What do you do when you’re a total console game noob, and you get a new PS4 Pro? Well, if you’re like me, you tend to push random buttons until stuff happens. This can mean success or instant death, depending on the game.
Ratchet and Clank so far is an excellent game for random button pushing. As someone who hadn’t played console games in 20 years (and who wasn’t all that great at console games 20 years ago), I am finding Ratchet and Clank to be very user-friendly for noobs like me. I’ve only died once, and that was due to pushing the wrong random button on accident. Note to self: X is the button for surfacing when underwater.
The graphics are bright, cheerful, and highly detailed, and the commentary is fun. The cut scenes between sections of the game are cute and funny, and though it’s a story-driven game you don’t need to pay 100% attention to what the cut scenes are saying (if you’re the type to skip cut scenes, that is). It’s entertaining to smash everything you see that isn’t just background, and the weapons are fun to use–even though I haven’t figured out the switching of weapons except on accident.
I’ve been using the “easy mode,” which has a lot of tutorial popups on the screen to tell you which random button to push for which thing you want to accomplish. I’m getting better at pushing the correct random buttons, but it’s a learning curve. There are harder modes for those who have played before or who are 1337 gamers that don’t need tutorials, so don’t worry about the game talking down to you, so to speak. If you’re not a noob, you can totally jump right into a harder play mode and still have fun.
All in all, I’d give Ratchet and Clank 4 out of 5 stars, based on a scale as equally random as my button pushing. It’s easy to play for inexperienced gamers but still presents challenges to better gamers (like my husband).