This section also introduced us to the Constructo Weapons, available from a handy vendor. Not only did the vendors have cute little explanatory videos to describe how the weapons worked (shown in a great little 2D animated style that was quite a bit more engaging than the usual text descriptions), but they regularly allowed us to widen Ratchet's arsenal. Constructo Weapons get their name from being upgradeable with specific mods that can boost the firepower or firing rate (among other things) of a given weapon. The weapons themselves can actually be customized with different paint schemes too, but the mods allow one to add extra damage effects, which in turn completely changes the look and functionality of the weapons. It's a neat little effect, and one we can't wait to dig into with more detail later.

By far the biggest area of expansion for the Ratchet and Clank gameplay is the incorporation of some light space exploration and combat. Once ratchet departs a planet, he's given the chance to scoot around the nearby space on a flat plane, allowing him to take part in some simple space combat with homing missiles and a lasers, but it also means interaction with characters like the returning Smuggler from Tools of Destruction, who offers some side missions for a few extra bolts, plus the chance to touch down on mini-spherical worlds first introduced in Going Commando (the second R&C). Best thought of as Super Mario Galaxy-like bits of platforming exploration and light combat, the worlds are bite-sized but each offers something rewarding at the end, be it a gold bolt or even a Zoni, which, when collected can actually upgrade the abilities of your ship.

It's nice to see the re-introduction of these little mini-challenges, as they were a blast in Going Commando, and they help break up the more expansive planetary platforming/shooting. Though the worlds were no bigger than very small moons in our play time, a handy little radar at least helped point the way toward the final reward, and in all cases that reward offered a quick trip back to the ship and back up into space. We poked around a few of these moons, and on one found a new race that had us shooting irradiated asteroids out near the edge of deep space (essentially the boundary of where the ship could travel in "open" space). All in all, the exploration bits were fun, and added some variety to things. They'll definitely end up tickling our OCD impulses and we'll likely end up spending way too much time seeking out each little corner of a solar system, though they're hardly necessary and a quick move to a jump gate allows travel to another system, so it's easy to bounce from one to the next (the galactic map even indicates how many Zoni are in hiding in a particular system).

After making a hyperspace jump to a nearby system, we swapped back to Clank and ran through the now-familiar bits of the Great Clock, learning of the little bot's origins, his destiny as the new caretaker of the Clock and his Chronoscepter which allowed him to repair things. We also trudged through a handful of the time recording challenges (though knowing the solutions to the puzzles made them a walk in the park this time around), and after confronting the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler, we quickly offed him... and the preview came to a close, just as it did with the GamesCom build we played a while back.

Even still, this was a far, far meatier portion of the game, and it's done plenty to move the game from potential PS3 platforming hopeful to condender for the best game in the series. It's gorgeous, polished (though this build had some very strange interlacing on some of the effects that wasn't in earlier builds, so we're sure it was just something specific to this version of things) and seems to have embraced both storytelling (complete with tons of trademark humor that is genuinely hilarious at times) and action bits in a way that makes it feel like the close to this particular trilogy that we were really hoping for. Rest assured that if and when we get a chance to take a look at more of the game before it hits stores, we'll make sure to pass along our impressions ASAP.