It has been 5 years since we saw the dynamic duo of Ratchet and Clank; in that time, Sony
purchased Insomniac Games and they have created two Spiderman titles.
To say that I was hyped for this action-platformer would be a massive understatement.
Boasting super-fast load times, beautiful visuals, and frantic gameplay, Ratchet, and
Clank Rift Apart is the two pal’s first outing on next-gen hardware and is the only
first-party PS5 exclusive to date.
But how does Rift Apart play on the PS5?
Is it a worthy entry in the long legacy of our Lombax and Robot pals?
And is the Rift mechanic all it's cracked up to be?
Let's find out!
The opening is a love letter to this amazing franchise, with a parade being held for the
heroic acts of Ratchet and Clank.
I was Instantly blown away by the fidelity, running at a smooth ray-traced 4k 30FPS--i
know it's a cliche at this point, but it really does feel like playing a Pixar movie.
I was reminded of the nostalgic memories many of us have with this series and I could not
help but smile from ear to ear.
But of course, the festivities soon come to an end as none other than Dr.Nefarious rears
his ugly head to spoil the fun.
With the Dimensionator in tow, Nefarious doesn’t take too long before all hell breaks loose,
and Ratchet and Clank are separated ...or split apart.
Leading them on an intergalactic wild goose chase to put a stop to the all too persistent
Dr.Nefarious involving lots of explosions, rail grinding, and interdimensional rift traveling
From the densely populated, neon streets of Corson V to the lush and treacherous Swamps
of Sargasso, the level of detail is a true testament to the power of PS5 and the talent
at Insomniac.
Nefarious City feels alive as you sweep through its detailed alleyways and jump from rooftop
to rooftop, all the while being blinded by neon signs.
It’s the small details like moss-covered boxes in the swamp levels and how enemies
interact with each other before you engage them in combat that truly adds to the experience.
Each subsequent level brings a certain level of beauty to the table and at times I had
to stop and take in the sights before quickly returning to wreaking havoc on the enemies
that stood in my way.
Once again, Insomniac show the true power of ray tracing, how the light reflects off
the many polished surfaces and I can’t forget Clank’s shiny exterior.
In-game cutscenes were breath-taking and the all-important voice cast of James Arnold Taylor
and David Kaye returned to voice Ratchet and Clank which are as iconic as ever . I was
itching to see what the next cutscene had in store and it is great to see Insomniac’s
brand of comedy return in its full glory.This
has the darkest tone of the whole series, with some of the most dire locations seen
in the series.
Even the first few levels feature entire populations in peril from the actions of Dr.Nefarious.
A rag-tag group of Resistance fighters with a sprinking light-hearted moments and high
stakes, reminded of the original Star Wars trilogy, even going as far as Star Wars-inspired
screen transitions.
In the relatively short run time of 10 hours, the story was well-paced and the interactions
between characters were believable with comedy and touching moments throughout.
New and old characters alike,feel well developed.
Rivet was not just a counterpart to Ratchet, she has her own backstory which shapes her
personality and sets her apart from Ratchet.
Being a Ratchet and Clank game, there are certain things we've come to expect, such
as . Explosive combat, whacky weapons, a wide variety of enemies, and unique boss encounters.
And I’m happy to say that Rift Apart mostly delivers on these fronts.
The moment to moment gameplay is nothing short of fantastic, even if it doesnt deviate far
from the formula.
utilising a whole arsenal of weapons to annihilate a whole host of enemies will never get old,
especially when the ‘cling’ of bolts soon follows..
There are a myriad of enemies to fight, planets to explore, and weapons to use.
Fan-favorite weapons return like the Glove of Doom and Buzz Blades but the new weapons
are where the game really excels.
I had 17 weapons at the end of my first playthrough with the majority being brand new.
My favorite is the Negatron Collider, a gigantic, charged laser beam that decimates the enemies,
and the second being the Blackhole storm, which is a heavy machine gun that has to spool
up before it can shoot.
Unlike some weapons in past games, every one here feels viable.
I thoroughly enjoyed leveling each of them up and didn’t feel like there were any weak
links in Ratchet and Rivet's arsenal.
The bolt economy is well balanced too, if you explore the levels, kill most enemies
and find most boxes you will be able to afford all weapons by the time the credits roll which
is something previous titles have struggled with.
Raritanium makes a return and it works the exact same way that it did in Ratchet 2016,
even though the upgrades aren’t anything unique, mostly increased ammo range, and damage
there are a couple like the ability to deploy 2 Mr Fungi’s improved the weapons drastically,
this skill tree clicks with me; it made searching for raritanium crates that much more rewarding.
The movement has been significantly improved from previous entries in the series.
Both Ratchet and Rivet have hover boots that they can use to zoom around the levels, either
on the ground or wall-running, in addition, there are rifts littered throughout the world
that act as grapple points, pulling that part of the world towards you.
Initially I was blown away by the gimmick and used them plenty during combat but I quickly
realised that they’re not very useful during firefights and just take you out of the action
for a few seconds.
Even while exploring the levels they only acted as grapple points and once the novelty
of instantaneous loading wore off I was over them.
The rifts were featured heavily in the footage leading up to launch , so it's a little disappointing
that they're not better utilized , perhaps by rewarding the player with different buffs,
like extra bolts or increased damage for 10 seconds after using one.
Another major addition is the dash, a much-needed mechanic in the Ratchet series.
I found it was implemented well when exploring and platforming, though I rarely used it during
combat as enemy attacks rarely incentivized it save for one or two boss attacks.
And speaking of bosses, I was quite disappointed with these.
There are only a handful of true bosses, with the rest being mini-bosses, most of which
were oversized goons or creatures that had very little personality.
As a series, even the mini-bosses looked great and usually had interesting fights but I was
underwhelmed by them in Rift Apart Levels, in general, feel more open than usual,
with side objectives, areas, and collectibles to find you’ll be spending a fair bit of
time in each level if you want to 100% the game.
With the new movement system, there were more options at my disposal for exploration and
it made it all the more rewarding when I finally figured out how to find that hidden gold bolt.
The rewards for finding the bolts are amusing, throwing me back to the original titles on
PS2 with big head mode and skins for Ratchet’s omniwrench and Rivets hammer.
My favourite of all the side objectives were the hidden platforming challenges, . In these,
there is typically a challenge like platforming only on explosive boxes that added a nice
variety to the gameplay, even though they were a little on the short side.
The reward for completing these were interesting costumes, some of which are throwbacks, like
the Galactic Ranger costume from Ratchet and Clank 2016.
There are two other types of gameplay, of course a Ratchet and Clank game would feel
empty without the Clank puzzle sections.
I’m terrible at puzzles but these offered a good level of difficulty where the game
made me feel smart for completing them but I was never bored or frustrated trying to
figure them out.
The other sections are the hacking mini game involving a cute little robot called glitch.
The mechanics involved aren’t anything to write home about but they decided to give
Glitch her own story and character ark.
This little touch added so much to a rather boring section of the game.
For the less puzzle inclined, both of these sections can be skipped entirely with no penalty.
I never felt that the series had any standout tracks and it’s the same here.
The music lends itself well to the atmosphere, never getting in the way but also not standing
out from the crowd.
It’s not all sunshine and roses however, as I ran into a few technical issues.
The main culprit was enemies getting stuck on the terrain or behind doors, leading me
to restart the checkpoint, this issue arose 3 times across my playthrough.
There was another hiccup where Ratchet would get caught in the terrain, doing the falling
animation, in most instances, this would fix itself but once again I had to restart the
checkpoint.
It’s nice to see that there are no glaring issues.
As for performance mode, you have two options, Performance mode which runs at dynamic 4K
60FPS and Performance RT mode which is 4k60FPS with ray tracing enabled, much like Insomniac’s
Spiderman Miles Morales, this was enabled near the tail end of the review process so
I played an hour of these modes.
I tried out the most hectic combat scenarios and I’m happy to report that there were
no noticeable frame drops in either mode, Performance RT mode will be my preferred graphics
setting for my second playthrough, here’s a quick comparison of the two modes.
Unfortunately, the dualsense implementation left a lot to be desired especially fresh
off the release of Returnal.
Each weapon has its form of haptics, most of which give the triggers two functions.
For instance, the Executor, this game's shotgun shoots a single blast with a half-press of
R2 and two rapid-fire blasts with a full press of R2.
In these instances, the haptics were a nice addition, however, it didn’t feel as smooth
as the haptics in Returnal.
Eventually, I turned them off as I had some cramping in my fingers after long play sessions.
Luckily, Rift Apart has plenty of accessibility options.
From visual options, like different colour shaders on objects of interest, enemies, etc.
to a variety of control options like binding multiple actions to one button or changing
whether you have to toggle, press, or hold the button to swing your wrench there are
also four different difficulty options, all of which can be changed on the fly.
This is a great feature set that Sony seems to be pushing with their first-party titles
so let us hope it continues in the future.
Plain and simple, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart is a ton of fun.
The act of smashing crates, collecting bolts, and upgrading your weapons is better than
it has ever been, Similar to Ratchet and Clank 2016, it transported me back to when I was
a kid, all the while feeling like a modern iteration on the tried and true formula.
The variety of weapons is some of the best in the franchises 19 year history, and the
sprawling and lively levels make the journey feel even more epic than ever before.
The lack of boss fights was disappointing but I quickly forgot about this issue once
I was thrown back into the action, especially with how The new movement system makes Ratchet
control better than he ever has before.
And for As much as I love the existing characters, the new additions to the cast are great too
and fit well into the universe.
If you’re not already a fan of the franchise then I can’t see there being much to persuade
you but for those who are then there is no better example for the heights this series
has reached than Rift Apart and that is why I love it.
Thanks for watching our review on Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, I would love to know
if you plan on picking it up in the comments down below.
Make sure to subscribe to GameXplain for more reviews and check out the videos on the right,
I’ll see you all next time!