Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time
Totally completed at this point. Fun game, and the designers were fairly smart in making the Hoverboots also the Boost Boots, and they actually made the starting weapons useful! (Gasp!) Yeah, I had a lot of fun with this game. Got all the skill points (Kinda... Cheated with the hardest one in the game), got all the trophies, so we're good.
The puzzles were also pretty fun. For a good part of the game, it's separated into Ratchet sections and Clank sections, being able to do the Clank sections once you were traveling to a new galaxy. The puzzles involved Time Pads, and making multiple recordings of Clank to press multiple buttons at once to open up whatever doors needed opening. One optional puzzle had me stuck for ages until I realized a few extra things about distance.
Challenge Mode - Actually somewhat difficult. Same game, but a lot more intensive with how hard things hit. Final boss actually survived a full clip from the Omega RYNO V. How? Unknown.
Each weapon managed to be pretty darn unique, though, so... Evaluations time!
1. Constructo Pistol -> Mega Constructo Pistol (More Power?): 7/10
This is the gun you start out the game with. The kicker? Depending on the situation and how you want to mod it, it actually keeps some use in the late-game. It starts out being your basic fast-fire pistol with an averageish ammo size, but by the end of the game, I had a rapidfiring laser gun that reflected bullet to multiple enemies, or did really nice damage to the enemies it did hit. Very fun to use, and easy to level up.
2. Constructo Bomb -> Mega Constructo Bomb (More Power?): 8/10
First weapon you can buy, and it's much like the Bomb Glove. The difference? Again, it stays useful. Upgrades keep this weapon mighty useful throughout the game, and its power was enough that I actually used it frequently in the later areas. Started out with a small blast radius, but then I got it doing shockwaves with bonus damage. I liked it a lot. Easy to use, powerful against a lot, and another easy to level up.
3. Mr. Zurkon -> Zurkon the Destroyer (Explosive Rounds?): 4/10
This... Um... I can't say I'm too terribly impressed by this one. Sure, it upgrades and has ammo at the same spot at the weapon shops (a plus over its ToD form), but... It's just there. It's somewhat noticeable, but not very. Gives some tink damage here and there, but... Yeah. Don't quite know how it levels up (maybe just from using it?), but it seemed to level up at an average pace. One of those weapons where you just release and ignore until it blows up.
4. Sonic Eruptor -> Super Sonic Eruptor (Longer Range?): 5/10
It's a decent crowd control weapon, where the only downside is that it hits things in a large cone in front of you. How is this a downside, you ask? Imagine if enemies are right next to you, slightly to the left or right, and this weapon can't hit them. Yeah. Interesting mechanic in making the weapon have more power depending on the timing of when you fire it. Also, there's a novelty value of firing mating calls at enemies to kill them, other than knocking down whoever it hits for a while, leaving them open to another shot. Okay to use, average to level up.
5. Dynamo of Doom -> Dynamo of Devastation (More sparky?): 7/10
Remember what I said about the Super Sonic Eruptor? This is instead a charge weapon, but it does what the previous weapon does... Better. More range, more damage, little knockback though. You can even run into it for a little more protection, and sort of control its direction with the sixaxis (it's no Tornado Launcher, but it'll do). Just a shame about the only-average ammo count. Okay to use, easy to level up.
6. Tesla Spikes -> Storm Spikes (More Lightning): 9/10
Another set and forget weapon, but these were fun to see in action, and actually powerful to boot. The downside is that they don't move. The upside is that they have a rather wide range, and if you set up poles close enough together, you can actually make something of an electric fence that most enemies will be stupid enough to walk right into. Low ammo count and you can only have five out at a time, but it's an acceptable sacrifice for awesome. Decent to use, average to level up.
7. Plasma Striker -> Plasma Slayer (More damage on weak spots?): 2/10
Ugh. I hate this weapon. It's good if you can get into a safe spot and snipe enemy weak points it notes (which makes it actually powerful)... But the problem is finding those safe points - at the time you can kill maybe one enemy, you have either a whole bunch of other enemies coming at you, or enemies with their own projectiles making life harder for you. Did I mention that you're severely hampered while you're in scope mode? 'Cause you are. I found it easier to kill things with the wrench than this waste of bolts. Difficult to use, hellishly annoying to level up.
8. Negotiator -> Judicator (Three missiles fired at once for the price of 1 ammo): 5/10
Standard Missile Launcher. There was the novelty of getting this weapon for free... And then the damage from it failed to impress. Worse yet, the ammo was severely limited, making it... A good dust-gathering weapon. Okay in its own right, just... Underwhelming, compared to some of the other weapons. Okay to use, average to level up.
9. Constructo Shotgun -> Mega Constructo Shotgun (More damage?): 8/10
This weapon... Is awesome. Like the other Constructo weapons, it starts out pretty basic, and then once you get the upgrades... HELL YEAH. Would be an awesome boss-slayer if it had more ammo and damage, due to the fact that with one of the upgrades you can get, it paralyzes whatever it hits for a short while. Yes, this includes bosses. It also has a good reload time and you can chain that effect into itself, so it sees a lot of use in the early parts of some of the boss fights. Easy to use, decent to level up.
10. CryoMine Glove -> Blizzard Mine Glove (No clue.): 1/10
Easily the most situational weapon in the game. It freezes enemies. Oftentimes goes for the smaller enemies, and the enemies you want to use it on don't stay frozen long enough. Less than 15 shots, impossible to hit more than one enemy, finicky targeting, and it does piddly damage, making leveling it up a royal pain. After getting it to level 5, which was a miracle to my patience upon itself, I never touched it again. Easy to use, frustrating to level.
11. Groovitron Glove -> Groovibomb Glove (When the dancing ends, it falls and explodes on enemies): 10/10
...Best... Tool... Ever. Sure, it does no damage, but the only thing immune to it are transport ships. The effect? Everything in its range starts dancing uncontrollably. This includes bosses. Not only does it not need to kill things to level up, it also makes leveling up other weapons a lot more painless. I could wish it was more like the Golden Groovitron after hitting VX, but that'd be too broken. Simple to use, easy to level.
12. Buzz Blades -> Doom Blades (Forgotten): 8/10
Decent weapon. Caused quite a bit of damage in its day, even though it goes through ammo like no tomorrow. Auto-targets and each blade hits the enemies multiple times, so it sees quite a bit of use. Also fun if you've turned on the cheat to have your bullets have a trail of rainbows, so you're shooting Rainbows of Doom at everything. Slightly better than its Tools of Destruction form. Easy to use, average to level up.
13. Mag-Net Launcher -> Mag-Net Cannon (Releases tiny bomb-things after catching an enemy): 5/10
See Cryomine Glove. Okay, that's not fair to say. It actually does damage, has a semblance of range, and can somewhat combo with the Cryomine Glove. Still was a professional dust-collecting gun, though. Easy to use, average to level up.
14. Spiral of Death -> Spiral of Carnage (Three blades instead of one): 7/10
This thing had power. It also had really weird aiming and a low ammo count. I found the damage was actually worth it sometimes, but... After some of the other weapons started getting more powerful, this one started collecting dust too. Poor thing. I actually liked this one, too. Average to use, average to level up.
15. Chimp-O-Matic -> Chimpositron (Targets two enemies at once): 7/10
Okay, another novelty weapon. Turns enemies into chimps, right? This also ignores shields, but doesn't cause any knockback. L5 made me grin for the novelty, but then I found it faster just to blow stuff up. Took me FOREVER to get it upgraded, too. Hard to use, hard to level up.
16. Rift Inducer 5000 -> Rift Ripper 5000 (Forgotten bonus): 6/10
Another stationary throw and forget weapon... That gets trumped by the Storm Spikes for everything but range... Sometimes. Fun seeing some tentacle monster named Fred come halfway out an interplanetary wormhole to eat my enemies, at least. Simple to use, average to difficult to level up.
17. RYNO V -> Mega RYNO V: 2/10
This... This is the saddest RYNO since the Rynocinerator in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. Using a RYNO is supposed to be an "I Win" button, but...
1: It has ~3000 bullets. Not bad, you say? How about when it's going through ~100 bullets a second, and each bullet only has Tink potential AT BEST?
2: It's a short range weapon. Yeah, sure, extra missiles blah blah blah... Thing is, this barely touches bosses that fly, or are extremely mobile anyway.
3: No real upgrades to speak of. Sure, yeah, more bullets, but what good are those if you can't hit the bosses with them?
Anywho, awesome effort. I've heard rumors that this is the last game in the series, but... No, the ending is complete sequel bait, I refuse to believe that it's over.
My first PSN Platinum Trophy, though!... It's so shiny~.
Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice - Back to this! Mao's at level 90. I just opened up Chapter 6. It's my first run. Am I overleveled at all?
