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Content review for this game:
Pertaining to the ESRB rating and My age rating.
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Gameplay sum up: You start by landing on a pirate ship, and after fighting your way to the end, they capture you, shoot you out of a cannon, and maroon you on Hoolefar Island (where you lose your weapons to the sea). There, you meet the mayor of the island, who tells you someone has sabotaged their wind turbines, resulting in the power to their city being shut off. He wants you to get them working again... The base gameplay consists of Ratchet trying to get the turbine towers working on Hoolefar Island, and to do this, you'll have to make use of Ratchet's new wrench, which can now project a magnetized tether for grabbing onto platform objects, and help traverse the environment, while you break crates and collect bolts (the game's currency); fight enemies; and upgrade weapons. Each of the turbin towers have mini obstacle courses, where you have to magnetically pull down giant springs (which fling you higher), re-adjust platform directions with your wrench, and dodge fast-moving saw blades—all while running sideways on these towers with your gravboots. When you reach the top, you tighten a bolt with your wrench, and go on to the next tower. After restoring the power to Hoolefar island, you're sent to a cavern and introduced to a new gameplay element in the form of Heliogrubs, which are small green, glowing creatures that you can grab with your wrench and use to traverse the game's later cavern environment, and to scare away deadly bat-like enemies, allowing you to continue on unscathed. |
Fantasy violence: (This is set between 5 and the eventual—6 of the series) The story is set directly after the abrupt end of Tools of Destruction, and involves Ratchet trying to find some way to get back Clank, who has been abducted by a mysterious group of robots known as the Zoni. Ratchet soon finds a clue in a super computer, and it tells him to seek out a pirate named Captain Darkwater. Now to find him—and in turn, hopefully find Clank...
The story itself is full of silly, slapstick, sarcastic, and clever humor, with many lines like, "This path's so dangerous-so forbidden-that only a recitation of the fabled 'song of the dead' shall open the way!" The pirate then starts to sing, "I'm a little teapot" verbatim. And when the main island tells Ratchet they'll activate their top of the line "BS" defense system, a single-manned turret pops up, prompting Ratchet to say, "Well, now I know what the BS stands for." So, in other words, it is sarcastic, but pretty harmless, cartoony, and all done in a fun, light tone.
The violence is very fantastical, with mass explosions, crashes, constant fire from the enemy, utter mayhem and frantic chaos. And although you will fight a variety of wild creatures, the majority of your enemy consists of several different types of robots. Ratchet will be fighting them with a couple of dozen (fully upgradeable) weapons. The majority of these weapons have exaggerated and ridiculous fire-power, like a plasma ball shooter, one that launches mini tornados, another shoots multiple spikes, nuclear hand grenades, etc. Ratchet can also attack enemies with his wrench. When Ratchet disposes of an enemy, it will explode into a cloud of bolts (currency), metal (if it's a robot), colorful firework-like particle effects, and/or puffs of smoke. Beyond this, the overall tone of violence is mild, the cutscenes' action is comparable to Looney Toon's over-the-top antics, and the actual gameplay is no worse (in fact, maybe more mild) than the sometimes chaotic and moderately violent cartoons kids watch today.
Use of alcohol: Rusty Pete, the main villain's second in command, hiccups often; an obvious sign that he drinks too much grog. There are a couple mentions of pubs, and as you travers haunted caverns, Rusty Pete says "Well, I was a bit sauced (drunk) at the time. Woke up three days later wearing an evening gown and spooning a Kerchu." And in a later area, while trying to infiltrate the main villain's lair, you have to prove you're him by completing specific tasks. One of these tasks is to mix his bartender drinks (alcohol) three times, by stepping on the right buttons in order. After you've mixed his drink, you'll see him spill the liquid into his mouth, with some of it falling onto the floor. However, that's the extent of use, and at no point does Ratchet drink.
Content review posted: 08/24/08
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