R&C: A Rift in Time also went out of its way to be progressive, inclusive and safe and non threatening. Not just the inclusion of a playable female Lombax (who probably got more play time than Ratchet), but also the number of female characters in the game. There were female miners, female pirates, Mr Zurkon was now Mrs Zurkon, those alien monks were obviously black, Clank made a point in the game that he liked having just one arm (signalling that it's OK to have a disability), etc. There were hardly any rough edges, even an undersea monster that threatened to gobble you up for an entire level was really only a misunderstood lovable beast and the scenes with the depressed, misunderstood yellow robot Kit ("I'm so sad, nobody wants to be friends with me. I'm broken and I'd better leave") were cloyingly saccharine.
That's exactly the kind of environment where you'll find the game directors asking artists to sex up Rivet because her boobs aren't big enough.