Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

"A game not much longer than the barrel of a R.Y.N.O"

If you're reading this before you buy, let me warn you; this game is short. Incredibly short. A brand new adventure which is accomplished in under 6 hours.

Story: 6/10
Ratchet takes some much-needed R'n'R and is interrupted by a little girl who needs help on her school project. What would our hero do? Help the little girl by blowing up some robots! And our innocent little quest turns into a full-blown adventure. I said full-blown, but you will reach the final boss rather quickly. It will be disappointing. Certain plot elements seem to be thrown in simply to force the game forward, however, Captain Qwark makes a delightful appearance, as well as some comical scenes. You will have the option to redo the game with stronger enemies, but there really isn't any point unless you absolutely have to unlock everything, no matter how insignificant.

Gameplay: 7/10
Standard third person shooter, with the advantage that Ratchet has his trusty wrench to swing at enemies. Which all sounds fine, move with the analog nub, strafe with the digital pad. It will take some getting used to if you are familiar with the PS2 controls, but those new and old to the Ratchet series will quickly pick up the controls and be playing well in no time. Except for the camera. It won't rotate through walls, and get itself stuck when enemies are attacking. Especially annoying in the smaller rooms where the walls are much closer to Ratchet. There are Clank levels, but don't get your hopes up. The Giant Clank levels are impressively designed, similar to a space shooter (the good old days of Star Fox). However, in the length of the game you wont get many, and it's quite disheartening. There is only a single level where you play as Clank and the Gadgetbots, and half of it is a tutorial.

The controls are fairly easy to handle, but you will be annoyed by the auto lock-on that you are forced to use (with the exception of some weapons). You cannot look up or down without pressing Select to enter first person mode, which is cumbersome when facing enemies, as it prevents you from moving. There's also quite a time delay when changing views.

As standard with Ratchet and Clank games, there is a large weapon list, and all are upgradeable. However, you will probably only stick to one or two weapons throughout the game, there is no real drive to play with all the weapons, except for completion purposes.

There are some optional challenges/mini-games for you to enjoy, which while fun, are few. There's even a Lemmings inspired challenge. These are optional within the storyline, yet it's a nice break from the running and gunning and play fairly well. However, there are not too many, and some are far too easy to be called challenges.

Sound/Graphics: 8/10
I'm not a fan of slamming/praising games for graphics. The graphics fit well for the style and it works. The grinding gives off sparks, the dripping magma lights the ground, but zoom in too close and it becomes blocky like other PSP games. Certain levels even warp the cameras view. The sound however, could have been more interesting. I want sound that makes me replay levels just to hear it. It's all rather forgettable, and may skip to annoy you from time to time, but you'll mostly end up ignoring it, as the default sounds for the weapons will be much louder than the background, and with a game like Ratchet, you will be firing a lot.

Replay: 5/10
More gun upgrades. More armour. More which can be unlocked. And yet, it's the same short game. Not exactly inspiring to redo, even with the ability to purchase the fan-favourite R.Y.N.O. True fans will never be tired of the replay, so it doesn't deserve less.

Multiplayer: 1/10
Yes, it's that terrible. The wonderful mini-games and challenges are unavailable for multiplayer, no matter how interesting Destruction Derby would have been to battle your friends with. But your forced to battle out your friend with a restricted weapon list. You MUST upgrade your weapons in a certain order. You CAN'T choose which guns you want to upgrade or give skills too. And killing your opponent lets you pick up all their weapons and upgrades they have worked for. It's quite easily the most one-sided multiplayer ever - one player will easily dominate the competition by having the most weapons. There isn't any options to fix this problem, you can't choose to spawn with max weapons and ammunition, you can only restrict the guns people can use. This could have been thought out far better.

The only plus side to this is the taunts that players can dish out to their opponents, most notably “Owned” or “Hahaha” to further infuriate them.

Overall: 5/10 (Not an average)

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/14/08

Game Release: Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (US, 02/13/07)