Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus Review

Jimothy Sterling

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Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus Review

You can turn space alligators into snowmen. Enough said.

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Steve2911

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Lovely little premier review. It's certainly made me consider buying a game I'd pretty much written off as soon as it was announced. I haven't enjoyed an R&C game since the PS2 days, sadly, but I might be tempted by the price on this one.
 

Fortyseven203

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Having never really had a chance to play an entry in this franchise previously, it sounds like this is the perfect title to give me the gist of what made it so popular with people. I'll check it out!
 

scorptatious

The Resident Team ICO Fanboy
May 14, 2009
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Whoa whoa whoa, where did this come from?

Past two games it feels like Insomniac hasn't tried to advertise their new Ratchet and Clank games at all. Feels kinda odd considering how many people love these games. At least the PS2 games.
 

Dreadykrugah

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Good to see Insomniac still has some magic left in them. You mention the combat almost becoming a bit stale, do you think R&C isn't interesting enough anymore for a full release instead of these "half-games"? Looking forward to trying this, thanks for the review!
 

Andy Shandy

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Jun 7, 2010
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A good read for your first review on The Escapist, Jim, and one that has piqued my interest for Into The Nexus. Like yourself, I've always liked Insomniac aside from Fuse (and feel a little sorry after Naughty Dog are seen as development superstars and they haven't) and when I heard Into The Nexus's announcement I wrote it off as "Oh, half the price, half the effort put into it, half the game" but you've made it sounds like it is "half the game" in the best possible way.

Will consider picking this up at some stage.
 

Quiotu

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Dreadykrugah said:
Good to see Insomniac still has some magic left in them. You mention the combat almost becoming a bit stale, do you think R&C isn't interesting enough anymore for a full release instead of these "half-games"? Looking forward to trying this, thanks for the review!
My guess is that the game simply doesn't have as much innovation and weapons as the full priced entries. This game is probably a transition to the next trilogy of games coming for the PS4 inevitably, so I'm expecting the Nexus and the new gameplay to be fleshed out nicely... much like the time manipulation sections of the last trilogy.

Good to see Insomniac hasn't forgotten how to make a good single player game completely. Hopefully they see the writing on the wall and keep the R&C team doing what they do best, while letting their other teams test stuff out like Sunset Overdrive.
 

PunkRex

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I recently completed the original trilogy on PS3 and started Tools of Destruction before having to stop when I came back to university, damn my need of a career. Anyways, I love the series and know what i'm doing this christmas holiday!
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Jul 18, 2009
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I don't know...

The idea of a short R&C game gives me Quest for Booty deja vu, which kinda sucked. And this dark serious tone doesn't sound appealing either, seeing as this series went downhill when it started to take itself so bloody serious.

Does it atleast play better than A Crack in Time? Because that game had some extremely unsatisfying shooting action.
 

DirgeNovak

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Very nice to hear Insomniac's got their groove back.
Also, Thugs4Less = Instant Buy.
 

Raggedstar

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As a long-time Ratchet and Clank fan (PS2 and the Future trilogy), their last few outings have been greatly unsatisfying. All 4 One was glitchy and repetitive while being such a drag playing singleplayer. Full Frontal Assault is so far the ONLY Ratchet and Clank game I own that I just can't beat, and that's largely due to the hideous lack of balance for the singleplayer (all waves are designed to cater the co-op player. Too baddies, many of whom are too meaty even after you unload several fully-loaded weapons and your defenses are too weak). Even the HD collections (not made by Insomniac) pale to the originals, with some recurring glitches forcing me to reload my game. Don't get me started on Deadlocked HD, but let's just say I'm glad I got it for free. I was very bitter feeling shortly before Into The Nexus was announced.

But after the gameplay I've seen I started to feel cautiously optimistic. And now I see the Jim Sterling seal of approval, I'm happy that the optimism isn't wasted. Can't wait to get it tomorrow!
 

mjc0961

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Nov 30, 2009
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Any chance we can abolish this nonsense of having multiple pages for reviews without having to pay $20 a year? Honestly this is one of the biggest reasons why I don't bother with reviews on this site currently. Yeah, it's just a click, but many other sites don't do this, and I've also yet to see a video review on YouTube or the like that randomly pauses itself halfway through, forcing me to stop for a second and click to make it continue. I know the site wants all the ad revenue it can get, but let's not be this greedy. Put the reviews on a single page, don't ruin the flow just to generate another set of ad views when we go to the second page.

Also my other problem with this review would be that much like the Pac-Man one from last week, it doesn't say what platform(s) the game is available on and which version was reviewed at the start of the review. I can't think of a single good reason not to lead with that information.

Anyway just my two cents since I read on Twitter how Jim is here to whip the reviews on this site into shape and get them more recognition. Obviously I have no objection to the review itself; Jim knows what he's doing when it comes to writing a review.
 

Ulquiorra4sama

Saviour In the Clockwork
Feb 2, 2010
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mjc0961 said:
Any chance we can abolish this nonsense of having multiple pages for reviews without having to pay $20 a year?
If you thought the Pub Club didn't need to turn the page you would be wrong.

OT: Is this meant as a direct sequel to the events of Crack in Time? I can't remember much of this series after that since that's the last one i actually played so if it is the game might just sound interesting enough for me to go pick it up. The half price certainly makes me think, and honestly... short story campaign doesn't bother me as much as it used to what with all that education business happening in my life these days.
 

Raggedstar

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mjc0961 said:
Also my other problem with this review would be that much like the Pac-Man one from last week, it doesn't say what platform(s) the game is available on and which version was reviewed at the start of the review. I can't think of a single good reason not to lead with that information.
I can't speak for the Pac Man review, but Ratchet and Clank is a Sony exclusive franchise. This game in particular is PS3 exclusive. It would be nice though to have it listed for those that don't know. PS3 and Sony are also mentioned in the review's tags.

Ulquiorra4sama said:
OT: Is this meant as a direct sequel to the events of Crack in Time? I can't remember much of this series after that since that's the last one i actually played so if it is the game might just sound interesting enough for me to go pick it up. The half price certainly makes me think, and honestly... short story campaign doesn't bother me as much as it used to what with all that education business happening in my life these days.
Into The Nexus early on was said to be "an epilogue to the Future series", but I don't know how directly it's related (none of the trailers talked about Lombaxes, Zoni, or anything like that). Two games and a comic book series came after ACIT's release, and all 3 take place at some point after ACIT. The comics had references to ACIT (such as Rachet hanging up Azimuth's wrench), and All 4 One was a direct sequel to the comics, and Full Frontal Assault was a direct sequel to that. Both games aren't particularly story driven though, so I think you'll be ok if you jump into Nexus with ACIT under your belt. Qwark is Galactic President of Polaris now, just in case that comes up.
 

TimeLord

For the Emperor!
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Ulquiorra4sama said:
mjc0961 said:
Any chance we can abolish this nonsense of having multiple pages for reviews without having to pay $20 a year?
If you thought the Pub Club didn't need to turn the page you would be wrong.
In the subscription settings for the PubClub on your profile you can turn on one-page articles and not have multiple pages to flick through. Great for reviews and the cosplay gallerys the Escapist do! All on one shiny page!

OT: As a massive R&C fan I'm so glad a little bit of life has been injected back into the franchise! All4One was just bad but I'm glad there was some love put into this one.

I'm really interested in what they can do for a PS4 R&C game!
 

Ulquiorra4sama

Saviour In the Clockwork
Feb 2, 2010
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TimeLord said:
Ulquiorra4sama said:
mjc0961 said:
Any chance we can abolish this nonsense of having multiple pages for reviews without having to pay $20 a year?
If you thought the Pub Club didn't need to turn the page you would be wrong.
In the subscription settings for the PubClub on your profile you can turn on one-page articles and not have multiple pages to flick through. Great for reviews and the cosplay gallerys the Escapist do! All on one shiny page!
I guess i'm still only adapting to these new powers. Thanks for the heads-up.
Raggedstar said:
Ulquiorra4sama said:
OT: Is this meant as a direct sequel to the events of Crack in Time? I can't remember much of this series after that since that's the last one i actually played so if it is the game might just sound interesting enough for me to go pick it up. The half price certainly makes me think, and honestly... short story campaign doesn't bother me as much as it used to what with all that education business happening in my life these days.
Into The Nexus early on was said to be "an epilogue to the Future series", but I don't know how directly it's related (none of the trailers talked about Lombaxes, Zoni, or anything like that). Two games and a comic book series came after ACIT's release, and all 3 take place at some point after ACIT. The comics had references to ACIT (such as Rachet hanging up Azimuth's wrench), and All 4 One was a direct sequel to the comics, and Full Frontal Assault was a direct sequel to that. Both games aren't particularly story driven though, so I think you'll be ok if you jump into Nexus with ACIT under your belt. Qwark is Galactic President of Polaris now, just in case that comes up.
Sounds good. I didn't realize the R&C universe had been expanded so much. I may just haul around the R&C wikia for a bit then dive into the Nexus then, i'm curious how Qwark got that position, but i'm glad it doesn't seem to be anything really huge that happened in between the two installments.
 

Tanis

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Aug 30, 2010
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I didn't even know this existed until the review popped up here.
THAT'S new.

I really hope they release a trilogy pack, because I love my R&C HD Collection.
It's nice having all the games on less discs.
 

CarlsonAndPeeters

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Fortyseven203 said:
Having never really had a chance to play an entry in this franchise previously, it sounds like this is the perfect title to give me the gist of what made it so popular with people. I'll check it out!
I would really recommend checking out the original Ratchet and Clank Trilogy. I started replaying them over them summer (on PSN) and they are incredibly well designed and hold up really well all these years later. Great variety in terms of gameplay, weaponry, locations, and characters. Really great sense of progression throughout the game. Challenging without being frustrating. And funny. Damn are those games funny.
 

Seracen

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Sep 20, 2009
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WOOT! Welcome Jim! Looking forward to your reviews here! I enjoyed D'toid, but the archiving here is a lot more friendly to me (although Jim was pretty much the only reason I went to D'Toid anyways).