Metropolis
From Ratchet & Clank wiki
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| Metropolis | |
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Capital city of Solana, civilian housing. |
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[edit] Architecture and landscape
Metropolis was a large, bustling city, and it maybe was the capital sector of a planet-wide city. It appeared to be a very environmentally-friendly city, as the buildings were dotted in plants and moss, and the platforms also were grassy areas as opposed to the expected concrete. The buildings themselves often had bronze caps on them as decorations. It was not unusual in Metropolis to not see the ground below.
The city had varying means of transportation. The most common means was that of flying cars, which flew in pre-designated lanes[1]. Grav-Trains ran about on grindrails to provide another means of getting around the city for the average citizen. There were also similar hovering trains, which were used to load cargo around Metropolis. The adventurous commuter could take the grind rails to get around, provided they could avoid the Grav-Trains.
Other features included meteor pads and the dense blue-ish fog that gathered in the lower parts of the city, obscuring the view.
[edit] History
[edit] Ratchet & Clank
Metropolis first appeared in Ratchet & Clank. It was seen as a city filled with vegetation and high buildings.
During the time of Chairman Drek's plan to build a new planet, Kerwan was taken over and occupied by Drek's forces, however it was unknown whether Drek actually wanted to use Metropolis for his synthetic planet. A likely alternative was that he expected Ratchet to land in the city at some point, and stationed his thugs there in advance.
It wasn't long before Ratchet and Clank arrived, following the trail of Captain Qwark, who had filmed a commercial for Al's Roboshack. Ultimately, the duo only left the city with a Swingshot, a Heli-Pack, and an Infobot for planet Eudora. However, they had also successfully driven off the Blarg and were a step closer to making contact with Captain Qwark.
[edit] Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
Through an issue of the Qwark vid-comics, Ratchet found out that Dr. Nefarious had invaded Metropolis once before with an army of robotic Insectoids, but had been thwarted by Captain Qwark. Now that he had the Tyhrranoids at his disposal, as well as his Bio-Bliterator, he was ready to extract his revenge on the city. The design of this city at the time of Nefarious' original invasion was practically identical to the design from when Ratchet first visited the city.
The invasion was already in full force when Ratchet & Clank (who was secretly Klunk in disguise) arrived. The skies of Metropolis were alive with Blaster fire and explosions. The design of the city had also changed. There was more walkway for Ratchet to use, and the colours were more dulled. Making their way through this section of the city, Ratchet & Klunk witnessed the Biobliterator change the entire population of Metropolis into robots in a matter of seconds.
The duo eventually came across Dr. Nefarious atop a Mag Train, but he swiftly teleported away, but not before giving a horrible rendition of his "Crushin' on Squishies" single. After battling Klunk, who had now transformed into Giant Klunk, and rescuing Clank, Ratchet helped the Galactic Rangers wipe out the remaining Tyhrranoids situated in another section of the city, also destroying several bombs that threatened to destroy it.
In this part of Metropolis, the colours were a bit darker and more muted, there was less air traffic (likely due to the invasion), and there were no bronze caps on any of the buildings. There was, however, a clock which was always on the time set in the internal clock of the PS2.
[edit] Ratchet: Deadlocked
In Ratchet: Deadlocked, Sasha became the Mayor of Metropolis.
During Ratchet's stay in DreadZone, and as a result of his rise to fame, newsreaders Dallas and Juanita used a photo of Metropolis from his first adventure, to depict Ratchet as a malicious criminal, pegging him as destroying Metropolis, not Nefarious.
[edit] Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
The city of Metropolis was once again invaded, but by invaders from another galaxy - the Drophyds. Their leader, Emperor Percival Tachyon, hated the Lombaxes and had attacked Metropolis to hunt down Ratchet, the last Lombax, as well as the Lombax Secret, the Dimensionator, according to IRIS. The Imperial Empire's army quickly overwhelmed the planet's defenses, the city itself sustaining major damage to its landscape, with several skyscrapers crumpling, and mag-rails torn apart, and sky bridges tumbling into the fog.
Ratchet and Clank managed to destroy a large portion of the army before they escaped the planet, but the army still remained behind looking for the Lombax Secret, leaving much more of the city in ruins. Metropolis soon underwent re-construction, once the army left (at an unknown time). Upon finding IRIS, Ratchet discovered that the inhabitants were stuck watching repeat screenings of Big Al's Bot Wars.
The Metropolis in Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction had a more brilliant and dazzling design due to the games' stunning graphics. Metropolis had a lot less plant and stone activity, and more of the bronze caps from the original location, as well were large glass windows and doors, and a new redesigned architecture and redesigned street lights.
[edit] Major Landmarks
[edit] The Planetary Defense Center
The Planetary Defense Center was the building assigned to the protection of Metropolis, as well as the rest of Kerwan. Captain Qwark was assigned there prior to the invasion that occurred at the start of Tools of Destruction, and was promptly captured. The building had a telephone-like automated network that was used for a variety of situations, such as when Qwark used it to call Ratchet and Clank to warn them about a massive deadly space armada and mutant amoeboids. It even had a Spanish translation.
[edit] Big Al's Roboshack
Big Al's Roboshack was the shop where Al installed and fixed many gadgets and devices, as advertised by Qwark in the original game. According to Qwark, "If Al can't fix it, it's not broke!". Big Al had also apparently been fixing Qwarks Super-Electro-Gadget since he was "knee-high to a sandmouse"'. This was where Clank obtained his Heli-Pack upgrade.
There were two other roboshacks in the Solana Galaxy: Bob's roboshack on Pokitaru, and Edwina roboshack on Hoven. Both of these gave Clank upgrades, the Thruster-Pack and Hydro-pack, respectively.
[edit] Captain Qwark's Fitness Course
The Fitness Course was an advertising mechanism to get the people of Solana into the Qwarktastic spirit, as those who completed the Course were awarded a prize from Qwark's Trainer. It was generally impossible for most people, but Ratchet, being the agile Lombax that he was, was able to make it through. Despite this, Qwark's Trainer, Helga, felt that it was "one of the most pathetic displays... on that obstacle course", and that it was "weak, weak WEAK!!". Because of this, Ratchet had to pay for the prize, rather than rightfully earning it. The prize turned out to be the Swingshot, yet another invaluable tool in his adventures.
The Fitness Course introduced Ratchet to several key elements of traversing, most importantly the Zip Line and Jump Slots.
[edit] Enemies
[edit] Ratchet & Clank
[edit] Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
- One-Eyed Tyhrranoid v2s
- Three-Eyed Tyhrranoids
- Four-Eyed Tyhrranoid Commanders
- Tyhrranoid Dropship
- Tank Bots
- One-Eyed Robonoids
- Three-Eyed Robonoids
- Robonoid Commanders
- Giant Klunk
- Tyhrranoid Saucers
- Ultra Mecha-Tyhrranoids
[edit] Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
[edit] Glitches
- In the battle with Klunk in Up Your Arsenal, Klunk may fall through the train and die. However, the cutscene won't play and the player would have to reset the game.
[edit] Trivia
- Metropolis was the first level ever designed for a Ratchet & Clank game, and that may be the reason it's the most recurring city in the Ratchet & Clank series.
- Metropolis was the level playable on the original Ratchet & Clank demo disc.
- The original theme for Metropolis, Kerwan, is cited by most players of the original game as the most memorable theme from that game.
- Every installment of Metropolis in the Ratchet & Clank series has had a train in some way.
- When one looked over Metropolis as it appeared throughout the series, they would notice that the design changed from each title in which it appeared. One possible explanation was that the city had undergone renovations since each visit, however given the size and complexity of the city, this was unlikely. A more logical solution was the idea that Ratchet just visited different sectors of the city with each visit.
- Metropolis was also the name of the title city in Fritz Lang's 1927 science-fiction hit Metropolis. The Planetary Defense Center found in Tools of Destruction bore a similarity to the Tower of Babel from that film (pictured).
- Metropolis was the name of the city Superman was based in.
- Metropolis was also the name of a city in Insomniac's earlier game, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. The landscapes even looked similar. Insomniac Games probably used the Spyro 2 version of Metropolis as a basis for the Ratchet & Clank Metropolis.
[edit] Behind the scenes
- Insomniac Games had originally intended to place Metropolis on a planet called Caldera, but later on changed the planet name to Kerwan.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] Appearances
- Ratchet & Clank
- Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
- Ratchet: Deadlocked (cameo)
- Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
[edit] Sources and references
- ↑ The hover cars generally flew in straight lines of traffic in Ratchet & Clank.
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za_ptwcZ7Ps YouTube video, welcome message says Metropolis is on planet Caldera.
