Clank game before. Back when the PS2 was out and I was a mid-teenager trying to pretend I was too adult to be playing games skewed towards kids, despite how I'd spent many previous years playing Sonic the Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot, Gex, James Pond, Ri-star, Cool spot, Zool, Rocket Knight, Earthworm Jim, Decap Attack, that awesome, but extremely difficult Lion King game, Odd world and so on. Obviously I look back and realise what a fool I was, very few games are children only, and many of the games that are skewed towards kids are more straight up fun and riddled with hidden adult jokes mixed in. This has both.

   As I have been constantly prattling on about, I'm getting bored of the same types of game over and over but it was so refreshing just to play a game that doesn't take itself seriously and is just straight up fun without being repetitive (well, it is, but not not in a boring way). This is just fun, no mucking about and how games seemed to be to me when I was younger and why I got in to gaming in the first place.
   here are some of the reasons why. Firstly, the weapons. They are varied and somewhat crazy, but there's a job for every occasiton. Whether it be the Pixelator, a shotgun that turn the enemies in to 8 bit sprites. The groovitron that makes all the enemies dance (each enemy has their own unique dance) or Mr. Zurkon, a wise cracking bodygaurd, and so on (I'm not going through them all but they're all good and all have their purpose). Another good reason is the fully upgradable weapons. Every weapon has 5 levels which are built up by use of the weapon (which encourages you to try every weapon out and mix up your arsenal). On top of that as you gather up bolts throughout the levels you can buy upgrades for the weapons as well, like more damage, faster reloads, ammo and all the usual stereotypes as well as secret upgrades.
   Good thing number 3. Short missions. Most worlds have multiple different missions on them, and even if you live up to the collectathon nature of the game you can get most missions done in 15 minutes or so. There are plenty of these missions so don't worry about the length of the game, but I enjoy that the missions are done quick so if you have a spare few minutes in your day you can crack one out (I mean a mission of course) or as many as you want if you have a lot of time on your free hands. 4. I don't hate the bosses. Yes, it's a miracle. The bosses are challenging as in most cases with their vulnerabilities but the easy to enjoy game play and the trial of your weapon set to see what is the most effective. Even the final boss is ok, just shame about the thrown in extra enemies that are a constant in games to make bosses fake harder.
   5. it looks like a Pixar film. Drop dead just like one. this might be because this is a game of a film (just released this week) of a game, so there was some animation to share with the film. What ever way it was done, short cuts or not (I honestly have no idea) it is stunning.
6. Not awful 3D platforming. Obviously this is something that Mario had perfected long before even the original Ratchet and Clank, but there are many more poor examples of this. Not here though, It's definitely more Mario Galaxy than Sonic Adventure when it comes to that part of the gameplay. Hell, there's even hoverboarding races in here that are fast and fun.
   There are many more great things about this game but I'm running out of extra things to tack on to my points to make them seem more thought out than they actually are, that last one was just a bad way to talk about the cool hoverboard races. There are a couple of things I wasn't so keen on in here, but try not to let these detract you as they are small and insignificant in the grand scheme. For one, the save points are spread fairly far apart. It's not as bad as one per each mission but it is enough to be somewhat annoying if you die right up close to the next one. That's the main gripe, but another small issue is the hit and miss element of the jokes. Some are funny. but a lot of them are cheesy (and not in a good way (and yes, I know which ones are aimed and kids and which aren't)).
 

   So I guess that I am coming up to a score and a time where I wish I did .5's, but I try not to. Because of that I'm going to round it down to a 8/10 (sorry maths). If I were to say what my game of the year was so far, this would be it. There's still 2 thirds of it left yet though, and lots of other games that I'm looking forward to. No Mans Sky... Probably some others I guess.

   Don't worry about me reviewing Uncharted in a couple of weeks, in my mind it's one of the most over rated games series I've ever played (see my review on Quantum break to see my view on 3rd person shooters). Doom might be another matter, but this is all a couple of weeks away, and whatever it is after I've finished what I'm on right now will have to be done in my limited time before the Euro's start (ooooh, 5 weeks today).