One of PlayStation‘s longest-running and prolific franchises, Ratchet and Clank, hit a middling period at the centre of the PS3’s life cycle with two spin-off titles. The first of which is today’s focus, All 4 One. This entry takes the usual affair of ridiculous weapons and platforming, but with a twist: having full 4-player co-op available by playing either locally or online. Not only this, but the platforming elements are simplified by implementing a static camera angle more akin to the brawler genre of game. This style of gameplay seemed to take over the licenced game market in the 7th generation, but it feels right here.
Friends With Benefits
One of the major strengths that I don’t see discussed often is that almost the entire game takes place on one single planet: Magnus. This means that most of the story flows from location to location in a linear fashion, allowing the locale to feel fleshed out with different biomes, notable buildings, and smaller towns, too. Having four playable characters also leads to many more character interactions; forcing Qwark and Nefarious to work together and not try to kill each other alone makes the story worth playing through.
Contrary to what you may feel about one planet feeling stale or samey after a while, each area you drop into feels unique and believable, yet still part of the same world. Every area is loosely connected, whether that be via caves, mountains or sea. Personally, my favourite locale is the box factory. We all wondered where they came from, and it’s nice to see this kind of meta humour in the series.
Mixing Up The Formula
Offering a unique gameplay style for the series, whilst still staying familiar with its weapon variety, enemy types and collectables, All 4 One is a serviceable break from the traditional Ratchet formula. It allows the player to experiment with possibilities that a single-player adventure can’t quite offer. The game introduces two fantastic new gadgets that take advantage of the multiple-player elements. This includes mirror shields that reflect lasers to solve puzzles (think Wind Waker) and the Vac-U 4000 (this game’s main utility gadget), the latter of which allows you to suck up critters to access the Ryno and pick up your friends and launch them into higher areas for easier traversal.
Another great addition is that if both players use the same weapon and shoot at a single enemy, it will overcharge and do a ton more damage. Strategy can play a huge part in combating larger enemies to deal with them quicker. The aim of the game is to work together and use the same arsenal to quickly take down problematic foes.
Considerations
Beating The Game
All 4 One is around 10 hours long and is completely playable both in single-player and up to 4-player co-op. Something to consider is that upgrades and bolts are tied to specific characters, so switching on the fly is not recommended; it’s best to stick to your chosen character. No level is inherently difficult, but the game is much easier and much more fun if you can grab either a local buddy or one online to play with. The gameplay can get quite repetitive, so playing multiplayer definitely lightens the load. Consider that you will need to play a little while as each character for their weapon-specific trophy, but this should be done in the post-game.
Online Trophies
Unfortunately, there are two online trophies, which are both relatively easy, but there is a catch. If you’re playing on a used copy on PS3, then you will need to purchase an online pass (remember those?) for £8/$8. But if you’re streaming the PlayStation Plus Premium version, this includes the online pass, so it is much more accessible for the online aspect. The actual online trophies are for joining a lobby and playing an online game, so I’d recommend grabbing it on PS Plus Premium if you don’t have an online pass.
Potentially Problematic Trophies
There are a few notable trophies which are worth considering and may cause some issues; these include:
Bomb Disposal – Blow up 85% of the exploding crates in Aldaros Plains.
This is theoretically simple: run through the level and blow up as many of the crates you come across. But if you die, all of the crates will respawn. It turns into a test of endurance and may take a few attempts to memorise the route. It’s best to revisit this with weapon and health upgrades.
El Matador – No one gets hit by a grove beetle in the Deadgrove.
This can be tricky with friends, so it’s best to approach it in single player and memorise the path. Fortunately, it’s right at the start of the level.
A Moment of Reflection – Use only Reflectors to destroy the generators in Phonica Moon’s security tunnels. (2P+)
This one is tricky because one: you need a second player, and two: you cannot accidentally destroy the generators in any other way, so be careful!
Night Lights are for Wimps – Get through Rossa Fields without using any of the energy repositories.
The difficulty from this comes from the darkness. When the field gets dark, you’ll get swarmed, and it’ll reduce your energy. Run and gun, and you should be fine.
Q-Force Legend – Kill 50 enemies in a row using melee without taking damage.
Easier on earlier levels, but no picnic. If you take any damage at all, even from the environment, your streak is reset. It’ll take some practice, but the melee does a decent amount of damage.
The Grind
Ah, yes. The worst part of this Platinum journey: the great bolt grind. You need to upgrade every weapon to its max. This is ordinarily a relatively simple task. You see, in most Ratchet games, the weapons level up from usage, so simply shoot stuff and level up. Unfortunately, All 4 One decides to take the pay to upgrade route, which means bolts. And a lot of them. But to make matters worse, you need to have 1 million bolts banked at one time. This means that you can’t just grind, buy weapon upgrades and max them all out as you go.
No, you need to bank them and then purchase them afterwards. If you don’t, you’ll be doomed to play the same level forever. There is one saving grace: if you play with other players, then you will get more bolts. So a four-player lobby will make this go by super quickly. Great, right? Well, unless you have three willing friends, you’d best hope there are still people playing this 15-year-old game. Once you’ve grinded bolts for several hours, this will be done, and your journey will be complete.
Conclusion
While not difficult, this Platinum trophy is probably the most tedious Ratchet and Clank game to date. While you don’t need to resort to exploits to get trophies, its repetitive nature and grind really detracts from a generally fun experience. If you’re trying to get every Ratchet Platinum, then this one will test your patience. This isn’t to say that it’s long enough to be a big burden on your time. I’d likely recommend every other Ratchet game over this, but I don’t think you should skip it completely. If you have friends to play with, this is an enjoyable experience with lots of fun to experience. But alone, you’ll definitely feel the lack of other players.
Video game completionist and 3D platformer connoisseur, Riley is a fan of the whimsical frenzy of bright and colourful characters that blessed us in the late 90's. Their favourite game's are Spyro, Persona 5 and Super Mario Sunshine.
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