Ratchet &amp; Clank

PlayStation 2 November 4, 2002 November 8, 2002 PlayStation 3 June 28, 2012 June 29, 2012 August 28, 2012 September 6, 2012 PlayStation Vita July 2, 2014 July 9, 2014 July 29, 2014

platform

PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3 in the Trilogy
PlayStation Vita in the Trilogy

Game mode

DVD-ROM , Blu-ray Disc

language

German

Age rating

USK

Ratchet is working on a self-made spaceship in front of his house when he notices a falling space capsule. A little robot named Clank sits in it . He just escaped from a robot factory on a nearby planet and is an information robot. The robot carries a message from Blarg, an alien life form. From her it can be seen that the planet der Blarg has become completely uninhabitable due to extreme environmental pollution and overpopulation and that they now need a new planet.

For this reason, the Blarg scientists have developed a gigantic gripper with which they can tear out some large pieces from 'healthy' planets and unite them in a new planet. However, they do not care that the planets are destroyed in this procedure.

Clank asks Ratchet to help stop the Blarg chairman Drek.

Ratchet & Clank 2

PlayStation 2 November 11, 2003 November 21, 2003 PlayStation 3 June 28, 2012 June 29, 2012 August 28, 2012 September 6, 2012 PlayStation Vita July 2, 2014 July 9, 2014 July 29, 2014

platform

PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3 in the Trilogy
PlayStation Vita in the Trilogy

Game mode

DVD-ROM , Blu-ray Disc

German

(OT: Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando)

Ratchet and Clank are surprisingly teleported to the Bogon galaxy, even though they are currently guests on a television show. There a company called Megacorp has ousted the important Gadgetron company. Its chairman, Abercrombie Fizzwidget, instructs Ratchet and Clank to get a stolen experiment back.

In between, they also find out that the popular hero Qwark has disappeared.

They soon get hold of the thief and the experiment, a little blue ball of fur with feet, eyes and mouth, is brought back to Fizzwidget. However, he accidentally destroys Ratchet's spaceship while parking and then, allegedly accidentally, actuates the ejection seat in his spaceship and throws the duo on an abandoned mine on the desert planet Tabora.

The experiment is now being launched on the market under the name “Proto-Pet”. What Ratchet and Clank learned earlier in a video from Megacorp is true, namely that the Proto-Pet is extremely violent and bloodthirsty. It begins to become a dangerous nuisance due to its extreme breeding speed.

At the Megacorp factory on Yeedil, there is a showdown between Ratchet, Clank, Angela and Mr. Fizzwidget. This turns out to be the missing hero Qwark, who designed the Proto-Pets in order to throw the galaxy into chaos, then to eliminate the plague and to be able to start a comeback as a superhero. Ratchet and Clank prevent this and become known throughout the fictional galaxy.

Ratchet & Clank 3

PlayStation 2 November 3, 2004 November 12, 2004 PlayStation 3 June 28, 2012 June 29, 2012 August 28, 2012 September 6, 2012 PlayStation Vita July 2, 2014 July 9, 2014 July 29, 2014

platform

PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3 in the Trilogy
PlayStation Vita in the Trilogy

genre

Jump 'n' run

Game mode

Single player , multiplayer

medium

DVD-ROM , Blu-ray Disc

German

(OT: Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal)

In this part, Clank benefits from the notoriety achieved in Part 2. In his television series “Secret Agent Clank” he plays a James Bond cut, while Ratchet only takes on the role of the chauffeur. Ratchet is not happy about this, as he did all the work, while Clank always served only as a kind of backpack, because in battle Clank hangs on Ratchet's back, arms, legs and head half-drawn in like a turtle, with the only job of weapons and store equipment and use some propellers to allow ratchet to glide.

Suddenly a cry for help arrives from the planet Veldin, Ratchet's home. Veldin is attacked by small to medium-sized, obese aliens called tyhrranoids. Ratchet and Clank fly there immediately and are met by a kind of galactic police, the galactic protection squad. She has run out of units and so Ratchet becomes the sergeant of a small squad.

After the Tyhrranoids have been repulsed, Ratchet and Clank are given the task of searching for a mystical forest man in the jungle of the planet Florana. This turns out to be the (from the last part) known space hero Qwark.

Qwark is promptly deployed as chief commander and makes old friends as allies: his obese robotic fitness trainer Helga, as well as Al, the technical genius, and Skidd McMarx, a famous hoverboard driver. All in all a very strange, but well-rehearsed group after a short time. Everyone cooperates on the “Phönix”, a spaceship under the direction of Sascha, with which Ratchet is obviously in love. The spaceship is handed over to Ratchet at the end of Part 3. At the beginning of the 4th part this process is shown repeatedly.

With the destruction of the Tyhrranoids it becomes clear who the enemy is: Dr. Nefarious, an insane, incredibly clever robot who convinced almost all robots and tyhrranoids that biological forms of life are not worth living and should be destroyed.

Ratchet and Clank believe they have found an ally in the pop singer Courtney Gears (based on Britney Spears ) until she turns out to be one of their most powerful enemies. Captain Qwark founds the Q-Team, which includes Skid McMarx, Helga, Al and Qwarks Affe Scrunch. In the meantime, Qwark is considered dead, although he only wanted to retreat to his secret hiding place because the odds were 1: 63000000 against the Q-Team. Ratchet and Clank find him again on one of the last planets. After Dr. Nefarious has been defeated, you have to fight in one last fight against the biobliterator, who has meanwhile transformed into a giant robot. In this battle, Qwark returns and helps Ratchet and Clank in battle. But this only seems to be a symbol of his return, as he does not harm the biobliterator. After defeating him, Dr. Nefarious and his butler Lawrence accidentally on a meteorite while all the other characters from the Ratchet and Clank series watch the new Agent Clank movie. Dr. Nefarious also reappears as the villain in "Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time".

You can also collect Qwark video games throughout the game and play them on the Phoenix with the VG9000 game console. In the games you can find out how Qwark Dr. Defeated Nefarious and that he has a secret hiding place where Ratchet and Clank will eventually find him. The games are in 2D and there are 5 of them.

Ratchet: Gladiator

(OT: Ratchet: Deadlocked)

Ratchet: Gladiator is a very heavily modified version of Ratchet & Clank, which is probably why the usual numbering has been suspended. One reason is that Ratchet's little robot friend Clank is no longer actively involved in the action, but instead supports Ratchet in all situations via radio. But in Cooperative Mode, Player 2 can play Alpha Clank, a robot built by Dreadzone to help Ratchet with his tasks. Another change is that both players can switch characters if they want.

Ratchet, Clank and "Big Al" are kidnapped in this episode by Gleeman Vox, media mogul and head of Pox Industries, to take part in an illegal, intergalactic battle show called "Dreadzone". In this part, the arena fights that were very popular in part 3 have been expanded to become an essential part of the game. While Clank as operator and Al as weapons technician (for the robots that help you in the game) sit in a kind of headquarters, Ratchet has to fight his way through a variety of arenas to end up against Vox '"Exterminator Champion", Ace Hardlight to fight for freedom.

Dallas and Juanita, the two presenters from Dreadzone, comment on the action in the background. The humorous but sometimes not that friendly comments repeat themselves after a short time. You also miss Captain Qwark in this part, who only reports with a radio message after the final battle. After the credits there is another short scene with Dr. Nefarious and his butler Lawrence, who passed the rubble of the Dreadzone base on the meteorite and intended to teleport onto it, but since this didn't work, Dr. Nefarious pissed off again and the familiar love scene is played.

Once again, the possible number of nanotechs and weapon levels has been increased. The weapons now go up to level 10. If you buy a level 11 add-on, you can continue the procedure up to level 99. The limit for nanotech is 999.

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

After a difficult time at Dreadzone, Ratchet and Clank want to relax a little in the seaside resort on Pokitaru. There they meet a girl named Luna who wants to write an essay about superheroes and asks Ratchet to take some pictures while fighting robots. Qwark, the supposed space hero, is once again on site. He is depressed because he never met his parents and goes in search of them.

Shortly afterwards, Luna is kidnapped by mysterious robots. However, these robots lose an object and Clank discovers that it is a technomite artifact. Ratchet can't believe this, as technomites are actually known as fairy tale characters that parents use to explain technology to their children. But still they travel to the planet Ryllus. On this they meet little natives who want to stop them, but they soon reach an abandoned technomite temple. The entrance is locked, but Clank can get inside through a crack. He succeeds in opening the temple. Inside is a round room with a strange device in the middle. Clank puts on the technomite artifact and a map of all the planets of the technomites appears. This is how the heroes can get to the planet Kalidon. A technomite factory stands on it. She makes technomite battle robots. On the planet, the first thing they do is race against a skyboarder and receive a shrink ray in return for their win. From now on, they can use it to crack doors and shrink themselves to the size of technomites and thus enter their buildings. Ratchet and Clank enter the factory and find resistance from the technomites' robots. But they come inside the building and meet Luna. But she suddenly behaves strangely and now speaks without lisping. Ratchet then wakes up in a bizarre dream world. It looks like Luna betrayed her. In the meantime, Clank is on a planet where he is fighting other robots. He escapes by transforming himself into a giant clank on a platform and destroying a warship. Now it turns out that Ratchet is being held captive by the technomites at the Omega Medical Outpost. Clank comes to this medical space station and wakes Ratchet. He faintly remembers an operation. After this scene, Ratchet and Clank start to flee and end up with a laboratory where it turns out that the technomites extracted Ratchet's DNA . He gets angry and throws a jar of DNA into an important device. The two can just escape when the space station explodes. Then the two find themselves on the rubble of the station. This has now been converted into a skyboard racetrack. Ratchet competes again against the unknown skyboarder and wins a polarizer from him that is needed for further success. The two now fly to Challax, the technomite town. They are shrinking to be able to enter the city at all. In it they fight for the first time against the technomites themselves. They penetrate the city and cross it. At the end you enter a kind of hangar where Luna is. But the two realize that she is a robot . The technomites betrayed them from the start. You want to stop the Luna robot, but it flies away. They pursue him and land on the Dayni moon. This resembles a huge farm. They make their way through the whole planet and in the end fight against Luna herself. She is destroyed but the technomites can get inside the clank. Ratchet has to shrink and scare away the technomites. He succeeds and travels with Clank to the clone factory on the planet Quodrona. With horror they realize that there are now thousands of Ratchet clones. In an arena he has to fight some. He then gets to know Emperor Otto the ruler of the technomites and learn that he wants to achieve the respect of other living beings with the clones, because they have been using technomite technology for a long time and do not even know who they owe it to. They also find out that Qwark thinks he is his birth father. Ratchet and Clank fight Otto and can narrowly defeat him. A monkey brings a leaf and shows it to Qwark. This sheet records who Qwark's real parents are and how they died. Angry, Qwark and Otto join a machine. Ratchet can save him at the last moment. Instead, the monkey is now wired. The machine is activated and copies the monkey brain to Otto's. The heroes leave Quodrona satisfied and enjoy their vacation on Pokitaru.

The game was originally only intended for the PSP, but on March 11, 2008 it was also released for the PS2, criticizing that it is a ported game with comparatively simple graphics and vague camera and controls and is located in the high price range.

Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction

October 23, 2007 November 9, 2007

Game mode

u. a. German

The first adventure for the PlayStation 3 is the beginning of the so-called Future Trilogy , which is continued by the parts Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty and Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time . The action takes place in the Polaris galaxy, where Emperor Tachyon Ratchet, supposedly the last of the Lombaxes, wants to eliminate and starts a veritable campaign of destruction. In the course of the story, Ratchet & Clank also encounter robo pirates who attack the two again and again. Ratchet & Clank also have to face you in battle, as they have important information about the whereabouts and disappearance of the Lombaxe. The final battle between Ratchet and Tachyon takes place on the actual home planet of the Lombaxe Fastoon . At the end of the game, Clank is kidnapped by the Zoni (small aliens only visible to Clank who support him in some places during the game), Ratchet cannot bring him back and the adventure ends.

This part of the series shows the history of the Lombaxe. It is learned that the Polaris galaxy was once haunted by the Cragmites (Emperor Tachyon is also of the Cragmite people). The Great War between the Cragmites and the peoples of the Polaris galaxy was finally ended by the Lombaxes through the Dimensionator , with which they hurled the Cragmites into another dimension. Only one Cragmite remained - Tachyon, whom the Lombaxes took pity on. However, this turned out to be a bug. Tachyon swore revenge, gathered an army, and threatened the Polaris galaxy again. To prevent another war, the Lombaxes also fled to another dimension to appease Emperor Tachyon. Only the keeper of the dimensioner and his son (Ratchet) remained. Tachyon kills him to get the Dimensionator to bring back his people. However, Ratchet's father hid the device well beforehand and brought his son to a safe place (Planet Veldin in the Solana galaxy).

Overall, a new nanotech maximum of 999 can be achieved. There are also numerous new weapons. B. the Pyrosprenger (flamethrower) is very reminiscent of the 1st part. These weapons can be used up to Lv. 5 train, or you can buy them improved (after playing through) and then down to Lv. Exercise 10 (Omega version). There is also the extremely popular RIDA (RIDA IV) again, which shoots extremely strong and incredibly fast. You can only get this powerful weapon if you collect all 13 holoplans and talk to the smuggler. One advantage is that it costs nothing in this way. Although the Omega version with 50,000,000 bolts is very expensive, you don't have to worry about your money that much later because you get bolts relatively quickly.

The SIXAXIS controller is used in several places in the game. On the one hand when opening locks, on the other hand when Ratchet & Clank glide through the air with the help of wings built into Clank and even when breaking through unstable walls with the laser, Clank gets the Zonis.

European release was November 14th. With a resolution of 720p, the game can also be played on HD screens .

The character design is slightly changed from this part on, which is due to the fact that the former character designer Dan Johnson quit after a dispute at Insomniac. Nevertheless, you can unlock it as a costume in the game and the credits read: "In Memory of Dan Johnson".

Secret Agent Clank

The game was released on June 17, 2008 in the USA.

In this part, Ratchet is charged with a crime he did not commit and is eventually imprisoned. In order to free his friend, Ratchet's robot friend Clank tries as a secret agent to find clues to Ratchet's innocence and to convict the real culprit. In this adventure, which Clank has to contest single-handedly for the first time, there are relatively varied challenges. In the spirit of a secret agent, the aim of this game is to switch off alarm systems, defeat guards and of course fight opponents. Ratchet, who sits in a maximum security prison, has to prove himself again and again in arena fights and protect himself from the bad guys from the previous parts. An old friend for fans of the series is also back again, Qwark. He is currently writing his biography and you have to act out his stories. And another friend from the third part of the series is there, Clank's bad brother Clunk, who acts as the boss.
The game has also been available on the PlayStation 2 since June 2009. As is the case with the "Size Matters" port, the graphic and playful quality does not come close to the original games.

Special:

You can play Clank, Ratchet, Captain Qwark and even Gadgebots in this game
The challenges in which you play Qwark are made up stories that Qwark wants to make great with, as always
The rhythm exercises are not entirely new, but occur more often. As in the third part of the tyhrranoid costume, you have to press key sequences at the right time to e.g. B. avoiding lasers or playing cards
The enemies Ratchet must defeat in prison are villains that Ratchet has put behind bars over the course of his time, such as: B. the cutthroat and the tyhrranoids.

Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty

August 21, 2008

Game mode

Download , Blu-ray Disc

u. a. German

The game has been available for download for the PS3 on the PlayStation Network since August 21, 2008 and was also available as a Blu-ray version on September 17, 2008 . The story follows on from Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction and is about Ratchet's search for Clank.

Synopsis: After Clank is kidnapped by the Zoni at the end of Tools of Destruction, Ratchet and Talwyn go in search of him. From the IRIS supercomputer they learn that there is a clue about his whereabouts on the planet Merdegraw in the Drongel sector, whereupon the two immediately go there. However, when they ask the pirates who live there about Angstrom Darkwater, they shoot Ratchet and Talwyn with a cannon on the island of Hoolefar.

Once on the island, Ratchet learns from the local mayor that Darkwater is dead. His super telescope, with which he observed the zoni, only works with a rotating star (a black hole in solid form). To find this, Ratchet and Talwyn team up with Rusty Pete, Captain Slag's first mate, who betrays the two of them and puts Slag's severed head on Darkwater's body.

Slag and Darkwater are now two souls in one body who are always in conflict with each other. After Slag / Darkwater nearly destroys Hoolefar, Ratchet and Talwyn invade Darkwater's old treasure chamber to get the rotating star, but Talwyn is captured by the pirates. Ratchet takes on Slag's pursuit and ultimately destroys his fleet. Back on Hoolefar, he activates the telescope and finds out that Dr. Nefarious is behind Clank's disappearance and the Zoni are probably being duped by him.

Ratchet and Talwyn set course for the coordinates and the game ends.

Gameplay: Many innovations were implemented in the rather short game, which can also be found later in the successor A Crack in Time . Ratchet can now interact better with the omni key and there are considerably more conversations with the NPCs, in which there are also more answer options available, which influence the rest of the game to a greater or lesser extent. The playing time of the “mini-adventure”, which is also intensely advertised by the developer Insomniac, is just under 4 hours, which is why it is available in both PSN and BD at a very low price.

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time

October 27, 2009 November 6, 2009

Game mode

u. a. German

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time is the 9th installment in the Ratchet & Clank series. He continues the storyline of the Future series ( Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty ) and Clank is found by Ratchet after an initial search. Ratchet also discovers that he is not the only surviving Lombax, as he finds Alister Azimuth, a Lombax general, on the planet Torren IV. The PlayStation 3 exclusive game was released in the US on October 27, 2009; in Europe it was released on November 6, 2009.

Synopsis : After Ratchet and Captain Qwark set out in search of Clank in the Polaris Galaxy, they find out that he is in the Great Clock controlled by the Zoni. Throughout the game, Ratchet searches various systems and sectors with the help of Qwark and General Azimuth, the second Lombax left after the great war. Shortly before the end, Clank is kidnapped by the butler of the archenemy Nefarious from the large clock that, together with the Zoni, is responsible for controlling the time in the universe. He is then rescued by Ratchet and ultimately it comes to a fight between Nefarious, Ratchet and Clank. After Nefarious is defeated, Azimuth wants to use the Great Clock to manipulate the time, whereby he wants to get back the remaining Lombaxe. However, since this could destroy the entire universe, it ultimately comes to a battle between Ratchet, Clank and Azimuth, which Ratchet and Clank win.

Gameplay and innovations compared to its predecessors: A Crack in Time takes over the most important innovations from Quest for Booty, for example the kinetic rope of the new Omni key 12000 and the numerous conversations with the NPCs. However, new elements are also being introduced, such as the hover boots and the Omnisauger 8000, which can be used to collect liquids such as oil, water and nectar. In addition, there is now a separate quick selection for devices as well as so-called constructo weapons. These can be changed in almost any color, and strength, charge, etc. can be adjusted. Another important aspect is the new space gameplay. While you were flown from the spaceship to the planets in all earlier Ratchet & Clank parts, it is now possible to explore space in different sectors and to the individual planets yourself with the Aphelion (Ratchet's ship from Tools of Destruction ) get. There are now so-called asteroids on which Ratchet can land and collect items.

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One

The tenth game in the series Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One was released in October 2011.

Ratchet & Clank: QForce

(OT: Ratchet & Clank Full Frontal Assault)

On May 30, 2012, Ted Price (CEO of Insomniac) announced that a new multiplayer game would be launched in the fall of 2012. The game was released on November 28, 2012.

Criticism from the trade press

The magazine GBase.ch gave Ratchet and Clank QForce a rating of 6.5. The test report praised the great multiplayer mode and the game's humor. In return, for example, the small size of the game and the confusing controls were criticized.

Ratchet & Clank: Nexus

With the title Ratchet & Clank: Nexus, the developers tie in with the beginnings of the series, when hopping and fighting were the focus. The playing time of the adventure, which is sold at a budget price of 30 euros, is rather short at around 5 hours.

Ratchet & Clank: PS4 Remake