Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus

After the modern masterpiece that was A Crack in Time the series sort of went to pot with the probably-decent-for-kids co op action puzzler Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, questionable tower defense spin off called Full Frontal Assault, and a mediocre game called FUSE which didn't even have Ratchet OR Clank in it! Into the Nexus was an attempt to correct these mistakes and make another 'real' Ratchet game. It's also a budget-minded mini-adventure in the spirit of Quest for Booty, the download-only dud that landed in between Tools of Destruction and Crack in Time.

Right off the bat the biggest problem with this game becomes immediately apparent. While every previous game in the series was a very smooth and proudly consistent 60 frames per second, Into the Nexus aims for 30 fps. I say aims, because it felt to me like it rested at around 25 and dropped by about 5 frames per second whenever a lot was going on. Now, I can understand when a game like Gears of War or Uncharted runs at 30hz. Would I prefer 60? Absolutely. But 30hz works just fine for those games because they are somewhat slow games with cover systems that encourage slow and careful play as well as regenerative health mechanics that band-aid over sloppiness. Ratchet & Clank, on the other hand, is a game about dodging and flipping over shots while chaos erupts around you. To put it shortly, while I wouldn't call Into the Nexus choppy, there is a lack of smoothness across the board that made me almost constantly disorientated and drained my situational awareness.

Furthermore, I found aiming to be just a bit too slow and cumbersome. This shouldn't be a problem, because I should be able go to into the options and bump the sensitivity up. Except you can't. Even if I had no problems with the camera speed, that is unacceptable for a shooting game released within the past 20 years... let alone within the last 5! I eventually got used to it, sort of, but I shouldn't have to get used to it.

Things got more worrying from there, as the game's opening hour put undue emphasis on lame story beats rather than running and gunning. The wacky old man robots you probably don't remember from Tools of Destruction get killed off in the tutorial level and you get to see the characters seriously mope about it. Afterwards, the game still spends much of its first few hours interrupting you with cutscenes and walking you through 'atmospheric' areas that contain zero gameplay, and are complete with audio logs (seriously). Between this emphasis on story and the crummy framerate I was starting to write the game, and possibly the entire future of the series, off entirely. Luckily things pick up quite a bit after a while, and by the end of the game you have access to the standard battle arena, a massive swamp level where you hunt for monsters and secrets, and a finale that throws a massive amount of action at you as the baddies attack a city.

A hex grid-based weapon upgrade system returns from Tools of Destruction and is improved so that it no longer breaks the economy. Instead of each hex space costing an arbitrary amount of raritanium, it is guaranteed that each space costs only one. Furthermore, any hexes encircled by those bought are unlocked as well. It's a good upgrade system and provides a fun way to invest in weapons. Another major new addition is the jetpack, which is only available in certain areas, but those areas tend to be large and offer a surprising amount of freedom.

On paper Into the Nexus is what I wish Quest for Booty had been; a Ratchet & Clank game that happens to be roughly half the length of a 'regular' entry in the series. It also does a better job of feeling like a complete package in terms of number of weapons, difficulty curve, and area design. It would be a very good entry in the series if it weren't for that damn framerate. As it stands, I can only say that it is adequate. That said, during the credits I saw that the lead QA tester's name is Jonh Romero and that's pretty funny.