A little history

Peanut butter and jelly.  Eggs and bacon.  Ratchet and Clank.  Some things in this world just fit.   For the better part of the last decade the platforming duo, consisting of everybody’s favorite lombax Ratchet along with his robotic pal Clank, have became the face of platforming this side of the red plumber.  Exclusively developed on Sony platforms by Insomniac games, the series is known for its creative weapons, smooth gameplay, and good linear storytelling.  

Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus is, surprisingly enough, the 6^th Ratchet and Clank game on the Playstation 3.  It continues the “Future” series preceded by Tools of Destruction, Quest for Booty, and the critically acclaimed A Crack in Time.  However, with recent entries sliding into mediocrity (All 4 One, Full Frontal Assault) can Insomniac recapture the lost magic needed to deliver the Ps3’s swan song?

Gameplay:  For those wanting a return to the classic Ratchet gameplay, this is it. You’ve got the crazy weapons.  The great gameplay.  The storytelling.  The pacing.  Clocking in at around 6-8 hours on a normal playthough, the campaign features some decent replayability to collect everything, and is fun throughout.  For those familiar with Ratchet, you can dive right in.  If not, the easiest difficulty will be easy to pick up, with the hardest setting offering an almost “Knack” like experience.  Shooting is as you would expect. Fun and balanced. The hover boots and other traverse items (like the new gravity line) are mix up the slow paced running and keep things fresh.  If you’re sick of Ratchet, Into the Nexus won’t change your mind.  Same goes for if you’re looking for Ratchet to innovate.

I did notice a LOT of glitches throughout my playthrough. Many of them are small things, like clipping here and there, texture pop in, framerate dips (occasionally) and getting stuck.  Nothing game breaking, but it’s worth noting.

Story:   Taking place after A Crack in Time, you’ll be after the criminals Neftin and Vendra Prog as they attempt to bring the ghost-like creatures; the Nethers, into the universe to cause Havoc and destruction.  The story itself is good at best, and serves purpose.  The interaction between characters is good, and you’ll actually care about some of them.  If you’re expecting a Crack in Time story greatness, prepare to be a bit disappointed.  Running 6-8 hours, it’s a good time.

Visuals:  The worst part of Into the Nexus is certainly the visuals. Don’t get me wrong. This is a good looking game, just not as good as A Crack in Time (which was released 4 years ago). It just doesn’t have that extra polish and perfection that I’ve come to expect with mainline Ratchet games.  You can notice it as well. ACiT pulled me into the universe 4 years ago and didn’t let go. Into the Nexus felt like a pit stop and then I moved on my way. The graphics get the job done, and for the most part do a good job. But nothing great.

Overall: Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus will be a love/hate game for most gamers. I love the return to form with classic gameplay, and hopefully it serves as a warm up to what Insomniac is cooking up for the Ps4.  However, if this is NOT a warm up, and simply the last we’ll see of Ratchet for a long time, then I will be disappointed. This is just not the AAA Ratchet game I wanted, although I guess it’s a start. As much as I want people to buy the game to support future Ratchet, this is a perfect rental. Beat it once, twice, and you probably won’t touch it again. However, DO PLAY it. It’s a very enjoyable game with all said, and still better than a lot of 2013 games.

Gameplay – 8.0

Story – 7.0

Sound/Performance – 6.5

Visuals – 7.5

Value for price – 9.0

Overall – 7.6

GOOD

wayyyyy too short, and half the game is pointless filler (the arena and the tusk hunt).

Plenty of fun, but costs too much and has too much filler.

Yeah, the game was way too short. Still... it was clearly for the fans (that museum on the last level; pure fan service... and I loved every bit of it), and I pretty much loved it. Definitely not on par with ACiT, but still fun in its own right. I loved the new RYNO, playing Night on Bald Mountain. It fit the supposed "darker tone" and contrasted nicely with the 1812 Overture on the RYNO in ACiT.

The biggest problem by far was the length. They could have done so much more with Vendra that I can't help but be disappointed. Seriously, if they had been less ambitious with the story I wouldn't have minded the shorter length as much. As it was... this plot begged for more development. I mean, come on. Vendra is the perfect foil for Ratchet, but he didn't really develop at all over the course of the story. He was never really doubting his decision at the end of ACiT. The dialogue that was there was only hinting at how much they could have done with this story.

On the bright side, there were some really cute moments with Ratchet and Talwyn. I'd like a story where Talwyn and Ratchet go to find her father. Then they find him, along with Angela Cross. Love triangle time! Woohoo! But Talwyn has to win. I don't know why I want this, since I normally hate love triangles, but... I really want to see Angela and Sasha return.

Good, fair review. Well done.

I like to see Value for price factored in. That is an important aspect that is missing from comercial reviews. They dont care cause they get their copies for free.

I paid for my copy, and I hammered the game for its terrible price:content ratio.  

Initially wanted to give it a 1.5/10 for value, but the others on the team told me I was being psychotic givingit a score that low.  the 5.5 I gave it is considerably up from the 4.2 I initially gave it. (2.5 for terrible glitches constantly making me restart my game, constantly freezing up my console), and a 1.5 for value (50% the cost of a full game for like 20% the content...and half of it was filler.  I'd happily have paid 10 bucks for this, maybe even 15, but 30?  hah, you kidding me?  for 30 bucks I can get the Ratchet and Clank collection, three full games each 15-20 hours long.  

Well, you're a special snowflake and i didnt play the game, so i cant say you were right or wrong. I just never see that aspect beeing taken into account on the reviews. For a consumer, its an extremely important factor and i like it when it's weighted in.

Considering it's a $30 game brand new, that comes packed in with Quest for Booty, I'd say the lasting appeal for the price is outstanding. 

That's great if you don't already have Quest for Booty.  I did. And that game was overpriced, too.  15 bucks for a two hour game?  bleh, no thanks. 

10-15 bucks would have been the perfect price, so go for it! 15 was a liiiittle high, and 20 is too much, if you ask me, but it's better than what they asked. 

I thought the game was wonderful. The visuals were kinda inconsistent but when it looked amazing it really impresses. The thug planet was beautiful. The tusk hunting planet was not that great(in visuals) though although I must admit collecting tusks were fun specially since you could fly anywhere in that planet.