I Beat Two Games this Weekend

I finished two video games this weekend and I figured that I would talk about them. I have been going in-depth about certain video games here but sometimes just a quick review is fun too. 

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (2021)

When I was a kid, we got ourselves a PlayStation 2 which was a great and formative period in video game history. Games suddenly had story and voice acting along with fun gameplay. One franchise that I gravitated toward was Ratchet and Clank. I was directed to that franchise from Jak and Daxter, a game that I loved and still love. While the Jak and Daxter sequels were kind of disappointing, Ratchet and Clank remained consistent. 

The franchise follows a Lombax named Ratchet who is an engineer and reluctant hero. He is paired with Clank, a small, nebbish robot who is often the voice of reason. The game is a third-person shooter and its strength is in the buttload of fun and innovative weapons in each game. I played Ratchet and Clank, R&C: Going Commando, and R&C: Up Your Arsenal on PS2. Each has a large amount of charm and fun gameplay built on constantly evolving weaponry and humorous stories. I never played the games between 2004 and 2016 because I never had a PS3 or PS4.

When the new game came out in 2021, I was blown away by the game’s visuals and innovation of the mechanics of the original games. I saw a little gameplay on Barry Kramer’s stream but I really wanted to play the game. I had no desire to purchase a PS5 though. I haven’t bought a console since X-Box 360. But lo and behold, the game came to PC fairly recently and then it went on sale.

The game was just as fun as the ones that I remembered but even more so because everything was just so much smoother. The graphics are gorgeous and the gameplay was very sweet. In this adventure, Ratchet and Clank have a parade thrown in their honor (along with allies they have made throughout the games) but it is interrupted by their nemesis Dr. Nefarious. The battle goes awry when Nefarious’ Dimensionator is hit by an errant shot from Ratchet’s gun. This sends the pair of heroes into a parallel universe where they encounter dimensional counterparts Rivet and Kit.

The player controls experienced hero Ratchet and resistance member Rivet in a darker version of the universe previously seen. A world where Nefarious won and became Emperor Nefarious. Worse, there are now two Nefariouses in that universe. The heroes must team up to gather power and allies to combat this new yet familiar threat. This means that the player must travel to all new planets with some new mechanics. My favorite mechanic is the inclusion of Blizon crystals. These crystals have absorbed dimensional energy and when struck, send Ratchet or Rivet into an alternate timeline version of the planet they are on. This leads to some great puzzles and even better stories.

I actually ended up beating the game over the course of a week. It took an even 40 hours to beat the game and then go on to 100% the game by getting all of the achievements. I thoroughly sucked the marrow from this game. My only complaint is that it felt so short. I have heard rumors of yet another sequel and I will be there (as soon as it ports to PC).

Ducktales: Remastered (2011)

You better believe that I was a fan of the original Ducktales cartoon as it provided a more action-packed take on the classic Disney characters. It also revitalized a lot of those characters in my mind. The original game came out on NES back in 1990 when I was still a wee lad. I do not remember it as much as the show but it was well-received. When I heard about the remastered version, I was intrigued but I never purchased it. Luckily for me, it has recently become super cheap on Steam. I misremembered and thought that the remastered version was released in tandem with the 2017 series but it was not and has a different style.

This was a nostalgia ride as it maintains all of the simple Nintendo gameplay. You play as Scrooge McDuck as he travels the world to retrieve treasures along with his nephews, Abigail, Ms. Beasely, Launchpad McQuack, Fenton Crackshell, Gyro Gearloose, and Bubba the Caveduck. They face off against Flintheart Glomgold, the Beagle Boys, Magica De Spell, a yeti, a statue, aliens, the Terra-Firmians, and Dracula Duck.

The gameplay is simple as Scrooge attacks by using his cane to either pogo jump or golf swing. The pogo jump is most of the movement of the game. Most enemies are defeated by jumping on their heads with the cane. The only other movement is the use of minecarts and climbing ropes.

I finished the game within maybe two hours and it was a lot of fun. The game looked way better than the original as new sprites and backgrounds were hand-drawn for the game. The game also included a voice cast which was not possible when the original was made. It was a cheap game but a fun game and one I might go back and beat again. It also included Scrooge’s iconic dive into his money bin which can be done anytime between levels. The reason to replay the game is to continue to unlock beautiful concept artwork.

Tags: Ducktales Remastered, Ratchet and Clank, Rift Apart, Video Games