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Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
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Graphics & Sound:
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters was originally released for the PSP a little over a year ago. Now honestly, I'm not sure why they decided now to port it to the PS2 now, but personally, I'm glad they did. I'm a Ratchet and Clank addict, but without a PSP I couldn't play it then.
Size Matters opens with Ratchet and Clank taking a well-deserved vacation. They are relaxing on a beach. Now, of course, this vacation is going to get interrupted. This time by a cute little girl who appeals to Ratchet's sense of fame. She tells them that she is doing a report on heroes and wants pictures of him in action. Ratchet and Clank end up on a journey to rescue her from the clutches of an unknown kidnapper. They have to travel all across the galaxy fighting hordes of enemies on the way to find the girl and figure out the secret of the strange artifacts belonging to a mysterious ancient civilization, all while dealing with Captain Quark.
Graphically, Size Matters looks exactly like all the previous games, because honestly it doesn't need to be improved. The game is beautiful. The lines are all smooth and fluid and nothing looks "too real". They know their look works, so why bother to fix what isn't broken and end up looking bad.
The sounds are the same as they were before also. Picking up bolts produces a metallic jingle, and hitting monsters with the various weapons provides a different sound for each weapon. There's definitely still cute little helicopter sounds when using Clank to jump high or glide far. Once again, the sounds have always been great, so why change them now?
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Gameplay:
As I've already said, the graphics and sounds are all the same as before. The gameplay is also just the same, because why mess with what works? The story is linear. You travel from planet to planet searching. Once you complete the missions on one planet, it will open up the next one. But, at any point, you can go back to previous planets and search for any items you missed, or just kill the monsters again.
One of the things that you can search for are Titanium Bolts. They can be quite difficult to find at times, but compared to previous games, I found them easier to find in this one. They're used to purchase skins under the Special Menu. You can also search for various armor parts. There are five different armor sets, each with four different parts: the helmet, body, gloves, and boots. If you equip all four parts of the same set, it'll give you special powers, at least until you change your armor.
One of the things that I've always loved about the series is the variety of weapons available. Size Matters continues that tradition as well. All of my favorite guns were back, including my personal favorite little guys, the Agents of Doom. When you throw one of these out, four little guys pop out and run to attack your enemies. Unfortunately, you can only have 2 sets of these guys at once, so you'll have to use something else to take out the enemies while the little agents distract them. If at all possible though, I'm still a big fan of going melee style and using my wrench. It definitely saves on ammo! |
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Difficulty:
Ratchet and Clank has always been a game that a normal, average user can just pick up and play. Once again, this one is no different from the previous ones. You have infinite lives, so no matter how many times you "die", it just doesn't hurt. You can explore by jumping off of cliffs if you want, and it'll just bring you back to the last continue point. They are quite generous with continue points too, I'm guessing because this was originally on a handheld system. Whatever the reason, it definitely makes the game easier.
Something that's been harder for me since it became the trend to add to platformers is the addition of racing/skateboarding and making it necessary to beat before continuing the story. In this case, it's hoverboarding, which is essentially just skateboarding without wheels. Now I don't know why I personally have so much trouble with it, but the second race in Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters really gave me difficulty, especially figuring out where to go. The route is just not very well marked.
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Game Mechanics:
Like everything else, the controls are just the same as they've always been, which I think is really nice. Picking up the controller, I knew exactly what button did what and how to play. But for those of you who have never played one, I'll give you a very brief rundown.
To move Ratchet (and Clank when you are playing as him) around, you'll use the left analog stick. The right analog stick moves the camera around you. To jump, you use the (X) button. Pressing it twice will cause Ratchet to double jump. If you press and hold (R1) while doing a standing jump, you'll do a high jump. If you press and hold (R1) while running and jumping, you'll be able to glide across chasms. To fire your weapon, press (O). Strafing is a very useful thing while firing. To strafe, hold down (L2) or (R2) while running. When you want to change your weapon, you can press (Triangle) to bring up the Quick Select Weapons Menu. There's all sorts of other controls, but they're all explained great in the game and in the manual, so I'm really not going to bore you with them all here.
As far as I can tell from FAQs, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters is exactly like the PSP version from a year ago, so if you own that one, there's probably not much reason for you to get this one. But if you're like me and didn't get to play the original version, I highly recommend you go get this one. Ratchet and Clank is still the ultimate platformer and Size Matters is a great addition to the series. |
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-Cyn, GameVortex Communications AKA Sara Earl |
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