Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

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
Ratchet and Clank respond to Captain Qwark's call for help while on the planet Kerwan. They find that a large army of robotic commandos have laid a full-scale assault on the capital city, led by Emperor Tachyon, crown prince of the Cragmites. Tachyon reveals that he is after Ratchet, the last Lombax in the galaxy; outnumbered and overpowered, Ratchet and Clank flee. The two decide they must learn more about Tachyon and begin to search the universe for answers. During their investigation, Clank is visited by small robots called the Zoni that only he can see; the Zoni upgrade Clank and tell him that he is special, and that he must help Ratchet make a difficult choice in their current adventure.

As they travel from planet to planet, they learn from allies that during the Great War long ago, the Lombaxes had wiped out all of the Cragmites, and were considered heroes of the universe. Exactly how the Lombaxes had done so, however, was unknown, and that had become known as the Lombax Secret. Ratchet learns of the abandoned home planet of the Lombaxes, Fastoon, and goes there to learn of the Lombax Secret, revealed to be the "Dimensionator", a helmet that is able to open wormholes to other dimensions. The Lombax had used it to banish all the Cragmites to an alternate dimension, except for one; Tachyon was found as an egg after the Great War, and was raised by the Lombaxes; after learning what the Lombaxes had done to his species, he launched an all-out attack on Fastoon. The Lombaxes realized that the best solution was to send themselves to another dimension with the Dimensionator, attempting to fool Tachyon that he had destroyed the race, though two were left behind: the Guardian of the Dimensionator and his son. Tachyon reveals that he ended up killing the Guardian but not before he could send his son to the Solana galaxy, and that Ratchet is that son.

Recognizing that Tachyon plans to use the Dimensionator to bring back the Cragmites from banishment, Ratchet and Clank recover it first, but Captain Qwark shows up and tries to destroy it himself; the blunder allows Tachyon to recover the device. As the duo confront Tachyon with his assembled army on Fastoon, which Tachyon plans to remake as the new Cragmite homeworld, Tachyon tempts Ratchet by opening a wormhole to the dimension where the Lombaxes now live, but, with help from Clank's advice based on the Zonis' warnings, Ratchet recognizes he must stop Tachyon completely, or else the Cragmites will not only control this dimension but also the Lombax's dimension. Ratchet and Clank fight Tachyon first in the Court of Azimuth, and then in another dimension and defeat him. The Dimensionator is damaged during the battle, opening a black hole that Tachyon falls into after declaring that the return of the Cragmites is inevitable. After Ratchet and Clank are able to flee, the device becomes irrepairable.

As Ratchet and Clank and their allies gather to celebrate the victory, the Zoni show up, now visible to everyone. The robots tell Clank that they are now going to bring him "home", to show him "who he is" and "what he'll become". Clank "willingly" goes with them despite Ratchet's protests; the game ends with the disappearance of Clank and the Zoni, with Ratchet stunned and helpless to stop them. The end of this plot leaves the game as a cliffhanger,the story will continue with Rathchet and Clank Future:Quest for Booty, a downloadable 4 hour game on the Playstation Network store in USA and Japan and on Blu Ray disc in PAL territories.

At the start of the game Ratchet and Clank are about to try out one of Ratchet's new vehicles, but then Clank receives a distress call from Captain Qwark, who is at the planetary defense center. Before Ratchet & Clank get there, Metropolis is suddenly attacked by a race of aliens called the Drophyds. They work for Emperor Percival Tachyon, last of the Cragmites, the most evil threat in the universe. The Cragmite Emperor is hunting down Ratchet who is revealed to be the last Lombax in the known universe and the greatest threat to Tachyon's Empire. Escaping from Kerwan in an imperial warship, Ratchet & Clank crash-land on planet Cobalia in the Polaris Galaxy.

Leaving Cobalia with the help of a Smuggler, the two land on the Lombax homeworld, Fastoon and find a ship named Aphelion. During this time, Clank finds the Zoni, a race of telepathic creatures that only he appears to see.

They soon find that Qwark has sworn loyalty to Tachyon after fighting in a tournament on Mukow. Heading to the Nundac Asteroid Ring after fighting Captain Slag's Pirate Forces, they stumble upon three people: a girl called Talwyn, and two war bots called Cronk & Zephyr. All five search for the mysterious 'Lombax Secret'. On Rykan V Ratchet and Clank learn that the Lombax secret is called the Dimensionator, but they are unaware of what it's function is.

They then travel to planet Sargasso and try to find a testing facility once run by the Centre of Advanced Lombax Research as stated in a holo-vid. Once at the testing facility, Ratchet and Clank encounter the Plumber once again. The Plumber then says that no possible weapon can wipe out an entire species, then leaves by flushing himself down a large toilet. Clank is doubtful whether the Cragmites were vaporised at all.

Qwark then contacts the heroes and says he may have found a clue. After battling through another tournament, Qwark gives them a holo-vid displaying IRIS a large supercomputer which Ratchet then believes to know where the Dimensionator is. After downloading the co-ordinates to IRIS's location, Clank then goes inside the computer to repair it. The Zoni appear yet again and Clank has 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 trinium miners who then raised him on Fastoon. However, once he learned of his Cragmite heritage, he waged war against the Lombaxes. Ratchet then has an argument with Clank regarding the Zoni.

The duo then travel to Zordoom and save Talwyn, Cronk and Zephyr. Afterwards, Ratchet and Clank travel to Kerchu City and recover the Dimensionator. Space pirates then arrive and take the Dimensionator. The heroes follow them to their fleet and defeat Captain Slag. Ratchet is then given the "honour" of becoming the new Captain of the space pirates by Rusty Pete. Qwark then arrives and takes the Dimensionator and vows to throw it into a black hole. However, he crash lands on the Cragmite homeworld of Reepor where Ratchet and Clank follow him. Tachyon then takes the Dimensionator and summons the Cragmites back into this dimension. Ratchet is knocked unconcious and he is then seperated from Clank.

Clank then makes his way back to Aphelion alone. The Zoni appear again and show Clank a vision of Ratchet standing in front of some kind of portal before a muffled scream is heard and the vision ends. Ratchet arrives back at Aphelion and is devastated as he thinks Clank has perished. Clank then flies down with the Robo-Wings and the two of them re-unite. They then travel to Meridian City and fight off Tachyon's forces and find Qwark cowering in a closet. Clank then believes that Tachyon may be heading Fastoon, based off his vision from the Zoni. Ratchet then agrees to go there, finally seeming to believe Clank about the Zoni.

Once fighting through Tachyon's Cragmite army on Fastoon, Ratchet, Clank, Talwyn, Cronk and Zephyr arrive in the Court of Azimuth an old Lombax Citadel. Tachyon then reveals a large amount of information about Ratchet. The Lombaxes used the Dimensionator to flee to another dimension after Tachyon invaded Fastoon. Only two Lombaxes stayed behind, the Keeper of the Dimensionator and his baby son (who Ratchet realises is himself). Ratchet's father is revealed to have been killed by Tachyon but not before sending Ratchet to Veldin, which explains how Ratchet came to be on the planet. Tachyon then opens a portal to the Lombaxes and gives Ratchet the chance to join them. Ratchet however realises that no-one will be safe as long as Tachyon has the Dimensionator and vows to destroy the device. After being sucked through a dimensional portal, Tachyon is defeated and is thrown into a black hole. Ratchet and Clank then use the Dimensionator to "find home". Ratchet then awakes surrounded by Clank, Talwyn and the two war-bots.

Back on Apogee Station, the Zoni appear once more, visible to everyone. They then trap Clank in a psychic field and take him through into a dimensional portal. The game ends with Ratchet staring upwards at where Clank was taken, speechless.

With this cliffhanger ending, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty will explain what happened next.

Gameplay
Ratchet and 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 gameplay mechanics, although the game itself is not that different to any other Ratchet and Clank game. Clank returns 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 levitate objects, or modify Clank himself to earn new capabilities (such as wings for flight).

The game also features 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 are the Groovitron or Mr. Zurkon.

The game does 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 does not support PS2 memory-cards to unlock previous weapons, due to the previous installments to the franchise having a much lower polygon-count. Instead, weapons and devices from previous games have been upgraded and re-drawn in Tools of Destruction.

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 are limited use items with immense power or advantages, they were left out of previous games to keep balance but are 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 - A glove that shoots a grapple that will latch on to versa-targets and allows Ratchet to swing across cliffs
 * Geo-Laser - An upgrade that allows Clank to cut through walls and ground and is controlled by the Sixaxis controler.
 * Heli-Pods - A glove that shoots out a heli-pod that lifts massive weights and hazardous objects affixed with a self-adhesive Heli-target.
 * Holo Pirate Disguise - A pint-sized holo-morphic pirate disguise which disguises Ratchet as a robo-pirate.
 * Gelanator - A gadget that allows Ratchet to drain or fill a standard G4-MW isobaric gelatonium pump.
 * Robo-Wings - Powerful robotic wings, when charged, allow Ratchet to fly without having a time limit.
 * Decrypter - A small metal ball that is used for hacking into and is controlled by the Sixaxis controller.
 * Grind Boots - Boots used to slide along specially designed grind rails.
 * Gravity Boots - Boots that allow Ratchet to walk on a gravity defing track.
 * Charge Boots - Boots that contain rocket boosters that allow Ratchet to charge for a short period of time.
 * Bolt Grabber - A gadget that increases Ratchet's bolt pick-up range.
 * Gyro-Cycle - A hovering glass ball big enough for Ratchet to fit inside.

Characters
(In order of appearance)
 * Ratchet
 * Clank
 * Captain Qwark
 * Emperor Percival Tachyon
 * Zoni
 * Smuggler
 * Captain Slag
 * Cronk
 * Zephyr
 * Talwyn Apogee
 * Rusty Pete
 * The Plumber
 * IRIS

History
At the 2006 Game Developers Conference, a Ratchet & Clank tech demonstration was shown for the PlayStation 3. The tech demonstration video showed a walkthrough 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; 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 will 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 92 out of 100 on Gamerankings.com, and has won numerous "game-of-the-month" awards from various different magazines and web-sites. It recieved 98 out of 100 on PS3M (PlayStation 3 Magazine) and was highest rated PS3 game for several weeks after its release.

Trivia

 * In Europe the game has a different cover and is 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, he 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 are used as teleporters and the first six letters are necessary for a skill point called "Alphabet City".