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Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty PS3 PSN

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PSN

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Other GamePeople columnists have reviewed this from their perspective - huh?:
Teen Gamer (PS3)

I've always been a fan of the Ratchet and Clank games because I love their cartoon style combined with guns and explosions. When I saw that they were releasing Quest for Booty I got all excited and thought it was almost Christmas. When it was released, I was more than happy to part with GBP 9.99 and download it from the Playstation Network.

Once I'd chewed my nails off in anticipation - the download took so long - I installed and and started the game straight away. The music kicked in good old Ractchet and Clank style, and I was back in my gaming element. I love the pirate music that has been used in Tools of Desrtuction, and Quest for Booty, but that could be bceasue I'm a bit of a Pirate lover! Arr me harties! Then it was onto a game I've been waiting for, for almost a year.

The game follows straight on from where we left our hero, with Clank taken by the Zoni. To where, nobody knows. But here, Ratchet is trying everything he can to find his faithful friend and sidekick. This is more of a platform game but still keeps the adventuring essence introduced perviously on PS3.

When I reached the island there were certain parts that brought back happy memories of of the first Jak and Daxter. On the island, you have to get the power flowing back to the village so that you can access other areas. Then it's on to other little things to find clues at the Clanks whereabouts and search for the Fulcrum Star so that you can look through the Obsidian Eye to find Clanks whereabouts.

The guys at Insomniac have throw some new moves for Ratchet and made only a few of the guns available that you could use in the previous game. You can now use Ratchet's wrench for picking up rocks of fire so you can get through gates by throwing the rocks at the gate to break it down. There's also little luminous green things know as 'Heliogrubs' that you can pick up to light the way and to scare of bat like creatures, which you can't hit with your wrench.

On top of all that, you can also use the wrenches tether feature to grab ledges, platforms and bridges to manipulate them so you can jump across gaps and create new paths.

As for the effects, well - words just can't justify just how nice this game looks. The water looks amazing and more polished than the first and it seems to run smoother. I don't know if that's down to how much information is on the screen at once, the size of the game or what, but it is amazing to look at. Going under water is great just to see how they've done the ripple effect to make is seem more realistic (look out for Qwark too).

Little things like how the plants move when you run through them show good dynamics just like in Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction PS3. I love the little details like this as I feel they really add to the games overall feel.

The animation is as top drawer as ever. There are only a couple of things that I didn't like about the game, but there're tiny problems. The villagers on the island look like they've been rushed in the design process and look a bit bland. The lip sync animation doesn't seem to be that great on them either, just an up and down movement for the mouth, which for a game of this calibre is a bit disappointing. But I am a bit of a geek for stuff like this, and this is when my animators head takes over and can be a little over critical.

I love the way good lip syncing makes characters seem more alive and less like models full of polygons and robotic. The main characters look really good and in Tools of Destruction it was amazing. The animators at Insomniac even managed to make the pirate robots seem less robotic because of the tiny detail on how they talked. Their jaws weren't robotic movements, they moved around a bit more and had more give, which made them seem more organic and less static which is what I felt was the case with the villagers in Quest for Booty.

The second being how short the game is. I completed it the same day that I bought it, so it took about 3 and a half hours to complete, which I wasn't very impressed with as I wanted more. But saying that, this is a game that can only be bought from the Playstation Network and has a file size of just over 3GB, so from that aspect, it's understandable.

After completing the game, a little message appears which says 'The Quest Continues Fall 2009'. Whether this is to be another PSN game or a full retail game remains to be seen.

I think the main reason I was annoyed for this game being shorter than the last is because I was left wanting more and want to know how the story ends. Now I have to wait 12 months for the next. Whether you're a fan of the series or not, this is definitely worth the £9.99 I paid for it!

Written by Simon Arquette

You can support Simon by buying Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty PS3



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Simon Arquette writes the Tech Gamer column.

"Gaming technology and techniques fascinate me, always have and always will do. They've driven me to a gaming degree, and aspirations to a whole lot more. Here though, I'll be reviewing games for how they put their technology to work to deliver a compelling experience."

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