Sick of constantly hearing about how awesome the R&C series has been, I decided to get my hands on a copy of Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters for the PSP and just kill it like my old Crash Bandicoot games (same kind of game, different feel and gameplay). Well, I’m about an hour into it and it’s everything (if not more than) it was hyped up to be.
What struck me most powerfully was how very polished this game looks. If it’s one thing I don’t like, it’s seeing franchise titles lose massive quality (especially in the looks department) when new entrants are made for portable consoles (case in point, Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven for PS2 versus Tenchu: Something or Other for PSP). The disgusting details on the PSP title there put me off of trying more titles that started out (well, not exactly started for Tenchu, but at least dwelt there temporarily) as PS2 franchises and have now been adapted for and continued on the PSP. I was, however, dead wrong in making this presumption about all games of this kind, as the following CG screens I snapped from R&C: SM will show.
As you can see for yourself (click for enlarged versions), the cinematic scenes on this game hold pretty flawlessly to what the characters looked like in PS2 versions (I can’t find us a good screen shot to illustrate my point at neatly as I wanted to, but just try and remember some R&C commercials, okay?).
The gameplay is no different (in terms of quality). I really like this game since it plays easily and keeps the action coming. There aren’t too many scenes of dialog (these games generally aren’t too talk heavy) but the scenes with are done just right to integrate them nicely into gameplay. It’s not a huge deal but it’s noteworthy.
One reason I got bored of my Crash games was that essentially, you played the entire game the same way. Just like how the original Mario didn’t really learn any new tricks (except the fireball and star), Crash also didn’t learn anything new (or spectacularly cool. I mean, yes, there were body slams and… that’s just it, I don’t even remember the other “power-ups” I used to be so eager to earn and learn. In Ratchet and Clank games, however, you level up (i.e. health goes up, and I think power too) and buy new guns with new functions. Not only that, but your guns level up too as you gain experience with them. This means you’ve got more room for development rather than “here’s your set of abilities for the rest of the game” of the Crash days.
Anyway, I do believe that’s enough gushing about a game I’ve really only just started playing. I’m going just to add this game to my list of “Games I’d Buy If I Had the Moneys.”