Every Ratchet & Clank Game, Ranked Worst to Best
Created nearly 20 years ago by Insomniac Games, the combat-laced buddy platformer franchise Ratchet & Clank has been charming gamers on Sony platforms ever since with its mix of humor, heart, story development, and over-the-top, cartoon-style action spanning multiple genres, outliving its main rival, Naughty Dog's similar Jak and Daxter series.
In the gallery on this page, we rank every* Ratchet & Clank game to date by Metascore, from worst- to best-reviewed. Some R&C games were issued on multiple platforms, and rather than clutter our list with countless versions of the same game, we limited our selection as follows:
• In general, the first release of each title is included.
• If a title was released simultaneously on multiple platforms, we only included the version that received the highest quantity of reviews from professional critics.
• If a title was later ported to other platforms, those ports are not included ...
• ... but if a title was substantially remade for another later-generation platform, the remake is treated as a separate game and included in our rankings. (We're looking at you, PS4 version of Ratchet & Clank.)
* We have omitted the 2005 cellphone (but not smartphone) game Going Mobile, which was not covered on Metacritic. (GameSpot has a review if you are curious.)
All photos courtesy of Sony Interactive Entertainment unless otherwise indicated.
PlayStation 3, 2011
Arriving a few years after the (then-)conclusion of the single-player-only "Future" sub-series, from which it is a spinoff, All 4 One reintroduced co-op multiplayer into the franchise. But not successfully. All 4 One made not just Ratchet and Clank but also Qwark and Doctor Nefarious playable characters—and asked them to work together as unlikely allies to escape from a common enemy, Ephemeris the Creature Collector. The game marked a shift to a slightly more cartoonish art style, and reviewers also pointed to a less-developed story and more streamlined gameplay in determining that the game was intended for a younger audience than past installments. But critics felt it was overly simplified and marred in part by poor technical implementation, with the result not living up to the Ratchet & Clank name.
“Has a great foundation of fun co-op moments, marred by awkwardness, random deaths, and rough edges. It's certainly fun to bash crates and solve puzzles with friends, but the bustle of co-op play also multiplies its flaws.” —GameTrailers
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