Review | Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One is the tenth instalment in the very popular Sony exclusive series. The game does not specifically follow on from the R&C Future trilogy (even though it is set after the events of A Crack in Time) but creates a story in which there is a strong emphasis on co-op play both online and offline. It offers cinematic quality battles that allows for drop in and drop out play.

All 4 One takes place when Nefarious sets a trap for our heroic trio but unwittingly attracts the attention of a mysterious machine known as the Creature Collector which ultimately captures all four of them. So Ratchet, Clank, Qwark and Nefarious have no choice but to call an uneasy truce and join forces to try and escape its clutches and get back home.

The R&C series has maintained a loyal following of fans where the story mode offers compelling and often hilarious tales full of fantastic visuals, accompanied by solid voice acting, unique locations, and crazy fast paced action complete with equally zany weapons and gadgets.  All 4 One however centres more so on the co-op and online aspects of gaming and spends less time on creating an immersive solo experience. The level designs alone will ally themselves to this multiplayer mode. It doesn’t look or feel like you are playing in a true R&C story but more of a series of singular rollercoaster rides in which players can drop in or out of at a whim.

In general terms you will be tasked to reach goals, most ending with a boss fight of some sort, before being sent on a similar level that will play out on the same scale. This concept means that you will seldom feel like you are unravelling a complex nail biting tale but more about going through the motions of completing a level. Of course when you do this with some friends it makes the experience that much more exciting purely because of the social and competitive atmosphere it generates.

One of the biggest issues I had with the game was that very element of co-operative play. Unless you have specific friends that you can communicate with, the experience can be very much hit and miss. More often than not online players seemed obsessed with collecting bolts or creatures than sticking to the game plan of completing the level co-operatively. Especially, during times in which you are required to propel (via the Vac-U Gun) a player (who has no desire to co-operate) onto a button to progress or across a chasm. All 4 One at times can and will be utter chaos.

During general gameplay you will share an arcade style view of the action (no split screen), the camera will allow for all four characters to progress at once without any single one shooting off on their own. Which is one of the issues with it; there will be times where you will not be able to see what’s around the corner, whether that is an enemy or a chasm that spells certain doom. Skill wise there isn’t much to the game, because of its emphasis on multi-player for the most part its run and gun and almost anything can be taken down first time round. There are various ammo pads scattered that will instantly top up everyone’s ammo so there is no real reason to find yourself wondering what to do next.

Weapons can be upgraded and there is a firepower bonus when players shoot at the same target which results in higher rates of damage the longer you fire – a bit like crossing the beams in Ghostbusters. In the single player mode you will have an AI Clank whenever he is needed for either gunfights or puzzle solving – the rest of the time he sits on your back. I noticed a few bugs such as getting trapped in the floor which is most unusual for the benchmark of perfection that Insomniac tends to set itself.

In the multiplayer mode you may get frustrated with the drop in/out feature tends where any player dropping in will cause the session to be reloaded back and sometimes forward to the nearest checkpoint, of course you can choose not to accept a player dropping in but that of course would chiefly defeat the purpose of the game.

What the game does do well is continue with the solid foundation that the series has been built on; excellent graphics, smooth gameplay; often hilarious weapons and all-round variety. In many ways the single player game offers a better experience than the multiplayer which is a real shame. The game is not terrible by any means but just doesn’t hit the highs that the series has delivered so well to date.   [7]