Ratchet & Clank Collection

The Ratchet & Clank Collection (Japanese: ラチェット&クランク1・2・3 銀河★最強ゴージャスパック lit. Ratchet & Clank pack strongest ★ gorgeous galaxy 1+2+3), also known as the The Ratchet & Clank Trilogy in PAL regions, is a PlayStation 3 game that is a collection of Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. All three titles are remastered in high-definition with optional 3D support. The collection was released as part of the ten year anniversary of Ratchet & Clank. It is still awaiting release in North America and Japan where it is set for release on August 28, 2012 and September 6, 2012 respectively.

Overview
The collection was officially announced by Sony and Insomniac Games on 15 March 2012. The collection includes the original trilogy in remastered 1080p and 720p Stereoscopic 3D support. It also includes the multiplayer of Up Your Arsenal over the PlayStation Network, as well as full trophy support for each game.

A separate high-definition remake of Ratchet: Deadlocked will be released on the PlayStation Network Store.

Special surprise
Insomniac Games announced during the reveal of the Collection that there will be worldwide suprise for the 10th anniversary of the Ratchet &amp; Clank series. This was revealed to be the release of Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault. In addition to this, to compensate for the gap in between the PAL and NTSC releases, North American fans will also receive another surprise as part of the release which was later revealed to be a Demo of Sly 4 and a special Ratchet & Clank 10th anniversary avatar.

Differences from the original release
The gameplay of all three games remain almost identical to the original, with only some minor changes made in addition to the high-definition graphics. Some changes are intentional modifications such as fixing exploits or providing additional content, while other changes are unintentional such as the addition of several bugs or glitches into the game.

Across all three games some minor issues occur including the music occasionally not looping seamlessly and instead playing the first few seconds of a song, then starting again and continuing to the end - the cycle repeats perpetually. In addition to this each game has a complete collection of PlayStation trophies to collect, including a platinum trophy for each game. The draw distance of all non-player characters are improved across all three games, allowing further viewing.

Ratchet & Clank

 * The exploit to explore the hoverboard tracks on foot in Ratchet & Clank by entering the race disguised no longer works, per the Platinum re-release of Ratchet & Clank.
 * Some weapon and Gadgetron vendor graphics in are vertically compressed.
 * The music where you confront Drek on Veldin is missing, and instead the regular level theme is played.
 * Sound effects for acquiring Gold Bolts or items such as the Code Bot have been changed.

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

 * The pause menu screen sometimes lags behind with the background image.
 * The Maktar Resort no longer rotates.
 * The cutscenes which follow the Behind the Hero segments are not shown unless you skip the segment itself.
 * The scene in which Ratchet exits his ship upon landing on a planet has been removed unles you re-enter and exit the ship again.
 * The Abercrombie Fizzwidget Bot on Todano no longer speaks while giving the tour. This greatly increases the ease at earning the You're my hero skill point.
 * Protopet corpses often don't disappear on planet Yeedil.

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

 * Extra skins are purchasable in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, such as the Ninja Ratchet and Sumo Ratchet skins. These two skins have not existed in any previous version and were likely created by Idol Minds.
 * Similarly, the Santa Ratchet skin is now accessible by pausing and inputting Up, Down, Up, Down, Square, Square, Square, as is the Pipo-Saru Ratchet skin by pressing Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Left, Right, Right, Square, Square, Square at the pause menu. These two skins were previously exclusive to the Japanese version of Up Your Arsenal.
 * Some of the display elements in Up Your Arsenal are a slightly different hue to the orange-brown color in the PlayStation 2 version.
 * Some particle effects are missing, such as some bloom particles and loading screen effects on Aquatos in Up Your Arsenal.
 * The each sound effect for when the ship is flying from planet to planet has been swapped around.
 * Like in Going Commando, Ratchet's helmet is slighty too big for his head in the cutscenes.
 * Some enemies fire double-shots when launching their attacks.

Additional plot
"Kicking your posterior hub is one data file I'll always enjoy replaying."

- Clank to Nefarious.

Some additional plot could be found in the instruction manual.

After returning home after the events of All 4 One, Clank accessed his data files and showed them to Ratchet and Qwark, who watched the events of Ratchet & Clank. Qwark stated that the story was only good because he, as the galaxy's greatest hero, was in it.

At some point Angela Cross also appeared to visit Ratchet and Clank and stated that she wished to go on another adventure with them sometime, with Ratchet joking about how dangerous their last one was. They then proceed to watch the events of Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando.

Clank then met with Nefarious and they insulted each other before the group watched the events of Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal.

The Ratchet & Clank Collection manual
The following appear in the plot found in the instruction manual.

Characters

 * Ratchet
 * Clank
 * Qwark
 * Angela Cross
 * Nefarious

Characters

 * Chairman Drek

Organizations

 * Megacorp

Species

 * Lombax
 * Protopet
 * Tyhrranoids

Weapons

 * Omniwrench 8000

Critical reception
The Ratchet & Clank collection received generally positive reviews. IGN rated the game as an 8.5 out of 10, giving particular credit to the gameplay. The majority of praise for the game came from the fun, original gameplay that is as good as ever and the good quality upscaled graphics. It did draw some criticism for its apparent lack of innovation. Metacritic scored the game at 80 out of 100 from 26 critics, with mostly positive reviews.

The Official PlayStation Magazine gave the game an 8 out of 10 and praised the inclusion of multiplayer that many PlayStation 2 players may have missed out on the first time around. However it did criticise the quality of the cut-scenes for being in their original format and resolution. The Sixth Axis gave the game an eight out of ten, suggesting it's perfect for those who love to collect things and that it is also interesting to observe the duo's development over the trilogy. However they also criticised a lack of innovation between games.

The Guardian.co.uk praised the game, stating that they had aged well and offered great value to gamers. Gaming Bolt was one of the few sites to mention the 3D options of the game in a review. They claimed that it was a stable experience but did not add anything to the collection and questioned why it was added to the game.

Digital Spy gave the game four out five stars stating that the gameplay hadn't aged and that, thanks to Idol Minds, the graphics were equally good. It also stated that they would've liked to see more bonus content for Ratchet & Clank fans. Eurogamer rated the collection as 9/10 and stated that criticisms were "hard to find and even harder to make stick."