RATCHET & CLANK: RIFT APART

To our delight, Sony continues to tirelessly enrich the Mother platform with titles previously exclusive to PlayStation. This time, the new "victim" is Ratchet and Clank, one of Insomniac Games' longest-running series (which also gave us the wonderful Marvel's Spiderman), which lands on our PCs to an audience that has little or no contact with its concept. All the more so when it comes to the latest entry in the series (overall, the 16th in a row, please), called Rift Apart, which was released only on the PS5 as a game that, among other things, showcased the console's capabilities in managing exuberant graphics and lightning-fast loading speeds. Consequently, since the PS4 was out of the frame, Rift Apart is a fully "next-gen" (in this case, current-gen, but you get my point) game that can easily take advantage of the extra horsepower of PCs in order to present an even more impressive effect.

To a large extent, this is true. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart provides a plethora of options and customisation capabilities, adjustable depending on the power of the machine running it, in order to deliver an experience better than or comparable to Sony's latest console. However, in my case, I wasn't able to see this first-hand, as I'm in the (probably) minority of users who have major performance issues with the game. Unfortunately, on the test machine (i7-11700k, 3060Ti, 16GB RAM) the Rift Apart makes crappy use of the GPU, which almost "sleeps" throughout the game, resulting in me experiencing very annoying frame-rate issues. Currently, despite a few patches and new Nvidia drivers, no solution has been found, which had a serious impact on the experience I got from the game. Collectively, I did not enjoy it at all.

This was extremely disappointing, as Rift Apart is an all-around decent game. For those who don't know what it's about, Ratchet is a space hero, a former engineer, who resembles something of a feline and a skunk, a combination made more inclusive under the name of the Lombax race. Clank, on the other hand, is his inseparable side-kick robot, who thanks to his advanced inventive abilities, always provides the solution to even the most difficult moments. According to the game's universe, Ratchet is considered the last living Lombax, at least for the dimension he's in, but Clank reveals to him in the game's introduction that he has managed to repair the "Dimensionator" device, which is capable of opening rifts in other dimensions. With such an important invention in his hands, Ratchet is free to travel through every dimension in order to both search for the remaining members of the Lombax tribe and any traces of his missing family.

However, the evil Doctor Nerfarious, who has been trying to become the master of the universe for years, attempts to steal the Dimensionator to use it to his advantage. In the panic of the battle, Ratchet accidentally shoots the Dimensionator, which is destroyed, but simultaneously creates dozens of rifts and transports all three (Ratchet, Clank and Nerfarious) to an alternate dimension. As a logical consequence, our heroes have to find a way to bring order to all this chaos, which is extremely dangerous to the very existence of the world, while Ratchet also finds that in the new dimension he has ended up in, there is another Lombax, Rivet, who may be the key to finally discovering his roots.

In summary, the premise of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is in the context of a good animated film. Certainly, if you have prior experience with the series, you'll appreciate more of what it has to say, however even a complete newcomer (like the undersigned) will have no problem following what's going on. After all, the game features extremely solid and well-designed mechanics, making it a very enjoyable experience, regardless of the story it tells.

At first glance, Rift Apart is reminiscent of similar platform titles that made a big splash during the PS2 era, but the platform element is quite reduced. The game puts much more emphasis on action/shooting, rudimentary puzzles and boss-fights. Variety is the key word that characterises the game, and although it doesn't generally change much from its basic style, it manages to never get boring with its frequent change of scenery and various clever mini-games, and makes the player anxious for what new challenge it has in store for them next. And the relatively short duration (around ten hours) turns out to be enough in the end, in order to keep its (admittedly very beautiful) ideas from starting to fizzle out.

Something the Rift Apart avoids with mastery. The "heart" of the game, the battles, are enjoyable, even though they are quite simple in concept and execution. The game maintains a typical "run-n-gun" mechanic, devoid of cover, where it's enough to indiscriminately shoot anything that moves and occasionally dodge incoming shots, either by simply running or pressing dodge. However, what smoothes the rough surface of the simple shooter mechanics is the weapons available to acquire. Aside from a few conventional in type and execution, there are a few weapons that the word "surreal" falls short of describing. There's the pixelator that turns enemies into...pixels, a...rocket launcher that digs up the ground and shoots out from underneath enemies, and even a mushroom (we don't know if there's a pun here) that works autonomously and fires...mushroom clouds as if it were a turret.

Remarkably, all weapons are useful, depending on the situation, and the fact that their ammunition is relatively limited (so you'll inevitably have to try another one) and that they get stronger the more you fire them, contribute to a different combat experience every time. Also, all weapons are eligible for upgrades, via Raritanium (rare collectibles, but practically... can be found everywhere - an oxymoron, don't you think?), which you redeem in the various shops that pop up regularly to cause even more havoc, with more style and finesse.

The ideas of the people at Insomniac Games were almost inexhaustible, both in terms of the dimensions/planets we visit and the way we traverse them. While as mentioned above, the platforming element is downplayed compared to, say, a Crash Bandicoot, it doesn't mean that our protagonist isn't well equipped to make our lives easy. Double jumping, running up walls a la Prince of Persia, and hooks applied at specific points, either to swing to the opposite platform or to quickly "pull" ourselves into some small and remote rift. Worth mentioning are the supersonic boots we acquire later on, which are ideal for rapid exploration of the semi-open world planets we visit, but also for some over-the-top chase sequences that add a cinematic touch to the game's gameplay.

However, even though Rift Apart has open-world elements and some side quests that are just as worthy as those in the main story, it's not really necessary to bother with them. It's just that if you do, in addition to witnessing a few more beautiful cinematic sequences, you'll gain access to more Raritanium, as well as some gimmicks of a cosmetic nature, which are mainly aimed at completionists.

Moving on to the technical part of the review, we already mentioned above our experience with the game's performance. As such, I can't express a positive opinion beyond the fact that, as many (few) times as the Rift Apart was running at 60fps, the visuals were flawless. The rest of the time, it felt like my PC was "suffering", with practically not getting pressure anywhere.

However, in terms of sound, Rift Apart is excellent, with amazing voice-overs and great background music, which is worthy of a big production like this game. We weren't expecting anything less.

To sum up, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is an excellent game that aims to entertain the player - and it succeeds. Nowhere does it create insurmountable difficulty-spikes, it's highly accessible and its cartoonish atmosphere can only generate pleasant thoughts. However, if you plan to own it, keep in mind that you may experience performance issues, similar to mine. Hopefully Nixxes, who developed the port, in the future will fix the problems that exist in some PC configurations.

We would like to thank Sony Hellas for providing the review code.

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