Yes, I should be writing about horror games given how close Halloween is, but I was feeling nostalgic for one very specific game. I’ve been re-playing the cartoonish 2002 sci-fi 3D action-platformer game “Ratchet And Clank” again. And, due to a combination of tiredness and writer’s block, I thought that I’d talk briefly about why this game couldn’t be made today. And, no, this isn’t about the fitness trainer character…
(Click for larger image) Even though, as you’d expect from 2002, there are a lot of crass jokes at her expense.
No, this is more about the systems and world-building in the game. For starters, the sci-fi world of the game is an incredibly capitalistic one – the villain is the boss of an evil corporation, but there’s also a neutrally-presented weapons/gadget company who has vendors in every level who will sell you ammunition. Many characters also require bribes or fees before the game will let you progress as well. Virtually everything involves the game’s currency – “bolts”.
Thankfully, because this is a completely “offline” PS2 game, the only way to get this currency is to actually play the game. You find it by defeating monsters and smashing wooden boxes. Later in the game, you can also get a metal detector which lets you find hidden underground caches of it. All of this encourages you to explore and/or to fight. It also gives you goals to aim for and it gives you a reason to return to earlier parts of the game and re-play them. It’s the whole thing about earning resources and then spending them. And this only works because the game is a PS2 game from 2002.
With modern internet-connected “AAA” games, there are often in-game micro-transactions, where players are encouraged to spend real money on in-game money. It’s pure greed on the part of the games companies. And this thankfully didn’t exist when the original “Ratchet And Clank” (2002) was made, because it would have totally ruined the game.
Whilst micro-transaction games often allow you to “earn” currency through gameplay, they apparently make this difficult and un-rewarding enough to encourage players to “skip the grind” and spend extra on a game they have already bought. All of this is to say that, if this game was made today, not only would this modern trend totally wreck the balancing of the game but it would also mess with the progression and pacing of the game – with richer players able to skip a lot of the exploration using their credit card.
Then there is the “info-bot” system as well. In order to unlock new planets to visit, you have to find – or be given – “info-bots”. This is a very “old-school” type thing, a thing from the days of physical media. From the days before the internet was the portable thing it is today. A time when, if you were on a journey, you’d actually have to buy a physical map or, for car journeys, use a stand-alone “sat nav” GPS device. In 2002, the idea of just using GPS and online maps on a mobile phone wasn’t really a thing. In 2002, the whole “info-bot” system just intuitively made a lot more sense than it would in 2025.
Yes, there are probably other ways to gradually feed the player new planets to visit in a modern game, but the idea that there wouldn’t be some sort of online database or map probably wouldn’t work in a modern sci-fi game. The idea that the player would have to find dedicated physical devices just for the sake of a map probably wouldn’t make sense in a modern game.
Finally, there’s just the general creativity and personality of the game. Whilst this was a “AAA” game, it was one that was released in a proper finished state (since “online updates” weren’t a thing), one with a distinctive art style and with its own unique personality. Even though 3D action-platformer games existed before this game was made, the designers at least tried to innovate – with stuff like various gadgets, and also how completing part of a level unlocks a shortcut to any important locations at the end of that part. It’s a relic from a time when “AAA” games had a bit more soul and creativity to them.
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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂
