Metacritic Games

Ratchet & Clank (Playstation 2)

Set in a futuristic world filled with spaceships, robots and high-tech gadgets, Ratchet and Clank moves from planet to planet across a vast solar system. Ratchet lives on an abandoned backwater planet and dreams of someday striking out on a magnificent space adventure. Closer to the center of the galaxy, Chairman Drek rules a polluted planet, Orxon, inhabited by an ugly race called the Blarg. He too has dreams, but his concern is conquest and domination. Tired of his polluted world, Chairman Drek comes up with the ultimate solution - to build a new planet using the best parts from many of the other worlds in the galaxy. If he can't convince the inhabitants to part with a few thousand hectares of their worlds, the army of robots and Blarg warriors can eliminate any resistance.

Sony Computer Entertainment America
Action, Platform, Adventure
Players: 1
T (Teen)
Developer: Insomniac Games
Released November 5, 2002

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

88 / 100

Critic Reviews

100 Official U.S. Playstation Magazine
Plenty of other platformers can boast similar features - but few have pulled them all together the way that Ratchet & Clank has. [Dec 2002, p.166]
100 Cinescape
There is a decidedly cool sense of style to Ratchet & Clank. The game feels much like the classic sci-fi movies, very rounded and artistic, almost retro at times.
100 Into Liquid Sky
Visually, Ratchet & Clank is awesome. The immense levels are teeming with life. Outside of the basic minions you have to deal with, many levels are packed to the gills with life.
98 GamingTrend
I would dare say this is the best Playstation 2 game I have played this year. It is somewhat easy, but it is also a very long game.
98 GamerWeb Sony
A gaming masterpiece... Combines action, platforming, and RPG elements convincingly, creating one of the best platformers in recent memory.
94 GamingWorld X
It definitely beats "Sly Cooper," its semi-brother "Jak and Daxter," and even other-platform platformers (pun intended) in most categories.
94 TotalPlayStation
The perfect example of what a game should be. With its rich cast of characters, deep gameplay, gorgeous graphics and wonderful soundtrack, R&C packs the ingredients to a perfect platformer and combines them perfectly.
93 Game Over Online
Revamping the action platformer genre with plenty of action, wacky, impressive gadgets and an interesting storyline, this is what the future of action games should be.
93 Gamezilla!
The worlds are visually wonderful and detailed. While the game is somewhat linear and task oriented, the worlds have an openness about them so that you don’t feel trapped like you do in many games.
93 Gaming Maxx
Don't get me wrong, Ratchet and Clank is an awesome platformer in length and gameplay and just about everything, just I preferred "Sly Cooper’s" gameplay more.
92 Gamers' Temple
Control in the game is excellent, and you'll never walk off a ledge because the controller is slow to respond.
92 Media and Games Online Network
The visuals and audio, mixed with the solid gameplay make for a very enjoyable experience that shouldn’t be passed up by anyone.
92 IGN
An immensely good time. And because the game is so beautifully crafted, deep with scenarios, long and filled with various challenges, weapons and gadgets, it's a winner.
91 Gaming Age
Ratchet and Clank might have some of the most impressive environments yet in a game of this type.
91 Entertainment Weekly
More than compensating for the cliched plot and characters are the polished gameplay and arsenal of unique weapons. [22 Nov 2002, p.85]
90 GameSpot
A fantastic platformer in every way and qualifies as one of the best games the genre has seen since consoles went polygonal.
90 PSM Magazine
Ambitiously designed, expertly constructed. Most importantly, its gameplay has been tuned to perfection. Give it a try - it's one of the PS2's best games. [Dec 2002, p.34]
90 eToychest
The control of the characters in the game could not be tighter.
90 Yahoo! Games
Nothing riotously new, but as any gear-head can tell you: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
90 TotalGames.net
With beautifully realised fantasy words to explore and depth that belies its surface-sweetened nastiness, this is one that will satisfy all who feel the need for unbridled platform action. And attitude.
90 PSX Nation
Rarely does a 3D action game become more fun to beat after its been completed a first or second time. That’s exactly what R&C and its truckload of gizmos delivers.
90 GamePro
R & C's innovation comes in the form of all those crazy, non-gimmicky weapons and tools. This is a complex, polished platform gaming machine.
90 Adrenaline Vault
One of the best platformers to hit the PS2, ever.
90 Electric Playground
The graphics, the busy environments, the interactivity... every element taken by itself it pretty praiseworthy, stick 'em all on the same disk and they add up to good things.
90 GameZone
Gorgeous, enormous and fun.
90 Absolute Playstation
Insomniac has raised the classic platform standards, set up by legendary gaming heroes such as Sonic and Mario, onto a new, higher level in this wonderful adventure for all ages.
90 Total Video Games
Although nothing new, the gameplay is polished and refined and even begin to warm to the charismatic characters.
88 Game Informer
The detail that went into the worlds and fluidity of the character movements are towering achievements that have no rival. [Dec 2002, p.114]
85 GameCritics
The game's executions of different standards in platforming are almost mathematical in a sense that it's measured with surgical precision... The best the platforming genre has to offer right now.
83 GameNow
If Ratchet had more personality, this game might've been more fun. [Dec 2002, p.68]
83 netjak
No replay value or anything, seeing as how the game is getting kinda repetitive by the time you finish, but I didn't have any urge to go and search for all the Gold Bolts.
83 Electronic Gaming Monthly
Delivers a long, satisfying experience with a good mix of platforming and exploration-style gameplay. [Dec 2002, p.214]
82 Armchair Empire
The game is successful in combining elements from four or five different genres.
82 Gamer's Pulse
A veritable masterpiece almost worthy of the stout Italian himself.
80 All Game Guide
The voice acting is almost infallible, and would be quite at home in any Saturday morning cartoon. That said, the writing is inconsistent.
80 G4 TV
A wonderful year-end treat that offers ingenious level design and a ton of gameplay.
80 Eurogamer
It’s addictive, tells a good, amusing yarn, looks spectacular and is challenging without ever being annoying.
80 GMR Magazine
Insomniac's terrific action-platformer has you jumping from world to world in search of new weapons and gadgets. [Feb 2003, p.93]
80 Cincinnati Enquirer
Sony's latest is all about unadulterated cartoon action, with dozens of crazy weapons and gadgets at the player's disposal.
80 Cheat Code Central
Mostly this game is just another platform game but it is a platform game done well. Nothing other then the graphics really make it more then just a rental in my eyes.
78 GameSpy
With the exception of the graphics you've seen it all many times before, and probably with more flair and better characters.
75 Game Revolution
A more deeply developed plot and some tweaks to the control would have given more heart to this tin man.
70 Gamestyle
It’s not in the same league as "Jak and Daxter," but is it still head and shoulders above everything else currently available on the Playstation 2.

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