All ‘Ratchet and Clank’ games, ranked

The lovable cat alien Ratchet and his stoic robot companion Clank have been a staple of videogame culture ever since the long-forgotten days of the PS2. The duo has blasted their way through 14 Ratchet and Clank titles total, and here they all are, ranked from worst to best!

14. Full Frontal Assault

Ratchet and Clank is known for thrilling shoot-’em-up combat, gorgeous alien worlds, and hilarious storytelling. You’d never know that from this game. It’s a tower defense game and it’s just … boring. Nonsense story. Lackluster gameplay. Better skipped.

13. All 4 One

All 4 One could have been a contender. You’re telling me I can play as Ratchet, Clank, Captain Quark, or the evil robot dude? Hell yeah! But every character plays exactly the same and the game is glitchy AF. Hell no! Oh well, another game relegated to the dumpster fire. Pity.

12. Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty

Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty is booty indeed. It’s as if they were questing to make a game that was totally buns. I swear that this series is good! But this game is NOT IT. I mean, sure, it’s decent fun, but the game is only three hours long. It’s not really a game at all. It’s an aperitif. If that.

11. Secret Agent Clank

This game gets big points for being Clank-centric. We get to see our little robot buddy in a dapper suit! But it loses those points for subpar gameplay and wonky-looking graphics. This is one mission we refuse to accept.

10. Into the Nexus

Into the Nexus is Ratchet and Clank for a new era! An era of the PS3! As such, this game gets big points for beautiful (at the time) graphics, an upgrade from the series’ PS2 past. Jumping through beautiful alien worlds is fun, but the story just isn’t motivating enough for me to do so. Yawn.

9. Size Matters

This game wins big points for a classically tongue-in-cheek Ratchet and Clank title, but sadly that’s the best part of this game. Size Matters is a 7-hour PSP title, though it’s really more of a Ratchet and Clank snack than a main course game. What it lacks in size, however, it makes up for in a goofy, chaotic heart.

8. Ratchet: Deadlocked

Ratchet: Deadlocked, the fourth game in the OG series, was a departure from the norm. Its cynical gladiator combat story tried to rebrand the game as something edgy and grimdark, but it lacks that good old Ratchet and Clank goofy fun. Not everything has to go the way of the Jak and Daxter series.

7. Future: Tools of Destruction

Oh NOW we’re getting somewhere. While the previous Future game on this list was lackluster, Tools of Destruction gives us a full fledged Ratchet and Clank game that we can really sink our teeth into. After the franchise took some risks that didn’t quite pay off, it’s a refreshing return to classic R&C form. A fun story, rambunctious gameplay, and an arsenal of insane weapons makes this game soooooo worth it.

6. Ratchet and Clank (2002)

The original. The veteran. The game that started it all. Ratchet and Clank took the Jak and Daxter fantasy buddy comedy formula and injected it with 500ccs of pure sci-fi chaos. You take control of the titular Lombax and his robot pal, running and gunning your way through alien worlds in a story soaked in Futurama-style sass.

5. Ratchet and Clank (2016)

Ratchet and Clank’s 2016 remake is everything good about the original game, plus features that make it EVEN BETTER. First of all, can we talk about the graphics? Gorgeous. Epic. It’s always a goosebump-giving thing to behold when a game you remember from childhood is reimagined for a modern era. Just look at the success of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake! This Ratchet and Clank remake feels equally necessary. As for the gameplay, players of the original will notice that the combat has been fine-tuned for next-gen systems and is some of the best in the entire franchise. As for the story, it’s the same hilarious and lovable romp veteran players remember. If it ain’t broke …

4. Up Your Arsenal

Up Your Arsenal wins massive points for having perhaps the best title on this list. It was made in the ’00s but holds up strong today. In the third entry in the original trilogy, Ratchet and Clank have to go toe to toe with an evil robot scientist who is threatening to destroy all organic life in the universe. Clank will be fine, Ratchet, not so much. The game is an all-around stellar entry in the series, and a shining example of the humor, heart, and heavy weapons that made the franchise so explosively good.

3. Future: A Crack In Time

A Crack In Time missed an opportunity for a tongue-in-cheek title, but that’s the only sin this otherwise brilliant game commits. The evil Dr. Nefarious makes his triumphant return from the cold nether reaches of space, and has taken control of the time-traveling Zone species to kidnap Clank! With perhaps the finest arsenal of weapons that the series has to offer, Ratchet has to get his little buddy back!

2. Rift Apart

What makes Rift Apart so damn good? It came directly after the 2016 remake of the series and was able to build off that game’s gorgeous graphical foundations and top-notch gameplay to make one of the best entries in the series. The combat in Rift Apart is arguably the series’ best, even more tightly tuned than the glorious run-and-gun action we found in the remake. The series also wins big for the introduction of the playable character Rivet, the gender-swapped alternate-dimension counterpart of Ratchet. Hell yeah.

1. Going Commando

As far as titles go, Going Commando is the best on this list. The game itself is just as cheeky and brilliant. There’s just something about the second game in a series that always makes it the best. Mass Effect. Uncharted. Going Commando excels with high-octane action and a hilarious narrative that makes the experience unforgettable. Plus you get a gun that drops meteors on people. What could be better?