How PS5 helped make Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart possible
Breathtaking visuals
Ratchet & Clank games have always been visually stunning, but the fidelity and density of the worlds being rendered by the PS5 console approach a film-quality cinematic experience – and all running in real-time.
Megalopolis and beyond
Teeming with detail and overflowing with densely-packed, imaginative worlds, the fast-loading SSD allows for complexity and scale that would never have been possible in previous Ratchet & Clank games.
A new level of fidelity
The jump to dynamic 4K resolution and HDR* means tons of fine detail, but a keen attention to replicating the properties of real-world materials also means metal can gleam, puddles of water can accurately reflect the world around them and surfaces like wood and stone have a texture that’s almost tangible.
Truly next-gen rendering
The latest in ray-tracing technology lets light reflect off surfaces like it would in the real world. In a universe of shiny reflective metal and glass, these ray-traced reflections add depth and dimensionality to every planet you visit.
*Dynamic 4K and HDR require a compatible 4K & HDR compatible TV or display.
«This game features the densest worlds in the Ratchet & Clank series to date. Our cities teem with citizens and spaceship traffic, outdoor areas are filled with foliage and wildlife, and every corner is packed full of detail.»
Mike Fitzgerald, Director, Core Technology at Insomniac Games
Near-instant loading
Thanks to PS5’s blisteringly fast built-in SSD, entire worlds can be swapped in and out in mere seconds – allowing for Ratchet and newcomer Rivet to jump through dimensions and teleport across time and space without the need for loading screens.
Faster travel
This is most apparent in the use of the titular rifts — dimensional tears in the fabric of reality that can be used to cross massive distances to reach advantageous positions during combat or traverse distances that would be impossible on foot.
There and back in a flash
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart isn’t just about moving through physical space, though. The SSD allows for blink-and-you’ll-miss jumps through dimensional space, literally flinging our heroes forward and back to see the effects of their (and the villainous Dr. Nefarious’) actions on the world.
Tiny details on a very big scale
Because the SSD is constantly able to fetch massive amounts of data, these leaps create thrilling, breakneck chases and allow for exploration of pocket dimensions that hide valuable resources and tense enemy encounters.
«The SSD and I/O tech help us get any texture or resource into memory almost instantly, meaning we can use all of PS5’s available memory on just what you need to see or hear at any exact moment.»
«We’re freed from traditional notions of memory budgeting, and we’re no longer limited to a specific palette of environment or character assets in any given space.
For a game that can suddenly decide to teleport in a giant creature from the other side of the galaxy, this can come in pretty handy.»
Mike Fitzgerald, Director, Core Technology at Insomniac Games
Immersive 3D audio
A world-hopping adventure deserves an equally epic soundscape. PS5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech lets you throw on a pair of compatible headphones and immerse yourself in the game’s lush environments or gain additional situational awareness in combat.
Ears: the new eyes
With the ability to pinpoint enemies just by their grunts, growls and weapons fire, a threat that’s off-screen needn’t be a surprise. By knowing that an enemy is approaching from the rear, combat suddenly becomes a truly 360 degree tussle, letting Ratchet and Rivet choose targets by proximity.
Ambulant ambience
Cities filled with bustling streets, vendors hawking their wares and vehicles zipping through the air — ambient detail is more important than ever before.
Though you never know when fights are going to break out, these rich alien worlds can be just as much a feast for your ears during downtime as they are in the heat of battle.
«PS5 is by far the largest and the most significant leap in audio features and capabilities we have seen with a PlayStation console. With 3D Audio you get a better feel of space because it can convey a sense of height.»
Daniel Birczynski, Audio Lead at Insomniac Games
Action you can feel — literally
The DualSense wireless controller’s adaptive triggers help convey a level of sensory feedback that’s never been possible before on a PlayStation console. The Ratchet & Clank series has always had incredibly unique weapons, but now each of them actually feels different from one another.
Bangs
and whimpers
The advanced haptic feedback allow every buzz, shudder, click and explosion to rumble through your hands not just with big, punchy effect, but with subtler hums and fuzzy vibrations.
This can allow you to feel when a weapon has fully charged up, or a timed explosion is about to detonate nearby, allowing for a chance to get to safety without the need for an on-screen indicator.
Click, click… boom
The DualSense wireless controller’s adaptive triggers also make the simple act of firing a weapon unique, adjusting the resistance of a trigger pull to indicate increased weight or allowing for multiple kinds of attacks with a single button. A half-click of the trigger can fire a single-barreled blast, while fully depressing it can unload both — and with perfect resistance, you’ll always know which attack you’re about to pull off.
«Haptic feedback and Adaptive Triggers are new tools we can use to give the player feedback. One of the most valuable things about haptics is that you can recognize physical cues even when there’s already a lot competing for your attention visually and aurally.»
«Adaptive Triggers open the door to trigger pulls that not only feel different but behave differently, allowing us to add personality and functionality to weapons — an essential part of Ratchet gameplay!»
Mike Daly, Game Director at Insomniac Games
Editions
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- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
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Digital Deluxe Edition
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- Digital Soundtrack
- Digital Art Book
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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order review: «Gets what makes the series special»
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By Ben Tyrer
last updated
(Image: © EA Games)
GamesRadar+ Verdict
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order might take ideas liberally from others, but the result is an endearing adventure that ranks as EA’s best Star Wars effort yet.
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
Pros
- +
The lightsaber feels powerful
- +
Planets are dense and intricate
- +
BD-1 is your new favourite droid
- +
Challenging, yet rarely frustrating
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Don’t worry, they got the lightsaber right. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is more than the laser sword that Cal swings through whole platoons of stormtroopers, but that’s the main reason people will come to Respawn’s adventure, and it’s the reason they’ll stay with it.
Whether it’s hurling it at the creatures you’ll face or flicking bolt blasters back at Imperial troopers, it’s a strong realisation of what a lightsaber should feel like.
But, it’s not the star of the show. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is at its best when it’s a cross between fighting and being on a Star Wars safari, as you explore dense planets that are teeming with hidden areas, lore, and other secrets for you to unearth. It’s these large playgrounds that leave the biggest impression as you take aspiring Jedi Cal Kestis on a journey to restore the Jedi Order.
Fast Facts
(Image credit: EA Games)
Release Date: November 15, 2019
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, and PC
Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Publisher: EA
Brac to the future
Fallen Order’s story kicks off on Bracca, a scrapping planet where workers harvest Republic ships for the Empire. The Jedi Order have been wiped out following Order 66, and as a survivor of it, Cal is laying low as a worker for the Scrapper Guild.
His anonymity doesn’t last long though, as a workplace incident sees him inadvertently revealing his powers to the Empire and a deadly Inquisitor called The Second Sister. After a messy escape from Bracca, Cal sets off on a quest to restart the Jedi Order.
It’s a frantic opening that suggests an Uncharted-esque adventure is instore – an early set-piece involving a moving train offers strong supporting evidence for this – yet Fallen Order is so much more than that. It’s also a planet-spanning metroidvania, where equipment or skills you discover on one level unlock new paths in an earlier one. On top of that, it’s a demanding melee slasher that has plenty in common with this year’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice , as well as boasting some Tomb Raider-style environmental puzzling that will flex your Jedi skills in ways that don’t involve throwing stormtroopers over cliffs (sadly). While the game’s influences can be seen on Cal’s poncho from a mile off, they’re woven together in a way that never comes across as derivative.
(Image credit: EA Games)
You must learn control
That starts with the combat, which is deliberately paced to put an emphasis on waiting for the right moment to strike. The From Software influence is clear in how you should engage enemies cautiously, with your finger hovering over the block button at all times, but Fallen Order is demanding rather than punishing. Patience may be required in every fight, (and bosses are nowhere near as hair-yankingly tough as the ones you tackle in Sekiro) but that comes with the reward of feeling like you’re a space samurai carving through anyone foolish enough to get in your way. Plus, difficulty options allow you to fine tune your experience, from players who want to focus on the story, to those craving a sterner test, which is a welcome way of easing the tension if you start to get frustrated.
Then there are Cal’s Force powers. At the start of the game, Cal has the ability to slow down his enemies; handy, but limited. As you discover powers throughout the story, you start to find ways of making them work together to do some grin-inducing attacks – pausing a blaster bolt and pulling an enemy into it is great fun, as is pushing a rocket straight back into the trooper who fired it at you.
One of the combat’s great joys is discovering how you can make Cal’s Force skills work together and the game’s steady stream of new powers keeps you experimenting throughout.
(Image credit: EA Games)
Not that you’ll be able to stroll through levels hurling enemies over edges to your heart’s content. A Force power meter keeps your abilities in check, making you think about how and when you’ll use them. That’s so you engage with the core lightsaber combat rather than just force yanking every single thing you see into your lightsaber (although it must be said, that never gets old). If Fallen Order’s stated aim is to make you feel like Jedi then, at its balletic best, the combat manages it.
Hives of scum and villainy
The deliberate pace of the combat is mirrored when it comes to exploring the planets that make up the game’s levels. This isn’t a game where you’re rushing through linear levels, hurtling along a single path and through story beats. Instead, these are large planets with plenty to discover on them, and while you’ll never feel the need to rush through them, the gear gating means there’s also plenty of reasons to frequently revisit.
For instance, an early planet you head to, Zeffo, seems big on your first visit, but it’s only when you return to really dig into it do you realise how intricate it is. A crash site that you’ll need to stray down some off-beaten paths to find leads you towards a Venator Wreck. When I first discover it, I can only scout around the outside of the ship, but once I unlocked the Jedi Flip (read: double jump) later on, I was able to journey deeper into the ship, discovering handy upgrades for Cal alongside lore about how the gigantic ship had ended up as wreckage on Zeffo.
(Image credit: EA Games)
These types of moments, where you return to an area you thought you had explored thoroughly only for it to spool out in an intriguing new direction, are the ones where Fallen Order makes the biggest impression. Not only does it give you a chance to explore corners of Star Wars in a tangible way that recent games haven’t, but they feel like places rather than well-decorated sets.
While there aren’t too many planets in the game – six in total, although you’ll spend more time on some than others – each has its own distinct identity. Kashyyyk’s verdant forests and jungle seem to stretch out over huge areas, while Dathomir is a harsh and intricate maze, where you’ll end up trying to navigate through it’s swampy depths.
There aren’t many downsides to poking around these corners of the galaxy, but there are a couple of little niggles. The main one is that platforming can be imprecise, especially before you unlock the Jedi Flip. On more than a few occasions, I ended up leaping into the abyss because I didn’t quite line up my jump right. Still, the level and visual design of planets are the game’s unexpected highlights.
Hold on a parsec
If wandering around these planets on the hunt for secrets is one of the game’s strongest points, the story that sets you on this path isn’t quite as compelling. Simply put, the cat-and-mouse tale that’s set up at the beginning quickly moves into a hunt for a Very Important Object that only really starts to engage in the final third.
Fortunately, the characters help keep the journey entertaining. Cal isn’t the most complex of leads, but his endless earnestness slowly won me around to him. Similarly, while his crew might be archetypes – one’s a wise mentor and the other is a grumpy pilot – they make for good company as you go planet hopping. Greez, the aforementioned grump, especially becomes more loveable as he warms to his new mates.
(Image credit: EA Games)
There’s two standouts though, and that’s the adorably chirpy BD-1 and the deliciously villainous Second Sister. Not only is BD-1 extremely handy throughout your adventure, as it learns how to ride ziplines, power up generators, and hack droids, but the little bot gets a surprisingly full backstory that only endears you more to it. However, the Second Sister is the game’s most fascinating character. I won’t take you into Spoiler City, but if she initially appears one-note, her overall arc is the game’s most well-realised. Plus, it’s hard not to enjoy her ripping the piss out of Cal whenever they cross ‘sabers, so she earns bonus points for that.
A New Hope?
There’s plenty to like about Fallen Order, but it should come with the caveat that it’s slightly rougher than I was expecting. I’ve played the entire game on PS4 Pro and glitches and framerate stuttering have cropped up enough to warrant mentioning. One patch has already been released before launch, and EA has told us that another is on the way, but it did give my initial playthrough a rougher-than-ideal feel.
Still, even if this isn’t the most polished Star Wars game we’ve seen, it’s also the first one in years that comes closest to capturing the magic of the series. Battlefront looked like Star Wars. Fallen Order, with an endearing earnestness that mirrors its heroes, gets what makes the series special. It’s in the glimpses of strange worlds and cultures we want to learn more about, it’s enjoying the ragtag groups who slowly learn to trust each other, and it’s the fact that lightsabers are really great fun. Especially when you get them right.
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Hello, I’m GamesRadar’s News Editor. I’ve been working in the games industry since 2013, after graduating from Bournemouth University with a degree in multimedia journalism. Since then I’ve worked for Official PlayStation Magazine as a staff writer and games editor, as well as writing for Official Xbox Magazine, Edge, PC Gamer, GamesMaster, PC Games N, and more. When I’m not moaning about being beaten on FIFA and Warzone, I’m writing news, features, and reviews for this wonderful site.
Indie Publisher Criticizes Game Promotion System on PlayStation Consoles — Industry on DTF
In his thread, he did not specify which console he was referring to, but stated that he was not talking about Nintendo Switch or devices with Game Pass.
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On June 30, Ian Garner, co-founder of independent publisher Neon Doctrine, tweeted about his negative experience promoting games on one of the platforms.
Apparently, he meant the PlayStation consoles: from his notes it follows that this is not about Nintendo Switch and not about consoles with Game Pass (that is, not about Xbox), and also not about Steam. When Garner was told that he did not hint very subtly about which platform he was criticizing, the publisher replied that he hinted as subtly as possible within the law.
Selected the main thing from Garner’s thread.
- According to the publisher, Sony does not provide any control over the promotion of games on PlayStation platforms. To get at least some opportunity for promotion, you need to «do everything they say, ask, beg.»
- It doesn’t matter how many users wishlisted the game on the PS Store. Sony promotes games based on its own rating system, but how it works is not clear.
- To release a game on the PlayStation, you need to fulfill several conditions: pass a complex test using three generations of the backend; make a special trailer; write an entry for the PlayStation blog; fill out several forms for social media.
- PS blog posts are not as effective for promotion as PlayStation believes. To prepare the publication and release the trailer, you need to contact the account manager. But it is not known how to get in touch with him — he should be appointed, but it is also impossible to find out who exactly is doing this.
But don’t worry! There is a guaranteed way to get promoted. You just need to spend at least 25 thousand dollars. Oh, and then deduct 30% of the proceeds …
Ian Garner, co-founder of the independent publishing house Neon Doctrine
- The information that promotion costs on PlayStation platforms start at $25,000 was confirmed by two Kotaku sources. In general, the cost of promotion during the weekend can reach six figures — one source called the maximum amount of 200 thousand dollars. Approximately the same money is taken by Microsoft for the promotion of games on Xbox consoles.
- In order to make an initial discount on your own game in the PS Store, according to Garner, you need to get approval from Sony again. But the company allows you to make a discount immediately after the release of the game is extremely rare.
- You can participate in sales and at the same time make discounts for the game on the PlayStation and other platforms — for example, on Steam — with a special invitation, which is also very rarely sent. According to Garner, his publisher was only able to discount some of its games years after they were released. Other developers, including «very popular» ones, have experienced the same problem.
- Garner also noted that his case is not yet the worst — he knows English and can travel to other countries, attend conferences for developers, get in touch with people from the industry who can help. For indie developers and publishers that don’t have all of these options, promoting their games on PlayStation must be even more difficult.
- The publisher advised indie studios to focus on platforms where they can evaluate their stats (Steam) and release games more openly (Nintendo Switch). Most independent studios do just that, Garner says, although they don’t publicly state it.
In conclusion, Platform X is a super-successful, amazing device, but the backend and other processes on it are organized as if it were still the early 2000s in the yard.
I have no idea how to succeed on this platform, and its owners do not explain how this can be done. And even if I achieve some success on this device, I can still be dumped …
Ian Garner, co-founder of the independent publisher Neon Doctrine
Official PS5 price tag in rubles, Sony may suddenly release PS5 games on PS4 — the highlight of September 17
A brief digest of everything that has happened to the industry over the past day
A brief digest of everything that has happened to the industry over the past day.
Horizon: Forbidden West and Spider-Man: Miles Morales are coming to PS4 — what about a super-fast SSD?
Sony officially announced the price tags not only for the PS5, but also for accessories and games for it — a serious competitor to the Xbox Series X.
Epic Games gives Watch Dogs 2 — a showdown with Apple showdown, and a freebie should always be on schedule.
Crysis remaster launched on the GeForce RTX 3080 video card — pulled.
Resident Evil Village is having problems on PS5 — either Sony made a mistake somewhere, or Capcom is failing with optimization.
Demon’s Souls remake compared to original — spoiler: remake looks better.
2020-09-18 00:47:51
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Dark Souls in China.
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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which has already received positive reviews from the Western press, is the successor to Nioh’s ideas. Not surprising, because the developer is the same. But Wo Long has become better than its predecessor, if not in everything, then in many ways. We decided to find out who should play the new project from Team Ninja and collected the distinctive features of the game in one place.
What to play in March: Resident Evil 4 Remake, Wo Long Fallen Dynasty, Bayonetta Origins
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After the hot February releases, even the street began to thaw. And under the snow, players are waiting for … Well, at least a hardcore game about Chinese mythology and an experimental project about the witch Bayonetta.
By the end of March, the field of releases will blossom, and players will see the much-anticipated Resident Evil 4 remake. But, of course, gamers are also waiting for small indie projects and mid-budget products.
What to play on your smartphone: Ultimate Sackboy, Tomb Raider Reloaded, Final Fantasy XV: War for Eos
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In this installment, the legendary console franchises are trying to conquer the mobile market: Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet runs around the screen, Lara Croft clears dungeons, the heroes of Final Fantasy XV rewrite history. In addition, the last days of the zombie apocalypse are coming, the drake is trying his kung fu, and the hamster is saving the world in an unusual platformer.
From Finland with hate.
