Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - Crate Smashing
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is probably my favourite game of 2021. Beautiful visuals meet smooth gameplay with a fun narrative to produce a well polished game that truly displays the power of the PS5.
Picking just one thing to focus on from this game was extremely difficult as it is jam packed with great gameplay features from weapons that turn enemies into sheep, The Groovitron forcing enemies to dance uncontrollably, good use of the Dual Sense controllers haptic feedback. But in the end, I decided to home in on what’s probably one of the simplest mechanics in the game, loot collection via crate destruction.
Dopamine rush!
I could spend all day just smashing these crates and collecting the little shiny nuts and bolts that fall out of them. Give me all the good feelings!
How it Works
Smashing a crate in Ratchet is one of the simplest mechanics in the game. Hit or shoot the crate, it explodes, goodies spill on the floor, they animate towards the player while beautiful VFX and SFX play.
Why exactly are we smashing crates in the first place? There are several types of crates but the key ones drop loot in the form of gears, ammo, and health. All of these things are core to being able to play and progress in the game.
This combination of animation, VFX, and SFX is delivering a dopamine rush to the brain as the player plays. While I was playing, I would go out of my way to smash crates just for the good feelings, I didn’t necessarily even need ammo or health. It just felt good!
VFX & SFX Breakdown
The crate itself breaks up into 10 or so large pieces and is accompanied by dozens of very small wooden shards and a cloud of dust that really portray that this crate has been shattered to splinters. A very satisfying smashed SFX plays too.
Nuts and Bolts erupt upward from the smashed crate, covering the entire width and height of the screen as they fall and spread across the floor
One of the crates contained ammunition, which is the glowing golden orb with a light trail following it.
If the player is close enough the nuts and bolts, and the ammo orb will be sucked into the center of their character as if there was some sort of black hole vortex pulling them all in.
As each nut and bolt is picked up by the player an SFX plays that by itself sounds shiny but combined with 10-20 playing together over a few seconds sounds extremely satisfying.
When the ammo hits the player’s center there will be a massive burst of golden light to the point you almost can’t see the player’s character which is accompanied by a large lens flair.
The Lens flare will expand as well as the flash of light, and at its peak will trigger the HUD animation showing the ammo amount and type picked up. A sound effect that sounds like a weapon being reloaded also plays to increase reinforce that you’ve picked up ammo.
The ammo VFX then die down leaving a small cloud of yellow smoke and the focus now becomes on the HUD info. Ammo picked up displayed in the top right, and the amount of nuts and bolts picked up shown in the bottom right.
All of these effects together combined are what make something as simple as smashing a crate create a pleasurable dopamine rush that the player will want to experience again and again. It’s no surprise Ratchet & Clank do this so well as it is developed by Insomniac Games, who have a reputation for delivering high quality content. Hats off to their VFX & SFX team for bringing the juice!
If you haven’t played Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, check out the trailer below to see if it’s your cup of team :)
