Playstation 2 - Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Format
Playstation 2
Publisher
Sony
Developer
Insomniac Games
Country of origin
US
Release date
2004
Genre
Shooter

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

By David Rasmussen
25th Nov 04

Studio - Insomniac Games/Sony
Age - Teen (13+)
Genre - Platform/Action

Previously (Going Commando)
Nine months or so have passed since the first game (from my figuring) when Ratchet & Clank are summoned to another galaxy by a Mr. Fizzwidget to solve the problem of a vanishing bio-experiment.
Seems the little fellow was stolen by a thief and it's your job to return it.
After a long search, several confrontations with said thief, and the thief's minions "Thugs-4-Less" you finally get the bio-experiment back and return it to Mr. Fizzwidget... only to be ditched on a desert world.

Seems the thief you've been after turns out to be a female version of Ratchet who has been keeping this bio-experiment out of MegaCorps hands because they have some whacked ideas for it... mainly the idea to turn this seemingly harmless, but quite violent thing, into the next craze in pet ownership.

After more battles, and a war to save a planet of robots from these rampaging monsters, you finally learn your old friend Captain Qwark (from the first game) was behind the whole mess (disguised as Fizzwidget) and he did it all to stage his own return as a superhero.

After you stop the Protopets (new "name" of the bio-experiments when they were sold to the masses) and Qwark ends up doing time in the Human Experimentation dept. of MegaCorps, Ratchet & Clank settle down in their new lives with MegaCorps and their new female companions....

Up Your Arsenal
Well that WAS what happened at the end!
However it seems that, well, after nine months or so (however long it was between games) we find Ratchet & Clank once again swingin' singles since... well.. No sign of the ladies from last game.

But that doesn't mean they've been idle (as they were between the original game and Going Commando), it seems that saving a planet of robots did wonders for Clank's career as he is now the star of his own Holovid series entitled "Secret Agent Clank" (with Ratchet starring as his sidekick Jeeves).
However that will have to be put on hold as it seems Ratchet & Clank's old galaxy has come under attack from an alien species known as the Tyrranoids, led by a Super Villain style robot named Dr. Nefarious.

Returning in time to help the robotic "cavalry", (Galactic Rangers) beat back a wave of invading Noids, you are given a mission by the President of the Galaxy to find the one person who beat Nefarious... mainly the guy you left back in the other Galaxy, Captain Qwark.

Only it seems he's NOT back in the other galaxy, nor is he with MegaCorps anymore. He seems to have ditched that and is now hiding out on a backwater planet with the apes and some not so friendly insectoid creatures. Once you find him and bring him back to the command vessel of the resistance against the Noid armies (the Phoenix), you'll need to help his memory along... which turns out to NOT be a good thing since once he remembers who he is he takes over the whole show and assembles a group called the "Q-Force" to fight the Noid armies... actually Ratchet & Clank does all the fighting, but you knew that.

At least you get respect from the Captain of the Phoenix (the new female co-star of the series), and the Galactic Rangers (who have affectionately dubbed you "Sarge"... and often call on you to save them time and time again...)

The game has all new things to do, and lost a few things from before.
Gone are the spaceship battles of old (modifying your spaceship this time is merely for a cosmetic feel since you can't purchase weapons or shields for your ship), and there is only one place to do hoverbike racing or arena combat (as opposed to Going Commando which had two areas for each of these).

You also lose the interesting sphere battling mode (thrashing the mini city planetoid with Giant Clank) though that mode does make a brief (but not so exciting) appearance as a part of an episode of "Secret Agent Clank" that you film during the game.

There are probably less weapons in this game, but they have more evolutions.
This evolve five times, in comparison to before when they only had one evolution (and not all of them evolved). So it all works out in the end.

Finding crystals in this game isn't as easy as before (one area, but it's a gigantic maze of sewer tunnels which requires the gravity boots for complete exploration), and you don't have two levels of crystal finding this time out (which is compensated by the fact that the one level is a massive one).

The cutscenes are not good this time. They picked far better ones for Going Commando.
Furthermore you might as well forget going after the platinum bolts since they only seem good for buying new "skins" for your character (when in Going Commando they were for weapons modifications).

This has an online feature, and up to eight people can play at once, but I'm not into online play so someone else will have to review that feature... it does, however, feature five new worlds exclusive to the online version that you can't play in regular gameplay mode.

Oh, and I didn't like the new "extra" which was playing those Captain Qwark "vid-comics" to learn his secret past with Nefarious... they weren't that great and could have just as well been told in cutscenes. I wish they used the space for something different... more cinematic cutscenes to view, or better cutscenes.

One thing I did like was the ground battles you fight with the Galactic Rangers.
As you go through the game you'll team up with them to "purge" planet after planet of the Noid armada, fighting from world to world (and battlefield to battlefield) to rid each planet of the Noid menace.
You fight either on foot, with a captured turret gun, or in a captured gunship which is quite good. You can rake up a lot of credits doing this, and it's just plain fun to blow away the Noids in combat.
And listening to the "chatter" between your Galactic Ranger allies is fun too.

Still, however, despite the new things I liked there were also things I didn't like.
But that's for the breakdown.

Ratchet & Clank Breakdown the 3rd
What's Hot? - I like it. It plays well and there are stuff about this game which I like, like the huge battles to retake each world from the Noid armadas for one thing. A lot of the combat (and some of the story) was also quite good.

What's Not? - I don't like the things that are missing from this game. The old announcer for the arena battles is missed, the new one is kind of dull in his delivery. I missed the "cutscenes" from before (the new cutscenes are boring). In fact parts of this story I didn't like, which is sad really since I liked the second game's story despite the fact it's not loved by all Ratchet & Clank fans.

I missed the mini planetoid Rampage meets Godzilla style mega battles in the Giant Clank body (thrashing huge mini cities as you fight). Yes, yes, it does make an "appearance" in this game but it's just not the same as before. The Qwark vid-comic mini-games weren't that good, wish they did something else.

Overall I liked some of the stuff, but either didn't like all of it or missed some of the stuff that was missing this time out from before. It was good, but it could have been better.

Moments to Remember?
Wish it had more of those memorable moments that Going Commando had, but it has it's moments.

What to Ignore?
Uh... one of the sub bosses is a Britney Spears robot named Courtney Gears? You're kidding, right?
That's just so disturbing, though I got a kick out of Ratchet when he shook his money maker while recollecting about Miss Gears on that one planet (when he suddenly starts imitating her when talking about how she seemed so sweet and innocent... except for that ONE music video she did which he shakes his thing to...)

Makes me wish THAT scene was one of the cutscenes you could watch instead of the Courtney Gears music video which is a cutscene you can watch over and over again.

I also want to ignore the new "Arena" (Annihilation Nation) announcer who doesn't seem as exciting as the one from Going Commando. I miss the old MegaCorp Arena, it was livelier. (And there seems to be audio failure occasionally in this level since sometimes you hear the announcer, sometimes you don't... which is never a problem in Going Commando since you always hear the announcer.)

Finally ignore the fact that you seem to have moved on past Andrea (Going Commando) and suddenly have a new female associate to... well... NOT associate with. You don't seem to associate much with her.

Overall?
I liked parts of this game, I didn't like other parts. It's hit and miss for me.
Which is NOT to say that I wouldn't enjoy a fourth romp with Ratchet and Clank. Even if it's for the PSP I would like to see another game in nine months... let's see, the game came out in October so that means we'll see a possible fourth game (if this isn't the end of the franchise) in July 2005.
Hopefully. That'd be nice.

-- David Rasmussen 25th Nov 04

Playstation 2 Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal Images