Rift Apart brings ray tracing - and not much else - to Ratchet & Clank

Ah, that’s a shame. It sounds like my reaction to the Ratchet & Clank reboot on PS4. Maybe those of us who are “A Crack in Time” fans just have unreasonable expectations from this franchise.

I have the same feeling about performance options in console games. I don’t mind that they exist but can there be a console where I don’t have to make any choices please?

Well that’s good to know, this was definitely the most interesting looking PS5 game I’ve seen so far. I guess I’ll just stick with the four PS2 R&C games I’ve been playing for jeez, nearly twenty years??

… but like the difference between the disco ball and the lawn sprinkler, it’s just a low-effort reskinning.

I’m gonna have to think about that one for a bit.

Yet I’m riding the same slow elevators, and sitting through the same spaceship loading screens

But I was breathlessly assured that the PS5 signaled the end of this!

I’m perplexed by that, as that doesn’t map to the game I played. The load times are lightning fast and I can maybe thing of one elevator in the entire game.

Ouch.

I can think of at least a half dozen elevators. What do I win? Can we do spaceship cinematics next, because I know you can think of more than one of those?

The point is that rifts do nothing to help loading times. The same level architecture exists here that always existed in Ratchet & Clank. As well as any other games, for that matter. Anytime you ride a slow elevator, watch an unskippable spaceship cutscene, or walk down an empty corridor while some characters explains something, you’re probably loading content. And all that stuff is in this game, regardless of rifts.

-Tom

Again, I feel like you and I played two different games.

Well, it’s possible, since I didn’t buy the premium edition.

-Tom

I’m not sure I’d call the 4 second space ship transitions used to move you between completely different planets equivalent to the loading screens of the past. There are multiple times you can walk through a portal into a completely new environment, and two levels built completely around hitting a crystal to instantly change the entire level around you. If you’re on a slow elevator it’s probably for pacing, storytelling or dramatic effect.

Both of which I’ve seen in other games, including some old games. It’s nothing special seeing it in a Ratchet & Clank and it certainly doesn’t require any fancy new Rift ™ technology.

My point remains: Rift Apart has no meaningful differences from the previous games. The fundamental architecture is the same. With the exception of some minor elements with no gameplay implications – for instance, all the neutral robots milling around the city level and mining level – it would have worked just fine on a PS4.

-Tom

Only by sacrificing level size and fidelity. Rift Apart didn’t have to make such cuts.

I wonder whose idea it was to add running around shooting at stuff in a game already consisting of running around shooting at stuff?

Also, wait… is Sony telling you poor dears that analog triggers are only possible on the PS5?

Poor, poor dears.

Fidelity? You mean the setting in the graphics option that slows the game down? Is that the “fidelity” you’re talking about? I wouldn’t know, because I mostly played with it turned off. :)

-Tom

It’s my understanding that if you play some generic platformer demo called Astro Boy or something, you’ll appreciate what the PS5 controllers might one day possibly add to videogames in the future that could support its features if any developers so choose.

-Tom

Tom,

Your experience doesn’t match me or anyone I know of that has been playing Rifts Apart on PS5. I’m not sure where the difference lies but load times are exactly what is missing from it. It’s smooth as butter from beginning to end and there is a lot more going on for it than simple ray tracing.

Where is this obsession with loading times coming from? I don’t doubt the PS5 loads stuff more quickly. I mean, sheesh, it better. But I also don’t understand how that’s relevant to anything I wrote in the review, much less how you seem to think it’s somehow a counterpoint. Do you think elevators and spaceship cutscenes are there to entertain you? Do you think Rift Apart magically eliminated the need to load stuff? If so, I have some bad news.

Do tell! Because this actually sounds relevant. What do you think Rift Apart has going for it?

-Tom

Yeah you’re just in troll mode.

fuk, u chick!!!

Forgiving action platforming. Non-frustrating puzzles (unlike in Fenyx Rising, which I had to bail on because I didn’t want to have to constantly consult a walk through while I played). An engaging new protagonist (Rivet). Enjoyable story beats.

I’m only about 40% through it right now but as a filthy casual, it hits all the right notes for me. You may just be too elite and jaded for it, Tom.

Also, just to chime in: I can’t remember any significant loading screens or filler. But I wasn’t looking for it.

I also just chose performance RT mode as the only way to play. Based on videos from Digital Foundry, it’s the perfect mixture of performance and eye candy. They surely would have made it the default if it hadn’t been a week 1 patch addition.