Insomniac Games, like Naughty Dog, has been a staunch supporter of the PlayStation platform since their major debut with Spyro the Dragon. They really got their start, however, with Ratchet and Clank on the PlayStation 2 in 2002. Sony has something special planned for the 10th anniversary of everybody’s favorite Lombax and robot duo.
Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac Games, took to the PlayStation blog to announce the impending release of the Ratchet and Clank collection. It will collect the first three games in the Ratchet and Clank series on the PS2 and give them the HD treatment that other franchises have received in the past.
For those who can’t remember that far back, the collection will include the original Ratchet and Clank, Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando and Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal. All of the games are being remastered by Idol Minds in close collaboration with the team at Insomniac Games. The games will receive the usual treatment including 1080p HD remastering, with the addition of 720p 3D support. It will also include three sets of trophies for so you can get three platinum trophies.
The really cool thing is that Up Your Arsenal’s online mode will remain intact. Many people, myself included, never got a chance to experience the online mode when the game originally released due to the PS2’s online infrastructure being pretty terrible. Now everybody will get to enjoy the 8-player multiplayer that was apparently pretty good.
The game will release in Europe in May with a North American launch coming later in the year. Why the late launch for the US? Price says that it’s going to be a part of a larger celebration for the 10th anniversary of the franchise. Why the celebration is locked to North America and not Europe is beyond me, but I’ll take whatever festivities I can get.
It’s interesting to note that an Insomniac representative in the comments keeps telling fans that they will want to pre-order the game. It seems that part of the 10th anniversary celebration will be a reward for those who pre-order the game. That will be a first for an HD collection, so I definitely can’t wait to see what it is.
As an aside, you may be wondering where Ratchet and Clank: Deadlocked is. The simple fact is that Deadlocked, much like Jak X: Combat Racing, are the black sheep of their respective franchises and most fans generally dislike them. They added nothing new to the narrative and were only there to fill in a gap between the last proper game and the launch of the PS3 which saw a new generation of Ratchet and Clank games.
Insomniac promises more information as we draw closer to the release date, including more screens and the first trailer.