Post Script
Modern videogame characters talk too much. But is there a good reason for that?
The Ratchet & Clank games have always been unusually chatty blockbusters, largely by dint of keeping their two heroes together for the duration. Both have someone they know well to bounce off, whereas their triple-A peers tend to favour lone heroes – and when they’re afforded temporary company it’s often for the sake of exposition. The easygoing camaraderie between the pair has always been a big part of the series’ appeal, so when Rift Apart’s plot contrives to separate the titular friends for the bulk of the game, it reduces opportunities for a bit of good-natured badinage. Yet if the script might be a few gags short of Insomniac at its breezy best, the cinematics aren’t the problem here; rather, it’s what Rift Apart has to say for itself outside the cutscenes that highlights an increasingly pervasive issue with games of this ilk.