6th Gen 3D Platformers

Sly 1 and Jack 1 were good, never played Ape Escape, the rest were bad.

I never played Jak 3 because I lost interest with the series after 2. Is it really more like 1?

In terms of platforming, adventure outside the hub worlds half the time and Light and Dark Eco being fun as shit to use? Yes.

Like I said, it comes off rough at first, but unlike II 3 is much more adventurous and "epic" in the preestablished lore and platforming elements of the first game while building enjoyably and fantastically on the guns, vehicles, various guerilla missions, storytelling and more mature humor and dark humor of the second that was buried between plain bullshit difficulty spikes and trial and error everywhere, and overall bad tastingly shallow gritty GTA like imitation minus whores and doing anything fun around town because of the times that completely killed the charm of the first game even if it was a bit of a retread of Crash, at least it was much less fucking obvious and went its own direction from the start.

Jak 3 takes what feels so jarring about II and makes it feel much more at home and even a blast to enjoy now that things are much less serious despite everything being more dangerous and mysterious and even tongue in cheek to cope with it when possible. That shitty city's been all but destroyed just in case you're hoping and only a little bit is left to fuck around in that hasn't been overrun by monsters.

6th Gen always felt the weakest to me in terms of platformers. The platforming focused ones stopped getting released early in the generation while the later games had platforming only as a distraction.

I played it for a bit, but I felt the levels were very underwhelming. Short and not very memorable. Does it get better as it goes on?

Jak 1 is basically Crash Bandicoot in a different name, expanded and evolved to take advantage of the PS2. Crash Bandicoot is my favorite thing ever, so I love Jak 1 too.

Jak II is all dark and edgy and adds a lot of GTA elements and neither the guns and cars control particularly well. However, the story is very interesting and well presented, which in retrospect is the beginning of the end for Naughty Dog. Jak I is one of the best platformers ever made. The sequel is a Jak of all trades but a master of none. That said, though it isn't the best at any particular thing, the mix is still done extremely well and results in a fantastic game.

Jak 3 expands a lot and has a lot of great ideas, but is also clearly rushed, so much so that there are scenes that refer to other scenes and entire plotlines that never made it into the finished game. You have dune buggies in addition to the hovercars and they're pretty fun. You also have Light Jak in addition to Dark Jak and both Dark Jak and the guns are expanded and improved. That said, the game is much easier than II, and while some might say II is too hard, I think it just makes 3 feel too short and easy, despite technically having more missions. Still really fun though. I don't like it as much as II but they're all must plays.

Jak X is the best thing in the whole series but it's not a platformer so okay.

Daxter is very short but for an early PSP title it blew me away. Goes back to a more platform heavy style and I think hits a great balance between the two gameplay styles in the earlier games. I only wish it was longer.

Honestly I have a hard time picking a favorite because they all have their advantages and are all very different, except II and 3. Even there, I simply like II better because I like the difficulty. 3 is still fantastic.

Ratchet & Clank 1 is the most platforming-heavy in the entire series, and I love it for that. The sequels would alter and add to the controls to make the shooting better, but the levels de-emphasized the platforming, so the original still holds up as perhaps being my favorite. It also has one of the best stories, with very well written characters and relationships that the sequels would never do as well again.

Ratchet & Clank 2 still has a very good story though, just it's less about the characters and more about the plot. But the biggest thing here is that you and your weapons all have EXP and upgrades, which drastically changes how you play, I think for the better. You have much more incentive to actually use all of your weapons. Everything is a little more polished, and while the shooting is better here, there is still a very significant amount of platforming.

Ratchet & Clank 3 forced multiplayer into a series that was never built for it, and with the inclusion of that useless feature, the single player was shorter and had a bunch of filler missions where you just do multiplayer map missions in single player. Still a good game but not as good as the previous ones. I know the multiplayer has its fans, but honestly i never thought it was good when it was new, and it doesn't even work anymore. But they had to try to cater to the Halo audience, just like everyone else was doing at the time. I preferred when Jak tried to cater to the GTA audience.

Deadlocked is full multiplayer focus and full shooter with very little platforming. But at least you do still play with the same acrobatic moveset that makes things a bit different from most shooters. You can tell this game was basically them practicing and testing the waters for Resistance a year later. While I don't prefer the genre this game was moving towards, it's still a very well made game, and it does have local co-op that makes things a bit more fun if you can get someone to play with you. As far as spinoffs go, this is a very good one.

Size Matters is short but longer than Daxter I'm pretty sure. It feels very much like the main entries, just on PSP. It doesn't do anything too different, but it does what it does very well. Highly recommended.

Secret Agent Clank adds stealth elements, but really it's just another Ratchet game, and a much better one than Size Matters. You have different weapons, but it ends up playing pretty much the same, not that I'm complaining. Meanwhile, you still play as Ratchet with his weapons, but only in arena battles. Almost holds up to the PS2 entries.

It's not 6th gen anymore but Tools of Destruction is great. Take Going Commando, put in fancier graphics and give you more of it. Some people bitch about the story starting a longer plotline that starts some weird Superman knockoff stuff, but I don't mind it.

Quest for Booty is basically standalone DLC for Tools of Destruction. It's fun but short, even for standalone DLC, though it was one of the first examples of something like this. Would have benefited immensely from Challenge Mode being included.

A Crack in Time has a new graphical style that is nice but idk if i prefer it over the one in Tools of Destruction. The Clank gameplay in this is fantastic, a really great puzzle platformer that utilizes time travel as a gameplay mechanic very well. But as usual the Clank gameplay is only a small part of the game. You go around between planets by actually flying your ship, and sometimes do battles and stuff, but it's only a 2D plane, not like the awesome space battles in Going Commando. Once you're on the planets the gameplay is pretty much the same as always. Good stuff but idk if I prefer it to Tools of Destruction.

All 4 One is a multiplayer spinoff. But you can play it single player and when you do it actually has a bunch of features to try to make it feel more like the main games. But it's ultimately still a more casual action game with less focus on things like exploration and platforming. It's good for what it is but don't go in expecting a main series game. The Ratchet & Clank comic is actually a setup for this and is really good. One of the best video game adaptations I've ever seen, and makes the story of this game more enjoyable. It's pretty funny on its own either way.

Full Frontal Assault is tower defense but with Ratchet gameplay. It's probably the worst in the series but it's still pretty good. Like Deadlocked, it's basically all shooter with no platforming but otherwise controls like Ratchet. Unliked Deadlocked, it was never sold as a full game. As a budget title, you got a PS3 copy, a Vita download copy, and a PS3 download of Deadlocked HD (which isn't included on the Ratchet HD collection). Really good deal for how cheap this originally was, even if it is the weakest entry. It's still alright if you're a fan.

Into the Nexus was marketed like a budget title with main series gameplay, like Quest for Booty. But it's actually awesome. Fully complex and nearly as long as the main games, this is definitely a must play. It's also the last before the reboot, and has a nice finale. If you're a fan, don't ignore this just because it was a budget title.

Ratchet & Clank: The Movie: The Game is the first game with a story adapted from the movie. This means that all the depth of the characters that made the original story good is gone, replaced with a serviceable but forgettable action adventure story. It also means a bunch of levels from the end of the original game are cut, a lot of the best levels. There are new levels and new sections to old levels, but most of these are hallways to shoot through rather than fun areas to explore and platform through. There are a couple parts that I like that are new though, like collecting items on a large wasteland, which most of the sequels had but the original didn't. It also has EXP and the improved controls from the sequels, which is nice, but it doesn't make up for missing a bunch of the best levels. It does have a lot of nice callbacks to the previous games, and ultimately I do consider it its own game and worth playing, but at the same time it just keeps reminding you of the original, and how the original was better. Hopefully the next game will do better due to not being restrained by being based on a movie. Also, since the story is Qwark telling the "real" version of events and saying the movie got it wrong, it's possible that the original games are still canon and the framing story simply takes place between the first two games, so the sequel can just continue from where Into the Nexus left off, which would be great.

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Sly 1 is a fantastic platformer with stealth elements and a beautiful style. The sequels never do the platforming as good as here. The linear levels allowed for much better level design. It also has a surprisingly good story.

Sly 2 makes the series open world and is great at it. The exploration works very well with fantastic level design and good missions. You can now play as Bentley and Murray, and they're pretty good, but not as fun as playing as Sly. Whenever I'm playing as them I'm just wishing I was playing as Sly. Also, the story builds off of Sly 1 very well and actually ends up being quite compelling and building quite a world and mythology for itself. This and Sly 1 are different enough that I can't decide which is my favorite, because they're both very good at what they do.

Sly 3 is more of Sly 2. Or actually, less of Sly 2. It's a shorter game, and that's my biggest problem. I love it and want more of it. But not only does it have less levels than Sly 2, more of the game is taken up by side characters, a whole bunch of them and while each individual one only has just enough focus to make it feel like you're building a huge heist team, which is great, when you're playing as them, you're just wishing you were playing as Sly, Bentley, or Murray instead. And still, when playing as Bentley or Murray, you just wish you were playing as Sly. Plus, the story here has little to do with the stuff built up in the previous games, and doesn't feel nearly as interesting. Another thing to make the game feel shorter is no Clue Bottles to collect. Sure, getting the last one on each level was always a massive pain in the ass in Sly 2, but it was a real challenge and it gave you real incentive to become incredibly familiar with every inch of the game. 3 feels too short without it. On the plus side, I fucking love the pirate ship treasure hunting sections. I was really excited when I heard of that new game Rare is making because I thought it would be like this. But instead it's some always online bullshit that looks like crap. I'd play a whole game of the pirate ship treasure hunting from Sly 3. And oh yeah, I almost forgot Penelope is best waifu.

Sly 4 is amazing in every way, except it's way too fucking easy. The side characters are replaced with variations on Sly, which are all great. The levels are huge and the Clue Bottles are back. The story is okay and has some cool twists but it's not as good as the first two. But it wouldn't stop me from liking it as much. The only problem is that it's seriously one of the easiest games I've ever played, and I almost never felt challenged while playing it, making it feel very short, when it's really not. I wish they'd do Sly 5, but the company that made this, Sanzaru, is now too busy making Sonic Boom of all things. So yeah.

Ape Escape is the best thing ever. Ape Escape 1 is the best PS1 game, Ape Escape 2 is the best PS2 game. But I always forget about them until I'm reminded. The controls are unique and should be used more often. The design is very charming even if the graphics aren't the most technically impressive on the PS1. It's a long game with a ton of content, and the sequels actually continued to focus on platforming, much moreso than these other series on the PS2.

I see people say Ape Escape 3 is the best one, and while I like it, I can't see how. I have to imagine it's mostly waifuism. And that's fine and all. But not enough to convince me. I really like how the soccer minigame in 2 uses the monkeys you catch in the main game, and they all have different stats. That's really cool.

I want Ape Escape 4 more than anything, but instead they just keep doing minigame collections that only have the fucking monkeys. Pumped and Primed was pretty good because at least you still controlled like usual and had the gadgets and stuff, but then that's the only one of those more substantial side games that got released outside japan. I would still pay Sony if only they'd release Ape Escape 2001 or Million Monkeys in English.

And I've said it before and I'll say it again, PS Move Ape Escape is one of the biggest fuck ups I've ever seen. So you have Ape Escape, a first party series invented to sell a new gimmick controller, and it's a platformer with a bunch of gadgets that show how this new control can be used in various ways.

So about 15 years later they're selling a new gimmick controller, a stick with motion controls. So let's make a new Ape Escape for it! It's perfect! You swing the stick to swing the club and the net, you can twirl it above your head to spin the helicopter thing, you can point it at the screen to control the RC car while still moving, and practically every game that uses the PS Move already uses it as a slingshot. This stuff practically writes itself. It would be a fantastic excuse to make Ape Escape 4, and give people an actual excuse to buy the PS Move.

But fuck that, let's just make it a rail shooter.

PS Move is still technically compatible with PS4, but they never use it anymore. I still want to pretend they might do Ape Escape 4 for it some day, since it's the only time I think motion controls might actually make something better. But really I'd settle for Ape Escape 4 in any form.

The only reason people like Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper is because PCSX2 can't run them properly.

Psychonauts is really good. I know Mr. Shitface worked on it and he's a fucking prick now but back then he was kinda cool. I think they were giving it away on Humble Bundle recently.

That makes no sense

One thing I really hated about Sly 3 was how many mini games there were. Even setting aside the missions for the new characters, it felt like half of the Sly, Bentley, and Murray missions completely shifted to a different type of game once you started them.

Bullshit. Just because 3 had multiplayer didn't mean that was the focus. I never even played the multiplayer in 3 and IMO 3 >>>> 2. 2 felt like the least polished game out of the first 3.