“Temporal injection is a different approach ban checkerbording to get to 2160p that gets you AA too. We think it looks better. The game is designed to run at a locked 30 so making frame rate changes was never in the cards. Sorry,” James Stevenson, the community manager for Insomniac recently posted on Neogaf.

Further, Stevenson said those who assumed the company was not planning on souping up the game for the PS4 Pro because the game engine wouldn’t allow it were off base. The engine could absolutely handle going to 60FPS, the company simply does not want to do it with Ratchet And Clank.

From Software’s Dark Souls 3 is a major hit in the United States according to the NPD’s latest report for April 2016.

The NPD’s Liam Callahan stated that, “The launch of Dark Souls 3 marked the strongest launch in the franchise’s history. Sales for Dark Souls 3 nearly doubled that of its predecessor, Dark Souls 2, when adjusted for days in the market.” That seems pretty appropriate, especially since From Software noted that it shipped one million units of the game in North America.

Insomniac’s Ratchet and Clank re-imagining also did brisk business, debuting just behind Dark Souls 3. “Ratchet and Clank had the best launch of any game in the Ratchet & Clank franchise when adjusting for the number of days sold in the data month, with sales recapturing success not seen for the franchise since the height of the PlayStation 2 era.”

By comparison, Quantum Break debuted at seventh place on the NPD’s Top 10 for April while Star Fox: Zero arrived in tenth place.

Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank has managed to hold on to the number one spot in the UK according to the latest Gfk Chart-Track sales.

Despite sales falling by 49 percent and the relatively terrible negative reception to its film, Ratchet & Clank is now Sony’s seventh biggest first party PS4 launch. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 has shot back up to second place thanks to PS4 retailers bundling the recent Eclipse DLC with hardware. Dark Souls 3 is in third place followed by Tom Clancy’s The Division at fourth and EA Sports UFC 2 at fifth.

Lego Marvel Avengers rose from 11th to sixth place followed by Grand Theft Auto 5 and Far Cry Primal. Yo-Kai Watch was the new game of the week but only managed to rank at 14th place. It should be interesting to see how sales pan out next week with Battleborn releasing today and then the week after when Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End releases.

While Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank on the PS4 is the fastest-selling entry in the series till date, the CG film it’s meant to tie into hasn’t been as great. It’s received quite the negative response overall from critics and now Deadline has reported on its box office numbers.

In its first weekend, the Ratchet & Clank film (shown at 2891 theaters) managed to earn $4.7 million. It brought in $1.4 million Friday, $1.99 million on Saturday and $1.3 million on Sunday. While the film’s budget isn’t known at this time, it’s revenue is unlikely to go up in the long run.

Contrast this to Disney’s The Jungle Book which released on April 15th and targeted at a similar demographic, bringing in $42.4 million in its third weekend.

What are your thoughts on the Ratchet & Clank film? Do you believe it was better or worse than what critics and the box office have made it out to be? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The recently released Ratchet & Clank on PlayStation 4, a reimagining of the first game to coincide with the CG movie, has been a great success. According to Insomniac Games on the PlayStation Blog, it’s now the fastest-selling entry in the series. Naturally no sales numbers were provided so we’ll have to take their word for it.

It wouldn’t be too hard to believe though. There haven’t been too many major PS4-only titles released in the past few months and with the following that the Ratchet & Clank series has – not to mention the number of PS4 owners – it’s certainly possible that it’s the fastest-selling entry thus far. Of course, it also helps that the reimagining is a good game in its own right.

You can check out our official review of Ratchet & Clank here to learn more about its gameplay. What are your thoughts on the game and its success thus far? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.

Never underestimate the power of a classic brought back to life. Such is the case with Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank, a reimagining of the first game that released recently for the PS4 and has debuted in the number 1 spot for video game sales in the UK (according to Gfk Chart-Track). Interestingly enough, this is the first time the series has ever debuted at the top spot.

The PS4 exclusive beat Dark Souls 3 which slipped to second place. The other new entry was Star Fox Zero on the Wii U which debuted at sixth place. Star Wars Battlefront is in third place oddly enough followed by Tom Clancy’s The Division and EA Sports UFC 2.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is still hanging strong in the charts followed by FIFA 16, Quantum Break and Dirt Rally. Expect Ratchet & Clank to have another bumper week or two – Battleborn debuts on May 3rd but it may not be able to put a chink in the platformer’s armour. We’ll find out for ourselves in the coming weeks.

With the CG movie coming out, the studio could have easily faced a Prince of Persia-style scenario – making a compelling game to tie in with the upcoming film but making sure the game isn’t a terrible adaptation. Ratchet & Clank on the PS4 has actually been developed concurrently along with the film. You’ll notice this in the character models with Insomniac tagging with Rainmaker Entertainment (the studio working on the film) and implementing the latter’s modified versions of the characters for the game. The cinematic collaboration and development feels more unified than a simple creative manifesto that’s been adopted for the sake of “Hollywood-ising” the franchise.

So after the Future series and Into The Nexus, we’re (sort of) back to the beginning. Let’s get this out of the way though – this is no remaster, not by a long shot. Insomniac has dubbed this a reimagining and it shows in several ways. New boss fights, flying sequences, planets and more have been added to the original game. The writing has been cleaned up pretty well so if you hated Ratchet in the very first game (and it was easy to hate him), then worry not – Insomniac has brought about the more modernized version of the Lombax that we know and respect.

Along with reimagining the overall flow of the game and enhancing the gameplay with the level design, the developer has improved the cut scenes significantly. Leaving the visuals aside, even the cinematography is different from the original Ratchet & Clank. If it seems like Insomniac is trying to complement the cinematic flair of the movie, then this is your best example. The developer actually admitted to matching film scenes to in-game scenes as much as possible, even going so far as to use the same colour correction tools. Will that instill a sense of déjà vu when the movie is out? Probably but that’s the intention here.

Going back to the Ubisoft paradox, Prince of Persia in 2008 wasn’t all that great of a game (let’s not get started on the film which was downright awful). Thankfully, even if the Ratchet & Clank movie’s lovely Pixar-level CG visuals mask a terrible story, the game itself is more than able to hold its own.

Ratchet & Clank runs at a native 1920×1080 resolution with a standard frame rate cap of 30 frames per second. Performance is fairly good with no screen tearing and no frame pacing issues observed. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any frame drops though but these are very rare. When there are a ton of CPU intensive processes like explosions, gunfire and enemies on screen, then you might lose a few frames in the process. While some may balk at 30 FPS for a “remake”, it’s actually not a bad trade-off. This is due to the amount of screen effects implemented including the lighting, reflections, etc. Insomniac has stated before that it’s not on the 60 FPS bandwagon and in the case of Ratchet & Clank, it works very well. It’s also the first game in the series to move to a physically based rendering pipeline, which is always a great bump for visual quality.

Comparing the PS4 version with PS3 version of Ratchet & Clank Trilogy, namely with environments like Planet Aridia and Planet Kerwan, shows a big difference in visuals. Like Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Insomniac Games has put in an insane amount of remaking here. Unlike Gears of War though, Ratchet & Clank‘s results are above and beyond anything we’ve ever seen. The details on Ratchet’s model, right down to the fur, look incredible.

Full implementation of cinematic motion blur and depth of field, not to mention the amazing post processing effects during the night, gives the game a real cinematic feel that gels perfectly with the movie. Speaking of the environments, if you go back and try to compare the new Ratchet & Clank with the old PS2 version, you’ll discover more vibrant backgrounds and richer colour palette overall. Levels actually feel alive with more objects, enemies, attention to detail and a much larger scale than before. The old Ratchet & Clank never really struck us as washed out so let that be a testament to the magic of colour correction and two generations’ worth of increased processing power .

The post processing AA does a superb job of removing jaggies. However, when peering from a distance, it doesn’t work 100 percent (especially when Ratchet and Clank are in their shuttle). There are also some issues with the level of detail at times for objects in the distance far away. Pop-in is also observed at times but there are otherwise no streaming issues for faster sequences and missions like races.

Overall, when looking at the work that Insomniac has done with Ratchet & Clank – especially compared to previous games in the series and the PS3 versions – it’s an excellent reimagining. There are a few minor issues here and there but they won’t detract from the experience at all. If you’re a fan of Ratchet & Clank, then the reimagining is worth picking up. If you’re new to the series and want to know what’s the big deal – while essentially guaranteeing yourself a brand new gameplay experience in the process – then there’s no better time or place to start than now.

Note: Bill Smith also contributed to this article.

Insomniac’s reimagining of Ratchet & Clank for the PlayStation 4 is out today in North America and its receiving strong critical acclaim for its classic gameplay and gorgeous visuals. The story itself ties into the upcoming movie instead of being a direct remake of the classic PS2 title. But is it movie-length in its scope as well?

Thankfully, that’s not the case. When asked on its Twitter if the game’s story was about 11 hours, Insomniac Games said that, “It is in that range without completing everything.”

Of course, if New Game+ is still a thing, then you can expect even more hours of fun gameplay if you pick it up.

The Ratchet & Clank CG film will be releasing on April 29th in theaters worldwide so keep a look out for that. In the meantime, stay tuned for our official review and let us know whether you plan to pick it up in the comments below.

Ratchet & Clank fans got some very big news on Monday. The developers of the new PS4 Ratchet & Clank game, Insomniac posted on the PlayStation Blog that the game will be available in most parts of the world starting on April 20. That might be a bit later than some people were hoping for, but it’s likely earlier than most thought. February is the big release month for this time of year and it was rather obvious the game wasn’t going to be hitting store shelves quite that early.

The next big time of year for AAA games’ release date is right around the Holiday shopping season. So those who have been anxiously awaiting this game should take heart in the fact that they won’t be waiting for nine more months. This remake of the original series, which is also supposed to be tied into the upcoming movie will be a kind of re-imagining of the much loved series in some regards. Insomniac Games has said that there will be some well know and well loved weapons, characters and maps in the this new version but there will also be plenty of new locations, weapons and enemies.

In addition to the official release date, the developers and Sony also revealed the official box art for the game. This reveal isn’t showing off anything real new but it does seem to help in making us all believe the game really is just a few months away. The new Ratchet & Clank, which will be exclusive to the PS4 will officially launch on April 20.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

This new Ratchet & Clank was officially announced during Sony’s E3 press conference in 2014. In order to do the game justice, it is said that developers of the first game are actually working on this version. That includes long time design director Brian Allgeier. Allgeier is one of those video game developers that came up during the golden age of the PlayStation and worked on a number of titles that feature characters that are much loved in the Sony universe.

Among the games Allgeier is best known for working on is Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, Spyro 3: Year of the Drago, the original Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet: Deadlocked, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty, and Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time. Outside of those more lighthearted games, he’s also worked on Fuse, a first person shooter that was released in 2013 as well as Resistance: Fall of Man. Ratchet & Clank for the PS4 is the first game since Fuse he’s been credited as working on for Insomniac Games. Michael Bross has confirmed that, while he is not working on the Ratchet & Clank Movie, he is recording music and the score for the PS4 game. TJ Fixman announced on his Twitter account that he is writing the story for the game. Fixman was a writer on the original game.

This game was originally slated to be released during 2015 but Sony decided to bump its launch back in order to better tie the title into the upcoming Ratchet & Clank movie. There were some who became outraged at this decision because they were expecting the game in the first quarter of 2015. Insomniac was quick to point out, on their social media channels that they never actually said the game was slated for a first quarter release in 2015. The company had always simply said it was coming at some point in 2015. It’s possible the pushback to 2016 could only be a matter of months with that in mind. Despite the fact that the release date was pushed to the next year, Insomniac and Sony did offer a playable demo at E3 2015.

In June of 2015, the company confirmed that when it does release, the new Ratchet & Clank is set to run at 1080p resolution and 30 frames per second. Community lead James Stevenson spoke about why it was so important for the developers to have this level of resolution. The exec said that they wanted to be able to put a game out there that had the same kind of resolution as a CG animated film and realized they could actually accomplish this using the PS4. The price for the game has already been announced as $40, about $20 less than the average price for new PS4 games.

Story

There isn’t a lot of information known about the actual story of this new Ratchet & Clank. Originally it was believed this game was going to be a remastered version of the original game it has now been confirmed that this is actually a re-imagining of the original game and therefore may have story elements that are quite different from the original game. The working title for the game at one point was Ratchet & Clank: The Game Based on the Movie, Based on the Game. While that is not the official title for the game, it is believed that the story for the movie and the story for this game will closely resemble one another.

In June of 2015, there were a couple of videos released showing the gameplay of  a few levels in the upcoming game. The levels shown in the video are the Train Segment on Metropolis and the fight with the Blargian Snagglebeast. Another video was released about a week later showing the planet Gaspar. Community lead James Stevenson revealled that it will take approximately 10 to 12 hours to get through the entire story.

Gameplay

The gameplay for Ratchet & Clank on the PS4 is said to be similar to the original with a few tweaks and changes. The graphics will be displayed in a third person. The company has said that there are going to be new planets and new bosses, though many of the old, well known characters will make an appearance as well. As is the case with other games in the long running series, there will be a number of different trophies that can be earned and a wide variety of rather interesting weapons including the Groovitron. Other weapons included in the game are:

• OmniWrench Millenium 12
• Combuster
• Warmonger
• Mr. Zurkon
• Glove of Doom
• Groovitron
• Plasma Striker
• Predator Launcher
• Fusion Bomb
• Pyrocitor
• Pixelizer
• Bouncer (Pre-Order Bonus)

As far as gadgets and items that can be used during gamplay, the Heli-pack, jet pack, hoverboard and infobot are some of the items that have been confirmed in the game. Planets and locations that can be visited during the game are:

• Veldin
• Novalis
• Kerwan, Aleero City
• Rilgar
• Blarg Tactical Research Station
• Gaspar
• Pokitaru
• Kalebo III
• Batalia

Characters

Ratchet & Clank, the titular characters in the game are obviously featured. Reveal trailers as well as accompanying artwork has shown the following well known characters will be included in the game:

• Copernicus Leslie Qwark
• Cora
• Alonzo Drek
• Victor Von Ion
• Blarg Scientist
• Brax

There are also a number of characters from different races that have appeared in previous games in the series that are confirmed to be making an appearance in this title as well:

• Lombax
• Robot
• Blarg
• Fongoid
• Tharpod
• Markazian
• Telepathopus
• Blargian Snagglebeast

There are also said to be new bosses that haven’t been seen or named in any of the promotional materials and the previous games in the long running series.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game