Parents' Guide to

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

By Chad Sapieha, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Frenetic shoot-'em-up space adventure; no blood.

Game PlayStation 3 2007
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

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age 7+

Based on 1 parent review

Pvt. Sokolva
Pvt. Sokolva Adult
January 5, 2011
age 7+

Plays like a disney movie. Gets boring for older kids quickly.

My little sister got this game for Christmas, and I had great expectations for it, because I've heard so much good about this series. She played it a few times, quickly grew bored with the obvious storyline, simple gameplay, and uninvolving characters. Frankly, I played it just to see how it was, and it was very boring for me as well. Good kids games, like movies, can often interest and engage adults as well. This game didn't do it for me, but more importantly, it didn't do it for an 11 year old kid, the target audience of this game. I would recommend it for younger kids though. 7 year olds maybe...its not as good as the good old Spyro games and the other Playstation1 classics, but it plays like a Pixar Disney movie, the graphics are good, the controls well made, its simple, the violence is what you'd expect from the typical new Disney movie....bland....easy....good for the younger ones. Not my taste.

This title has:

Great role models
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What’s It About?

Meet Ratchet: A cute and furry little mammal who just happens to have the biggest arsenal of gadgets and guns this side of the Milky Way. He's also the last of his kind, and that's apparently reason enough for nasty galactic tyrant Emperor Tachyon to want to hunt him down in RATCHET & CLANK FUTURE: TOOLS OF DESTRUCTION, a game that sees our hero exploring the universe to learn about his past as he fights off an invading army of robots and aliens. The heart of the game is Ratchet's stockpile of odd and innovative gear, like the Groovitron, which makes nearby enemies stop attacking and bust a move, and the powerful Tornado Launcher, which creates twisters that suck up bad guys like a nuclear-powered Hoover.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (20):

After a couple of wayward entries in Sony's popular Ratchet & Clank series, the latest entry in the series goes back to its roots, delivering simple but inventive running, jumping, and shooting shenanigans. Detours from this formula are brief and involve enjoyable arcade-style Mini games, such as spaceship combat missions, and controlling Ratchet in freefall using the PlayStation 3's motion-sensitive Sixaxis controller. Tools of Destruction is possessed of a genuine -- if somewhat crude -- wit that's more common in film than in games. Virtually every line of dialogue is a joke (or a set-up for one), and many of Ratchet's gadgets -- like Mr. Zurikon, a robot helper that hurls insults at bad guys -- are as funny as they are useful.

The transition between the Hollywood-quality animation of the narrative sequences and the actual game is seamless, making it seem like you are playing in a computer-animated movie.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about fantasy and science-fiction settings and how they differ from the real world. Which did you enjoy more: Ratchet's action-based missions or Clank's puzzle-oriented levels? Being a robot, Clank has a side quest in which he discovers he has a soul. This might lead to discussion about what a soul is and what sort of creatures have one.

Game Details

  • Platform: PlayStation 3
  • Available online?: Not available online
  • Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
  • Release date: October 23, 2007
  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • ESRB rating: E10+ for Alcohol Reference, Animated Blood, Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence, Language
  • Last updated: November 4, 2015

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