Of Ratchet, Clank and Cultural Overload
Author: Stephen Gerding
January 15th, 2006 2 Comments »
Andrew: Beat R&C3 last night. I have to say, despite all my bitching and moaning, that was totally a fair, very satisfying final boss fight. Just took some patience…and MAD SKILLZ.
Steve: I so love that franchise.
I’m, curious as to what it is that prevented R&C from being the latest Mario or Sonic. Sure, the series definitely has it’s fans, but it never seemed to reach the status it really should have. Could it be because there are too many platforms now that the Xbox is out there, plus the handhelds? Or are games like Halo and GTA just too prevalent, pushing more traditional platformers to the side?
Andrew: Yeah, I think it’s a combination of things. What you said — plus the games aren’t really classic platformers; they aren’t really for little kids (i.e., no licensing); there are tons more games for them to fight for shelf space with; bigger audience is more fractured; etc.
That said, I think they’re the closest thing this generation had to a Mario or Sonic in terms of, like, pure entertainment value, creativity, imagination, and innovation. The thing is I don’t think the last generation had a real Mario or Sonic, either. Mario 64 was the biggest, I guess…? Crash Bandicoot, although innovative (most non-Nintendo platform-ish games now use that technology, right?), didn’t blow up into cultural icon status.
Steve: This is all very true. Crash almost attained that level of fame, what with the cartoon and toys and all, but somehow fell off before really cementing his status. It’s like he - and Ratchet, Jak, etc - are all victims of the audience actually having too much choice. I like choice - choice is great, but sometimes you can stare at the wall at the video game store and just feel overwhelmed, you know? And with games going for 40-50 bucks a pop, you have to really trust your friends’ judgement or research the hell out of them before you buy anything!
Not that I wish we’d end up back in the days where the choice was between Pitfall and E.T., but I think you see what I’m saying.
Andrew:This is actually my theory about all pop culture these days. It’s like an epidemic, and I honestly think causes people a weird, new kind of anxiety/depression that wasn’t around when stuff wasn’t so immediately available.
I think if you’re born into this world or old enough to not worry about it (our parents), you can deal. But for people in our generation — maybe the last to remember a time when you could make a decent attempt to really keep up with everything; before the internet, DVDs, 500+ TV channels, 60+-hour video games, downloadable music, etc. — even though we helped the culture make the transition, it’s been a tough one on our collective psyche in some respects.
Steve: I can totally see this. I don’t have as much trouble keeping up with info as some people, but even then, I’m kind of overloaded by the amount of pop culture out there. Really, for kids growing up now, pop culture is simpley Culture, I think. I’m not really sure if this is as awesome as I like to believe it is or not. I guess I’ll find out first hand as I watch the kid grow up over the next couple of decades, though.
No matter what, though, this one thing will remain true - Ratchet & Clank kicks ass.
Andrew: Yep, I’m totally getting the new R&C — maybe this weekend.
Sometimes having friends who revel in the geekier aspects of their personalities is damned amusing stuff. I woke up this morning, flipped on my iChat and was greeted by this missive about the just released pic of Bryan Singer’s new Superman suit.
