PS3 Turns One!
Frost the cake and wrap the presents - today marks the PlayStation 3's first birthday.
It's been a tumultuous 12 months for Sony's new pride and joy. PS3 sales remain lodged in third place behind the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360, several top-tier titles have been hit with delays and there are ongoing rumblings from some game programmers that the system is a beast to work on.
But the chunky toddler seems to be finally finding his feet. Sales are on the rise, thanks in part to a new $399 PS3 model, while improvements to the console's system software have added some nifty features.
And most importantly, the killer games are finally starting to arrive, heralded by a pointy-eared alien and his robot life partner. What? Oh come on, they're so a couple. Don't even.
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is the first game since the year-old launch title Resistance: Fall of Man (also by Ratchet creators Insomnicac Games) that could truly convince some fence-sitters to take the next-gen PlayStation plunge.
It's the latest installment in the five-year-old fan-favorite franchise -- say that fifty times fast -- and easily the best, though it doesn't stray far from the R&C formula: Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly blow the crap out of everything that stands in your way.
The story centers on an evil space monarch trying to eliminate Ratchet as the sole survivor of his species (Clank's Tin Man-like discovery that he has a soul also factors in there), though this mainly serves as the spark that drives the duo from one visually stunning world to another, upgrading weapons, exploring sprawling environments and finding new and often hilarious ways to eliminate their opposition. Everything fits together seamlessly, and even the corny one-liners seem a little funnier this time around.
Tools of Destruction is not going to blow your mind with innovative new approaches to gameplay or storytelling. There are all-new weapons and creatures and planets and mini-games, but at its core this is the same Ratchet you know and love, wrapped up in a slick high-def package. Which isn't a bad thing, really.
About the only major fault with Tools of Destruction is that it has no multilayer component. Fans of Ratchet: Deadlocked who enjoyed blowing the bolts out of one another on the PS2 will have to content themselves with solo play in this installment.
For Sony's sake, we hope Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is a sign of games to come, and not just a happy blip. The PS3 is finally starting to move from a crawl to a walk.
It's been a tumultuous 12 months for Sony's new pride and joy. PS3 sales remain lodged in third place behind the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360, several top-tier titles have been hit with delays and there are ongoing rumblings from some game programmers that the system is a beast to work on.
But the chunky toddler seems to be finally finding his feet. Sales are on the rise, thanks in part to a new $399 PS3 model, while improvements to the console's system software have added some nifty features.
And most importantly, the killer games are finally starting to arrive, heralded by a pointy-eared alien and his robot life partner. What? Oh come on, they're so a couple. Don't even.
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is the first game since the year-old launch title Resistance: Fall of Man (also by Ratchet creators Insomnicac Games) that could truly convince some fence-sitters to take the next-gen PlayStation plunge.
It's the latest installment in the five-year-old fan-favorite franchise -- say that fifty times fast -- and easily the best, though it doesn't stray far from the R&C formula: Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly blow the crap out of everything that stands in your way.
The story centers on an evil space monarch trying to eliminate Ratchet as the sole survivor of his species (Clank's Tin Man-like discovery that he has a soul also factors in there), though this mainly serves as the spark that drives the duo from one visually stunning world to another, upgrading weapons, exploring sprawling environments and finding new and often hilarious ways to eliminate their opposition. Everything fits together seamlessly, and even the corny one-liners seem a little funnier this time around.
Tools of Destruction is not going to blow your mind with innovative new approaches to gameplay or storytelling. There are all-new weapons and creatures and planets and mini-games, but at its core this is the same Ratchet you know and love, wrapped up in a slick high-def package. Which isn't a bad thing, really.
About the only major fault with Tools of Destruction is that it has no multilayer component. Fans of Ratchet: Deadlocked who enjoyed blowing the bolts out of one another on the PS2 will have to content themselves with solo play in this installment.
For Sony's sake, we hope Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is a sign of games to come, and not just a happy blip. The PS3 is finally starting to move from a crawl to a walk.
