It's almost the biggest shopping day in America, Black Friday, but Walmart has jumped on the bandwagon early with a killer co-op friendly bundle on the PlayStation 3. For only $199 you'll get a 160GB PlayStation 3 Slim, a copy of the co-op games Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One and LittleBigPlanet 2. Also included is 30 days of PlayStation Plus a controller and an HDMI cable.
I've only casually played the past Ratchet and Clank games, so I'm a person coming into Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One with an almost clean slate. To be honest, even after it was announced to have a four player co-op mode, I never planned on picking up the game. Once the beta was released I was more than pleasantly surprised at what made up the nuts and bolts of this Ratchet and Clank title.
While many gamers out there are doubtlessly sleeping this weekend with visions of a certain caped crusader soon to be swooping through the streets of Gotham again, we here at Co-Optimus are dreaming of a different kind of adventure. One in which four friends can team up to kick some major tail in the world of Ratchet and Clank. After watching the latest trailer for Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One, featuring some "big moments in co-op," we feel pretty confident that we won't be the only ones.
Forgive me a moment of self-indulging idiocy, but the first half of this Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One video evokes images from a certain partially slow-motion advertisement that ran about six years ago and is responsible - to this day - for periodically polluting my headspace with its catchy, bubbly music track. Now whenever I see cartoon characters jumping and flipping around in low gravity I can't help but murmur a few lines to myself.
Sad that you're missing out on the beta? Not that one. I'm talking about the beta for Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One. We've got a video that will give a glimpse of what you've been missing. A giant Z'Grute is attacking the city of Luminopolis, and it's up to Ratchet and pals to stop it. If this video floats your boat, but you still don't have a beta code, never fear! According to Playstation.blog, if you pre-order from Amazon between now and September 26th you'll get into the beta! You can also find the beta on RatchetandClank.com, while supplies last. Is it just me, or is "beta" the new "demo?" No matter. You can see our impressions of the beta here.
PlayStation Plus Members (and a few lucky members on our Facebook page) managed to get access to the Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One beta this past week. It's a bit odd to have a beta for a platformer, something that's typically reserved for first person shooters trying to do balance and server tweaks before launch, but All 4 One game isn't your typical platformer.
Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One is out on 18th October, but members of the EU Playstation Plus can download an exclusive open Beta to try out the 4 player co-op first. Recent releases have shown that a beta phase can be the difference between glitchy gaming and smooth sailing.
Holy cow! This Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One video is one of the most formulated things I've seen in a long time. I didn't think they made saccharine trailers like this anymore. The kids will love it. And when I say kids, I don't mean all the dirty hipsters under thirty. I mean those of us who are too young or confused to know any better. I guess I do mean all the dirty hipsters under thirty. They'll probably "get it," but I'm sure I wouldn't understand. I was waiting for Poochie to ironically skateboard through a scene. To the extreme, no less.
The following video is the first of four in a Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One extravaganza! This video showcases some of the ridiculous weapons from the Ratchet and Clank universe. You'll see the Combuster, the Warmonger, and others. Each weapon appears to have some form of co-op functionality. The Darkstar Fission Tether looks promising. Remember, this is just a taste of the available arsenal.
As great as it is to have online co-op in a game, nothing beats good ol fashioned couch co-op. There's something visceral about the experience, the ability to turn to your buddy and high five them when you beat a boss, it just brings an additional high. So while online co-op may have ushered in a cooperative revolution, it's local co-op play that drove it there.
Box art; check. Release date; check. Annoying pre-order bonus program; check. Glorious co-op acronym that all developers should staple to their wall; double-check!
