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Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty Review for PlayStation 3

Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty Review for PlayStation 3

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Ratchet and Clank titles have long been extremely entertaining experiences on a variety of Sony’s hardware. Whether they came out on the PS2, PSP, or even Tools of Destruction on the PS3, these games have always been decently long experiences full of great gameplay and a good amount of laughter. With Sony’s new focus on making full downloadable games, the Ratchet and Clank series seemed like a no brainer addition to the growing numbers of PSN titles. Unfortunately, the fact that Quest for Booty is a downloadable game is the title’s biggest problem, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty screenshot

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Quest for Booty picks up right where Tools of Destruction left off, with Clank missing in action after he was taken by the mysterious Zuni. Now it is up to Ratchet to find his mechanical friend with the help of Talwyn, a female companion who likes nothing more than to state the obvious and then disappear from view. Players start off their adventure on a series of flying pirate ships; arsenals loaded to the brim with weapons. After quickly blasting through this section, Ratchet is jettisoned to the nearby Hoolefar Island. Upon landing, you realize that all your weapons are gone, save your trusty wrench, and, of course, the islanders are in desperate need of your help.

While I have always been a fan of heavily using the wrench in combat, it seems a little cheap for the game to take the rest of your weapons away from you. Sadly, you will spend a good amount of the game with nothing but a wrench, at least until the game decides to rapidly thrust all your projectile weapons back into your hands. As a result of either having all your weapons or basically none of them, much of the game’s combat feels a little repetitive and shallow. Combine this with the severe lack of enemy types (virtually all are pirate bots and ghost pirates with very few other foe types), and it becomes hard not to lose interest with dispatching enemies.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty screenshot

As with the previous games in the series, platforming and puzzles also play a large role in its gameplay. This part of the game feels incredibly natural and much like you would expect, minus the lack of Clank’s abilities. Players are treated to tons of well designed platforming feats such as scaling several vertical towers, hopping on sinking platforms to make it across a deadly bog, playing a massive piano by jumping on its keys, and a multitude of rail sliding segments. Quest for Booty is definitely at its best when your main goal focuses more on thinking and terrain traversal than on combat.

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Most of this game’s puzzles revolve entirely around Ratchet’s newfound wrench abilities. The wrench can now be used to pick up many small objects, with the square button, that can be carried around or thrown using the R1 button. This opens up the gameplay a little, allowing players to grab and throw bombs to open doors or damage enemies and to carry glow-in-the-dark critters. These illuminated creatures play a large role in the game, being used to light the way in darker environments as well as keeping bloodthirsty bat-like enemies from killing you. The lighting effects in Quest for Booty are quite beautiful, especially when carrying one of these glowing green blobs.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty screenshot

Ratchet’s other new ability, the kinetic tether, comes in handy quite often as well. Many of this game’s platforms are noticeably out of place, requiring your new ability to make them useable. By pressing the R2 and square buttons, a bolt of electricity extends from your wrench, attaching to whatever needs to be maneuvered. Players then need to manipulate their target using the right analog stick. Whether you are pulling platforms to manageable jumping distances, spinning platforms so they can be jumped on, or even extending bridges across large chasms, this ability feels a little tacked on. If these platforms were where they needed to be to begin with, there would be no need to bog down the player’s experience by essentially making them build their own platforms to proceed. Not to mention the fact that the button combinations required to utilize this ability are fairly cumbersome.

Still, Quest for Booty is an enjoyable Ratchet and Clank game while it lasts. It has been clearly scaled back both in scope and length due to it being a downloadable, episodic title to help bridge the gap between disc-based releases. While not much is accomplished story wise, expect to get about three to four hours of platforming goodness out of your fifteen dollars. Unfortunately, once you’ve completed the game, there is no reason to come back to it. The game’s worlds are all fairly linear and straightforward, with virtually no reward for trying to explore. What you see is what you get.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty screenshot

This brings me to my main gripe with Quest for Booty. While five dollars an hour for more Ratchet and Clank doesn’t seem too steep, you will spend more time downloading this game than actually playing it. It is almost like you are getting two games for the price of one. One game is a fairly short and enjoyable experience, while the other is a seemingly never-ending waiting game to actually be able to play the title. For me, one of two things needed to happen to rectify this situation: Either the game needed to be a couple hours longer or the file size needed to be drastically smaller. One of the major appeals of downloadable games for the consumer is in their convenience. Sure, you can buy and play the game without ever leaving the couch, but at what cost? I honestly could have driven to a game store, purchased the game (if it wasn’t downloadable only), fully read through the instructions, and played through the entire game before it finally finished downloading. Since I have a fairly high-speed Internet connection, this doesn’t bode well for anyone who may not be as fortunate.

I still recommend this game to fans of the series and newcomers alike. If you haven’t played a Ratchet and Clank game before, this is certainly a good place to start since it has a very short play time. At fifteen dollars, it also isn’t much of an investment, as long as you don’t count time wasted waiting for it to download. Still, if you can manage to busy yourself until the game is on your hard drive, Quest for Booty is a good game that will help fans fill the gap between Tools of Destruction and the unnamed next game, set to come out fall 2009.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.5 Graphics
Quest for Booty is easily on par visually with Tools of Destruction, if not slightly better looking due to some excellent lighting effects. 4.0 Control
The controls work well except for some issues when using the kinetic tether ability. 4.2 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The musical score is entertaining and the voice work is excellent. 2.7 Play Value
While it is fun while it lasts, it doesn’t last long. Since there is no reason to play back through the game, you are only left with a fun, three to four hour adventure. 3.7 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • A stand-alone adventure taking place after the events of Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.
  • 3-4 hours of solid Ratchet and Clank gameplay.
  • Push, pull, and manipulate objects as you solve various puzzles using Ratchet’s new wrench.
  • New Light/Dark gameplay: Illuminate dark areas and use your wits to survive encounters with enemies that live in the dark!
  • New Pirate Puzzles: Mix brew, manipulate shadows, and play tunes to find hidden booty!
  • Screen Resolution: Up to 720p (Standard HDTV, Widescreen).

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    Razer Blackshark V2
    • Compatible across virtually all gaming platforms and devices
    • An unmatched, immersive gameplay experience (THX 7.1 surround sound capable, detachable mic, and more)
    • Gel padding is incredibly comfortable across a wide range of head sizes


    We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
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