Ratchet & Clank, the first of its series, and the start of a new, awesome legend! [tears in eyes]
The Bads: Umm...Maybe its just not the most perfect game out there... That, plus the cheats you get from the game are stupid.
There was a time when the "platformer" genre once conquered the world of video games. But then, the new millennium came along and somehow the genre decreased in popularity (thanks to those high-&-mighty Shooters and RPG's). It isn't really because the other genres are getting better (but they did though), it is really because the modern platformers were getting kinda suckish. Holy crap, just a few but significant flaws can nearly drown down a genre! But please give a lot of emphasis over the word "nearly" because out of the darkness came out several outstanding games that practically revived the platforming genre! Among those games would be Ratchet & Clank.
The game introduces Ratchet, our main hero and protagonist, who happens to be an alien from the planet Veldin. And then there's Clank, Ratchet's side-kick and soon-to-be best friend, who is an extremely intelligent robot who also has feelings of his own. At the beginning of the story, Ratchet meets Clank after he crashes at Veldin. Their meeting pretty much changes their lives for the rest of the series, frequently meeting new friends and foes. This particular story is really a great start for the entire series.
As far as everything else goes, this game is very well designed. It almost does not surprise anyone that Insomniac developers really didn't sleep at all for the sake of this game! The graphics by itself pretty much gives an impression of awe. If you think about it, It had one of the better graphic designs in the year 2002. This is all reflected on how the characters have well defined facial expressions, as well as the backgrounds and the destructive effects of Ratchet's weapons (just to name a few).
The sound is equally as impressive. The musical themes for each planet always give a different feel, which makes listening a whole lot easier and less annoying. Most importantly, the voice acting is spectacular! No character in the game were ever given bad dialogue. And, needless to say, the special effects also sounded great.
The most important aspect of games would be the gameplay. The major weakness of the modern platformer is usually the annoying, repetitive backtracking. Ratchet & Clank, along with a hand full of other games, pretty much has little to zero backtracking, anyone who played the game for a substantial amount of time can agree to this. Now, with the addition of using weaponry and switching it not only makes this a Platformer, but also a Shooter. This is an asset that sets the Ratchet and Clank series apart from the other platformers. Since there is barely any backtracking, Ratchet will always start at the beginning of the planet and will have to take several missions that sometimes gives him something in return or otherwise reveal his next objective. Finishing these missions will always lead back to the point where Ratchet started, but fortunately, starting a new mission will lead to another new route, so places to explore are almost always new. It should also be noted that if ever Ratchet runs out of Health, he will start at the last checkpoint he reached, which helps out by keeping the game from being frustrating. Now the weapons would be anyone's favorite! Each weapon is unique and has a limited amount of ammo, which prevents the gameplay from feeling way too easy. Finally, there's the Gold Bolts and Skill Points. This greatly enhances the game's re-playability, especially after unlocking the game's "expert" mode when fulfilling certain conditions.
Over all, Ratchet & Clank is an amazing game and with it already reaching the "GREATEST HITS" title, it's extremely easy to recommend this to practically anyone! For those who love platfomers, there is nothing to regret when buying THIS game!