Tools of Destruction is fun game, there's no doubt about this. What's awesome about the Ratchet & Clank series is that they appeal to both the younger and older ages with it's aesthetic, humor and gameplay. As per usual, the negatives will get out of the way first (it's always easier to pick out all the bits that annoy you) before the positives can come in and say what am amazing game this is. First, you can tell that the developers are trying to sell the whole motion control craze through the use of the PS3 controller's sixaxis ability. There are numerous motion control minigames scattered throughout the game. These games are actually quite cool the first time around, but when the game forces you to play these pretty much on every planet, it can start to wear you out. For example, you get to control Ratchet while he's free-falling from the sky, you move him on the screen by tilting the controller, it felt natural and a good use of the motion control in the first level. Yet when he free-falls the second and the third time, it feels as if the developers just shoe horned the situation into the story just so they can make you play this minigame again. Same with the decryptor, you tilt the controller to tilt a box to move the steel ball and solve some simple puzzles, but the amount of times you're forced to do it is ridiculous and breaks the flow of the game.
However, there is the ability to turn these motion controls off, so if it really annoys you, then that's an option (since the motion control can get awkwardly hard to handle). It's also noticeable that the game doesn't feel as polished as it should, there are still some annoying glitches (wish that it could have gotten patched), thankfully, they aren't game-breaking. There're things like floating boxes, or triggers not happening which means that you can't progress to the next part of the level (and have to die to restart), and even camera issues that go through walls. The 'worse' is the de-syncing of sound during cutscenes. Not sure if it is due to each individual PS3 the game is played on, but in almost every cutscene, the sound will eventually be a a few seconds slower than what's shown onscreen. Needless to say, this ruins the cutscene and story (the sound is fine while you're playing the game though). There are some other little bits and pieces that feel odd, like the pirates that frequently show up. They don't feel like they belong or fit in naturally, there's just something about them. With pirates, there also comes space battles in which you play a on-rails shooter minigame, it's not as fun as it sounds though as the controls could be better.
It's felt as though the developers could have done a lot more with the sections in which you play as Clank. They are different and involves more puzzle elements, but they're simple at best and boring at worse. They had done very little with it that it can feel tacked on at times. Not sure if you can classify this as a negative, but the first playthrough of the game is on the easy side. It would be nice if there are difficulty settings that you can choose, instead of everyone going through this same difficulty (even though there is a challenge mode, replaying the game on hard just isn't the same as playing it on hard the first time around when you don't know what the game is going to throw at you next). The bosses, while visually impressive, are actually very easy to beat. Yet the damage you receive can be quite heavy, even with some of the latter armors that you can purchase which reduces the damage by 50% (it's like, five hits and you're deal in the last few levels). The final boss is more difficult than anything else in the game, more so than you'd expect as all the other bosses were such a breeze. That's about it with all the 'bad' stuff, now for the things that make this game so good. The signature thing would be the weapons, the number of weapons you get is awesome, and the fact that they're upgradable AND can level up (independently) adds some longevity. Although some of the weapons have questionable usefulness, all of them are fun to try and use, seriously, the groovitron is one of the best ideas ever.
The story is nice as per usual, but it doesn't suck you in. It's good enough that you want to know more, and provides all the platforming and destroying with an objective and reason. The humor is good, you'll chuckle more than a few times throughout the course of the game. The graphics are amazing, the environments look great and the animation top-notch, you can even see the fuzz on Ratchet... The music is solid too, the pirate theme gets your blood pumping and motivation up. The controls are smooth and responsive, although it needs a tiny bit of tweaking as there are some rare times where it will let you down. Now, what else can be said about Tools of Destruction? Oh, the game feels too short, it'll be finished in about eight hours, while that is standard, the destruction and collection of bolts in each level is so much fun that you wish it was longer. The exploration of each planet, trying to find out all the hidden areas and collectibles, is really fun and makes you delay your objective just to go poking around. The ending was slightly disappointing, especially since you would hope for something good after the not-so-epic final boss (the villain just doesn't have that charm to him). It did leave you with a cliffhanger which, at the time, promised at least a sequel. That said, this is definitely one of the best platformers around.
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