Ratchet & Clank is a single-player third-person shooter with platforming elements, and a reimagining of the series' first game. Players mainly control Ratchet, traveling from planet to planet to battle enemies with a wide range of inventive weapons and gadgets while crossing gaps with a grappling hook, riding grind rails, and solving occasional puzzles. Segments controlling the robot Clank focus on environmental puzzle solving, and the game also includes hoverboard races and spaceship combat. Weapons and gadgets are unlocked through progress or bought using bolts collected during play.
On the planet Veldin, a young Lombax mechanic named Ratchet dreams of joining the heroic Galactic Rangers, but he is turned away. His life changes when he rescues a small defective warbot fleeing a factory where Chairman Drek of the Blarg is building a mechanical army. Ratchet names the robot Clank, and the two set out to warn the Rangers that Drek intends to destroy planets to build a new homeworld for his people. Teaming with the boastful Captain Qwark, the unlikely pair join the fight to stop the scheme.
