Ratchet and Clank Series (Creative) Retrospective

A series retrospective of the first seven mainline Ratchet and Clank videogames, focused on what stands out to me creatively about each entry.

Ratchet and Clank, a series of videogames from Insomniac Games, is a franchise near and dear to the hearts of millions of people all over the world, including my own. These adventure platformer/ puzzle/ action hybrids were my gateway into the entire medium, and in many ways, laid the seeds for what I still seek from my videogame and narrative experiences today. In late 2019, I sought to replay the first seven mainline entries and understand why they resonated so strongly with my young mind.

Over fifteen years after my first experience with the franchise, I’m now an extremely artistic person. I’m an active musician, I make these videos, and I love to interrogate where my creative habits originated by examining those works which were formative to me as a growing and learning artist. As well as reminiscing and discussing which of these seven games still reaches me today, I want to understand what lessons Ratchet and Clank may have taught me about storytelling, videogame art and creativity when I was younger, even if I didn’t know it at the time.

Interspersed between each section are small exchanges between my brother and I, speaking about each topic the games brought up for me, and how they relate to his artistic work. Using videogames as a single facet of an arsenal, just one lens through which to see wider creativity is something I think is very central to artistic discussion I've occasionally found missing in exterior circles. The lack of overlap in actual talk of form is sometimes concerning. If videogames are art, they cannot only be discussed in relation to each other, they have to be examined as part of a larger selection of media which inspire and teach. In my case, I think Ratchet and Clank is a great place to start.

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- TIMESTAMPS -

Introduction - 0:00
Ratchet and Clank - 8:15
Aside: Challenge Modes - 58:08
Ratchet and Clank 2: Going Commando - 1:03:48
Ratchet and Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal - 1:45:10
Ratchet Deadlocked - 2:36:54
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction - 3:10:02
Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty - 3:51:00
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time - 4:16:23
Conclusion - 5:19:00

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The man I’m speaking to throughout the video is Jacob Edmonds, a dancer, filmmaker, musician based in Melbourne. He’s also my brother. I’ve grown up alongside his artistry, seen him attend various intensive dance and art schools, become a deeply skilled and visionary filmmaker, and we’ve been almost constantly collaborating on different projects since we were extremely young. He’s nothing less than a pure creative force to me, rising to every challenge to create something beautiful, original and new with every medium he touches, whether it’s dance, film, music, photography or anything else he feels like mastering. We also played a lot of Ratchet and Clank together as kids. I was extremely grateful that he was able to sit down with me and discuss creativity, and I hope his perspective on some of these topics excites your mind as much as it does mine.

To find Jacob’s work (and you should absolutely follow it), follow one or all of these links-

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jacobcedmonds/?hl=en
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/jEdMoNdS94
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Some of the music used in this video was made by me, and most of my own artistic creation goes into music as well. If you’d like to check it out I’d super appreciate that. Here are the links to all my music related things -

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/425fW6YDwCcREhA6NXpVvw?si=-TcsTEF-QWC9TFVHAsNC2A
Bandcamp - https://twotale.bandcamp.com/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3kqI7tSg284FK5I5PGxcXA

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A fair chunk of the music used in this retrospective were ambient tracks from Ryan Lutton which I’ve remixed. If you enjoyed any of the music, particularly earlier in the video, please send him all the love. His links are here:

Bandcamp - https://ryanlutton.bandcamp.com/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4dhpTpXuxZgIHieFQxku2A
SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/ryanlutton
Noisetrade - http://noisetrade.com/ryanlutton

Other artists whose music was used, with license, include Jameson Nathan Jones, Ankori and Ramon, Linus Johnsson, The Bows, Michael Vignola, Kyle Preston, Oran Loyfer, OTON, Tomas Novoa, Michele Nobler and Yehezkal Raz.

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Mike Stout’s Developer Commentaries of the first three games provided a lot of behind-the-scenes knowledge that I found illuminating and extremely helpful while putting this video together. If you’d like to watch them yourself, here’s the link:

Mike Stout’s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/uselesspodcasts

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Thanks so much for watching, and for the continued support in my long absence! I hope this video is worth the wait. I had a good time making it and trying some new things, and I really hope you enjoy it!

Видео Ratchet and Clank Series (Creative) Retrospective канала Micah Edmonds