Ratchet & Clank Collection

works as expected

When I first got my PS3 I was a little disappointed selling m PS2 so I could afford it. I was left with all 4 original Ratchet and Clank games sitting on the shelf. Little by painfully little I sold my PS2 games off. But I held off on selling those 4, hoping some patch would be wired so that I could play them on my non backwards compatible machine. However I grudgingly sold them and they slowly drifted into the past. Now, about a year ago when the GoW collection got released. This spiked my hope. I was one of the 2000 or so that sent a petition to make a R&C collection. I searched all over each Google page. I even went to page 2 of the Google search. :) Then my patience was rewarded when I saw this! And my passion for R&C got re-ignited with the goofy, sarcastic, and power packed gem that is R&C. Obviously I don't need to go into any review for the original trilogy since we all know how great it is otherwise you wouldn't be here. But let's focus on the HD re-release.First off I have beaten all 3 and gotten most of the trophies. (All except 3 on R&C 3) So I feel that I know the game well enough to make a good review of it.The first thing you'll notice is the main menu. And while I enjoy the little commercial esque scenes on which game you highlight. I must point out that switching between the 3 is a PAIN. You sometimes have to press left or right like 4 or 5 times for the menu to notice and if you accidentally click on one you didn't mean to pick you have to restart your PS3 since there's no in game switching.Now after you get into the games you'll instantly feel right at home with the controls. They're exactly like their old counterparts. And the graphics are much more crisp, they're aren't blocky like they use to be. Now, don't expect Uncharted material here, but the graphics are smooth. Virtually no loading screens and no choppy scenes like some HD remakes.Now for the trophy support. Personally I love trying to get all the trophies. It makes playing and replaying seem exciting. Sweating your hands off just for that one more trophy. However, one game in particular, the original, seems like they tried way too hard. Some of trophies just seem like they aren't worth getting if you don't know a glitch past them. For instance, the 1,000,000 bolt trophy. If you just blast through the game without buying anything but necessary. You'll end up with around 300,000 bolts.... 4 playthroughs!!!??? In the original there was a way to get past it, but they took that glitch away. So in other words if you don't find another glitch you have to beat the game 4 times, which seems a little ridiculous considering it's the weakest of the 3. But I digress. It's still a fun and engaging challenge for even the most experienced R&C player.Unfortunately there are rumors that the PS4 will not be backwards compatible at all. If that's the case I think I'll hang on to my PS3 and keep playing this extremely addictive trilogy! ;)

As a fan of 3D platformers, which are one of my favorite genres, I'm frankly sad to see that they don't seem to make nearly as many as they used to. For the critics of that type of game (even I think they tend to have at least SOME bad camera angles), that may not be a problem, but for me it's a bit of a drag. (This isn't to say that I've really cared for EVERY one I've played.) But what can you do, I guess. Being such a fan of that genre and of R&C, there was no way that I could resist writing a review for this collection at some point!Since the three games in this collection are such "classic" and well-known games, I'm not going to go into detail about how they play or what they're about. But I WILL say that while I like all three games, the first one is my favorite. They did improve some things in the other two, particularly the interface, but still, the first one is the one I like most overall. (I can't be the only one who finds the ending of Ratchet 2 --- which IS a good game --- to be about the lamest in the history of video games, or at least in the games they've played!) I don't really understand some criticisms I've read about the controls.However, while these are fun games and it's great to have them all on one HD collection (they look GREAT!), they're kind of glitchy here; I don't recall them being this glitchy in their original PS2 releases. Don't get me wrong --- I'm not saying the collection is totally ruined because of them, or anything like that, but it's weird that they have these glitches on PS3 when they didn't have them on PS2 (again, not as I remember). The glitches I've seen (or heard, in some cases) include some minor but sort-of weird graphic ones (especially Big Al's graphic on Ratchet 1, which looks like the "parts" don't come together quite right), and some rather irritating sound glitches, where the sound of something continued for a long time after it should have stopped. Also, when selecting weapons from your arsenal, it can sometimes take a couple tries or so before the games actually arm you with the one you selected, as they don't change the weapon at all or even give you the wrong one! The biggest glitch to occur so far on my copy of the collection has been the game freezing (on Ratchet 3), but that's been the ONLY freeze-up so far. (Each game on the collection has been played many times.)Despite these glitches, this is a great collection, and I recommend it to any R&C fan who may not have it. If it wasn't for the glitches, I probably would have given it five stars! If you like these games on PS2, I think that having the HD graphics alone would make them worth getting again on this collection!