Ratchet & Clank

"There is no such thing as a perfect game, but this comes pretty darn close"

I don't usually give a 10, since no game has ever been perfect; but no game ever will be, so I believe in rewarding those that come oh so close as this one does. As you will read below there is nothing really to complain about except for some minor nitpicking, and one huge glitch that I encountered, but you probably won't.

GRAPHICS: 10/10 I do not know if this is the best that the Playstation 2 can do, but if it can do better I'd be pretty surprised. All of the characters, including enemies, are wonderfully realized and animated beautifully. The environments are all different from one another and look incredible. With bright colors, it is all just too good to be missed. Even the water is the best I've ever seen; when Ratchet goes swimming, I get thirsty.

MUSIC/SOUND: 10/10 The music is fantastic,and you will never get tired of it no matter how many times you replay a level. The sound effects are great, and never get to the point of irritating, and the voice acting is adequate.

CAMERA/CONTROL: 9/10 For the most part the camera is perfect, but occasionally you will be saying ''I can't see'', but not very often. The controls are excellent, but changing weapons can be cumbersome, but then again when dealing with so many weapons and gadgets, there is bound to be a downside, and this game handles things better than most, if not all.

GAME PLAY: 10/10 There are 18 HUGE planets to visit, some of which must be revisited later in the game. To completely get everything in the game requires a second time through, where the early levels have been made marginally harder, but are actually easier, because you get to keep all your weapons. There are 40 gold bolts, and 30 skill points to collect. Bolts serve as money, and on Rilgar, around level 6, you will be able to buy the ultimate weapon, the R.Y.N.O., which stands for Rip Yourself a New One ( I did not make that up, it is in the game), and costs a whopping 150,000 bolts; however, getting it is the smart thing to do, as ammo for it is the best bargain in the game at only 20 bolts each, and it makes the extremely difficult later levels very easy. No one is likely to approach the game in the same way, some being more comfortable with one weapon over another. The game is never frustrating except for some bolts and skill points. Even replaying early levels a gazillion times just to get bolts doesn't get boring. Getting the gold bolts allows you to buy gold weapons which will open up the making of video extra. Luckily I did not care about that because after getting all the bolts I ran into a counting error on Velden orbit, and it said I only had 1 of 2 bolts, but I had gotten both and could not get the other again, not even on the second time through. This probably won't effect you, though, but if it does, and you report it to Sony, you can send them your memory card and they will put a saved game on it with all 40 bolts and 7 gold weapons at the end of the second time through. If you get all the skill points, you get an epilogue, which I couldn't do, but should be worth the effort because the game is extremely humorous. You only need 15 of the thirty skill points to open up the cheat menu, one of which gives you mirror levels, if you can find it. There is a lot of varied things to do in the game, and it never gets boring.

VALUE: 10/10 As a first party game it is only $39.99, and even the best gamer will take no less than 20 hours, the first time through, and not getting everything. If you are like me, and like to take your time and really see everything, and get 100%, you could be at it for 40-80 hours. I spent 64 hours on it, and even then only had 20 skill points. Since I cannot conceive of anyone not liking this game, and especially anyone who even just likes platformers, it is strictly a buy, not rent, game.

FINAL COMMENTS: There is no question, this is the definitive platformer currently available on any platform. Just to compare, it totally buries ''Jak and Daxter'', which I did not like at all, and over generously rated a 6/10. Since it is also true that all good things come to those who wait, you might want to consider that this will be a greatest hits eventually and only $19.99, about the same time the inevitable sequel arrives, hopefully even bigger and better, if that's possible.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/24/02, Updated 12/24/02