Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

"...the first game to truly deliver the long-sought 'You are playing a Pixar movie' experience."

- New York Times

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (known as Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction in Europe) is a action/shooter game, and is the 7th game in the Ratchet & Clank series. Released exclusively on the PlayStation 3, it is one of the most highly received games on the system. It has received high praise for the graphics and gameplay.

Plot
At the start of the game, Ratchet and Clank were on planet Kerwan to try out one of Ratchet's new vehicles, but then Clank received a distress call from Captain Qwark, who was at the Planetary Defense Center. Before Ratchet & Clank got there, Metropolis was suddenly attacked by a race of aliens called the Drophyds. They worked for Emperor Percival Tachyon, the last of the Cragmites, and the most evil threat in the universe. The Cragmite Emperor was hunting down Ratchet who was revealed to be the last Lombax in the known universe and the greatest threat to Tachyon's Empire. Tachyon tried to make a deal with Ratchet that if he got to kill Ratchet and destroy Clank he left Metropolis alone. They tricked Tachyon and fled into his warship. Having escaped from Kerwan in an imperial warship, Ratchet & Clank were put to sleep while they travelled to the Polaris galaxy.

They crash-landed on planet Cobalia in the Polaris galaxy. Clank had a vision where he was flying in Stratus City and the Zoni were surrounding him saying, "His past is inside." The vision ended when Ratchet woke him up. The duo made their way to a spaceport, where they met the Smuggler, who told them that he took them off of Cobalia if they got a Gelatonium Plant working again and so he gave the Gelanator to them to do the job. Ratchet and Clank got the plant running again and the Smuggler gave the ride he promised but only took them as far as Strarus City on planet Kortog.

The Smuggler ejected Ratchet and Clank onto the surface of Startus City, because a lifeform scan on his ship detected the Lombax. After fighting through the city, the Zoni upgraded Clank with the Robo-Wings, when Ratchet and Clank flew to the Hall of Knowledge with the Zoni's guidance. There they learned that Fastoon was a Lombax planet. They then fled in an escape pod to the planet before reinforcements arrived.

The two landed on the devastated Lombax home world. Ratchet wondered where all the Lombaxes were and Clank told him that the planet was deserted years ago. They found an old ship named Aphelion, where they found five Lombax Flight Components scattered around the area. Clank made his way through a Raritanium mine with the help of the Zoni, and obtained a sixth one. They then repaired Aphelion, who told them what happened on Fastoon. Aphelion played a holo-vite that Ratchet received, which told him about the Imperial Fight Festival on planet Mukow.



They soon found that Qwark had sworn loyalty to Tachyon after fighting in a tournament on Mukow. Qwark was given an infobot as a prize. The infobot revealed that Tachyon was plotting to search the entire Polaris Galaxy to find the Lombax Secret. Tachyon thought the secret was hidden in the Apogee Space Station in the Nundac Asteroid Ring.

Heading to the Nundac Asteroid Ring, they found the Smuggler who gave them the launch code to a pod that would take them to the Apogee Space Station if they gave him three Leviathan Souls. Ratchet and Clank killed the Basilisk Leviathans, collected the souls and gave it to the Smuggler, who gave them the code. Ratchet and Clank rode the pod to the station's Maintenance Hub, traversed it and rode the elevator to the intern of the station. There they fought through the security system and almost made it until the final door locked. The Zoni upgraded Clank with the Geo-Laser and they then cut the wall open. Cronk and Zephyr tried to attack Ratchet, but ended up running into each other. Talwyn then appeared and threatened to send Ratchet the airlock. Zephyr then said, "Put that Lombax in his place!" This made Talwyn realize that Ratchet was a Lombax and she told Cronk and Zephyr to lower their weapons. Talwyn then told Ratchet of Max Apogee and how space pirates raided the station and stole a pyramid-shaped artifact. Ratchet recalled the Smuggler mentioning pirates on planet Ardolis, so they flew to the Pirate Base located in the Irquol-Sul fjords.

Ratchet and Clank made their way to the treasure room and recover the artifact, but saw Captain Slag and Rusty Pete flying to the room on a sail barge, so they hid behind a treasure chest. Slag's potent sense of smell told him that there was a Lombax in the room. Talwyn then appeared and threw a smoke bomb, when Ratchet and Clank dropped down a hole and made their way to the Skull Radio Tower. Outside the tower, they met up with Talwyn, Cronk and Zephyr. Talwyn couldn't make the artifact work, so Ratchet asked her if she needed help, when she then gave it to Ratchet. The artifact hovered over his hands and when he pressed one of the sides, a 3D map of a planet appeared, which Talwyn recognized as Rykan V. They then flew to the planet, but first fought through a fleet of ships in the Rakar Star Cluster.

Ratchet, Clank, Cronk and Zephyr performed a HALO jump and fought through Tachyon's forces to fight to a spaceport, where they separated. On the spaceport, Ratchet and Clank bought a Gyro-Cycle from the Smuggler, who said he got it from a Lombax who modified it with a terrathruster. They then made their way to a room with the Gyro-cycle, where they met up with Talwyn, Cronk and Zephyr. Ratchet then unlocked the door to the room, which was filled with nothing useful, except an ancient holo-vid projector, which revealed to them that the Lombax Secret was a helmet called the Dimensionator and told them to report to the testing facility on planet Sargasso for test subjects.

They then travelled to planet Sargasso, where they tried to find a testing facility once run by the Center for Advanced Lombax Research as stated in a HoloVid. The Smuggler pointed out a incapacitated Robo-Wings pad and offered to give them a Decrypter to fix it for three leviathan souls. After killing three Grunthors, they headed back to the Smuggler and traded. Ratchet then successfully got the pad working with the Decrypter and the duo flew off towards the facility with the Zoni's guidance. Once at the testing facility, Ratchet and Clank encountered the Plumber once again. The Plumber then said that no possible weapon could wipe out an entire species, so he gave them a 3 ¾ Centicubit Hexagonal Washer, and then left by flushing himself down a large toilet. Clank was doubtful whether the Cragmites were vaporized at all. Qwark then contacted the heroes on their way back to Aphelion and said he may have found a clue.

After battling through another tournament on Mukow, Qwark gave them a holo-vid displaying IRIS, the largest supercomputer in the Polaris galaxy, which Ratchet then believed to know where the Dimensionator was. After downloading the coordinates to IRIS's location, Clank then went inside the computer to repair it. The Zoni appeared yet again and Clank had a vision of Talwyn being locked away in Zordoom Prison. Ratchet then learned about Tachyon's origins. He was frozen in an egg and found by Lombax trillium miners on the Kreeli Comet who then raised him on Fastoon. However, once he learned of his Cragmite heritage and origins, he waged war against the Lombaxes. Ratchet then had an argument with Clank regarding the Zoni.

The duo then travelled to Zordoom and freed Talwyn from her cell, when they began to split up. Once Ratchet and Clank got back to Aphelion, Talwyn contacted them and said she found Cronk and Zephyr in the scrap compressor. They then flew towards planet Jasindu, but first fought through Slag's fleet in the Verdigris Black Hole.

Ratchet and Clank landed on Jasindu where the pirates were at war with the Kerchu. They made their way to a grind rail, traversed it while a large robot controlled by Kerchu tried to kill them, and destroyed the robot in an arena. An elevator built into the arena ascended with the Dimensionator. Captain Slag and his pirate fleet then arrived and took the Dimensionator and threatened to kill Ratchet and destroy Clank if they followed him. But Aphelion tracked them to Slag's Fleet in Ublik Passage.

The heroes willfully followed them to their fleet hidden in the Ublik Passage and defeated Captain Slag. Ratchet was then given the "honor" of becoming the new Captain of the space pirates by Rusty Pete. Ratchet refused and said he just wanted the Dimensionator. Qwark then popped out of a pirate crate, took the Dimensionator and vowed to throw it into a black hole. He then flew away in a pod. Ratchet asked Rusty Pete where the pod would fly, and he answered that it landed on planet Reepor, the Cragmite home world. Rusty Pete considered Ratchet the captain.

Ratchet, Clank, Cronk and Zephyr performed a HALO jump and fought Tachyon's forces. Cronk and Zephyr then took control of two large cannons, while Ratchet, Clank and Talwyn tried to find a way inside the stronghold. They then split up, when Ratchet and Clank made their way to a raised platform and found Tachyon wearing the Dimensionator while he had Qwark under the clutches of a leg from his walking throne. Tachyon summoned the Cragmites from exile. Ratchet was knocked unconscious and he was then separated from Clank. Clank found his way back to Aphelion with the help of the Zoni. They showed him another vision of Ratchet standing in front of a portal on Fastoon before a muffled scream was heard. Ratchet then traversed his way back to Aphelion and found Talwyn and Zephyr repairing a broken Cronk. Ratchet was devastated when he thought that Clank had perished. Clank then flew down with the Robo-Wings and the two of them were reunited. Aphelion said that her sensors had picked up a Cragmite armada rapidly approaching Meridian City on planet Igliak. Talwyn told Ratchet that Meridian City was the capital of the Polaris Galaxy and that they needed to hurry while she and Zephyr repaired Cronk.

Ratchet and Clank then travelled to Meridian City, fought off Tachyon's forces, Gyro-cycled through the Sector-3 Construction Zone, flew through a tunnel and found Qwark cowering in a closet at the end point. Clank then believed that Tachyon may be headed for Fastoon, based off his vision from the Zoni. Ratchet then willingly agreed to go there, finally seeming to believe Clank about the Zoni.

Ratchet, Clank, Cronk and Zephyr performed another HALO jump and destroyed five Magna Cannons so Talwyn could land. Once they fought through Tachyon's Cragmite army on Fastoon, Ratchet, Clank, Talwyn, Cronk and Zephyr arrived in the Court of Azimuth, an old Lombax citadel. Tachyon then revealed a large amount of information about Ratchet. The Lombaxes took shelter behind the walls and used the Dimensionator to flee to another dimension after Tachyon invaded Fastoon. Only two Lombaxes stayed behind, the keeper of the Dimensionator and his infant son (who Ratchet realises was himself). Ratchet's father was revealed to have been killed by Tachyon but not before sending Ratchet to Veldin, which explained how Ratchet came to be on the planet. Tachyon then opened a portal to the Lombaxes' dimension and gave Ratchet the chance to join them. Ratchet however realised that no one would be safe as long as Tachyon had the Dimensionator, so he vowed to destroy the device. Ratchet and Clank then battled Tachyon with some assisting gunfire from Talwyn, Cronk, and Zephyr. After they got Tachyon to about ¾ of health, the Dimensionator opened up a portal which sucked Tachyon in. Clank admitted to Ratchet that wormhole devices were dangerous. Ratchet said that it was not like a holo-film, when Tachyon grabbed Ratchet's hand with a leg from his throne and took them with him. They ended up on a large asteroid. Tachyon then was defeated and he declared that only he knew Ratchet's real name, his father, and his purpose and was then sucked into a black hole. Ratchet and Clank then landed on an asteroid where they defeated Tachyon. After the battle, the whole place started collapsing into a black hole. Ratchet tried to use the dimensionator but noticed that the Primary Reflux Coil for the device was missing. Clank then held up the 3 ¾ Centicubit Hexagonal Washer the Plumber gave them on Sargasso which Ratchet put in the Dimensionator. Ratchet and Clank then used the Dimensionator to "find home". Ratchet then awoke surrounded by Clank, Talwyn and Cronk and Zephyr.



Back on Apogee Space Station, Rusty Pete tried to teach Qwark how to become a pirate, and Cronk and Zephyr pretend to redo the battle between Ratchet and Tachyon. Ratchet wondered if Tachyon told the truth about his purpose and father. Clank told Ratchet that Tachyon was telling the truth and that Ratchet had filled his purpose by vanquishing Tachyon. The Zoni appeared once more, visible to everyone. They then trapped Clank in a psychic field and took him through into a dimensional portal only to tell him who he was and who he became. Ratchet tried to stop the Zoni, but the portal ejected him to the ground. The Zoni then mind-melded Clank and he "willingly" went with them. The game ended with Ratchet staring upwards at where Clank was taken, speechless.

Gameplay
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction has been regarded as the greatest Ratchet and Clank game ever released (and the best game, currently on PS3 only) for the game's lush visuals and fun game play mechanics, although the game itself is not that different to any other Ratchet and Clank game. Clank returned as a playable character where he controls futuristic robots called the "Zoni" to aid him in his platforming adventures, such as giving him the ability to slow down time, or modify Clank himself to earn new capabilities, such as the Robo-Wings for flight and the Geo-Laser to cut holes through walls.

The game also featured a powerful new group of "Combat Devices", weapons that are too powerful to be used as a full weapon, but still aid the user in combat. Such devices were the Groovitron or Mr. Zurkon. Combat Devices could not be upgraded (except for the Groovitron). They only had an ammunition capacity ranging from one unit to four units (except for the Golden Groovitron, which had an infinite ammunition capacity), and the only way to replenish ammunition was to buy it from device vendors, or to bust open crates that contained Raritanium. There were a total of eight combat devices (including the Golden Groovitron).

The game did not, however, feature online play, as the developers felt that other important parts of the game would have to be sacrificed in order to accommodate online play. This came as a shock to gamers, as the two previous Ratchet and Clank home-console games (and even the Size Matters PSP game) had online play.

Unlike previous games, Tools of Destruction did not support PS2 memory-cards to unlock previous weapons, due to the previous installments in the franchise having a much lower polygon-count. Instead, weapons and devices from previous games had been upgraded and were re-drawn instead.

Characters

 * Apogee, Talwyn
 * Clank
 * Cronk
 * IRIS
 * Plumber, The
 * Qwark, Copernicus Leslie
 * Ratchet
 * Rusty Pete
 * Slag
 * Smuggler
 * Tachyon, Percival
 * Zephyr
 * Zoni

Weapons
The following weapons are available in Ratchet & Clank: Future: Tools of Destruction:


 * Combuster
 * Fusion Grenade
 * Plasma Beast
 * Tornado Launcher
 * Shock Ravager
 * Predator Launcher
 * Shard Reaper
 * Buzz Blades
 * Nano-Swarmers
 * Alpha Disruptor
 * Pyro Blaster
 * Negotiator
 * Razor Claws
 * Mag-Net Launcher
 * RYNO IV

Combat Devices
Combat devices were limited use items with immense power or advantages, they were left out of previous games to keep balance but were to be featured in Tools of Destruction as special items for tight situations.


 * Groovitron
 * Golden Groovitron
 * Visi-Copter
 * Transmorpher
 * Mr. Zurkon
 * Death Springs
 * Leech Bomb
 * Confuzzler Gas
 * Mega-Leech Bomb

Gadgets

 * Swingshot
 * Geo-Laser
 * Heli-Pods
 * Holo Pirate Disguise
 * Gelanator
 * Robo-Wings
 * Decrypter
 * Grind Boots
 * Gravity Boots
 * Charge Boots
 * Bolt Grabber
 * Gyro-Cycle

History
At the 2006 Game Developers Conference, a Ratchet & Clank tech demonstration was shown for the PlayStation 3. The tech demonstration video showed a walk-through of one of the levels from the game. It was a huge futuristic city with greenery grown in places which end up leading to a tunnel. The tunnel has gears rotating inside of it with plants growing around; as it looked like the person walking through it had just come out of a dark jungle. The city itself was huge with massive, futuristic buildings and towers with flying cars everywhere. The city was later confirmed to be Kerchu City.

It was revealed at the end of 2006 that the game would use the graphic engine of Resistance: Fall of Man.

In late 2007, the game was released.

Reception
The game was universally well received, earning an average score of 89 out of 100 on Gamerankings.com, and has won numerous "game-of-the-month" awards from various different magazines and web-sites. It received 98 out of 100 on PS3M (PlayStation 3 Magazine) and was highest rated PS3 game for several weeks after its release.

Sequel
During the Sony Conference at E3 2008, a short downloadable sequel was announced titled Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty. After Clank's mysterious abduction by the Zoni, Ratchet set off to find Captain Darkwater, a Pirate and an apparent expert on Zoni culture. He discovered Darkwater was dead, but his clues were scattered around Hoolefar Island. Ratchet was helped by Talwyn and together they explored Planet Merdegraw. In the game, there would be four locations for him to search for clues; the Pirate Fleet, Hoolefar Island, Morrow Caverns and Darkwater Cove. An all new wrench mechanics allowed Ratchet to push, pull, and manipulate objects around him. As a mix of Light/Dark gameplay, Ratchet had to illuminate dark areas with Heliogrubs and use his wits (and wrench) to survive. The player must solve pirate puzzles, mix and brew, manipulate shadows and play tunes to find hidden booty. The game also welcomed all new enemies and offers up to four hours of gameplay for a smaller price. Quest for Booty was only available on the PlayStation Network, but had been confirmed it would launch on both the PlayStation Network and Blu-Ray Disc for Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In the last scene, Ratchet discovered one of his old enemies was holding Clank captive in the Breegus Nebula, who was none other than Doctor Nefarious from Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal who tried to turn all of Solana into robots and would be returning in the next game as Ratchet declared he would save him.

Trivia

 * In Europe the game had a different cover and was called Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, due to difficulty in translating "Future" into all the required languages.
 * A demo of the game could be found on the PlayStation Network, on the PS3.
 * As a joke, when Ratchet and Clank meet the Plumber, the plumber says, "Almost didn't recognize you there in high-def." This is a joke because of the improvements of graphics on the Playstation 3.
 * In the level "Nundac Asteroid Ring", the first seven letters of the Greek Alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilion, Zeta, and Eta were used as teleporters and the first six letters were necessary for a skill point called "Alphabet City".
 * It was found, that some users could not load the game, with a message saying there was not enough space, despite the hard drive being far from full. A workaround was released, allowing users to add or remove 500mb of content, after which the game should load normally.
 * There was a skill point named "Gotta Catch Them All", a self-explanatory reference to the Pokémon series.
 * Throughout cutscenes, in a few brief shots, Ratchet's eyes are aqua, but in another shot his eyes are green again.
 * A developer at Insomniac Games is named Robert Percival, but this may or may not be the basis for the name of the main antagonist.