Secret Agent Clank (PSP)
For those who like their robotic sidekicks shaken, not stirred.
6/24/2008 5:41 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2
What's Hot: Clank and Quark stages are fun; It's pretty funny
What's Not: Ratchet and Gadgebot stages are dull; Rhythm mini-games wear out their welcome; Camera issues
Ratchet knows that the best way to deal with angry prisoners is a beehive.
The mostly-boring Gadgebot sequences tend to focus more on puzzle-solving as you lead a group of four tiny robots. The Quick Select system here allows you to issue commands to the other bots such as "attack" or "follow." The most interesting of these "extra levels" are Qwark's stages. These are played as flashbacks as the captain recounts his (completely made up) past victories to a disinterested robot biographer. Not only is Qwark's play-by-play dialogue during these levels funny, but the battles frequently change as he begins exaggerating the details to make them more exciting. "Did I mention that he had laser eyes?" remarks Qwark right before the boss you're fighting unleashes a barrage of, well, eye lasers.
When Clank asks if you want to smell his boutonniere, don't.
The different characters and gameplay styles are clearly meant to introduce variety into the gameplay, but they end up distracting from the overall package. Bouncing back and forth between the different modes at seemingly random intervals takes away any sort of focus and cohesive design that the game should have. Making things even more confusing is the fact that after you're forced into one of these secondary character stages, you're given the option to continue playing more stages with them instead of returning to the main narrative. The freedom to play a game however you like is always welcome, but the execution here seems less like a way of giving players control over the situation and more like the developers just created a bunch of stages and then scattered them over a table for the player to pick up.
Gadgebots are small, but at least you get a few of 'em.
Still, those Captain Qwark stages are pretty funny. A whole game based around that concept would not be a bad idea.
The unfocused gameplay and sometimes dull stages are not helped by the games frequently frustrating camera. These flaws are countered by the enjoyable Clank and Qwark stages and the game's consistently great sense of humor (which is heightened thanks to the top-notch voice acting).
Secret Agent Clank may not be as good of a game as Clank deserves, but it's certainly worth checking out.
This review was based on a retail version of the game provided by the publisher.
