Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

"An amazing game held back only by it's length..."

Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of the Ratchet and Clank games. I have every one of them for the PS2 and the PSP (Sadly none for the PS3, just too dang expensive...>_>). I have played them all and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. This game was the first for the PSP, and the only one to stick true to the genre. It is a great game with great graphics, but it was to short. And, after you beat it, there is not much more you can do...

Graphics-10/10
It looks like it is straight out of the PS2, which is pretty dang good for the PSP. I have yet to have it glitch up or have obscenely long load times (They still have the rocket ship flying around for their loads). The levels are well made and the ship looks awesome. The skins were sub par at best but they aren't a main attraction in the first place and don't deduct from the rating.

Sound-8/10
The sound effects were good but not amazing. The music sounded a lot like the older games and the voice acting was done very well. My biggest complaint is that, to me, the weapons all sounded almost the same. It's not a big deal but it was enough to notice. Over all I rarely played with the games music and usually had some other music playing except during the cut scenes.

Gameplay-9.5/10
The all important factor. The game play felt very similar to it's predecessors but had a bit of a hard time with the camera's transfer to the hand held PSP. The camera will occasionally seem like it is trying to mess you up. Luckily it isn't that bad most of the time.

In the beginning the weapons are pretty well paced out, but as you get further the enemies get stronger and stronger and your weapons do less and less damage. Towards the end of the game, you could easily empty half your arsenal on a single normal enemy and find yourself running more often then fighting. That became very annoying. There was also the factor that when you first start the replay mode (Yep, it's back) your weapons do next to nothing and it is insanely expensive to try to upgrade at once. Luckily, it gets easier to buy weapons pretty soon after and then they start to overkill...o_O

The races are annoying at first but, doable once you get the hang of it. Sadly, to get the hang of it you must do them over and over and over...

The story is a basic Ratchet and Clank story. You are shoved into a catastrophe by a little girl being kidnapped within the first three minutes of playing. You then follow clues to try to find her by going all across the galaxy. Pretty basic stuff.

Length/Replay value-5/10
This is where I deducted points. Then story was good, but it was short. Dreadfully, painfully, excruciatingly short. There are ten levels (None of which take to long to complete) and then you can replay it. I got about 20 hours out of it (with replaying twice) and that was with me taking my time! They added the incentive to replay by making it so that you unlock different armor each time you replay it, but even that runs out fast. Once you upgrade the weapons (A tedious affair) there isn't much to do...

Buy/Rent-Up to you.

If you don't mind it being so short it truly is a great game. If you just need a game for a road trip and never intend to pick it up again, it is the perfect game. But if you intend to spend hundreds of hour on it you will be sorely disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/10/08

Game Release: Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (Greatest Hits) (US, 04/06/08)