Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - Tips Must Read Before You Buy

Ethan
Updated on 2023-06-29
Really good tips for you. Read before you purchase Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

Review of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Yo what's going on, guys? Here is your old friend. Today, I will review a pretty popular game called Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, I already simplified the content for you guys, if you want to buy this game but not sure yet or you are interested in this game. I highly recommend you read this article first, really good tips for you before you purchase the game. Let's go and have a look together. 

"Ninja Gaiden" I can only play so many games at once, but lately, I've been playing a ton of "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart." Now, this was, of course, one of the first games shown off when the PS5 was unveiled, and a lot of people are banking on it having some next-gen magic to it. I was hoping it was a good "Ratchet & Clank" game, honestly. It's, of course, developed by Insomniac Games. The people behind the franchise that's been running since 2002, and while it doesn't always have the spicy attitude or the old games, man, does it have a lot of heart and some really fun gameplay.

Now, just so you know, this was captured, obviously, on PS5 with performance ray trace mode on, and there are no spoilers in this video. Any cut scene you see here is mainly from an early game or insignificant to the story. Man, there are many surprises and big moments throughout this one that you gotta see for yourself because "Rift Apart" is quite good. Also, once again, I want to say shoutout to the folks out there who want a PlayStation 5 but can't get one because of shortages and those damn scalpers. I just wanted to point out, we see you, and we feel you. I don't think enough reviews and first-impression videos acknowledge that fact. Still, anyway, "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart" does one of my favourite things. It doesn't try to become a massive open-world game, like it's not like we've got to keep escalating, no. It keeps a "Ratchet & Clank" structure, and it feels great to play.

You select missions on different planets with your ship. Those missions often have little sub-quests, side missions within them that you can pursue that might net you a few excellent bonuses or a couple of extra minutes of fun. Now, some planets have a big, more open area where you can journey around to find the secrets and little sub-objectives. I think something kinda like the open area in "Uncharted: Lost Legacy." It's not crazy, it's more focused, and this is very much a focused game, quality over quantity, which I know many of you might find enjoyable compared to a padded open-world game. It's a nice break. Now, this story sees Ratchet and Clank just hanging out. They haven't saved the world in a while until things go amiss, thanks to Clank repairing the Dimensionater. Still, Dr Nefarious gets his hands on it, and from there, the universe and time and space itself have ripped apart into multiple dimensions. You go through a world-hopping adventure that's charming, it's a little cutesy, it's chuckle-worthy, and mainly filled with some good character moments. It doesn't necessarily have many of the edgier moments. Still, it makes up for it with some perfect moments between individual characters that straight up like warmed my cold heart, dude. 

Gameplay Report of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Early on, Rivet is introduced, and you play as both Rivet and Ratchet with slight variations, but their weapons sets and progress carries between them. Also, it's worth pointing out that if you didn't play the other games, you'd be able to pick this up pretty quickly and understand what's going on. It's not too complicated. Of course, it's heightened by playing the older games, thanks to some incredible fan moments. Still, even if all you played was the PS4 remake, you're okay, too, this is technically a follow-up to 2013's "Into the Nexus", though, but again, it's easy to hop on board. I'm going to explain most of the game systems. So if some of you long-time fans know some of this, I apologize. I'm trying to help out new players here, too. I will say I was impressed with the new character, Rivet. A lot of games do that thing where they introduce another character, like yourself.

This time, it's, you know, Ratchet, the only Lombax left in the universe, but well, now there's another one, but it works, and she doesn't suck. When I found myself playing as her, I never ended up being like, aw, come on, where's Ratchet, let's get to that. That's not easy to pull off, and I'm pleased with that fact. She's a fantastic character. Now combat-wise, it plays like a "Ratchet & Clank" game. You shoot and flip and hop and use this new phase dodge during combat. The weapons are all chaotic and creative, and your melee with your wrench or hammer feels quicker and cleaner than ever. The game gives you so many traversal options. It's nuts. To name a few, you have a grappling hook, and you can wall run, jump, double jump, glide, grind and even utilize high-speed hover boots after a point.

All of the movement and platform and zipping around makes this game a blast. You can also now pull yourself through these dimensional rifts in the middle of a battle, pulling yourself across an entire arena and instantly ending up somewhere else. It works nicely, and when they get creative with it, it's something worth experiencing, especially once the game kicks into overdrive. It gives you, like, these big set-piece moments where you're zipping through rifts and multiple dimensions and areas at high speeds. Awe-inspiring video game tech is going on here, but it's especially the case when faced with environmental navigation and puzzles. You can strike objects that switch out the entire area you're in for another, and it happens instantly. It's insane, and it doesn't get old, and you're doing all of this while fighting enemies, grinding, gliding, and boosting. It's a lot, but it's very thrilling. Enemy shootouts feel nice when there's a ton going on.

The game can handle tons of particle effects and enemies and minions and bullets on screen, and the challenge ramps up surprisingly nicely. Occasionally, the camera would screw me over, which is not new for these games. I wish there were more enemy types after a while, you know, like a big bad guy showing up in the music cue made me not feel as much because I had fought that exact big, bad multiple times. Now I'm just fighting two of them. It's not a massive issue because the game is paced well and shakes things up decently. Pacing involves:
- The two characters.
- Different worlds.
- Crazy set-piece moments.
- Open areas.
- Playing as Clank in a puzzle-type environment.
- Even playing like a bit of hacker bot.
A good amount is going on. 

Weapon System in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Now, the loop involves levelling up your weapons the more you use them, then at stores, you can spend all the bolts you collect to buy new weapons or upgrade them. The more levelled-up your gun is, the more purchasable upgrades you have access to and purchasing upgrades to these weapons is fun and satisfying because they get better and more useful as you go up significantly. If you unlock enough, you also crack into bonus modifiers. So by the end of the game, what was a simple shotgun blast can turn into a crazy electric particle field, incendiary mega blast thing, and that is cool to see and put to use. Along with that, though, side objectives and areas and Challenges net you new armor pieces that you can equip however you want and make yourself look cool. You can swap out the colors as well. I found myself giving Rivet all this cool, crazy armor. Still, I hate to say it. I enjoy Ratchet's traditional look. Still, there's a lot, you're also collecting the gold bolts, of course, that can give you more options and little bonuses, too. 

There are 16 weapons, not counting the secret ones. The game takes advantage of the DualSense's adaptive triggers by making it, like a typical, a half pull gives you a standard fire, and a full press gets you the alternate fire. Think shotgun blast, then double shotgun blast. Think short grenade throw and long grenade throw. Single-fire and then rapid-fire. It does get crazier than that, though, thanks to the classic inventiveness of "Ratchet & Clank's" weirder weapons. I don't know if these guns reached the heights of some of the other weird weapons in this series, but there are one or two I think that does. I won't spoil them, and they are crazy.

Now, graphics-wise, I've kind of just been hinting at it throughout the video. The game does look great. There's a fantastic amount of detail. The speed of the world's jumping in, all the effects on screen, the ray-traced lighting on certain surfaces, the frame rates, and of course, the ability to choose between multiple graphics modes, what you want to prioritize. It's a polished game, and I only had a few random issues of clipping where objects would disappear. Now, the flexing is also helped by the photo mode. I always want to give the photo mode community the love and the respect it deserves, dude. Insomniac and Sony have blown out these modes, and "Rift Apart" has many photo mode options, from camera settings to poses to adding more or less lighting. It's nuts, and it's comprehensive. I always say it, but I wish every game had photo mode, and I wish they all had photo modes like this. 

I'm not even creative, but it's still so fun to mess around with this stuff. Length-wise, expect 11 ish hours if you're only dabbling in a little bit of side stuff, but if you're a "Ratchet & Clank" person who wants to see every corner, expect a handful of hours on top of that. It's a game you're going to wanna try and savour. It's also worth highlighting that the game has a great new game-plus mode called Challenge Mode that ups the ante. It gives you a few more surprises and lets you bring all of your guns from your previous playthrough. "Rift Apart" has some must-see moments, and the story is pretty good. I don't know if it's the best "Ratchet & Clank" tale, but that's, of course, extremely subjective and opinion-based.

In the END

I do love Dr Nefarious, though. He is on his A-game here in this game, and as I said, all of it is pretty heartwarming. I recommend "Rift Apart" if you have the means to play it. It does feel like an exciting, big new thing, and it's a blast. Most importantly, it's fun to play. It's straightforward. That's all there is to this one, but of course, that's a "Before You Buy." You know how I do this by now. I give you some pros, cons, and personal opinions.

So now, we want to hear yours. Before we even talk about this, what's your favourite "Ratchet & Clank" game? Because if you think about it, there are quite a few. I would love to hear that, but I also wanna hear what you're thinking about "Rift Apart" if you've jumped into it so far. What do you feel about Rivet? I was surprised how much I don't hate her. Let me know what you think of the story overall. Maybe keep the spoilers out of it. Let me know your favourite gun, and if you haven't been playing the game yet, let me know what's holding you back or if you're just waiting, like I dunno, let's talk anything "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart" down in the comments