What is a next-gen game nowadays? It can he hard to know. Cross generation. Cross platform. Remasters and remakes. It’s made judging PS5 games muddy enough that I stopped updating my “best PS5 games” piece. When you could mistake Arkham Knight, a nine-year-old game, for something new, it’s just not so clear anymore.
But sometimes you play something you know wouldn’t be possible on other hardware. The first was Astro’s Playroom and its use of the DualSense controller. Another is Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2; it’s stunningly quick character swaps and general traversal only possible due to processing power and SSDs.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is another one of those games. I thought it was a launch title (nope, it’s a 2021 release). I also thought that I’d struggle as I’ve not played a Ratchet & Clank game before. The first was released in 2002 on PS2, with seventeen games in the series to date. Again, nope!
What we have here is a thoughtful story, inclusive of new and old Clankers (just made that up), with some wonderfully intuitive platforming and shooting mechanics. There’s a lot to juggle but Insomniac have nailed it.
When the only negative I think of is that there might be too many weapons, it’s’ going to be a pretty good review.
The “weapon wheel” structure is decent, though I probably wouldn’t choose to access it via the triangle button. And you can have some shortcuts. But if you buy everything you’ve effectively got three wheels worth of choices, which is a bit much when the action is frantic.
And frantic is great! Rift Apart is an enjoyably full-on game, with multiple enemies of all sizes on screen at once. I’ve already mentioned that the choice of weapons is vast. Fortunately, they’re well designed and there should be something for everyone. From bombs and robots to miniguns and rifles, you’ll find some preferences for sure. Big fan of the “Executioner” shotgun type weapon myself. I assume the series has juggled use of weapons versus the hammer with each entry. Here I found myself rarely using it for anything other than smashing boxes for collectibles.
Platforming and general movement feels silky smooth. You can confidently land your jumps and always know how to juggle abilities with consistency, which makes it very enjoyable.
Gameplay aside the story deals with several issues. Characters are dealing with loss, both physically and emotionally. They struggle with trust and past actions. Choices they’ve made trouble them. It’s all handled thoughtfully, and doesn’t once pull you out of the fun. If anything it makes you enjoy it more as you’re doing it all with characters that feel real. Even if they’re essentially furries and robots.
Then there’s the “PS5-ness” of it. Load times are minimal, but that’s almost a given now. It’s the real-time near instantaneous travel between different areas, planets and other worlds within gameplay scenes via a system of inter-dimensional portals that makes this a true next-gen title. It just works! And it’s important to the story. Plus it’s gorgeous.
I managed my expectations beforehand, so didn’t expect to be wowed. I figured it might be a fun distraction for a few hours. Instead I found a cracking platformer with plenty of heart. If I was still curating a list of next-gen PS5 games, this would be on it for sure.
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