Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Let me just start by saying “Wow!”  I thought this game looked cool, but Insomniac has really outdone themselves this time.  Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal is more than a game of planetary butt kicking.  It’s like a third-person shooter set in an action/adventure world.

Before I get into that I must cover one of the best new additions to the series: classic 2D gameplay!  The final version will include at least one side-scrolling level with platforms, elevators, and enemies that die after being hit only once.  It’s Heaven for anyone who is old enough to remember the 8- and 16-bit gaming eras.  The smile that these 2D levels bring will not be removed from your face for hours.

Aside from the kid-friendly first-person adventure game Jumping Flash, not too many games have attempted to combine the shooter and action/adventure genres.  The first Ratchet & Clank did that to a degree, but for me it was still an action/adventure.  The main difference was that you had a lot of weapons to choose from, which made it easier to attack enemies from afar, but didn’t necessarily form a new sub-genre.

While I can’t say for certain that Up Your Arsenal is going to create a new sub-genre, it will definitely change the way players and developers look at action/adventure games.

Insomniac designed this game with more than one player in mind.  The action can be split four ways for offline multiplayer games, or you can go online and battle your friends from all across the country.  You’ll need broadband Internet access to do this.  When you see how fast the game moves in multiplayer you’ll understand why.

As of late the action/adventure genre does not have the “all ages” power that it used to have, selling the most with minors.  Up Your Arsenal isn’t what I’d call an adult game, but there’s nothing childish about it.  Not in the content and certainly not in the challenging gameplay.

The main point of purchase is still the single-player experience.  New weapons have been added, more enemies are out to get you, and the worlds that you explore appear to be a lot bigger.  Your health bar can be upgraded by killing several enemies/collecting the proper items, but that didn’t make the battles any less difficult.

The controls are just as tight as ever.  Your furry, angry, gun-toting friend is equipped with the same great controls found in Going Commando.  They appear to have been slightly tweaked since that time.  They’re now a little closer to the higher-quality third-person shooters on the market.  You can strafe to dodge attacks and target any opponent with ease.  The new weapons (including a toxic blaster that throws a blob of waste at your prey) couldn’t be any cooler.

Graphically the worlds are just as colorful as they are detailed.  The environments are very unique.  Some are organic and fairly wide-open (at the very least they have the appearance of being enormous), while others are cramped and narrow, like the kind you’d find in a first-person shooter.  All eyes will be on the weapons and the objects and enemies that the ammo hits.  The explosions, electrocutions, and other forms of destruction are all very impressive.  Up Your Arsenal won’t win any awards for being Best Looking Game of the Year, but its beauty cannot be ignored.  Jak 3 might look slightly more realistic, but I’ll play the final versions of both games before making that judgment.

The new CG cinematics are pretty cool.  They have more of a comedic flare this time around, which is to be expected.  The voice-overs are good, the music is promising, and the over-the-top sound effects are akin to those you’d hear on a Saturday morning cartoon.

With excellent gameplay, great controls, stellar level design, tough enemies, online gameplay, and a number of reasons to keep the game spinning in your PS2, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal is going to be the action/adventure game to get this Christmas.  The gameplay is highly addictive.  At this very moment I am typing as fast as I can so I can get away from the computer, forget about this preview and play the 2D level again.  Insomniac’s track record has been perfect over the past couple of years, so there’s no reason why the final version won’t be every bit as good as this demo is.  Look for the game to hit stores in November.