For a few months, I was in some sort of game-related doldrums. It wasn’t a serious existential crisis or anything, just a bit of ennui. The games I was playing didn’t seem to be as much fun as they should be, and I was starting to worry that I might have gotten over whatever weird obsession it was that had gripped me for the last couple of years. As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about: I was just playing the wrong games.
In the last month, I’ve torn through the trifecta of PS2 platformers: Sly 2, Jak 3, and Ratchet & Clank 3. They’re all great games that stretch the definition of “platformer” to its limit. Ratchet & Clank, however, manages to outstrip the others, not with its level design or its mechanics or its story, but by being more addictive than the other games. The wide variety of weapons and the plethora of minigames and play modes prevent the player from getting bored, which is always a good thing. But what really makes the game great is the Bolt Grabber powerup.
Most platformers have some form of currency that the player can pick up, usually from defeated enemies or destroyed scenery or whatever. With the Bolt Grabber, though, the tedium of running around to collect loose change is eliminated; all the bolts (currency) in a room simply fly towards you. In addition, it charges up the standard jump-and-smash-the-ground move so that it breaks open nearby boxes. As a result of all this, you can just focus on fighting enemies, without worrying about leaving needed cash behind. It’s also extremely satisfying to run through a level surrounded by clouds of bolts that make pleasing “cha-ching” sounds as they flock towards you. Combined with the fact that you need a lot of bolts to buy weapons and upgrades (even video game worlds are not immune from inflation), it doesn’t take long to get completely hooked on the game and become a bolt-grubbing compulsive. Good times.