Ratchet & Clank, for all the hype about how it was trying to tweak the action platformer genre, was essentially just a very, very polished take on that genre's conventions. The sequel, on the other hand, so heartily mixes in elements from adventure and role-playing games that it can be called nothing less than revolutionary.

The boys and girls over at Insomniac have already proven they know how to craft a solid platformer – Ratchet & Clank, of course is a perfect example, but the Spyro games for Universal before it still hold up well. So platformers? Covered. It's where the ever-increasing trend of juxtaposing elements from different (but entirely compatible) genres begins to have the developer testing their programming mettle, and if the short bit of time we've spent with the Gamers' Day build of the game manages to give a true taste of what's to come, they're more than up for the challenge.

Let's start with the biggest changes first.

More than anything else, the attitude of the main characters – particularly the oft-criticized Ratchet – has undergone a bit of a shift. While most reviewers' beef was with Ratchet's physical character design, Insomniac couldn't very well go about radically altering the physical appearance of the first U.S. duo to be bundled with a Japanese console, so instead they tweaked Ratchet's attitude, making him more hardened, and less of a doe-eyed innocent than before. There's still the element of humor in the game, but Ratchet and Clank themselves are bit more battle-ready than before, especially Ratchet who's put to work at the start of the game as a mercenary of sorts.

With Insomniac and Naughty Dog constantly passing their programming techniques between the two SoCal development houses, the strides made in the overall looks of both games is impressive. While little about the game actually looks overwhelmingly different, there are subtleties that add up to a far more busy, polished look. The lighting of the game is more refined and natural, the level of detail seemingly increased tenfold. Hundreds of ships zip across the sky, buildings boast far more architectural gusto, rock faces have a more organic undulation and variety, and enemies are animated more smoothly and actually make grand entrances, teleporting in or dashing out from behind boxes rather than just standing around. All of these things add up to a world that feels infinitely more alive than the first game, and given how well Ratchet & Clank seemed to carry itself, that's saying something.

Arguably the biggest change, however, is the addition of RPG-style experience points for both Ratchet and his weapons. Simply by using the weapons and killing enemies, you'll gain experience that increases Ratchet's nanotech (read: hit points), and allows you upgrade nearly all of the weapons in the game to a more powerful version. The nanotech advancements feel entirely natural, and actually taking the time to build up each weapon to the next level should keep all those 100 percenters out there busy for weeks.

It's interesting to note that nothing about the game has changed so much that you don't feel instantly comfortable with the controls and movements. Ratchet still moves the same way and boasts the same set of actions, and doing things like quick-switching weapons and double-jumping instantly takes you back to the first game, which should set fans worried that too much of the core experience had changed at ease. In fact, all of the additions to the game, despite their more radical nature, feel entirely at home, something that speaks volumes about how well Insomniac is able to suffuse elements from other genres with a game that was already very much its own.

We'll have more impressions of the game, including story details, information on the new spherical worlds and mega games in a preview a little later, but for now know that all of us around the office are already constantly looking at the calendar. November can't get here soon enough.