Interview With Brian Allgeier About Ratchet
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time is set to be Insomniac Games' next addition to their Ratchet & Clank franchise when it's released on the PlayStation 3 towards the end of 2009.
Gaming Union was fortunate enough to catch up with Brian Allgeier at E3, who is the Creative Director on the project, and we took the time to ask some questions about their upcoming title.
Gaming Union: So, what’s the premise of Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time?
Brian Allgeier: Well, Ratchet’s back and what we're doing here is we're wrapping up the story arc that we started to show in Tools of Destruction. What happened was clank was captured [in Tools of Destruction] and Ratchet found out where he was in Quest for Booty.
GU: So this game will help to clear up the cliffhangers?
BA: Yeah, so we got a lot of big cliff hangers in the previous two games, but now we're going to ramp it all up with this game. We're going to answer people’s biggest questions about what’s going on. They wanna know more about Ratchet; why does he think he was the only lombax; what happened to the lombaxes; what happened to Clank; why was he captured. So we're gonna answer those kinda questions.
GU: What can you tell us about the weapons in this game?
BA: So you know the franchise is known for its crazy weapons and gadgets. One of the weapons is a creature that Ratchet holds and if you fire it releases a mating call which is deadly to enemies. If you do it when the cheeks are full it’s an even bigger mating call, so this is an extra skill component where you wanna time your button press just right to get the most damage.
GU: So how many weapons are going to be in the game?
BA: We haven't revealed that yet, but what we have here are three new weapons. So we got the Sonic Erupter, which is great for doing a lot of white cone damage at groups of enemies.
GU: Well it sounds lovely (laugh).
BA: (laughs) Yeah, its got the little belching effect. We got another weapon here called the Plasma Striker and this is like a sniper rifle. What it lets you do is zoom in to enemies and see their weak spots, so if you hit their weak spots you'll take them out a lot quicker.
GU: If they stand still…
BA: Exactly, well one way to make them stand still is to use the Cryo Mines. These are like little mines that will freeze enemies in place and then of course you can zoom into the weak spot while they are still there.
GU: So there’s an emphasis on chaining weapons together?
BA: Exactly, yeah so the Plasma Striker is another example of that traditional skill component where you know you can zoom in on an enemy, but it’s whether or not you can you zoom in and hit their weak spot.
GU: So, could you tell us a bit about the new gadgets?
BA: Well, Ratchet’s got his hover boots. They allow him to jump around get around the levels really quickly and as a result we have some larger levels.
GU: Yea, so does that mean the levels will be a lot less linear?
BA: Right, this is an example of a very wide open non-linear level where you can pick where you want to approach the battle. Here we've got on the radar the 3 different key targets I need to take out.
GU: Will there be any older weapons making an appearance?
BA: Yes, we’re bringing back some old weapons from Tools of Destruction and if you have a save game on Tools of Destruction you'll get these weapons a lot quicker.
GU: Is there going to be any interconnectivity with PSP Plus?
BA: We haven't announced anything like that. We also haven't pointed this out, but one thing people may think is that this is another downloadable game and it’s not. It’s another full length game, so it’s just as big as Tools of Destruction, if not bigger.
GU: So, how does the story compare with Tools of Destruction?
BA: We decided that we wanted to give this game a much more epic story. We wanted it to be just as big as Tools of Destruction and have a ton of replay value.
GU: One of the criticisms on the last game was the fact that it was too easy. Is that going to be addressed in this game?
BA: It actually is, and what we're doing is having difficulty modes. So we're going to have 3 difficulty modes and that’s perfect. If you're a new Ratchet player, or a casual player, you can pick easy. If you're an expert Ratchet player you can pick hard.
GU: What role is Clank going to play in this game?
BA: Well the great thing about Clank is he shows off our new ‘time’ gameplay, and that’s where you can create multiple selves of Clank to solve puzzles. You can record different versions of Clank and have them do different actions and have multiple Clanks working together to solve problems.
GU: Is there going to be any online multiplayer at all?
BA: We haven't made any announcements on that yet, so no comment.
GU: Are there going to be any motion controls?
BA: That’s something um we haven't designed in just yet. It’s one of those things that as we come up in beta towards the end of the game, if motion control works for it we'll use it. Typically we don't design challenges around motion control.
GU: So it's an extra feature if you think it will add to the gameplay
BA: Exactly, yeah.
GU: How long do you think the single player campaign will be?
BA: It's just as long as Tools of Destruction. We're still working on the game, so it's hard to tell how long it will be. It should be just as long, if not bigger.
GU: Other than the Hover Boots, what do you think are the main improvements over the two other PS3 versions of Ratchet?
BA: I think it's really the time elements that are going to stand out for players. In terms of gameplay, it will probably be multiple cells. There are a few time travel levels and other time features we haven't revealed yet. I think people will really appreciate the hover boots and how quickly they can get around these vast open levels.
GU: Is Quark going to be in the game at all?
BA: We haven't made any comments on that sorry (laughs). I cannot confirm, nor deny.
GU: Are there any other cool gadgets?
BA: Yeah, the Omni Circa allows you suck up water and shoot it out. So what I just did was I sucked out water from a stream and I filled up a plant that I can bounce on. You can also suck of rigas nectar which is very useful against tetramites. There is a swarm of creatures that will kill Ratchet almost instantly, but if you fire Rigas nectar it will distract them allowing you to progress forward.
GU: So it's like a mini puzzle element?
BA: Exactly, yeah so here you get to use the environment to solve various puzzles.
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