Ratchet & Clank Wiki
Register
Advertisement

The Ratchet & Clank Collection (known in PAL regions as the Ratchet & Clank Trilogy) is a compilation of the first three main installments in the Ratchet & Clank series (Ratchet & Clank, Going Commando, and Up Your Arsenal) remastered in full 720p HD with support for 3D graphics and PlayStation Network trophies. It was released in June 2012 for the PlayStation 3, and in July 2014 for the PlayStation Vita (as a download-only title in North America). The compilation was ported by Idol Minds to the other platforms, and the release was published by Sony Computer Entertainment with the Classics HD title. On PlayStation Vita, it was released as a download-only title. The collection also includes the multiplayer in Up Your Arsenal.

Remaster features[]

The collection includes the three games in remastered 720p at 60fps and 720p Stereoscopic 3D support at 30fps. Their gameplay remains almost identical to the original, with a few intentional modifications such as fixing exploits or providing additional content, as well as unintentional such as bugs introduced by the remaster. The draw distance of all non-player characters are improved across all three games, allowing further viewing.

The controls for all games are identical on the PlayStation 3 release, though the Vita controls have a few changes to account for the system's different button maps. The Vita version also allows players to navigate the pause menu with touch controls, and the Select map will also be moved around if the player slides their finger above it.

Differences[]

All games[]

  • A twinkling noise when Ratchet collects a gold, platinum, or titanium bolt is added.
  • The music does not loop seamlessly, and instead plays the first few seconds of a song, then starts again and continuing to the end. This cycle repeats perpetually.
  • In both Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal, the music is no longer stereophonic; only the left channel can be heard.
  • In both Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet's helmet in cutscenes is too big for his head.
  • In both Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal, the pre-rendered cutscenes are incorrectly shown in 4:3 when they are actually 16:9.

Ratchet & Clank[]

  • In-level movies and infobot cutscenes can be skipped.
  • Some weapon and Gadgetron vendor graphics are vertically compressed.
  • Big Al's character model has numerous visible holes, most notably in his tongue and shirt. This is corrected in the PS Vita release.
  • The memory card that was used as save and load icons in the menu was replaced by a brain with eyes in a container.
  • The Shady Salesman's character model is missing its eyes.
  • The exploit to explore the Blackwater City hoverboard tracks on foot for the infinite bolt glitch by entering the race under the Hologuise no longer works, per the Platinum re-release of Ratchet & Clank. However, it is still possible to access them by using a Decoy Glove to force yourself out of bounds.
  • Most sound-emitting gadgets (such as the Metal Detector) have a different sound when used compared to the original PS2 release.
  • In the blargian snagglebeast fight on Umbris, when the beast triggers its shield, it will be green.
  • On Quartu, after Ratchet finds out Drek is going to destroy his home, the lighting in the cutscene is darker than usual.
  • The music that plays while fighting Chairman Drek on Veldin (which was left out of the North American PlayStation 2 release due to a bug, but restored in the PAL release) is normally missing.
  • After beating the game, when the HelpDesk Girl appears at the end, no dialogue from her plays.

Going Commando[]

  • In the options menu (either main menu or in-game) a new option called subtitles appears, but can never be toggled in the PlayStation 3 version.
    • Subtitles can still be activated from the settings on the main menu screen in the PS Vita version.
  • In the initial screen, Ratchet only plays one demo instead of multiple ones; at the end of any demo, the game goes to the main menu.
  • When arriving at any destination, the cutscene where Ratchet & Clank exit the ship is sometimes missing.
  • In cutscenes, the camera is more zoomed out compared to the original PS2 release. This is notable on Tabora, where after Ratchet throws his OmniWrench off-frame in the original, it is still visible in the remaster.
  • Abercrombie Fizzwidget's glasses are now dark instead of clear, much like Tuxedo Ratchet's glasses which changed in the same way between Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal.
  • The Maktar Resort's central structure no longer rotates.
  • The slot machines on Maktar Resort have a missing texture bug where the entire piece surrounding the slot display is pure white instead of metallic.
  • Water graphics that consist of two 2D films with the one used as light reflection effect (on Tabora lakes, Dobbo acid, and Grelbin water in the factory) in the original version now consist of only the one film used as the reflection effect.
  • The Abercrombie Fizzwidget robot on Todano no longer speaks while giving the tour. This greatly increases the ease at earning the "You're My Hero" skill point.

Up Your Arsenal[]

  • Extra skins are purchasable in Up Your Arsenal, such as the Ninja and Sumo Ratchet skins. These two skins had not existed in any previous version.
    • Similarly, the Santa Ratchet skin is now accessible by pausing and inputting Up, Down, Up, Down, Square, Square, Square, as is the Pipo-Saru Ratchet skin by pressing Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Left, Right, Right, Square, Square, Square at the pause menu. These two skins were previously exclusive to the Japanese version of Up Your Arsenal.
      • Any of the skins above cannot be obtained in the PS Vita version, and in addition the Constructobot skin won't unlock after collecting all the trophies.
  • The Holoshield Glove's V1 version (and not the others) shoots out rotating rectangles, rather than the expected oval with the proper textures.
  • Some of the display elements in Up Your Arsenal are a slightly different hue to the orange-brown color in the PlayStation 2 version.
  • With the exception of the Miniturret Glove, the reticle for certain launcher/glove weapons is different. The Nitro Launcher and Bouncer, for example used a reticle with a series of segmented, spinning rings, but now have the cog-like reticle from the Glove of Doom.
  • Some particle effects are missing, such as some bloom particles and loading screen effects on Aquatos.
  • The sound effects for when the ship is flying from planet to planet plays in a different order.
  • Exiting the Quick Select option in the Pause menu will exit the whole pause menu.
  • When using the Tyhrra-Guise to interact with tyhrranoids, there is no variation in the key tone regardless of which button is pressed during the rhythm game.
  • In the Vita version, the unnamed Qwark vid-comic has extremely bad graphical issues.
  • In offline or online multiplayer matches, there is no longer music while waiting before the start. In addition, multiplayer was taken out altogether in the PS Vita version
  • A secret debug menu in the game which unlocks weapons, gadgets, missions, and planets can be accessed by using the following codes on the pause menu: Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, and Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Circle. Activating the planets and missions code has 2 planets: level 15_cityname and #. Visiting those 2 planets cause the game to crash, forcing to do a hard reboot.

Development[]

Idol Minds developed the port of the games, which were originally created for PlayStation 2 specifically around its hardware. Insomniac Games developers Mike Stout and Tony Garcia, who worked on the original games, speculated later that such hardware specificity would have created major difficulties for Idol Minds due to how many hacks were required and how much was based on the physical location of memory on the PS2 discs. Insomniac had to ensure data was written on the right section of the discs for it to load faster, and had targeted a five second load time from when Ratchet takes off from his ship to when he lands on the next planet. As such, the game being optimized specifically around being a PlayStation 2 DVD and not a PlayStation 3 blu-ray (or digital copy) would have likely caused problems for them. This also led to minor issues, such as the HelpDesk mesage loading slightly after the HelpDesk box appearing.[1]

Promotion[]

The collection was officially announced by Insomniac Games on 15 March 2012.[2] Insomniac Games announced during the reveal of the Collection that there will be worldwide surprise for the 10th anniversary of Ratchet & Clank, which was revealed later to be the release of Full Frontal Assault.[2] To compensate for the gap between the PAL and NTSC releases, North American fans received another surprise as part of the release, which was later revealed to be a Demo of Thieves in Time and a special Ratchet & Clank 10th anniversary avatar.[3]

A separate high-definition remaster of Deadlocked was released on the PlayStation Store on May 21, 2013.[4]

Manual story[]

The instruction manual for the Ratchet & Clank Collection outlines a plot for the compilation. After returning home after the events of All 4 One, Clank accessed his data files and showed them to Ratchet and Qwark, who watched the events of the original Ratchet & Clank. Qwark stated that the story was only good because he, as the galaxy's greatest hero, was in it.

Angela Cross also appeared to visit Ratchet and Clank and stated that she wished to go on another adventure with them sometimes, with Ratchet joking about how dangerous their last one was. They then proceed to watch the events of Going Commando.

Clank then met with Dr. Nefarious and they insulted each other before the group watched the events of Up Your Arsenal.

Critical reception[]

Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
Metacritic PS3: 83/100[5]

PS Vita: 76/100[6]

Reviewer Score
Eurogamer 9/10[7]
GameInformer 9.25/10[8]
IGN 8.5/10[9]

The Ratchet & Clank Collection received generally positive reviews.[5][9][7][8] The majority of praise from the compilation came from the fun, original gameplay that critics felt aged well, and for the good quality upscaled graphics.

IGN praised the games for having aged well, and said it was fun to see Ratchet and Clank evolve as a team throughout the adventure.[9] Eurogamer rated the collection as 9/10 and stated that criticisms were "hard to find and even harder to make stick".[7] Game Informer awarded the collection a 9.25 out of ten, particularly praising the control scheme of Up Your Arsenal.[8]

Gaming Bolt was one of the publications to mention the 3D options of the game in a review. They claimed that it was a stable experience but did not add anything to the collection and questioned why it was added to the game.Mudgal, Kartik (2012, July 3). "Ratchet and Clank HD Collection Review". From IGN. Archived from the original on 15 February, 2021.

The PlayStation Vita report received slightly less positive reviews.[6] It was praised for maintaining a smooth framerate, but some critics noted disappointment at the ability to cross-save with the PlayStation 3 version, and at small audio bugs.[9]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, September 9). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 27 - High Definition [Video]. . 6:37, 22:39YouTube.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Price, Ted (2012, March 15). "The Ratchet & Clank Collection Going 1080p on PS3, Multiplayer Included". From PlatStation Blog. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021.
  3. Ratchet & Clank Collection, included brochure
  4. Philips, Greg (2013, February 7). "Ratchet & Clank Update: Full Frontal Assault and Deadlocked". From PlatStation Blog. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021.
  5. 5.0 5.1 (n.d.) . "Ratchet & Clank Collection Reviews". From Metacritic. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015.
  6. 6.0 6.1 (n.d.) . "Ratchet & Clank Collection Reviews". From Metacritic. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Whitehead, Dan (2012, June 19). "The Ratchet & Clank Trilogy Review". From Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 15 February, 2021.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Turi, Tim (2012, August 28). "Ratchet & Clank Collection". From GameInformer. Archived from the original on 15 February, 2021.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Shea, Cam (2012, June 19). "Ratchet & Clank Trilogy Review". From IGN. Archived from the original on 15 February, 2021.
Advertisement