It's easy to spend time with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and walk away feeling like it's formulaic. Certainly, anyone who's played earlier entries in the series – or any of its 3D platformer brethren from the PS2 era onwards – will find its narrative and structural beats familiar: Ratchet, a furry alien Lombax mechanic-turned-hero and his robot sidekick Clank (think R2-D2 with C-3PO's haughtiness) are off on another planet-hopping adventure that involves hopping around semi-open spaces, clobbering bad guys, and gathering resources to power-up your weapons.
The thing is, developer Insomniac Games has refined everything to such a high level that even though Rift Apart lacks any real surprises, it's still an absolute delight to play. It's a bouncy, colourful experience that, while undeniably targeted at younger players, will still effortlessly charm and entertain older ones too.
Rift Apart kicks off with Ratchet and Clank being honoured for their past heroics, before recurring villain Dr Nefarious appears to rain on their literal parade. Stealing an interdimensional transporter Clank had intended to help find other Lombaxes with, Nefarious sends things all a bit Into the Spiderverse-y, hopping realities to a universe where he rules supreme but breaking open the multiverse in the process. Enter Rivet, a female Lombax and Ratchet's opposite number from another world.
Despite pretty transparently being the Spider-Gwen to Ratchet's Spider-Man, Rivet is a great addition to the Ratchet & Clank universe – sparkly and intelligent, just as capable in a fight, but with an added element of kid-friendly pathos to her backstory that makes her feel just a tad deeper. Rift Apart shares its time fairly equally between the two leads, while also mixing things up by pairing Clank with Rivet most of the time. Whoever you're in control of, the story delivers up a constant stream of zippy dialogue and often genuinely funny jokes – likely funnier still to the target demographic – and a surprising amount of heart.
Even though Rift Apart lacks any real surprises, it's still an absolute delight to play.
However, while the game gives each of its three main characters time to shine, both narratively and through unique mini-games that challenge their specific skills, there's not enough difference between Ratchet and Rivet through the majority of the game. Some of it can be explained by them being alternate reality versions of the other, but other overlaps feel somewhere between lazy and missed opportunities. For instance, weapons bought or upgraded as Ratchet are automatically available when the story switches you to Rivet, and vice versa. Having a few weapons – and their attendant skills and battle tactics – unique to each character would have been a nice touch.
Whatever you're blasting Nefarious' goons with though, Rift Apart is a great showcase for the PS5 hardware, with the eponymous rifts teleporting Ratchet or Rivet around fully realised locations with no discernible loading time. Whether it's hopping between dimensions or just between 'hotspots' in the current area to better baffle or strafe enemies, it's an impressive trick that Insomniac uses for both spectacle and practical use.
Game audio and haptics are both great too, with fantastic directionality to background sound – especially through the PS5's Pulse 3D headset – and a perfect pairing of foley effects. Footsteps vary in sound depending on the surface you're running on, as does the intensity and style of rumble through the controller. The variable resistance of the triggers is put to excellent use too, with a half squeeze showing an arc of where projectiles will land, while a full press fires. All combined, it makes for a surprisingly immersive experience.
It's all rounded off by cinematic quality visuals – playing Rift Apart is like playing an interactive Pixar film at times. It's still early days for the PlayStation 5, but this is an easy contender for one of the best-looking games on the platform.
Ultimately, Rift Apart won't win any awards for originality, but when everything is as polished as it is here, it's forgivable. An entertaining interdimensional romp that makes great use of its hardware platform, Ratchet & Clank's latest entry is instantly one of its best.
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