Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One

"It's time to go back to the way things were, ya know? Leave that hero stuff to the other guys."

- Ratchet talking to an interviewer.

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One is an upcoming game for the PlayStation 3 developed by Insomniac Games. It will be the next game installment in the series and will be succeeding the Ratchet & Clank comic series in the Ratchet & Clank series. The game is a platformer shooter, however, it relies on a four-player co-operative system where the players can choose to play as either Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark or Nefarious.

Plot
The game takes place two years after Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, Dr. Nefarious' latest plan to destroy Ratchet and Clank goes wrong and leads to the capture of Ratchet, Clank, Galactic President Qwark and Dr. Nefarious himself by the Creature Collector. The vast interstellar machine transports the foursome to Planet Magnus -- a planet far away from the Polaris Galaxy. But now, the galaxy's finest (and not quite so fine) heroes and its most evil villain are forced to work together to get back home safety.

Gameplay
Like previous games, All 4 One is a platformer loaded with over the top weapons, but a four-player drop in-drop-out co-op system has been added. The four players can be local, through the use of multiple controllers; online players, through the use of the Playstation Network; or AI, controlled by the CPU. If there is a single player, the game will give him or her one CPU controlled player. Each character uses their own unique attacks, such as Clank spinning on the spot to defeat enemies or Nefarious using his claw like hands to slash through enemies.

A ring is placed below each playable character that is currently assigned to a player to indicate they are currently being used. Whenever a character is blocked out of sight by another object, an icon above their head with a cartoon picture appears in the foreground to indicate the character's position. These pictures emphasize the new cartoon look of the characters, such as Captain Qwark's bigger chin being the centerpiece of his picture.

Cooperative Gameplay Mechanics
There are many new gameplay mechanics that require cooperation between players. An cannon-like machine with four barrels can be opened to reveal four buttons. If each player steps on a button, the machine will close. Then graphics will appear, indicating that the players must move the left analog stick in a circular motion to wind back each barrel. When all of the barrels are wound back, the cannon will shoot the team up to farther locations.

Some of the other multiplayer mechanics include turning a Bolt Crank with four handles, or plummeting down a wind tunnel and having to hold onto each other to get back out.

Whenever an enemy is killed or a task is completed through teamwork, the team gets points as well as bolts. A large rising number with a plus sign next to it appears to indicate the amount of points acquired. Insomniac says that this will "incentivize" cooperation, but won't say how the points will do this, though it is likely they are some form of currency.

The triangle button is used as an action button in this game and some objects have a triangle button icon floating over it whenever the characters are close. Whenever a player holds the triangle button, their character performs the action related to it.

Team gameplay remains a crucial aspect and whenever one player needs Nanotech, a red cross icon appears and the player flashes red to indicate they are low on health. Much like the Nano-Pak, extra nanotech can be stored and then passed onto a team mate. Points are gained when health is passed over.

The camera moves to capture all of the players due to the multiplayer platforming aspect of the game. During combat segments or boss fights, the camera always faces towards the enemies in hand and gives the optimal position for gameplay at all times, such as giving a side view when using the Swingshot.

Players can also choose to play competitively. The Vac-U 4000 can be used to suck up other players and shoot them down bottomless pits. The swingshot can also be used to pull other players into bottomless pits. To prevent players abusing these mechanics and acting like total "jerks", Insomniac has added a points system to "incentivize" cooperation. In addition, the competitive mechanics can be switched off if this becomes a problem.

Weapons & Gadgets
Because of the new four-player co-op gameplay, new weapons and gadgets have been added. An example is a gadget called the Vac-U 4000, which works in a manner similar to the Suck Cannon. It can be used to suck up items like the Boltergeist, or to suck up other characters. The Vac-U could then shoot the Boltergeist into a socket to active machinery. The Vac-U can shoot out players that it sucked up to cross gaps or to get them to previously unaccessible areas. The Vac-U could also be used to shoot other players into the air for a Mario-like stomp. This mechanic is used a boss battle where the Vac-U was used to shoot players into switches to beat the boss. Other items that could be sucked up were two weapon-like objects that were connected by electricity, similar to the electricity between two Tesla Spikes. Two players suck each of the objects, and the electricity between the two objects shocked enemies. This is an example of how weapons are especially powerful when used together with the other players.



The Swingshot returns with a co-op twist. The versa-targets are placed with a lot of space between them, which means a single character could not swing to the next versa-target. However, in All 4 One, a player can latch onto another player who is hanging from a versa-target. Each target had a number which indicates the amount of characters required to latch onto each other in order to reach the next target. The Swingshot can also be used to perform a special move called the Mortar Sling in which one character latches onto another character, and at the peak of the motion when latching on, they sling off and possibly dodge enemy fire or get to other places.

Art Style
The game has altered the art style from past PlayStation 3 titles. It has probably been based off the comic series, with Ratchet's face becoming wider, Qwark's facial features looking different and all the body to head ratios of the characters have been changed. The game takes place two years after A Crack in Time so it could signify how the characters have changed, but most of the characters have turned into a more cartoon style, evident with Ratchet's lack of visible fur, the head-to-body ratios and the paler skin colors.

Cell-shading returns with many of the characters being cell-shaded and explosions also taking on this cartoon style. The whole cartoon style, in fact, may be inspired by the Ratchet & Clank Comic Series

Characters

 * Ratchet
 * Clank
 * Commander Spog
 * Qwark
 * Dr.Nefarious
 * Creature Collector
 * Skrunch (cameo only)

Weapons

 * OmniWrench Millennium 12
 * Combuster

Gadgets

 * Vac-U 4000
 * Swingshot

Armor

 * Pilot Suit

Planets

 * Magnus

Items

 * Bolts
 * Boltergeist
 * Gold Bolts

Miscellaneous

 * Crates
 * Nanotech

Videos

 * All 4 One Gamescom trailer
 * Gameplay from Gamescom