Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PSP)

The massive pair struggle a bit in the PSP's tight confines.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

A subtitle like 'Size Matters' seems to beg the question of whether size really does matter to the Ratchet & Clank series. That is, does the Ratchet & Clank experience made famous on the PlayStation 2 suffer at all on the much smaller PSP? The answer is yes, but not enough to totally remove the game's appeal.

The series' wacky plotlines definitely don't suffer. From a standard kidnapped-little-girl introduction, the plot twists and turns through all sorts of contrived situations, so that by the time you get to the big ending, you can barely remember how you got there. At times, the plot threatens to collapse under the weight of its of disjointed indirectness, but it holds together thanks in large part to some quick, punchy dialogue, excellent cut scene animations and above all, great voice acting. Just getting to hear Clank's cute, matter-of-fact robotic warble is enough to keep even the most jaded gamer playing.

Much like the story, the gameplay rarely stays in one place for too long. The series' core mix of basic platform jumping and enemy-shooting is still there, but that core is practically overwhelmed by a wide variety of side-missions that change up the basic gameplay. Some of these side-games are deep enough to be full games in their own right -- a Starfox-style space battle and a Twisted Metal-style demolition derby are particularly well-executed. But for each gem of a mini-game, there is another that is either depressingly simple (i.e. the constant jumping puzzles required to open up locked doors) or simply badly designed (i.e. a hard-to-control hoverboard racing interlude).

When the game does eventually get back to its run-and-gun roots, the whole proceeding feels familiar, but at the same time a little less vibrant than it has in the past. The somewhat limited weapon selection is at least partially to blame for this. There's plenty of firepower to be sure, with a good variety of different ordnance, but the selection lacks some of the inventiveness shown in previous games. There's nothing here to match the wacky joy of the chicken-creating Morph-o-Ray or the enemy-distracting Decoy Gun. Instead, we get a rocket launcher, a heat laser, a double-barreled ray gun -- each endlessly upgradeable, each depressingly standard.

While the weapons disappoint, the well-designed levels do a good deal to capture the old Ratchet & Clank charm. Imaginative architecture and a vibrant visual design make each area a joy to behold, and really show off the PSP's polygon-pushing power. A poison-induced dreamscape inside Ratchet's head was particularly wow-inducing, with backgrounds full of floating mind-detritus and foregrounds full of reality-tearing enemies.

In the early levels, it's easy to get caught up in these wondrous environments as you breeze through waves of simple, if distracting, enemies. But as the game progresses and the difficulty ramps up, at some point getting through the levels starts to feel more like a chore than a joy. Don't get me wrong, taking on a dozen powerful robots at once is thrilling and technically impressive to see on a portable system, but the game's mechanics make it easy to get lost in the crossfire. The game does the best it can, given the PSP's somewhat limited control setup, but the lack of a second analog stick really makes it tough to maneuver accurately in a firefight. I felt like I needed an extra hand to be able to run from enemies, rotate the camera to face them, and aim and fire weapons all at the same time.