Reviewing The Best Ratchet & Clank Game 

This dude just comes and goes as he pleases, and you never know what his next video will be. I like the crazy rant videos the most.

The ice planet in Ratchet And Clank 2 was actually developed from scratch by 1 guy who was only given 3 days to finish it. That’s why the yeti’s are so overpowered. They were hastily made and coded and weren’t properly tested, leading them to be much stronger and faster then they were meant to be and why so many spawn in the groups. This reason is why it’s probably my favourite planet in the game. It’s such a fun challenge 😈

I would have love to see a remaster of Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal that has the cut content

Up your arsenal is still my favorite but Going Commando is a very close second. It was such a huge improvement over the first game.

Insane timing, just finished replaying the trilogy after over a decade and I was looking for content

Best game let you grind to 100 million bolts , no replay value in new ones ...

This was a franchise I missed out on back in the day, I bought the Trilogy for PS3 last year and played all 3 back to back and had a Blast doing so.

Going Commando is truly peak, but my personal favorite is Deadlocked, since the atmosphere of that game is just something really special. The weapons are the best as well, no misses.

I do like that you bring up how every game after Going Commando pretty much follows in that games footsteps. Going Commando is easily my favorite Ratchet and Clank game but because of how every game tried to follow Going Commando I really, really like the first game as well. I feel that the first game has one of the most unique aesthetics/feel compared to all the other games.

i love the junky-future aesthetic these games had man, best soundtrack too really a product of its time though, video games are far too mainstream for this anime/comic inspired aesthetic nowadays everything has to be clean and cinematic (C a p e s h i t ruined everything)

I always liked the contrast in world design between the first game in the second. In the first, it was mostly just peaceful worlds under attack by the Blarg. Gadgetron might be a multi trillion bolt corporation, but they weren't evil. When you go to their HQ on Kalebo III, it's basically a paradise. But when you get to Bogon, it's a completely different story. Orxon was the "worst" planet in Solana (lore wise, it's actually my favourite world game wise), but that was caused by Drek, not Gadgetron. But Megacorp's hyper capitalism and exploitation has left many worlds like Orxon behind, especially my favourite RaC2 world, Tabora. And when you finally get to _their_ HQ, Yeedil, it's a dark and foreboding fortress built on an umbral planet.

Going commando and up your arsenal are so under appreciated. They have such a special place in my heart

Gotta add this to my watch later. For the record you may be pleased to know this was the first video of yours that RU-vid recommended to me. Enjoying the stuff! Somehow I've become so used to heavily scripted videos that your much more off-the-cuff talking style is much more refreshing and down to Earth than what I'm used to. Good work. 👍

Oh my goodness someone finally understands me when it comes to Rivet! She's not a character! She's a marketing tool! I would dissagree with your placement of Rift Apart right under A Crack inTime, mostly because I think ACIT is the best game in the series and RA is on the faaaaaaar bottom, but unlike you I do like cutscenes and focus on story (and I am a lore nerd for this games, always placing gameplay second). Just, unlike in RA, I preffer it good or at least well written. But daaaaamn it feels good to finally find someone who sees it and doesn't just praise her. The problem with cutscenes in this game is that they TELL but they don't SHOW. Like the entire story. The treatment of Nrfarious by the writers is not so much an overuse as a misunderstanding. They make him way to INCOMPETENT. He started off as a goofy character, yes, but he was still a threat, a mad genius with a plan B for every occassion (like having 2 bioblitorators prepared) not an imbecill sabotaging his own plans. But I guess he has to be nerfed to make the NEW and COOLER Emperor look even more powerfull. Same went to Ratchet he got even MORE nerfed than before to make Rivet look not-so-much as just his copy. But the treatment of Dr Nefarious at the end was not annoying to me as it was just SAD. They stripped him of every inch of depth he used to have... and he is my favourite character! This game angers me so much it's ridiculous, I'm sorry.

I agree that it improved on pretty much all mechanical fronts, but I do feel that the visual style lost some bite compared to the first game (Metropolis and Blackwater City especially). just something a bit sharper and funkier about those R&C1 worlds

the level design and environments are what I remember most about this game, pure soul

Thank you for the amazing content, found you today and I'm enjoying all of the content I've seen so far, love that all you speak is facts

Man Going Commando might be my favorite game of all time. I am heavily biased, as GC was the first game I ever bought as a kid from Walmart. Recently started playing through them again after 20 or so years using an emulator, still fun!

Going commando and Deadlocked were always my favourite. The core gameplay with levelling up guns is where R&C Games shine imo

Amazing game, one of if not the most solid experience on the entire system. I still prefer R&C1 for the atmosphere, more varied and better worlds, more platforms, the OST and main villain. I also just like more how he just uses very original weapons while in 2 everythinf just becomew your generic sniper rifle, shotgun, missile launcher, machine gun etc. I just feel the first title has overall more charm and attention to detail.

I personally really enjoyed the crystal collecting in the desert and snow. Going Commando was such a well balanced game with so much variety. Awesome video

Glad to have you back Synth!

Awesome review. Been trying to add to my PS2 collection lately so I'll have to pick this one up.

Been looking forward to this video. So excited.

i enjoy your retrospective videos the most, love them

Ratchet 2 is well written in that it's efficient. It gets across the jokes and story beats quickly. If you like it, it's there. If you don't, it's not that long.

I enjoyed this video, and glad to see you branching out. Also while I think you fell a small touch into a sort of list-off of the video games content (Something I see in a lot of reviewers), you really cleaned that aspect up compared to your Postal 4 review. Don't have much experience with Rachet and Clank but found this to be one of your better recent videos.

This is a fantastic review!!! Love it

I may have said this on the rachet and clank review you did last year, but my first game was rachet in clank back when my mom bought a PS2 for me and my siblings that came boxed in with up your arsenal and Jak 3. Outside of a couple other games my siblings and I would play up your arsenal to death. Despite not playing really any other R&C game besides the four player one that was on the PS3, we all loved it. The humor, story, weapons was just so much fun. Again one of the few games we actually ran to death to where when in single player we would get to a certain planet and would have a infinite "load screen" where rachet would just be flying forever without getting to the next location. Really need to get to playing the rest.

My favorite ps2 era game was Jak 2. To this day there isn't a game like that.

Never played these for some reason despite being alive and gaming when they released. Was too busy playing Halo and Vice City I guess. They look like everything I liked about games of that time period so one day I’ll play em.

Growing up with Sly Cooper I feel like in terms of development and improvement from the original games both Sly 2 and Ratchet 2 are very similar, except I'd argue that the story for Sly 2 is better judging from I've seen, but if I can I'll check out this Ratchet game

Every time i see you somewhere it's saying something fantastic. I need to dive deeper through content.

That desert farming section was one of my favorites first time i saw it, that ice planet sucks though, though enemies just spawn around you and rip you a new one, lol.

One thing you missed was that the NG+ cycle is just like dark souls where every time you beat NG+ it goes to NG+2 etc with the enemies having more hp and dealing more damage. Really cool feature that adds even more replay value.

Ratchet and Clank a crack in time holds a special place in my heart that was my first ratchet and clank game and its my favorite. Hopefully we can play these older ratchet and clank games on the ps5

Nice video, I like the sarcasm and lack of over the top hysteria as well as the analysis.

The ost is a good reason to come back to this game. I ran through that game so many times on ps2.

i only ever played tools of destruction but i loved it.

This games been on the backlog for a while and from what i played i loved it. I went from rac1 to gladiator

Ohhhh you're right, the camera is way closer to Ratchet nowadays. No wonder I always feel like I'm getting blindsided in the arena.

Have completely gone back to old gaming and i have been loving every minute of it. Will have to set up my old PS2 and grab this one as well.

I'm split between this and up your arsenal as my favorite, the ship battles were great, and I really liked the galaxy ranger(?) Segments from Arsenal, wish they would've had both in one game. You're dead-on about the crystal planets though. Great video

Hello, Synthetic Man. When will we see the analysis video of the film Drive (2011) starring Ryan Gosling?

The Insomniac devs documentary explains that they removed the flying section from the second game in Up your Arsenal because they got feedback from players not liking the flying section, also later games did add some new things that sadly not fully used in the games(like the hover boots), and and improved some things like the Clank sections(which made it really hard to play the him in the ps2 game), and the collectathon levels which they made a full explorable levels instead of empty desert and ice area or the annoying Sewer area.

top 3 childhood games thanks for the review you hit every note beautifully

love the content brother

Babe wake up new synthetic man just dropped

I just streamed this 100% like 3 days ago lol. Great review and yeah it aged like fine wine cheers!!!

Damn, actually found this in youtube reccomended 😜 Going commando, hitting the like button 👍the end of the video title should say, “And Why It’s Not Rift Apart” to account for the retro games upload 😎

Ratchet and Clank has got to be pretty much my most favourite franchise out of the Playstation, even Doom 2 has a RnC mod (both games are fun, have that weapon synergy thing where you gotta switch to different weapons), and A Crack In Time does include the old lock-on feature which was great anyways, glad to see a channel that has Ratchet and Clank content, keep up the good work

The first 4 R&C games are a huge part of my childhood, love the review

Thanks for the great content sir!

I remember Platinuming all the original Ratchet games back in 2020. I had previously played the games so I platted on NG+. I remember Going Commando taking a long ass time because I thought you had to upgrade every gun, so I wastwd a ton of time doing that when you actually didn't need to

Going Commando is a top 10 game of all time for me. Insomniac devs signed my copy and it's one of my most prized possessions

I never played Ratchet and Clank before, I got Jak 1 as a kid and thought Ratchet and Clank was just basically the same game but with different characters. Since I loved Jak 1 and 2 so much I never cared to try Ratchet and Clank. Now that I'm looking for old PS2 and Gamecube games to buy I will definitely add this game to the list, thanks Synthetic!

Personal favs are Deadlocked, because it perfects the gunplay, and 3, because it has the best combination of gunplay (i.e. with strafing) and story. Honorable mention for the first one, because it has the best atmosphere, the best story and tries to have a gameplay with more depth: some enemies are best defeated by certain weapons and it's up to you to find out (e.g. the boxing glove for the "kamikaze spheres" enemies; the flamethrower for the enemies that attack in hoards; etc. ). Plus it has a stronger focus on platforming which I like.

The Ratchet and Clank series is my childhood. Picked up my PS2 recently and can’t stop playing

Ratchet & Clank 20th year Anniversary is November 4, 2022. I hope Insomniac games does something special to commemorate 20 Full years of Ratchet and Clank.

I gotta go back to this game. I stopped one night at that tundra planet with the yetis and sea serpents, didn't want to deal with autistically collecting all of the crystals. The following night played something else and haven't been back to it in years. Great video, reminded me why video games could even be considered art in the first place.

As a kid, the foreshadowed twist was exiting because you were in a safe learning environment and could focus on developing ingame skills and knowledge and experience creativity

RAC 2 and 3 were so fucking good, I love these games to the bone

Synthetic man: You can only make the same game so many times. Ubisoft didn't get the memo.

The plasma coil is my personal favourite. It is so insanely good to do aoe damage with in a hallway once upgraded

YO I ACTUALLY DOWNLOADED THIS ON MY PC A COUPLE MONTHS AGO!!! I love this game so much growing up and I would never change it for the world. Everyday now I ask friends or anybody in general if they remember the game majority say they don't and I want to cry.

great review bro, +1 sub

One of my favorite games. Also beat it around 10 times. Great music too

My childhood and still the best of the three og ps game franchises rip jak and daxter and sly cooper (which I also loved there games also but they aren’t around anymore)

I can't believe the hate for the meteor gun it's literally one of the strongest weapons even at the second level (orange)

Up your arsenal will always be my personal favorite those sewer levels used to scare me it was so confusing

6:40 wait a sec. The upgrade feels worse than the original *ONLY IF* there's no Lock On modifier on it. Once you buy the Lock On upgrade for plat bolts, yeah it still feels like another weapon, but it's *insanely* powerful. You can pretty much solo the entire Tabora desert with it. UYA definitely got the error there and brought the Liquid nitrogen, a beautiful upgrade which preserved the original Lava Gun concept. just brilliant

Such a great game and series. It's nice to hear you give positive reviews once in a while, though I admit your angry negative reviews are far more entertaining, lol

I've been jamming all three games on the ps vita and once you get a hang for the controls its actually pretty solid

I feel sorry for the kids that will never know the feeling of playing ratchet and clank 1, 2 and 3 when they came out, I remember every kid going crazy in my school and we were talking constantly about how a weapon would upgrade and what we would find in late game planets. During the summer we played pokemon ruby and sapphire to death constantly battling eachother with the cable. Golden era of both series if you ask me

I agree that Silver City on planet Boldan is amazing. The soundtrack bangs, the encounters are tight and challenging, the grind rail part is cool, the jetpack is cool, and a cool plot twist.

This was a childhood classic. Never beat it but remember my brother going hard on it.

The lack of default strafing and automatic aiming is one of the biggest charms of the first game. Enemies are simple and sparse enough mostly that fighting them is easy anyway since they will just patrol a small area unless disturbed, and the few times you get swarmed it tests your skills to keep them off making those incidents memorable, like riding the hovercraft on Pokitaru with the spikey fishes jumping on board. The first game was a platformer with some shooting elements, sequels were, to an increasing degree shooters with platforming elements. They even went from including arena modes in the sequels to the last ps2 game (the last one I played) being entirely a series of arena battles.

i did once find a glitch in the ps3 trilogy that by spamming the rocket boots and side strafe jumping it would somehow make ratchet invulnerable on Grelbin (AKA ICE HELL). probs the only time i managed to get all the crystals in less that 3 hours of suffering.

Every time I go back to playing the PS2 Ratchet & Clank games, it always reminded me why I love video games so much. Plus, Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal along with GTA San Andreas & Need for Speed Underground 2 are the reasons why I became a gamer. Video games were always about escapism from the harsh reality we call life, but as time moves forward, more games focus too much on realism & cinematic story telling, that it makes a lot of modern games just not very interesting & fun to play. Of course there are a few exceptions like the recent DOOM games, but I mostly play games more on my PS2 & PS3 systems, then I play on Switch even though I own all 3 consoles. Switch isn't a bad console, but I feel like a lot of games aren't as fun or creative as a lot of PS2 or PS3 titles are. I honestly spent more hours playing InFamous on PS3 or Need for Speed Underground 2 on PS2, then I do Animal Crossing New Horizons on Switch.

R&C:GC is my favorite one. Challenge Mode improved the endgame/replay, better versions of every weapon gives you a reason to use every weapon, and bigger wider levels like Grelbin and Tabora, space ship levels, hover bike races, arena challenges, revamped movement controls so you can strafe.... I could go on, but it did everything that was good in R&C, and then made all those improvements. Also the soundtrack bangs.

The problem emulating RC2 is that shadows on the original version where designed for the ps2 resolution, so if you upscale it past 1.5 it shows parts of the shadow you wern't supposed to see, other than that, it's great to play it on widescreen with remapable controlls so you can shoot with r1 instead of circle. If you feel like 1.5 resolution is still too low, even with post processing and antialiasing, you can just tinker with the settings and disable the shadows so you don't see the artifacts.

I highly recommend playing through both going commando and up your arsenal without ever buying armor.

My friends also weren't fans of the Hoverbike races but I really enjoyed them for some reason. Especially compared to the slower Hoverboard races in No. 1

The desert planet was always one of my favorites, especially once you get the hovercar, the tundra one was bad, but there's a reason for it, it was basically made in 1 or 2 days, it's basically a miracle it turned out as good as it did (plus I will say, everyone misunderstood the meteor gun, it looks like a bad weapon, if you just use it normally it never hits, but if you use the lock on mod it basically acts as a better version of the Lancer, it is cooler as a basic lava gun, but the meteor gun is very strong and everyone hates because they don't understand it)

I honestly think the story of the second game is just as good as the first one. It's just way more original than most games. It's not just bad guy does something, you have to stop bad guy kind of game. Instead, it's based on the subtleness of corporate greed. You start off thinking this is gonna be another bad guy does something bad kind of game but you instead find out you were betrayed all along by the company you were trusting. The real enemy isn't a boss fight but rather excessive capitalism, which, even as a Libertarian, I really really enjoyed. It's just incredibly original and a lot more of a mature topic than most other games

Agreed. I love this game, though it was my first of the series. I've tried and failed to get into the first one since.

Yes dude! I heavily enjoyed Going Commando as a kid growing up! One of my favorite games, alongside Jak 2 and Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King. The PS2 era truly had some gems.

The original trilogy of R&C also got HD ports on the PSVita

My favourite game of all time, an absolute gem. I've been playing it since the demo came out in fall 2003 :).

For me it's up your arsenal still remember playing it for 1000 hours when I was a kid

To this day, Locked and Loaded, as it's known in my region, is still my favourite game in the original trilogy. I love the improved gameplay with strafing, upgrading, and gladiator arenas. I love the bouncer, plasma coil, and minirocket tube. I love the improved characterisations and the game's story. My only complaint is the ending twist, where it's revealed that Qwark was the villain all along, which was really unnecessary. Even so, this was the perfect sequel, one that I still play to this day

I've been keeping up with Ratchet & Clank for about 15 to 20 years and in all that time I've just been patiently waiting for one other game to scratch the same itch as one of the first three but it has not happened yet.

Correct me if I’m wrong but the tractor beam was litteraly only used on Mactar once. Never again through out the game was it required to progress. I thought that was wierd.

More than a review it's just your opinion, but i liked hearing it and made me go back a little. I have been playing the series since forever and every game have something that makes it unique, tough the two has pretty great upgrades that make the base for the future ones as you say. Thanks!

I still own this game in mint condition, Commando & Deadlocked were revolutionary games to me

Unfortunately I had to choose between this saga and jak and daxter back in the day, I chose Jak which i Loved but it made me missed out on this games, a fews month ago I finally played this game, I couldn´t agree more with your review, excellent games all of them. The PS2-GC-Xbox era really was the golden age of gaming.

Ive been sitting on the ps3 collection for years now. Might be time to pop it in and play them.

Out of all the games Going Commando hit just right with everything, platforming, ship battles, and my favorite arsenal of the franchise.

hey i dont know if you already knew (Probably you do), but in newer ratchet and clank (atleast future ones i think) you can toggle the strafe from going commando in the camera settings if im not mistaken

Wish they could've done with more Angela considering she's one of the few known native lombaxes from the same dimension