Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Size matters? The game too
Genre(s): Run & Gun Shooter Platform Platform(s): PlayStation Portable PlayStation 2 Release Date: PlayStation Portable NA: February 13, 2007 EU: May 11, 2007 AU: May 24, 2007 JP: June 28, 2007 PlayStation 2 NA: March 11, 2008 AU: March 27, 2008 EU: March 28, 2008 JP: July 3, 2008 Developer(s): High Impact Games Publisher(s): Sony Computer Entertainment Series: Ratchet & Clank Predecessor: Ratchet: Deadlocked Successor: Secret Agent Clank

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (known as Ratchet & Clank 5 in Japan) is a 2007 action-platformer video game developed by High Impact Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2.

The game is the fifth game in the Ratchet & Clank series, the first Ratchet & Clank game on the PSP, and the second to last Ratchet & Clank game for the PlayStation 2, with the last one being Secret Agent Clank.

Why It Matters

1. The first Ratchet & Clank game on an Sony handheld.
2. Decent graphics
3. Great sound effects.
4. Many awesome futuristic gadgets and weapons to use, such as the Lacerator, Shock Rocket, Laser Tracer, Swingshot, Static Barrier, and more.
5. All weapons in the game are upgradable up to level four. Each upgrade makes the weapon more powerful, and the level four upgrade changes the appearance of the weapon drastically as well as giving it a new ability.
6. In "Challenge Mode" (this game's term for New Game Plus) you can purchase Titan weapon upgrades for weapons already at level 4 which allow you level up the weapon to level 8, and make the weapon even stronger. Also, you can find new more powerful armor. Complete Challenge Mode and go into it a second time to get even more powerful armor than the one in the first Challenge Mode playthrough.
7. Clank can go into metal arena battleground competitions for soccer and demolition matches.
8. Many optional missions and mini games.
9. Both Ratchet and Clank are playable characters.
10. Balanced difficulty.
11. The game features a multi-player mode.
12. Many secret items lie hidden on every level.
13. Travel through different planets from around the galaxy, each with its own environment, enemies and obstacles.
14. Collect multiple protective suits and combine multiple parts with other sets to create new armor sets, for example, a suit with both thunder and fire attributes.
15. Shrink Ratchet and Clank to explore insect-sized environments and levels.
16. Many new and old weapons and gadgets.
17. Multiple skill points, which are gained by performing certain tasks, unlock cheat codes to use.

Bad Qualities

1. Long loading times on the PS2 version of the game, sometimes lasting up to a minute, and there are mid-level loading screens too. The PSP version doesn't have as long loading times despite having inferior hardware to the PS2.
2. Ratchet, Qwark & Clank are completely out of character, for example, Ratchet says he is done with "hero stuff" in the opening cutscene, when in Going Commando, he said: "I guess, no one needs a hero right now.", Qwark would rather be soaking up the spotlight than risking his life, and in the scene where Clank is looking at Luna, instead of being cautious, he acts cocky, which is not how Clank acts in the other games, and it's usually Ratchet that is cocky.
3. Otto Destruct is probably the worst main villain in the series. He's a blatant ripoff of Drek, using the goals of his allies as a way to cloak his true motives. Besides this, he really has no actual personality. His boss fight is also frustrating and uninteresting, barely even feeling like a final boss fight.
4. The game is only 8 hours long.
5. The PS2 port of the game does not allow you to rotate the camera up or down despite the controller having a second analog stick which the PSP didn't have (instead using the L and R buttons to rotate the camera).
6. There is a game-breaking glitch in the PlayStation 2 port of the game that rarely causes the game to not finish saving the game, thus corrupting your save data, and it creates a circular scratch on the game disc thus making a section of the game unreadable.
7. The RYNO is ridiculously overpriced in this game, as it costs over 9.9 million bolts.
8. In general, it hasn't aged well.

Game Tips

1. Make sure to get all fourteen weapons and upgrade as many as you can to level four before reaching the final boss, Emperor Otto Destruct. Don't get the weapon mods until you purchase all weapons, and after you do get the weapon mods as soon as possible. You must purchase the Static Barrier and use it against him, as he will destroy Ratchet in a few hits even with armor that protects against 70%-80% armor!

Reception

The original PlayStation Portable version of the game received overall positive reviews. Game Informer rated 9/10 and awarded it the "Handheld of the Month" for April 2007.

The game holds a score of 85/100 on Metacritic, which translates as positive reviews.

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