Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

"Not worth my money or my time."

I am by no means a regular reviewer. I just feel that such a highly-regarded PSP game should be taken down a peg by someone who dislikes it.

This was my first Ratchet and Clank game. I didn't really know what to expect, but I had read (here and at other sites) that it was a fine buy for the PSP. I'd have to totally disagree with that. I'll outline a few things I really disliked about this game, and some things I thought were fairly well done.

The weapons are mostly useless, unwieldy, and unbalanced. I will be surprised if anyone here has actually used the acid bomb glove for any reason other than increasing its level to see if it might actually become useful (it never does). I fully upgraded my lacerator very quickly and blazed through the first few levels, then slowly, grudgingly, leveled up my other weapons to try and put some variety into the gameplay. I ended up never using them. Even the concussion cannon, which should be hugely powerful, is very weak and again, not worth using. Eventually I ended up just jumping and using my wrench- it was more powerful and useful than any other weapon.

The camera system is abysmal, and I truly mean that. You can either manually rotate the camera or fix it behind you, and both options are distasteful. One of the biggest problems is the fact that the camera cannot rotate through walls- if you are beside a wall in some cases, you cannot simply rotate the camera to your other side, no, you actually have to move away from the wall in order to allow the camera some room to rotate behind you. This problem occurs with fixed camera or free camera. Pressing L and R will center the camera in front of you.. oh wait, it only does this sometimes, if the camera is far enough away from the center that the game deems your L and R buttons worthy enough to perform this simple function. You'll be frantically searching for your enemies, cursing at your inability to judge jumping distance, maybe even throwing your PSP in rage when that unseen baddie pops you for the 10th time.

The graphics are very pretty, on par with most PS2 games. Explosions, enemies, minigames, cutscenes all look very professional
and occasionally jolt some life into the game. Some environment textures can be ugly but mostly the game looks very nice.

The minigames. Admittedly, some, like the outer space minigame, are fun and visually impressive, even if they lack depth. Most others are terribly designed and no fun at all to play.. this is best demonstrated by the hoverboard minigames. The controls are totally nonresponsive, the camera is remarkably awful (while turning to avoid hitting a wall, is it necessary to have the camera shift left or right to totally ruin any sense of distance or depth that you probably didn't have in the first place?), and often frustrating for these reasons. The fact that some of the minigames, like the mentioned flying robot and the puzzle-based mini-robot game, deliver some of the most exciting and engaging experiences of the game is disappointing. Could they not have spent more time developing the enemies or weapons and less time on these pointless minigames?

Controls are decent. Strafing is a chore, unless you have two thumbs on your left hand, but otherwise Ratchet handles well and has a solid amount of moves (most of which are never utilized). The lock-on system is flawed, but you'll be using it out of necessity.

The sound is very poorly done. Besides the voice acting, there is not one piece of audio in this game worth hearing. The music is repetetive and does not suit the gameplay in the least, the sound effects are sparse (there is no sound signifying a successful melee attack, one might expect a thump), and often, the sound in cutscenes is poorly synced.

Multiplayer? Not fun. Sure, it works properly (at least for me), but there is a small selection of maps, only four people per game, and playing online just seems like a chore. There is no strategy other than sniping your opponents until they get near enough to you for you to use the concussion cannon, then finishing them off. Generally, multiplayer suffers from the same symptoms the game itself has.

Overall, if you are too lazy to really read this review, I want you to at least remember that I had no fun playing this game. To me, this is how one judges a video game- by the fun you have playing it, not the graphics or sound. I felt as if I was fighting against the game itself- the camera, the stupid strafing controls, the sketchy lock-on, not the enemies. To be quite honest, I played this game until I got to the final boss fight. Then I stopped. I felt that I should stop subjecting myself to the game's unique form of undeserved punishment. I did not in the least feel compelled to finish the game.. in fact, to me, finishing the game would have given it more credit than it deserves.

Please do not spend money on this game.

Overall: 3/10

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 02/27/07