Preview: Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One

During my time with Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, I found myself cheering and laughing with three other journalists as we tested out one of the many game play mechanics that was nothing short of fun. This was definitely the most fun I had in a co-op driven game in a while.

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One introduces four player co-op to the series, allowing players to play as either Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark ( who I played as), and Dr. Nefarious. But don’t worry, this can be played solo as well. The developers talked about how this has been a dream project for them for a quite a while, and that they were very excited to finally build this game. It was evident as they showed us a demo walk-through before we got a chance to get our hands with this quirky title.

This game will pick up right where Crack in Time Left off, so expect a full fledged story. Insomniac hopes to deliver a cinematic experience not only in cut scenes, but in game play as well.

The walk-through showed off a never before seen level, Terrawatt Forrest. It opened with all four players on top of a raft. The players had to work together in order to steer the boat, by shooting their vacuum gun into any of the four engines. This section showed off how well players must work together in order to succeed at any given moment in this game. After the raft segment, the walk-through took us to land where we got a taste of the combat that players will come to expect. Here fans will find the series’s signature weapons like the Dark Star Fission rifle. If all characters use the same weapon, a powerful attack can be performed, but the weapons do have the ability to combine with any other weapon in the game.

Each character also has their own unique abilities. Clank can use a bomb that slows down time, allowing players to revive fallen comrades. Captain Qwark can a bring up a shield, which can protect him and anyone else that walks within the his shield sphere.

The next section we saw introduced the Guardian Bot.Ratchet and his gang commandeer the giant robot, as they the traveled through the rest of Terawatt Forest. This section of the walk through showed off its on-rails game play. A few moments in this segment, other Guardian Bots attacked the one our heroes were sitting atop. This lead to large scripted battles with giant foes.

After the walk-through, I finally got my chance to check out this game for myself. I quickly found that game play is well polished, which made my time with the game that much better. Game play offered several of moments where all four of us had to act together in order to lower a platform, or call a gigantic turtle for us to traverse across in order to reach the other walkway.

In combat, we were able to see how effective the weapons can work with one another. I used a type of leash that I could swing around an enemy, which allowed my partners to unleash all of their fire power upon it, laying waste to it in mere seconds. There are many moments like this where players can lay waste to enemies by combing weaponry.

One other game play mechanic that I had the most fun playing was the Swingshot. This works like a tether that players can latch on to others players whenever jumping over huge gaps, or gliding across the map in certain locations. In one example, there was hook for one of our players to grab onto, while the rest of us can hook up to one other, and use each other to swing across the large gap. When we realized how exactly to perform this, we began to laugh and cheer at this wonderful mechanic. The Swingshot can also be used to save players whenever they are falling off the edge, providing near misses whenever traversing one of the many platforms in the game.

Ratchet Clank: All 4 One is looking good at this moment during development. This is definitely a co-op experience to look out for when it releases some time in the fall.