For example, a favorite of mine, the Blackhole Storm, is a gatling gun that spins up at a half-pull and then fires at full. These functions seem deceptively simple but once I got into a rhythm, it felt completely natural to call up functions without a second thought, encouraging me to experiment with satisfyingly complex strategies. Several of the grenade-types use the half-pull as a targeting reticle. The default Burst Pistol swaps between a fairly accurate single-shot and a less-accurate triple-shot. The Negatron Collider, for example, is an energy beam that will charge up and then hold the charge at a half-pull, and fire at a full-pull. They largely fit into familiar archetypes, but the PS5 DualSense makes a massive difference to how the weapons behave and how you interact with them.įor the most part, the DualSense lets you control different functions with a half- or full-pull of the right trigger. Ratchet is known for its inventive munitions, and aside from a handful of returning guns like the Warmonger and Buzz Blades, almost all of the weapons are new. The game gives a sci-fi gobbledygook explanation, but more importantly, having one weapon wheel between both characters ensures that you can switch between your favorite guns without having to pause the fun and look for what you need. Ultimately, the story is a sweet-natured but relatively conventional one about friendship and trust, elevated above its conventions by Hale and the surrounding cast.ĭespite the fact that the dual heroes barely ever talk face-to-face, they share one pool of equipment. This is a character like Ratchet who fights for justice, but she hasn't had a partner like Clank.
Unlike Ratchet, Rivet has experienced a string of defeats from the oppressive Nefarious regime, and Hale imbues the character with little tinges of self-doubt and loneliness even as she maintains her heroic determination. Part of that is the performance of Jennifer Hale as Rivet, who introduces a disarming amount of emotional heft. Having finished Rift Apart, I would love to play a standalone Rivet game, set in this or any other dimension. Ratchet, naturally, thinks this mysterious lady Lombax has taken Clank, but thankfully the "heroes in strife because of a misunderstanding" trope is resolved quickly and they begin working together.īut this game belongs to Rivet not just because it takes place in her dimension, but because she's such a fantastic addition to the larger Ratchet & Clank universe. Giving the alternate characters their own identities and names helps reduce what might otherwise be confusing dialogue about who matches who. Zurkon, a violent autonomous robot that has been both a weapon and a character in past Ratchet games, now owns a bar with a strict no-fighting policy. Rift Apart rewards longtime fans with little nudging winks on how the alternative characters break from our expectations. Most of the game centers around these dimensional counterparts, who are not exact twins but rather similar characters with different names and slightly different personalities in this new world.
Meanwhile Ratchet and Clank are separated, and Clank is picked up by the freedom fighter, Rivet. Nefarious just helps himself to the throne, and no one, including the evil executive assistant, seems to notice that he's a pretender. The Emperor is conspicuously absent at the moment, so our Dr. When Nefarious gets there, he finds that it's ruled by an Emperor Nefarious. Nefarious transports himself and the titular duo to another dimension. Once the game begins in earnest, after a brief tutorial in Ratchet's Megalopolis, the bumbling but sinister Dr. Now Playing: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Video Review She also seems to get slightly more playtime, even if the stages are split roughly evenly as the two heroes divide-and-conquer to enact their universe-saving plan.īy clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's Ratchet and his robot buddy Clank are the template that helps inform what we learn about Rivet and her own journey, and the vast majority of Rift Apart takes place in her universe.
The title may be "Ratchet & Clank," but Rivet is the real star here. The new generation of hardware has made some dramatic changes for the better, but in a very welcome and comforting way, this is still the Ratchet & Clank you've come to know and love. Ratchet's new alternate dimensional counterpart, Rivet, may have had a harder life than him, and it's shaped her personality in surprising ways, but she's still the same heroic person at heart. In this strange new setting, everyone has a doppelganger who looks almost identical to the one we know, but their circumstances have changed them. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a game about counterparts.
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