Quality Matters Too, Y'know
High Impact's PSP Ratchet & Clank game should have stayed on the PSP.
Published: March 16, 2008
In terms of pure hardware numbers, the PSP is a monster, quickly approaching an install base that would make most consoles positively green with envy. No, it hasn't been the inexplicable success that the DS has been, but until now, Nintendo never really had any competition in the online space, and the PlayStation Portable is proving to be a remarkably resilient little piece of hardware.
There's only one little problem: games, by and large, aren't really selling, thanks in no small part to a tireless and admittedly talented set of hackers bent on constantly thwarting Sony's efforts to stamp out security holes with their portables. On the one hand, this has opened the door to custom firmware that allows for some surprisingly great homebrew software and emulators, as well as the ability to unlock what some may call the "full" PSP hardware specs, including the until-recently-inaccessible full speed of the system's guts and the fourth step in brightness, both of which are monster battery hogs.
The flipside to custom firmware is that it allows for unsigned code to be run (read: copied/pirated games). The ease of use and slowly building library of great PSP games has meant an explosion of piracy on Sony's uberportable, so much so that games rarely get the chance to shine at retail like the other members of the PlayStation family. Developers, then, are left with few options -- usually either price the games at the impulse buy level of $20, or port the game to the PS2, which has not only enough hardware muscle to easily run PSP games, but an absolutely epic (and likely unrepeatable) install base that might offset the cost of development.
The problem is that PSP games are made, well, for the PSP -- including all of its particular hardware limitations or benefits, chiefly among them the 480x272 resolution of the screen, which does plenty to hide things like texture detail a lower polygon counts, not to mention a general level of acceptance that a portable game isn't going to look as good as most PS2 games. Unless a whole lot is done to update the game when porting up to the PS2, PSP games easily bare their portable roots.
This is precisely what has happened with the PS2 version of Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. Ignoring the fact that even the title was a play on the fact that it was a full Ratchet experience in a little package, Insomniac Games spin-off studio High Impact Games was clearly ill-prepared for moving the experience up to PS2 level, and it shows; the camera is an almost constant hassle, the geometry detail was intentionally simple, as was the lighting and especially the textures. That Size Matters feels like a buggy, rushed, even at times clunky experience (three words that could never be used to describe the series' previous PS2 entries -- even the lightly poo-pooed Ratchet: Deadlocked) illustrates exactly why the game should have stayed on the PSP where, it should be noted, was a great game.
In many ways, it still is; the essence of a good Ratchet & Clank game is still here, be it in the mix of platforming and shooting (complete with eclectic mix of imaginative weapons) or in the characters themselves -- even going so far as to explore a little bit of the dynamic between the two titular characters. Unfortunately, the feeling that it was also a portable Ratchet game is inescapable, serving as a constant distraction and turning what was previously a "wow, this is an honest-to-goodness Ratchet game that I can take anywhere!" experience into a "ew, people actually thought this was on par with the Insomniac Ratchets?" one.
I understand that High Impact would have liked some decent sales for the franchise -- hell they deserve it -- but a quick and dirty port job to the PS2 is not the way to go about it. If for some reason you own a PSP and haven't bought Size Matters, shame on you, because it really is a great game. In fact, if you don't have a PSP, it's worth getting one just to play this game in the way it should have been played -- including Infrastructure wireless play with other PSP owners all over the country (though I doubt there's anyone playing online these days). Do not, however, feel that picking the game up on the PS2 is anything approaching supporting the developers. Not only will it hamper your overall impressions of what Size Matters, but it's sending the wrong message.
If for some reason you're unable to grab a PSP and a copy of the original game, it's best just to let the PS2 port slip on by and leave the PS2-native Ratchet experience intact. In light of its original PS2 counterparts and especially the PS3 release, Size Matters begs to be experience on the platform where indeed size does matter.
There's only one little problem: games, by and large, aren't really selling, thanks in no small part to a tireless and admittedly talented set of hackers bent on constantly thwarting Sony's efforts to stamp out security holes with their portables. On the one hand, this has opened the door to custom firmware that allows for some surprisingly great homebrew software and emulators, as well as the ability to unlock what some may call the "full" PSP hardware specs, including the until-recently-inaccessible full speed of the system's guts and the fourth step in brightness, both of which are monster battery hogs.
The flipside to custom firmware is that it allows for unsigned code to be run (read: copied/pirated games). The ease of use and slowly building library of great PSP games has meant an explosion of piracy on Sony's uberportable, so much so that games rarely get the chance to shine at retail like the other members of the PlayStation family. Developers, then, are left with few options -- usually either price the games at the impulse buy level of $20, or port the game to the PS2, which has not only enough hardware muscle to easily run PSP games, but an absolutely epic (and likely unrepeatable) install base that might offset the cost of development.
The problem is that PSP games are made, well, for the PSP -- including all of its particular hardware limitations or benefits, chiefly among them the 480x272 resolution of the screen, which does plenty to hide things like texture detail a lower polygon counts, not to mention a general level of acceptance that a portable game isn't going to look as good as most PS2 games. Unless a whole lot is done to update the game when porting up to the PS2, PSP games easily bare their portable roots.
This is precisely what has happened with the PS2 version of Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. Ignoring the fact that even the title was a play on the fact that it was a full Ratchet experience in a little package, Insomniac Games spin-off studio High Impact Games was clearly ill-prepared for moving the experience up to PS2 level, and it shows; the camera is an almost constant hassle, the geometry detail was intentionally simple, as was the lighting and especially the textures. That Size Matters feels like a buggy, rushed, even at times clunky experience (three words that could never be used to describe the series' previous PS2 entries -- even the lightly poo-pooed Ratchet: Deadlocked) illustrates exactly why the game should have stayed on the PSP where, it should be noted, was a great game.
In many ways, it still is; the essence of a good Ratchet & Clank game is still here, be it in the mix of platforming and shooting (complete with eclectic mix of imaginative weapons) or in the characters themselves -- even going so far as to explore a little bit of the dynamic between the two titular characters. Unfortunately, the feeling that it was also a portable Ratchet game is inescapable, serving as a constant distraction and turning what was previously a "wow, this is an honest-to-goodness Ratchet game that I can take anywhere!" experience into a "ew, people actually thought this was on par with the Insomniac Ratchets?" one.
I understand that High Impact would have liked some decent sales for the franchise -- hell they deserve it -- but a quick and dirty port job to the PS2 is not the way to go about it. If for some reason you own a PSP and haven't bought Size Matters, shame on you, because it really is a great game. In fact, if you don't have a PSP, it's worth getting one just to play this game in the way it should have been played -- including Infrastructure wireless play with other PSP owners all over the country (though I doubt there's anyone playing online these days). Do not, however, feel that picking the game up on the PS2 is anything approaching supporting the developers. Not only will it hamper your overall impressions of what Size Matters, but it's sending the wrong message.
If for some reason you're unable to grab a PSP and a copy of the original game, it's best just to let the PS2 port slip on by and leave the PS2-native Ratchet experience intact. In light of its original PS2 counterparts and especially the PS3 release, Size Matters begs to be experience on the platform where indeed size does matter.