There are lots of sources for videogame reviews, but when The New York Times, the paper of record, praises a game it means more than a rave from OMGVideogamesReviews.com, and the New York Times loves Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction enough to call it the best PlayStation 3 game yet.
Calling the title a "watershed for gaming," the Times congratulates Ratchet both for being impossibly fun and for creating characters that embody the best traits of classic animated characters. While many videogames strive for "realistic" depictions of real-world things, Ratchet reaches toward the iconic expressionism of the greatest animated characters. That fantasy expressiveness is why you love Mickey Mouse but would kill an actual mouse.
“Ultimately we’re trying to create more emotional intimacy,†Brian Allgeier, the creative director of the game told The Times. “That’s one of the things that movies do really well with the close-up, where you can really see the emotions on the character’s face. But in games, so often you’re just seeing the action from a wide shot behind the character you’re controlling and you don’t have that emotional connection. So that’s what we’re going for.â€