Sure, Insomniac could have made just another Ratchet & Clank sequel. They could have, and it would have been great. Instead, they've decided to start over at the beginning. This is a new era for Insomniac Games and it starts with two major projects. The first is the Ratchet & Clank movie, an entirely CG project planned for the a full theatrical release. Game players may be more interested in the Ratchet & Clank remake for PlayStation 4, however. Today Insomniac released the first gameplay footage for their "re-imagining," while also revealing that Ratchet & Clank is now much more than just a simple reboot.
Insomniac's Community Lead, James Stevenson, tackled the changes head-on. Here's how he explains the differences between Ratchet & Clank for PS4 and the 2002 game it's based on:
"We knew early on that we didn’t want to just up-res Ratchet & Clank for PS2. We started out thinking of Ratchet & Clank on PS4 as a “re-imagining” of the 2002 original, revised to tie in with the deeper version of Ratchet’s origin story (as seen in the film). We envisioned a curated Ratchet & Clank experience that borrowed from the spirit of the classic PS2 games while infusing some of the best elements from the Ratchet & Clank Future games.
We ended up with a new game, with elements based on the original — but now with modern controls, several new planets, new and updated gameplay segments, all-new Clank gameplay, all new boss fights, new flight sequences, and more… all constructed to take advantage of the graphical prowess of PS4. Throw in James Arnold Taylor as Ratchet, and you have a new beginning."
To show and not just tell how dramatic the changes they've made to Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac released both a focused trailer showing both cinematic and gameplay elements of the game as well as an eight minute gameplay video featuring one of the game's boss fights. The visuals are quite striking and the similarities between the CG movie and the new game are immediately apparent. It's quite clear that an identifiable visual style is a huge priority, or even the main priority for Insomniac and their new projects. This is Ratchet & Clank now, the same and different from the old.
Gameplay, on the other hand, should be starkly familiar to Ratchet & Clank faithful. You can add new weapons, new planets to visit and lots more dialogue, but you're still going to to be jumping, shooting and running around like you did in the Ratchet & Clank franchise up to this point. It's clear that another priority for Insomniac was not to mess with the gameplay formula that fans are in love with. That's not a con for Ratchet & Clank, however. One could even say that rebuilding a PS2 game from the ground up with PS3-era gameplay and PS4-era visuals and hardware is even more admirable than just a normal sequel. It looks like the movie, for god's sake!
Ratchet & Clank, the re-imagined PS2 classic now coming to PlayStation 4, is planned for release in early 2016. It should release near the Ratchet & Clank movie which arrives in theaters on April 29.
That said, it does look amazing, and the pixelator looks particularly fun. I'm hoping for more new weapons and more re-imagines / improved weapons from the original game (the Tesla Claw in particular!) and looking forward to it.
Take note, AAA Games Industry, if you want to make bank on my nostalgia, this is how you do.
I might get this one, in spite of passing over the more recent ones (Like All 4 One).
Insomniac, I think I love you even more now.
However, All 4 One is honestly mediocre, and Q-Force (or FFA or whatever it is called over there) is only decent.
Not sure how I feel about newer weapons in the series being in the game, though.
All the games in the series are fantastic (games 1-3 and the Future series in particular). A4O may look kiddish, but I thought it was the most fun of all the games (there are so many fun things to do in the game).
I've played all the games except for Size Matters (poor made game) and Full Frontal Assault.