Insomniac

Although I personally found Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction to be a little disappointing, there's no denying that Insomniac rarely fails to produce a title of respectable workmanship. The action here will completely satisfy anyone looking for the kind of lighthearted, kinetic run-and-gun that was mastered several iterations ago.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Alcohol Reference, Animated Blood, Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence, Language

According to the ESRB, this game contains: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language

In fact, I almost feel guilty for writing this review. But, even the mightiest developer needs to slow down from the breakneck pace of game making once in awhile, and that's basically what I see Ratchet: Deadlocked as—Insomniac taking a break.

Game Description: Ratchet: Deadlocked takes Ratchet and Clank on a mission to locate several famous heroes who have mysteriously disappeared. The good news is the duo located the missing people. The bad news is they find them after getting captured by the same person who has been going around stealing heroes. Now Ratchet has to compete in the game and go up against the deadly Exterminators, to save himself and his friends.

Since Going Commando was released a mere year after the first game in the series, I had some trepidation about the game prior to playing it. Even though the guys at Insomniac were simply re-using the Naughty Dog game engine from the first title, a one-year hiatus between releases seems incredibly short.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Violence

Game Description: Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando takes the hit gaming characters on wilder ride than before, in a sequel to the hit platformer! Our heroes are unemployed, and spend most of their day playing "Jak and Daxter"—until they're hired by a mega-corporation to track down smugglers & find a stolen product. They have a mission and the hot new hardware to complete it, so prepare for a wild ride!

Gene brings up an interesting question of perspective. But, in contrast to his thoughts, I was trying to justify to myself why I was playing Ratchet & Clank. I had passed up several opportunities to play the game's full version after being unimpressed with the demo handed out at E3. Specifically, I was totally apathetic to the by-the-numbers character design, and the idea of collecting "stuff" while dodging enemies, and jumping pits has lost some appeal over the years.