RATCHET
A street-smart Lombax mechanic from a backwater world called Veldin. Ratchet fantasises about becoming a Galactic Ranger, but so far his dreams have taken him all the way to nowheresville. Then Clank crash-lands nearby and changes the course of Ratchet’s destiny…
Officially a puny dud spewed out of Chairman Drek’s robot army processing plant, Clank is blessed with intelligence and moral values far in advance of the average mechanical meathead on the production line. But can his existence really be down to a simple computer malfunction?
Smooth, calculating and always in control, nobody gets in this scheming tyrant’s way. Drek is bloodthirsty, bad to the core and driven by money and power.
“The greatest hero in the universe”, he once called himself, Copernicus Leslie Qwark is our (totally unreliable) narrator. He takes the responsibility that comes with being a beloved galactic superhero on his exquisitely broad shoulders – with a little help from an excellent PR team.
The owner of the garage and workshop on Veldin where Ratchet plies his trade as a mechanic. Grim is the closest thing to a mentor our young Lombax hero has ever had.
1. Ammo
Displays the currently selected weapon, its ammunition count and experience level bar.
2. Nanotech Meter
Nanotech is the stuff that keeps Ratchet healthy – it’s the glowing orbs you’ll occasionally reveal when you smash things up. The Nanotech meter will be displayed on-screen when you gain health or take damage.
3. XP
Shows your current experience and indicates how far there is to go until Ratchet next levels up.
4. Raritanium
This elusive mineral is used to upgrade your weapons.
5. Bolts
Used to buy weapons and ammo. This tally adjusts accordingly as you collect or spend bolts.
Use these high-tech vending machines to exchange bolts for new weapons and to fill your health and ammo counters. Approach a Gadgetron vendor and press the button to activate it.
If you’ve got any raritanium, you can also use a Gadgetron vendor to improve your weapons. Press the button to open the Upgrades screen. Highlight one of your weapons to view its upgrade status and cash in your raritanium on available upgrade hexes. Can you see any question marks on the grid? Unlock all the surrounding hexes to receive a mystery upgrade.
The Galactic Map will be displayed when you enter Ratchet’s ship. Your current location is shown in the middle of the screen, with a list of objectives for that location to the right.
On the left of the screen you’ll see a list of possible destinations. New destinations will be accessible as you progress through the adventure. Press or to scroll through the list of potential destinations and see the missions at each location. Don’t forget, you can always return to a previously visited location if you still have missions to complete there; if you’ve got a new gadget for example, you might be able to reach previously inaccessible areas. Press the button to travel to the highlighted destination.
| left stick | Move |
| right stick | Look |
| button | Jump |
| button, button | Double jump |
| button, button | Hyper-strike |
| button | Fire weapon |
| button | Swing wrench |
| button | Weapon select (tap twice to select previously used weapon) |
| button | Jetpack (when equipped) |
| button | Aim |
| button | Super jump (when using helipack) |
| button | Fire weapon |
| button + button | Comet-strike |
| button + button | Vertical super jump (when using helipack) |
| button | Target mode camera |
| Directional buttons | Quick weapon select |
| Touch pad | Map |
Hint: You can choose between three control types via the Options section of the Pause Menu:
| Simplified | Ideal if you prefer simple controls and an assisted camera. |
| Normal | This mode offers precise controls and manual camera operation. |
| Lock-strafe | Choose this if you prefer shooter-style strafe controls with permanent on-screen targeting. |
| button | Dive |
| button | Surface |
HINT: Watch the air meter when you’re underwater.
| button | Jump |
| button | Accelerate |
| button | Boost |
| right stick | Trick in air |
| button | Fire machine guns |
| button / button | Barrel roll |
| button | Boost |
Press the OPTIONS button to pause the action and access the following menu:
| Weapons | View your weapons, their level status and assign them to particular slots. |
| Gadgets | Check out the gadgets you’ve collected so far. | Card Collection | See your cards and collection stats, and trade duplicates. | Map | View the current area and flip through maps of the other locations you’ve visited. | Extras | Unlock various extras by collecting golden bolts. | Options | Change the game difficulty, and tweak various controls and audio settings. | Quit | End your game session. |
The more you use your weapons, the more powerful they will become, and every time they reach an additional level, new raritanium upgrades will become available.
There are loads of weapons in the game and they’re all great fun to use. We don’t want to spoil any surprises, so here are just a few you should get hold of early on.
This blaster is a great all-purpose weapon. Even though its range is limited, its high rate of fire makes it ideal for taking on enemies at close and medium ranges. This gun chews up ammo fast, so be sure to pick up as much as you can carry.
This medium range weapon allows you to target adversaries and toss powerful bombs on the run. It’s particularly effective against groups of small enemies or single, stationary foes.
Having problems with swarms of small creatures? The pyrocitor is a flame-thrower device that toasts little critters fast.
HINT: Larger enemies may take longer to cook…
There are two ways to choose weapons:
1. The weapon select screen
Press and hold the button to view all of your weapons and use the left stick or press , , or to select one.
2. The quick select menu
Use the directional buttons to quick-select weapons on the fly – assign your favourites to the four slots by pressing and holding , , or and choosing a weapon with the right stick. You can then switch in an instant in battle by pressing the corresponding button.
HINT: Assign quick select weapons during a moment of downtime, not when you’re under attack.
Everyone loves a good gadget. Here are a few you’ll find on the adventure.
Ratchet’s trusty OmniWrench 8000 is both a weapon and a gadget with a million uses. Use it to turn bolt cranks, whack enemies and crates and unleash the fabled boomerang-style Comet-strike: press and hold the button to aim and press the button to fling the wrench at targets. Another of Ratchet’s trademark attacks – the Hyper-strike – is great in confined spaces when surrounded by enemies: press the button to jump, then the button to slam your foes.
A grapnel device that locks onto “versa-targets” to help you swing across chasms or climb to higher areas. Press and hold the button when the versa-target opens to engage the swingshot.
A futuristic lock pick – stand on the activation pad next to a lock to access the trespasser’s interface. Aim the lasers at the receptors on the lock rings to turn them green. All receptors must be green before a lock will open.
HINT: Check out the in-game help if you need to – some locks are tough to crack.
Handy for draining or filling large pools of water. Simply find a hydro-faucet, step on the activation pad and fire up the device.
Used to participate in the coolest (and possibly the most dangerous) sport in the galaxy.
A triple-rotor upgrade that allows you to perform boosted jumps and glides with the button.
Take to the skies – as long as you’ve got fuel on-board. Look out for a fuelling station, fill up then press and hold the button to fly.
Spotted a long narrow rail? With these boots you can grind down it at breakneck speed.
Laugh in the face of gravity as you walk up walls, ceilings and other suitable magne-surfaces.
The currency in Ratchet’s galaxy, bolts can be exchanged for various things, including gadgets and weapons. If you take the time to look, bolts are everywhere; they’re dropped by enemies and hidden in breakable boxes and loads of other smashable objects.
They’re big, they’re gold and they’re hard to find. Collect enough and you’ll unlock special extra features, accessible via the pause menu.
Access your card collection via the pause menu. The holocards you find on your travels will tell you loads about the characters, weapons and locations from the Ratchet & Clank™ universe.
Complete card sets to gain special equipment bonuses and trade your duplicates to ensure you get the full collection – if you amass five duplicate cards you can trade in your spares for a card of your choosing.
Hint: Collect all three RYNO card-sets and you might be able to trade them in for a real RYNO – an armament declared “too dangerous for public use” by the Galactic Council of Overpowered Weapons…
Chad Dezern – Game Director at Insomniac Games – reveals all about the making of the new game and the enduring appeal of everyone’s favourite Lombax and his robot sidekick.
What does it mean to you to be able to bring Ratchet & Clank™ to a whole new generation of players on PS4™?
It’s thrilling! It’s a rare opportunity to take the heart of the game – storytelling, planet hopping, weapon upgrading – and evolve it with everything we’ve learned since we made the original. We’re trying to hit the nostalgia button and present a new game, all at the same time. That way, returning players can revisit the universe they know and love, and new players can experience a game that holds up to modern standards. It’s really cool to imagine original fans introducing the game to their friends and families.
We think of Ratchet & Clank™ as the ultimate version of Ratchet and Clank’s origin story. There’s over an hour of new cinematics, plus modern controls, new planets, new boss battles, a new weapon arsenal, and new Clank gameplay, not to mention dramatically updated visuals.
The series has millions of long-term fans around the world. Why do you think Ratchet and Clank have proved to be so enduringly popular?
Ratchet is an orphan, longing to leave a backwater planet. Clank is a factory defect. Together, they’re underdogs facing down a galaxy-sized conflict with nothing but determination and a sense of responsibility. They’re not superheroes, but they have super-sized hearts. I think that makes Ratchet and Clank relatable.
And on top of that, the player’s experience of starting with almost nothing and building up a set of skills and an arsenal of weapons feels especially gratifying – it matches the growth arc of the characters, and you feel like you’re helping a very worthy pair of heroes.
What are your memories of creating the original Ratchet & Clank™ back on PS2™?
Mainly, I remember how quickly the game came together. Very little time elapsed between the kernel of an idea (“An alien hops from planet to planet, collecting weapons”) and a fully realized, playable demo. The game made giant leaps forward every day, and every time I turned on a monitor I’d see something inspiring from someone on the team.
I think that’s because Ratchet games are made of all of the stuff we love – beautiful planets, giant robots, exotic weaponry, sleek spacecraft, and amazing creatures. It’s the stuff that all of us doodle – on our folders in school, and in our sketchbooks today – so bringing it all together in one game felt natural.
How has PS4™ changed the way you make a Ratchet & Clank™ game?
Visually, Ratchet & Clank is about shiny metal, dense futuristic cities, lush vegetation, copious street traffic, and long, long views that stretch from a single blade of a grass to a distant star. With the PS4™, we’re able to create all of that with more fidelity than ever. For example: in the PS2™ original, we painted static highlights to fake materials; now, our materials have physically accurate lighting properties and real reflections.
We always aimed for film-quality visuals; for the first time, that goal feels like it’s within reach.
How does the new game tie in with the feature film? And how closely have Insomniac been involved in the movie-making process?
We were involved in the movie-making process from the beginning. The game and film share a writer (the inimitable TJ Fixman), and in many cases they share actual models; for the first time, the Ratchet you see onscreen in the film is the exact same model used in the game. It really is the game based on the movie based on the game . . .
The film and game tell the same version of Ratchet and Clank’s origin story, from different points of view. The film is a little more focused on character development, while the game is a little more focused on action and on filling in the gaps between scenes; that’s just each medium doing what it does best.
There is one key difference: the game is told with extensive commentary from Captain Qwark. And I’m not at all sure we can trust that guy.
What’s your favourite weapon or gadget from the Ratchet & Clank universe and why?
I love the new Pixelizer. Everything about it is satisfying to use, from the 8-bit sound to the enemy knockback to the explosion of colourful voxels.*
Can I pick two? Is that cheating? I also love the force-of-nature devastation of the Tornado Launcher.
Is three pushing my luck? I’ve always been partial to the simple explosive pleasures of the Warmonger rocket launcher.
The series is well-known for its colourful characters. Aside from Ratchet and Clank themselves, which individual is your favourite cast member?
I mean, I have to choose Captain Qwark. Rarely has such a shallow, self-centred oaf exhibited such depth of insight and meaning. Rarely has such an empty vessel proved to be such a fountain of liquid comedy gold.
And of all the destinations that Ratchet and Clank visit, which is your favourite and why?
I love Aleero City (which we commonly call Metropolis), but I wouldn’t want to live there. So I’m going with Pokitaru. It’s a scenic space resort where you can kick back and reflect on the wonder of the universe whilst cradled in tropical splendour. I’m trying to ignore the probable Telepathepus attacks while I imagine this.
Did you know that you can also view this gamer guide on your smartphone, tablet, PC or laptop by visiting userguides.eu.playstation.com/ratchet-and-clank? Alternatively, you can hit the “Gamer Guides” button in the Explore section of the PlayStation®App.
Try it next time you want to check the controls during a battle – you don’t even have to pause the game!
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