Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (known as Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty in Europe) is an installment in the Ratchet & Clank series developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is the second installment in the Future series, following Tools of Destruction and preceding A Crack in Time. It was initially released August 2008 for the PlayStation 3 as a digital download, and later released on blu-ray disc outside of North America. It was also added to the PlayStation Now streaming service library of games.
The game is a short adventure taking place after Tools of Destruction, in which Ratchet is on a search to find and rescue Clank from the Zoni. Following a tip from the IRIS Supercomputer about a pirate named Angstrom Darkwater, Ratchet and Talwyn Apogee traveled to planet Merdegraw. There, the two found themselves caught up in a battle against the space pirates in their quest to use Darkwater's Obsidian Eye.
Quest for Booty uses very similar gameplay to Tools of Destruction, with all weapons originating from the latter. It mainly differs in that Ratchet is without Clank, and now makes of an OmniWrench Millennium 12, which uses a kinetic tether allowing him to move obstacles and manipulate objects, while also allowing him to pick up and throw items with the wrench.
Gameplay[]
Ratchet moving a platform with the OmniWrench.
Quest for Booty is a third dimensional action adventure game with elements of shooting, platforming, and puzzle solving, in which the player controls Ratchet, a lombax searching for his friend Clank (who is not playable). Its gameplay is very similar to Tools of Destruction, with new platforming and puzzle segments featuring the OmniWrench Millennium 12. This allows Ratchet to pick up and throw objects (or creatures known as heliogrubs), and manipulate other objects from a distance.
Ratchet holding a heliogrub.
The game reuses weapons from Tools of Destruction, namely the Combuster, Fusion Grenade, Tornado Launcher, Shock Ravager, Predator Launcher, and Nano-Swarmers, all at V3 and upgradable to V5. The Alpha Cannon can be purchased from the Smuggler, coming at V5. While Raritanium weapon upgrades do not exist, the special modification for each weapon previously available as Raritanium upgrades can now be found hidden in certain areas. The gadgets, aside from the OmniWrench Millennium 12 are the Swingshot, Grind Boots, and Gravity Boots, all available immediately.
Unlike previous entries, there is no challenge mode.
Synopsis[]
Setting[]
Quest for Booty continues a year after Tools of Destruction with Ratchet and Talwyn Apogee searching for Clank after he was taken by the Zoni, and is set on planet Merdegraw in the Polaris Galaxy. Merdegraw is a tropical planet filled with several small islands out in its Azorean Sea. The largest inhabited island is Hoolefar Island, home to the hoolefoids, a friendly race who are led by Mayor of Hoolefar Island, Barnabus Worley. Other islands visited are either controlled by or contain ruins of dead space pirates, such as Morrow Caverns, Darkwater Cove, and the Lythoin Caves. These islands often contain relics and old treasures of the dead pirate captain, Darkwater.
Timeline-wise, Deadlocked is noted to have occurred a few years prior,[1] while A Crack in Time occurs shortly after,[2] albeit in the next year.[3]
Plot[]
Ratchet and Talwyn searching for Clank using the IRIS.
After learning from the IRIS Supercomputer about Angstrom Darkwater, a pirate expert on Zoni culture, Ratchet and Talwyn arrived at a pirate fleet on Planet Merdegraw. As Rusty Pete revealed in a prologue, the pair traveled to Merdegraw seeking Darkwater's knowledge. They encountered Rusty Pete, who was holding the head of Captain Romulus Slag, still mourning his captain's death. Pete's surprise at seeing Ratchet and Talwyn alerted the pirates.
Pete pretending to be Slag.
The local pirate leader, Sprocket, informed them that Darkwater was dead and shot Ratchet out of a cannon, landing him on an adjacent ship. Despite fighting through several ships, Ratchet and Talwyn were eventually captured and prepared for another cannon blast. Rusty Pete, disguising himself as Slag by wearing his head, convinced the pirates to send Ratchet and Talwyn to Hoolefar Island, where they would supposedly find what they sought. Sprocket agreed, and the pirates launched them towards the island.
Meeting Barnabus Worley.
On Hoolefar Island, Ratchet saw Clank suspended in a blue energy field, asking if he was alright. Before he could grab him, Clank vanished, and Talwyn landed next to Ratchet. Convinced that Rusty Pete sent them there for a purpose, they traversed the island's wilderness and reached another beach. They met Mayor Barnabus Worley, who informed them that their supply beacon was nonfunctional, preventing communication. Ratchet offered to fix the five wind turbines and bought a VersaBolt from the Smuggler to complete the repairs. Talwyn mentioned the villagers' talk of a "curse" but provided no details.
After fixing the beacon, Mayor Worley showed Ratchet the Obsidian Eye, a powerful lorentzian telescope built by Darkwater to communicate with the Zoni. However, the Eye was nonfunctional without its power source, the Fulcrum Star, which was buried with Darkwater in Morrow Caverns. Darkwater's journal mentioned a curse: anyone disturbing his body would resurrect him and his crew. Rusty Pete arrived, guiding Ratchet and Talwyn to Morrow Caverns. Talwyn got trapped behind an old door, and Ratchet promised to save her.
Rusty Pete merging Slag and Darkwater.
Navigating the caves and old shipping rails, Ratchet found Darkwater's remains, and a map inside of his head. Pete boarded the ship, checked for traps, and reattached Slag's head to Darkwater's body, casting an eerie green light. Slag gained control of the body, but Darkwater's cursed spirit also inhabited it, forcing them to share. As Darkwater's crew rose from the dead, Ratchet returned to the barge and chose whether to free Talwyn or escape Morrow Caverns. Regardless, he returned to Hoolefar to defend the island from the merged Slag and Darkwater.
Slag and Pete kidnapping Talywn and the Fulcrum Star.
If Talwyn was rescued, she helped in the battle against the undead pirates. If left behind, she returned using her booster pack, angry at Ratchet for abandoning her and comparing her feelings to Clank's. Ratchet approached the Smuggler to decipher the map, leading them to Darkwater Cove, where Darkwater had hidden his treasure. Ratchet and Talwyn deceived the security gate into thinking Ratchet was Darkwater, reaching the treasure room. Ratchet spotted the Fulcrum Star but fell into the Lythoin Caves due to a trap door. Slag/Darkwater captured Talwyn and locked Ratchet inside.
Slag and Darkwater after being defeated.
Escaping the caves, Ratchet, with the Smuggler's help, flew to Slag/Darkwater's fleet in the Azorean Sea. He freed Talwyn, and they confronted Slag/Darkwater. After a lengthy battle across multiple ships, Slag/Darkwater was defeated, breaking the curse. Slag's head fell into the sea, and Pete jumped after it, dropping the Fulcrum Star, which Ratchet retrieved. Returning to Hoolefar, Ratchet powered up the Obsidian Eye.
Ratchet and Talwyn using the Obsidian Eye.
The Eye revealed Clank surrounded by three Zoni in a beam of light. Clank briefly awakened, speaking gibberish, indicating trouble. The Zoni mentioned "The Doctor" coming to fix him as a mysterious figure descended the stairs, slipped on a feather-duster, and revealed himself as Dr. Nefarious, shouting for his butler, Lawrence. The coordinates led to the Breegus Nebula, and Ratchet vowed to rescue Clank from Nefarious and the Zoni.
Meanwhile, in the Azorean Sea, Pete finished recounting the tale to Slag's head as they drifted on a wooden crate. Slag ordered Pete to start rowing to the nearest island.
Development[]
Quest for Booty was a short project developed by a small team, with the plan being to make a concise and compelling game without making too many new assets, which led the team to use the space pirates from Tools of Destruction as a base.[4]
Quest for Booty was announced in E3 2008, announced as a shorter, bite sized title that would appeal both to fans of the previous games and work as an introduction to the series.[5] The game was released a few months later.
The inclusion of "I'm a little teapot" when Slag opens doors led to lawyers contacting Insomniac, though the team settled out of court.[6]
In June 2011, after the PlayStation Network outage, the game was part of the European Welcome Back package, and was downloadable for free for one month. A download code was provided in all physical copies of Into the Nexus[7]
Soundtrack[]
The soundtrack was the last soundtrack composed by David Bergeaud.
Reception[]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 77.80% (based on 46 reviews)[8] |
| Metacritic | 76 (based on 46 reviews)[9] |
| Publication | Score |
| Eurogamer | 7/10[10] |
| GameSpot | 7.5/10[11] |
| IGN | 7.4/10[12] |
Quest for Booty received overall positive reviews. Reviewers praised the visuals and gameplay and found it a tightly-focused game with good pacing, while criticizing the short length, lack of new weaponry, and missing series elements, such as Clank and Captain Qwark.[10][11][12]
Due to the small development team and short development time, the game was one of Insomniac's biggest returns on investment.[6]
Gallery[]
.png "Quest for Booty front cover (EU).png (4.3 MB)")
.jpg "Quest for Booty front cover (JP).jpg (159 KB)")
Citations[]
- ↑ Quest for Booty script § "Repair the Wind Turbines (gameplay)"
- ↑ Pre-E3 2009: Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time Lombax-Lovin'
- ↑ A Crack in Time script § "Pirate Radio"
- ↑ The Art of Ratchet & Clank, p. 163
- ↑ Devries 2008
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Dawkins 2018
- ↑ Stevenson 2013
- ↑ GameRankings 2019
- ↑ Metacritic 2023
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Bramwell 2008
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 McShea 2008
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Dunham 2008
References[]
- Devries, Jack (2008, July 15). "E3 2008: Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty". From IGN. Archived from the original on January 18, 2024.
- Dunham, Jeremy (2008). "Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty Review". From IGN.
- Bramwell, Tom (2008). "Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty". From Eurogamer.
- McShea, Tom (2008). "Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty". From GameSpot.
- Stevenson, James (2013, October 16). "Buy Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus, Get Quest for Booty". From PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on January 18, 2024.
- Dawkins, Dan (2018, March 26). "“We made a four-page manual on crate stacking”: Ratchet and Clank’s creators on the lessons of their 15-year success story". From GamesRadar. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018.
- Sony Interactive Entertainment (2018). The Art of Ratchet & Clank [Book]. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1506705729.
- (n.d.) . "Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty for PlayStation 3". From GameRankings. Accessed January 18, 2024. Archived from the original on December 9, 2019.
- (n.d.) . "Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty for PlayStation 3". From Metacritic. Accessed January 18, 2024. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023.