The Ratchet & Clank series came to a close in 2009 with A Crack in Time but the real send off will be happening with Ratchet & Clank Nexus. I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that Insomniac Games wanted to end the series on a high and not with whatever the hell Ratchet & Clank All 4 One and Ratchet & Clank Full Frontal Assault/QForce was supposed to be.
Since the story ended pretty well with A Crack in Time, it’s a little hard to squeeze in a game like Nexus into the series without branching off into a whole new story arc. Insomniac Games have instead decided to make Nexus an epilogue of sorts to A Crack in Time which seems like the reasonable thing to do. It’s expected to be shorter in length than A Crack in Time but longer than Quest for Booty but no need to worry, it’s a “proper” Ratchet & Clank game for sure.
What Did You Think Of The Ratchet & Clank Nexus Demo?
The first thing I noticed about Ratchet & Clank Nexus was that I knew exactly how to play the game right off the bat. I’m a fan of the series and jumping into Nexus was like being reacquainted with an old friend. All the controls handle the same as they did before so pressing triangle on the pad will still bring up the weapon wheel much like how it did back in 2002. Jumping physics appear to remain unchanged from past titles in the Future series and Clank now joins Ratchet for the adventure after having spent the majority of the time in the previous game (A Crack in Time) separated from each other.
Ratchet & Clank has always been a mix between a platformer and 3rd person shooter, Nexus makes zero attempts to change this. It’s a winning formula because many of us grew up playing platformers and we all love to shoot stuff, just look at the popularity of the FPS genre. You still play as Ratchet and blast your way through fairly linear environments with some puzzle elements mixed in to help break up the otherwise constant action. In case you’re not getting the gist of where I’m going with this, Ratchet & Clank Nexus is hell bent on being a “proper” Ratchet & Clank title first and a something more original second.
Despite the familiarity of Ratchet & Clank Nexus, that’s not to suggest that it doesn’t do ANYTHING new. As always the weapons and gadgets are usually the star of the show although a limited demo on show floor is never going to highlight that. Through out the levels you’ll notice circular purple targets, using your new grav-tether will allow Ratchet to create a purple beam between the two purple targets. Jump into the beam and you’re now floating from one purple target to another which immediately has me wondering what kind of puzzles Insomniac Games will throw our way with this new mechanic in the final version.
Visually speaking Ratchet & Clank Nexus is a bit of a step back from the previous games in the series. I have no doubt in my mind that the demo I played didn’t showcase some of the prettier areas in the game but the framerate certainly couldn’t be ignored. Perhaps Insomniac Games is still tweaking the game in terms of performance but Ratchet & Clank Nexus didn’t look like the classic 60FPS we’ve come to expect from the series. Even worse is that it dropped into the mid 20′s during some of the more heated battles, stunning Pixar like visuals buried under shoddy performance 
Insomniac Games have gone on record in the past stating that A Crack in Time would likely be their last 60FPS title. True to their word we’ve had Ratchet & Clank All 4 One, Ratchet & Clank Full Frontal Assault/QForce and most recently FUSE all running at 30FPS. Ratchet & Clank Nexus is supposed to be a return to form and yet the classic 60FPS trademark of the series is gone in favour of “better” visuals that honestly don’t look all that different from the past Future titles. This is without a doubt a MAJOR disappointment and I’m upset by Insomniac’s decision regarding the framerate.
Speaking of disappointment, I actually don’t have much more to say regarding Ratchet & Clank Nexus as the game crashed on me. I’m fairly certain that I played most of what the demo had to offer but not being able to reach the “Thank you for playing” screen at a games event is always a bummer.
Be Honest, Will It Suck?
Although the game crashed on me, I wouldn’t really think it’s indicative of the game’s quality. Then again weren’t the “bad” Ratchet & Clank games like All 4 One and Full Frontal Assault/QForce known to be glitch ridden? Hmm, it’s not like Insomniac Games is exactly on top form either these days but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt even though the game crashed again on the second day of the event for someone else.
I think Ratchet & Clank isn’t a game that demos well at public events, a large part of the series is growing your arsenal of weapons, gadgets and then upgrading them as they’re used in battle. The Ratchet & Clank Nexus demo was basically shoot some stuff, create a few purple beams and then crash. Hardly the most impressive first showing, especially when you look at what else they had at the Eurogamer Expo this year.
All in all I still don’t think Ratchet & Clank Nexus was needed, A Crack in Time was the perfect send off for the series and I could easily forget All 4 One and Full Frontal Assault/QForce ever happened. Never the less Ratchet & Clank Nexus IS happening and if the following trailer is any indication, it should be an enjoyable final ride for fans of the series.
