alxreys

Traditional Ratchet and Clank Is Back With Into the Nexus

"Available for PlayStation 3 this fall both digitally and on disc -- and for $29.99".

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DaveyJoe

Always down for more R&C action.

RocShemp

Crap. I need to finish play A Crack In Time.

slop101

$30? Does that mean it'll be half as long as the other games?

DaveyJoe

Good question, I'd like to know that, and until I get a good answer I'll be wearing Fry's expression from your avatar.

Decker

The new Sly Cooper game was $39.99 and it was Cross-Buy. So maybe it's a full game without a Vita version.

chess

This is the third "big" exclusive game for PS3 this year along with Last of Us and Beyond. It's good to see them continue to support the platform even as they launch a new one.

I love the series, and I'm happy to see some new stuff. Hope it's a "full" game. Crack in Time, their last full game, was probably my favorite of the series.

Michael Corvin

I was new to the series this gen so I've only played ToD, CiT and QfB.

I think Crack in Time was the better game, but Tools of Destruction had much better/more fun weapons.

chess

I can understand why you'd think that being new to the series, but I'd just say generally that Tools was closer to the PS2 games but not quite as good as Up Your Arsenal or Going Commando. Crack in Time was different enough to be slightly more interesting to me, and I really liked the Clank segments.

QfB wasn't good at all.

If you have PS Plus, I'd really recommend downloading the original trilogy. Unless the sale expired on Tuesday, it should be $7.50. The first game hasn't aged all that well, but the second and third are great and they all still look pretty good.

Canis Firebrand

So in for this. I was hoping to see new J&D as well.. Maybe for the PS4. Or even better if they go multi-platform and release on the 360 or XB1.

redcat

Hopefully this will be good enough to wash out the horrible taste left behind by All 4 One. Considering how much that game seemed to be universally hated, I would guess the developers would be smart enough to try to get back to some of the original elements and fun in the series.

chess

I'm most interested to see the zero grav stuff. This was my favorite series on PS2, and I loved Crack in Time, but honestly the franchise has gotten a little bit stale. If they have a fun new gameplay element to add to the existing stuff that's still good (a la Mario Galaxy), I'm definitely excited about it.

I also think $29.99 is a pretty good price point for this kind of game, and I really hope the price isn't indicative of the scope but rather was a marketing decision.

redcat

I agree, and I really think it has to do with the publishers finally getting smart about what people are willing to pay for certain types of games. I remember how quickly Rayman plummeted from its full price a couple of years ago.

Decker

Here's the IGN preview. Sounds great, after the widely-loathed Full Frontal Assault (man, I hated that game)



Traditional Ratchet and Clank Is Back With Into the Nexus
Ask, and you shall receive.
by Colin Moriarty
July 10, 2013


The rumors are true: Insomniac Games is developing a new Ratchet & Clank game. It’s called Into the Nexus, and it will appear exclusively on PlayStation 3 later this fall.

I was lucky enough to get an extended look at the duo's return -- in pre-alpha form -- and was left quite impressed with what I saw. In short, Into the Nexus gets the series back to its roots, a so-called “traditional” Ratchet & Clank game the likes of which PlayStation gamers haven’t seen since 2009's A Crack In Time.


Into the Nexus begins with Ratchet and Clank transporting twin villains Vendra and Neftin Prog to a location known as the Vartax Detention Center. This voyage brings our favorite lombax-and-robot duo to haunted space, however, and while in the process of bringing his foes to lock-up, they escape Ratchet’s grasp. This leaves Ratchet and Clank alone and stranded in the scariest sector of space they’ve ever visited.

Long-time Insomniac employee and the visionary behind the Ratchet & Clank series, Brian Allgeier, noted that “the time was right to come back to the core series” with Into the Nexus after he'd spent time on Fuse. All 4 One and Full Frontal Assault were enjoyed by some and criticized by others, but it can’t be disputed that neither was a traditional, true-to-form Ratchet & Clank game. Allgeier said that doing a “family” and “competitive” game, respectively, allowed his team to finally “do something different,” but Into the Nexus allows them to go back in an old-school direction.


As such, Allgeier wanted to “make Ratchet feel like Ratchet again.” To accomplish this goal, he and his team made a prototype stage -- a “jungle gym,” as he described it -- to get Ratchet’s quintessential feel just right. They then segued what they learned (or re-learned) into their new project, which isn’t only designed to give longtime Ratchet fans what they crave, but to explore the “darkness of space.” While Into the Nexus is very humorous, as all Ratchet games are, Allgeier thought it would be “fun to take [the series] in a spookier direction” with its newest entry.

Following Vendra and Neftin Prog’s escape, Ratchet & Clank arrive at a planet called Yerek. Yerek is your typical Ratchet & Clank locale -- a temperate place inhabited by bumbling, heavily-armed enemies -- and it’s here that I got my very first glimpse of Ratchet’s new, incredibly wacky arsenal. Sure, Ratchet has some of his typical weapons -- his sidearm called the Omniblaster and his signature melee weapon, for instance -- but there are a bunch of new tools at his disposal that are worth noting.

One such weapon is called the Nightmare Box, which is really more of a distraction than an actual weapon. When deployed, it scares enemies, forcing them to either flee or to attack the box, giving Ratchet an angle to strike his foes. Another weapon, the Repulsor, will leave bad guys suspended in midair when deployed, again giving Ratchet the time he needs to attack without being damaged by the opposition.

Into the Nexus also contains two types of grenades: the Vortex Grenade and the Fusion Grenade. The Vortex Grenade creates black holes that raise nearby foes into the air and force them to helplessly revolve around the black hole while Ratchet picks ‘em off from afar (it‘s also useful to coerce armored enemies from stationary, defensive positions like gun turrets). The Fusion Grenade is a little more straight-forward: it’s an arc-thrown explosive that does major area-of-effect damage.


The strangest -- and funniest -- weapon of them all, however, is the Winterizer. When Ratchet employs the aptly-named gun, all enemies it hits will turn into snowmen. Better yet, the weapon plays Jingle Bells while it’s working its magic. It’s an amazingly fitting, totally insane Ratchet weapon, and from the looks of it, it appears extremely useful during the heat (heh) of battle.

Ratchet also has a non-offensive device at his disposal, an extremely useful gadget called the Grav Tether. With it, Ratchet can attach portals strewn about the environment, creating beams that will transport him seamlessly from one portal to another. What’s cool about the Grav Tether is that the puzzles that demand its use become more complex as time goes on. It won’t be long before you’re connecting several portals together at once, all while under a strict time limit, in order to cross wide chasms and other dangerous obstacles.


Clank also has an all-new function in addition to some of his returning moves (such as giving Ratchet the ability to long jump, high jump, and glide). Into the Nexus revolves heavily around the idea of what are, in essence, alternate dimensions, and when Clank is deployed in one of these areas, he gets to go to work. Players will control him directly in puzzle-heavy 2D platforming sections somewhat reminiscent of the lesser-known downloadable game Pid. Successfully completing these areas -- called Netherverses -- open up new locations for he and Ratchet to explore.

Apart from a ton of new gadgets and weapons -- and some new tricks and skills -- a lot of familiar staples of the series have returned. The franchise’s famous Skill Points are back, of course, as are hidden Gold Bolts. Regular bolts that are collected can be spent as currency to acquire new goods, and every weapon can be upgraded through experience earned by using that weapon in battle. Familiar characters will also return, including Captain Qwark, Cronk, Zephyr, and Talwyn. Even the Thugs-4-Less mercenaries from Going Commando will be back. This game is, after all, an epilogue to the Future branch of the Ratchet & Clank franchise.

Oh, and as for the complete lack of innuendo in Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus’ name? One of Insomniac’s working titles for the game was Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nether Regions. But the developer eventually settled on Into the Nexus as its final title (it will be called just Ratchet & Clank: Nexus in Europe).

And as for a Vita iteration? It’s entirely possible, but it’s still up in the air. The Vita version of Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault met a whole lot of trouble during development and came to the market much later than it was supposed to. As such, Insomniac is cautious this time around. “Everyone would love for it to come to Vita,” Insomniac’s James Stevenson told me, “but it has to be up to the series’ standards” before the company makes any definitive statement.

In the meantime, rest assured Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus will be available for PlayStation 3 this fall both digitally and on disc -- and for $29.99 to boot.

redcat

I would love to know why the subtitle is "Into the Nexus" in the U.S. but just "Nexus" in Europe. How do these decisions get made?

Nonetheless, that preview makes this a no-brainer day one purchase for me. This is one of those franchises that's built up enough goodwill in me to make up for recent missteps.

slop101

They don't say if it'll be a full-length game, which probably means that it isn't...

chess

Nether Regions would have been a great name.

Otherwise, the write-up sounds promising (thx for posting it), and it's good to see them getting back to what makes the franchise fun. I didn't like Quest for Booty and didn't bother with Full Frontal Assault or All 4 One, but I like all 5 of the main games and still love the franchise. I'm absolutely in, probably at $20.

Again, also pleased with the $30 price point. They shouldn't have to drop the price immediately and have it look like the game is failing, and they'll likely sell more copies up front. I hope they think to do the same with Knack and sell it for $40 MSRP.

Decker

Full Frontal Assault was called Q-Force in Europe for some odd reason.

(Going Commando was called Locked & Loaded, but I think that's because "going commando" is U.S. slang).

Agreed!


Knack will be a total bomb at $60, even with so few other games to buy at launch. I wish they'd reconsider that as well. On the other hand, it's a great candidate for the first full PS4 title to go free via PS Plus.

Decker

They never did really address the "When Worlds Collide" part of this ad. I'm still holding out hope Jak & Daxter might show up.

Especially considering what a J&D Rift Gate (used to travel through time and space) looks like:

DaveyJoe

I've never played a Jak and Daxter game, are they as fun as Ratchet and Clank?

Decker

They're not nearly as funny, but they're also pretty good and fun. They were made by Naughty Dog, who had previously made the first four Crash Bandicoot games and would go on to make the Uncharted Trilogy and most recently The Last of Us. So those guys know what they're doing.
The trilogy was remastered and is available for both the PS3 and the Vita (though there is no cross-buy between the two platforms)

discostu1337

J&D are not in the game, sorry I believe Insomniac does not own J&D, Sony/ND does or something like that. Either way, this is a Ratchet only game...dunno why that think looks like a time gate.

Michael Corvin

Do you have some inside scoop stu?

Nintendo doesn't own Sonic and he's been in multiple Mario games. Nor do they own Mega Man which is in Smash Bros. Wreck-it-Ralph is in Sonic Racing. Soul Calibur has had guest characters as well. (just to name a few)

Not sure why it would be a stretch for two Sony titles to have a crossover.

Decker

Not only could they do a cross-over, they already have twice this generation (despite there not being a single original Jak game on the PS3 console)

discostu1337

Not saying it wouldn't be cool, but the current game does not include J&D. I'd still like to see a PS4 R&C game get announced!