DGC Ep 269: Ratchet & Clank (part one)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on the delightful action platformer shooter thing called Ratchet & Clank. We set it in its time a little bit, and talk a bit about developer Insomniac, and then turn to talk about introductory impressions and continue to catch up on feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to Novalis

Issues covered: destroying your enemies with flame, tone and charm and humor, 2002: a Good Year with a Thick Coat of Peanut Butter, the mascots, playing PlayStation games at the start of the PS2 lifecycle, the Cerny Method, Tim's first time, the war on consoles surrounding mascots and third person action, what Microsoft was up to, Brett projects that Tim will be amazed about with the guns, a little sideline into Resistance, the titles, future streamlining, getting animation to film quality, stretch and squish as a frontier, making a character feel very alive, Brett dives into the hardware, wishing you could take your technical expertise back, seeing lots of characters and structure very early, consistency of tone, enjoyable juvenalia, a series of gags, the surprise of having a map and quests, a variety of enemy types, the tendency of consoles towards PCs, a huge pile of FF6 secrets, a game coming to you at a time where it helped you get through, what we'd want from JRPG combat, taking a week off, thinking you've finished the game,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Insomniac, PlayStation 2, Disruptor, Spyro (series), Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Kingdom Hearts, Eternal Darkness, Animal Crossing, GameCube, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, Republic Commando, Xbox, Sly Cooper, MechAssault, Splinter Cell, BG: Dark Alliance, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, Phantasy Star Online I & II, Andrew Kirmse, Warcraft III, Jedi Outcast, Freedom Force, Irrational Games, Jonathan Chey, Dungeon Siege, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, No One Lives Forever 2, Neverwinter Nights, Battlefield 1942, Jedi Starfighter, Rez, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Metroid Fusion, Metroid Dread, Sonic (series), GTA III: Vice City, LucasArts, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy Tactics, Sunset Boulevard, Sunset Overdrive, Fuse, Mark Cerny, Game Developer Magazine, Jak & Daxter, Super Mario 64, Nintendo 64, Crash Bandicoot, Rare, Banjo Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Sega, UbiSoft, Rayman, Gex, Crystal Dynamics, Croc, Bonk, Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Frogger, Halo, Max Payne, Brute Force, Psychonauts, Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero, GoldenEye, Sea of Thieves, Resistance, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Agent Carter, Skylanders, Toys for Bob, Star Wars, Space Quest, Anachronox, Warner Bros, Animaniacs, Bugs Bunny, Ryan/Biostats, Top Gun, Ninja Turtles, Ducktales, Chrono Trigger, Mark Garcia, Undertale, Skyrim, Death Stranding, Calamity Nolan, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time:
Play more! How much more? Peep the Twitters.

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