These include the Winteriser, a personal favourite, which beams all enemies into snowman versions of themselves while echoing Christmas tunes, and the Nightmare Box, a scarecrow like jack-in the-box that terrifies enemies and draws fire away from you. Classic pistol and bomb types return, of course, but even in this shorter adventure, there’s time for some great new ideas in the firearms department. Much of the series’ popularity comes from its varied and often ridiculous weapons that Ratchet uses, and I’m happy to report that after more than a decade of Lombax adventures, Insomniac haven’t run out of ideas yet. And so a story mirroring Ratchet’s own comes to light: the search for Vendra’s own kind, for home.īut getting back to the gameplay, this is absolutely your standard, bread and butter Ratchet, and I mean that in the best possible way. He has great plans for Vendra and Neftin, who it transpires, were once from the same realm as he is, the Netherverse. Via audio diaries of a younger, more humane Vendra, we realize that she was bullied as a kid, and only the mysterious ‘Mr Eye’ – a being she witnesses through cracks and fissures in the ether, proves to be a friend. The Progs were raised in the orphanage there – a fittingly sad and eerie place, accompanied by off kilter fairground music and the chalky remains of an old hopscotch game. It’s only when Ratchet follows the twins to the Meero Ruins, on the deserted Planet Yerek, that things start to become clear. An explosive James Bond style opening ensues, with interesting and fun zero gravity sections as you escape the burning wreck. Of course not, and where would the fun be then anyway? Vendra’s hulking, idiotic brother, Neftin, along with the hired gang of cockney croc mercenaries, Thugs-4-Less, attack the ship and set Vendra free. They’re ferrying the space witch, Vendra, to the Vartax Detention Centre – another criminal thwarted, another job done, right? The game opens with Ratchet, Clank and the old returning war bots, Cronk and Zephyr – who always remind me of Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets – in the Nebulox Seven prison ship. The continued search for his species, the Lombaxes, adds real depth and emotion to Ratchet’s character, and is the perfect jumping off point for this game’s story too, as well as its villainess: Vendra Prog. Not that the story is overly complex or anything, and you’d certainly be fine jumping in here, but some of the nuances would definitely be lost. It’s nice to see a series predominantly aimed at kids take these story risks, and for there to be an ongoing space opera style narrative that the writers trust their audience to follow, or if new to the series, to catch up with. Into the Nexus serves as a fitting epilogue to the core PS3 trilogy, and following a Crack in Time’s lead, gets quite dark and poignant at times. In fact, I appreciated a tighter focus here and the fact that the game respected my time too, at least for the most part. The game is half the length of a longer Ratchet title, but is half the price too, so all seems fair. This game really deserves a port so more people can experience it, you can see the efforts Insomniac have put into it, rather than it being some throw away entry, and I really wish more people could play it, especially since Rift Apart looks to be a direct sequel.It’s here, then, with Into the Nexus, that Sony and creator Insomniac realize what Ratchet is best at: being Ratchet. The one thought that kept running through my mind while playing the game however, was what a shame it was that many, like me, will have missed out on it, and many, unlike me, will probably never play it due to it being stuck on the PS3, or via streaming on PS Now. I won't get too much into the experience itself, the game is great, just as the series mainline entrys consistently tend to be, the Clank portion is one of my favourites and the game as a whole is an absolute joy to play through. Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus stood out to me since I'd been feeling in the mood for the series ever since the new entry got announced for the PS5 and this was the only mainline entry I hadn't played. So having subbed to PS Now for a month to finally get around to playing Control, I decided I make the most of my subscription and try out some PS3 games I'd missed out on.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |