Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

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Sony's heavily-armed, light-hearted actioner takes a holiday on PSP

Tuesday 23 May 2006
When the titular stars of one of the PlayStation 2's most explosive character-action franchises go on vacation, you have to expect things to go haywire. It seems that mere minutes after our wrench-toting space cat and his robot buddy settle down on the beach, some mechanical meatheads in Hawaiian shirts turn up and kidnap a young girl. What's a dynamic duo to do but grab all their guns, grenades and gadgets and start shooting up the place?

Of course, this beingPSP, you have to anticipate a few differences between this and the console games - however, there actually aren't many. The visuals are stunning for a PSP game (even in this very early stage of development), the shoulder button-activated strafe lock is still intact and Ratchet's weapons selection on the two levels we played contained both old and new gear.

Familiar tools like the battle axe-like wrench, the pistol-on-steroids Scorcher and the hook shot -which lets you swing around like Tarzan with a portable vine -are joined by fresh inventions. We've used a flamethrower and the Acid Bomber, which launches corrosive green globules that burst in the air above your target... and many more are promised.

Eric Bratcher
Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.