Forget Super Mario Sunshine!
I read this american-preview

Ratchet and Clank!

----All-round gaming guru Mark Cerny tells us just why Ratchet & Clank is one of the most innovative games this year.

You made a pretty bold statement recently - that you want Ratchet & Clank to be the game that's compared to Super Mario. Why do think it's going to be compared to that?


Well, the big question facing Insomniac when the project was started was that it was going to be a 2002 release - and the question was, is it still possible to make a revolutionary game in the character-action genre, given that there's a 21 year history of the genre. And I think Insomniac demonstrated pretty convincingly that it is possible, and the way that they've done it is that added substantial adventure and RPG components to the action game - it's a genre breaker, as a result.

What's added? Well it's story driven, it's non-linear in nature - you choose your path - there's no global collectable 'widget' that's your target (as in Spyro where your target was to collect dragon eggs at one point). It's also a very holistic design, which means that all of the elements are interlocked - you need gadget A to get gadget B - it's very sophisticated. The RPG components are a bit different too - normally when you're attempting a challenge and you're failing to reach it, like in Crash Bandicoot, you're not really getting anywhere. But in this game, you're actually getting stronger even as you're failing to achieve the objective in front of you, because you're getting money and money allows you to get better weapons, and better weapons allow you to come back and really kick some butt. The other RPG game feeling we're going to have here is that pretty much everyone's path through the game is going to be different. There are so many weapons that you can have - the path you take will be different to the path your friend takes - this adds tremendous replay value. We're hoping that just like a supremely good RPG, the first thing you do after you've finished playing it (and after you've called your friends to tell them to check the game out) you just start playing it all over again to check out the things you missed the first time.

The other source of revolutionary gameplay is that we all felt that if we could get the gadget/weapon count up to three dozen, we would have a quantum change in the way the game would feel. Insomniac set some very specific targets - they felt that you had five gadgets and weapons, that's very familiar ground to people and you space them throughout the game and people see their progression. Even if you had 15 gadgets that is still quite familiar ground in that you're going to need to have all of them to get through the game. But get that up to three dozen, and you can buy them, you can choose what you want to use because at that point there are certain overlapping things that you're picking up - a whole consumer feeling comes in where people can go out and go shopping. It becomes a purchasing game - a game of economics!


With so many weapons, were you ever worried that people would be overwhelmed by that?


Insomniac have a history of making their games very accessible. That was part of the charm of the Spyro games - anyone could pick it up and play it. And the thrust here is to add so many layers of support for the player that pretty much anyone will be able to get through.

There's a map in the game, so you know where you are. We don't tell you what's there, but we do tell you that you're on the left side of the world or whatever. There is an extensive in game help system. We tell you about specific weapons and how to use them. There's also a help desk and there's a character who helps you - but you can disable that function if it offends your sense of purity.

Also, this game has been played by 70 actual consumers recruited by Sony - that number will be about 200 by the time we finish. We watch them play and we gather statistics and see where the problems are, and we see what players don't understand - we do this many, many times during the development process, both in the States and Europe. We get plenty of feedback and learn what we need to fix.


If you're going to raise the bar with Ratchet & Clank, what's next? Is there stuff you couldn't get into this game which will find its way into the next game?


Well, as Brian Allgeier, the design director, likes to say, we're building new muscles - we're getting stronger at building sophisticated design and I really think we're paving the road that everyone else is going to follow. I don't really know what we're going to do with this new strength, but I've been working with Insomniac for eight years and they never cease to amaze me - they just get stronger every year. We'll just have to see...


Any online possibilities you can tell us about?


The core concept of Ratchet & Clank is very interesting when you think about the economic base because interestingly enough, most online games are at, their core, economic simulations. It's an interesting connection. ----




This message was edited by Hyuga on May 06 2003.

This game is definately looking good. Though I am not sure enough people know about the game for it to beat Mario, unless we can recruit more people to this game.

ive known about this game for awhile, i am looking forward to it and hoping its as good as it sounds, there are a lot of promising looking platformers comming out this year

Hey, just seen a dvd of this game and it looks damn good. Looks very much like Jak and Daxter, looks like J and D has some competition against its supposed sequel!

Ya I cant wait to see the details of the competetion of these two games should be interesting.

CYA LATER MARIO!!!

Well we will see when they are both out to compare, im looking forward to this game, but itll have to be something extraodinary to beat Mario Sunshine.

I havent playes Sunshine but I have heard/read its not as good as Mario 64 so R&C have a chance though since they have no previous backrond/hits no one will know how great they are so they might not do as good.

Erm where did you read that? All ive heard about sunshine is very good. Ill be getting it tomorrow so ill be able to report about it tomorrow.

Super Mario Sunshine is a good game, and Ratchet and Clank will have to go a long way to be able to beat it. It looks like it can though, but it'll have to go even farther to beat JaD, which I'm still skeptical as to whether or not it can pull of the feat.

Well i have mario sunshine, and imo its a great game and i d think its better than mario 64. Whether R & C will be better than mario sunshine well i really do doubt it.

I've played Mario Sunshine and its great. Ratchet and Clank will have to go a long way to beat such a game, and I don't think it can be done. Mario's got a reputation by his side, enhancing his game even more. Ratchet and Clank may be good, but its just too far behind to catch up...

My opinion...

I'd rather shoot enemies with 30+ weapons and gadgets than a poxy water pistol