It is not very often that a platformer gets sent my way, so on receiving Ratchet & Clank 3 I welcomed the refreshing change and began playing at once. It immediately struck me that Ratchet & Clank 3 is not your average platformer, but is far closer to being an action RPG/third person shooter, not to mention a first person shooter when it suits you.
Ratchet & Clank 3 drops you into the amour-clad shoes of Ratchet and Clank, an arse kicking duo suspiciously like Jak & Daxter but just different enough to let me shrug it off as a passing resemblance. Clank, your "sidekick" is a huge TV action star dubbed "Secret Agent Clank" and when things go awry you are soon both roped into saving the galaxy from the Tyrranoids and the Evil Dr Nefarious.
As the game progresses you will move from planet to planet undertaking strategic missions to both attack Tyrranoid strongholds and defend the planet alongside the robotic "Galactic Rangers" who are dauntingly outnumbered and quite hopeless at fighting. The main missions on planets usually mean cutting a swathe through enemy forces in order to complete your objective. In the first mission you will be set mini-tasks which introduce you to some of the weapons and teach you where and how to use them. The Galactic Rangers who hold no qualms about adopting tactics like “running away” and “letting you do the tricky stuff” will enlist your help quite frequently, this means you will often face legions upon legions of enemies alone. When facing these legions of enemies you can choose to use the quick select menu to switch to first person mode and play Ratchet & Clank as if it were an FPS. This gives a whole new perspective to the gameplay and switches it smoothly from Action RPG/Platformer to a full-blown FPS.
If you are battling the Tyrranoids on a planet you will often be relocated to several different areas before the main mission is complete. These relocations usually mean dropping from the sky into a hail of missiles giving you a sort-of mini-game in which you have to keep as many of the 4 Galactic Rangers dropping with you alive, so that they can assist you in the battle on the surface. Not all of the planets have a main mission, some of them require you to undertake a set of mini-missions to attack enemy forces and defend locations on the planet, you can play these mini-missions over and over again letting you collect much needed "bolts" (which you will later use to buy better weapons) and gain experience and weapon levels to help you stay alive in later levels. The odd mission in Ratchet & Clank 3 will see you jumping into a vehicle, there is nothing more fun than hurtling over the ground or through the sky and blasting enemies into oblivion, however one such vehicle mission - and quite a major one at that - leaves a monkey ally in command of the guns which distracts a bit from the fun. I would much rather let the monkey drive and shoot the Tyrranoids myself. Suffice to say, you get a ground vehicle at your command, guns and all, sooner or later but it does not compare to the fun of flying around in the hovership blasting enemy dropships out of the sky and strafing ground targets.
To make sure you get through your missions alive, and can solve the odd puzzle here and there you are given a serious arsenal of weapons and gadgets, which increases as you progress through the game. New weapons can be bought with "bolts" which are dropped by enemies, found in crates, and won by completing missions. The more you use a weapon the more it "levels up", this brings in the RPG element of the game with each weapon having several levels which affect the amount of ammo, the damage it causes and the look of the weapon. Levelling up weapons also allows you to "lock on" to targets making aiming easier and awards other functions such as the ability to hold down fire to charge up a more powerful blast. The variety of weapons is quite stunning and some gadgets, such as the Refractor, double up as weapons when you refract deadly laser beams at your enemies. All the standard FPS weapons can be found in Ratchet & Clank styled incarnations, including the Shotgun, Machine Gun, Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher and Sniper Rifle. On top of these there are also deadly and comical weapons such as the black-hole inducer and a couple of melee weapons, one of which is always on hand for when you encounter a sticky situation and have run out of ammo. Speaking of ammo, it can be bought at a "Gagetron", small ammo/weapon dispensers that you will find dotted around levels, you can also get ammo from crates but don't count on them dropping the type you need; keep your finger ready on that square button to fend off enemies with your melee weapon when the worst comes to the worst.
Ratchet & Clank 3 has more than enough variety in the enemies department, your foes will take to the skies in saucers, jetpacks and dropships, and on the ground will pilot small "mech" like machines and use a plethora of weapons in their ceaseless quest to put an end to you. Some missions see Tyrranoid drop ships offloading more enemies just when you thought the battle was over and you will face everything from insignificant mosquito-like creatures to giant Gatling gun toting flying robot death machines. Whilst not every single level has one you will also encounter "end of level bosses" which will challenge your ability to "run like hell whilst shooting wildly".
Graphically Ratchet & Clank 3 is not groundbreaking, however it uses what comparatively little power the PS2 has these days to churn out enormous detailed environments with little apparent pop-up. The environments vary tremendously; you will find yourself running through an Ewok-Styled forest one moment and blasting through a film studio the next before bouncing your way around a bizarre planetoid as you fly from planet to planet never knowing what to expect next. All of the characters, player and non player, are highly detailed allowing the game to present you with seamless cut scenes using the main engine, this ties in with the other intuitive features of the game which all work together to smooth gameplay over and engage you in the Ratchet & Clank world. Instead of a loading screen, for example, you are treated to several short animations of your ship or dropship flying to the next planet or location, also the next planet you must visit is always pre-selected when you hop back into your ship.
Sound wise Ratchet & Clank cannot be faulted, the voice acting is excellent and the everlasting symphony of destruction you play with your weapons would be music to your ears if you took the time to notice it. The in-game music is the easily-forgettable ambient type which does not stick in your head like 30 seconds of the Mario theme tune, however it would be missed if turned off - no action is the same without some tense music to back it up.
The Starship Phoenix provides a base for your operations giving you the ability to buy weapons, armour and ammo, view the trophies you have won, test your mettle in the holo training facility and view vid-comic disks which let you play a side-scrolling shooter mini-game. Vid-Comics also help narrate the story in a very stylised comic fashion before letting you play the mini-game in which you can earn more bolts and even get an idea of what enemies you will be facing next.
Annihilation Nation gives you a great place to practise your butt kicking and platform hopping skills, it is comparable to the holo-training facility except the environments are not restricted to a single round room and the enemies not restricted to the robotic "test dummies" found in the training facility. Aboard the Annihilation Nation ship you can play through a sequence of death courses and arena battles earning bolts and unlocking more courses to play, arena battles throw in plenty of tricks to keep you on your toes including electrified flooring, time limits, sleeping gas, a central shielded gun turret which you can trick into shooting your enemies, and many more. Often you will have to battle through an arena with one weapon only, or try to defeat enemies whilst your weapons cycle automatically. The arena not only gives you the opportunity to test your skills but makes sure you test a variety of them, learning how to best use your weapons and how to manipulate enemies into destroying each other.
Multiplayer Ratchet & Clank 3 is a shadow of Halo, minus all the players. The multiplayer looks incredibly promising but I could not locate a game with more than a few vehicles. The number of weapons available in multiplayer is a little cut down, but the vehicles and turrents you can commandeer make up for this. I thoroughly believe that a 4v4 player game would be incredibly fun, particularly if played in first person mode. What Ratchet & Clank 3 could really have used is a fully featured co-operative mode ala Halo, playing through the single player missions and gauntlets in multiplayer would be excellent but sadly such a feature is unavailable. Multiplayer does, however, allow you to host a game with two local players, letter you play with a friend in your living room and six more friends out in the wide-world – I am not sure if this works when joining a game but it is, nevertheless, a good feature.
With such a diverse range of weapons and some excellent blasting action to offer Ratchet & Clank 3 is an incredibly impressive game. Switch into the available first person view and you get a Halo-esque experience to whet the appetite of any FPS gamer, whilst the classic and well told Supervillian story-line along with the ability to level up both yourself and your weapons will captivate any Action-RPG fan. If absurdly huge guns and relentless enemies are your thing then Ratchet & Clank 3 is for you. You should easily be occupied for a minimum of 20 hours if you take a little time to finish the extras in the game and level up your weapons – which you will need to do if you want any chance at taking on the later levels and bosses.
Despite the lack of a co-operative multiplayer, and an almost empty multiplayer server the single player gameplay will keep you occupied for plenty of time. Ratchet & Clank 3 is surely worth your hard earned cash, buy it now and, if you can, get online and perhaps one day I will see you in a 4v4.
Philip Howard
