Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
First details and hands-on impressions of the pint-sized pair.
Published: April 24, 2006
What happens when former members of one of Sony's strongest 2nd party development houses spin off to form their own studio and borrow one of the biggest franchises to hit the PS2 for a jumping-off point? You get Daxter, and you get a showcase for what the PSP can really do when given room to stretch its legs.
But then again, that was a sort of side story, so what happens when members of the other biggest 2nd party development house leave to form their own studio, and take a direct continuation of arguably the strongest internationally-acclaimed North American-developed franchise on as their first product? You get a run-on sentence. And you get Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, a PSP version of the series that picks up after Deadlocked.
Thing is, despite the title, Size Matters doesn't seem to realize it's a PSP game. It's as incredibly fluid and gorgeous as the PS2 versions of the series, causing more than just a double-take, but and overwhelming sense of giddiness that, yes, PS2 games can indeed translate directly to the PSP and arrive wholly intact. Or maybe that's just us. We're prone to giddiness an awful lot.
Ratchet and robo-buddy Clank are tired. They're tired of saving the universe, tired of fighting bad guys, tired of competing in deathmatch tournaments to save their lives because the collars around their necks will explode if they don't. They're just tired. Vacation time! The pair jet off to a paradise planet and start catching rays on the beach when they're interrupted by Luna, a spritely pigtailed little girl who needs pictures for her school project on heroes.
But they're tired.
Still, the pair agree, and run around the island while Luna snaps pictures. This also serves as something of a tutorial for the controls, setting up the game's light auto-targeting system (a red circle appears over the enemy that you're facing, and you're then given the ability to do a hard lock/strafe around them, or just let the game lazily lock on as you fire away), and getting you used to familiar moves like a long jump over gaps, using Ratchet's wrench to turn cranks, and generally just come to grips with the way the controls have been pared down for the PSP experience -- which is to say not much.
Of course, shortly after you figure this out, dear Luna is captured, and you're forced to hunt her down, in the process learning of a far, far more nefarious plan on the seemingly quaint resort planet. Vacation over.
High Impact Games, being birthed from the Insomniac womb, is rather familiar with the series, and as such they've managed to bring over the essence of the project, carrying with it a healthy smattering of weapons and gadgets (we played with a flame thrower, walked up walls with the gravity boots, launched a couple acid bombs and unleashed dual fire from the trusty Scorchers), as well as keeping intact the basic RPG elements for Ratchet so he continues to get more powerful.
Perhaps most impressive about the visuals (which were, we're reminded, still quite early) is how close they are to the PS2 version. An attention to keeping the game incredibly bright and colorful wasn't lost on us, nor was the game's smooth animations and great monster designs (anytime creepy crawlies come out wearing Hawaiian shirts, we're fans). Amazingly, the Ratchet model is made up of half of the polygons that were in the PS2 version. Take a look at the screenshots and see if you can tell.
High Impact is planning Wi-Fi multiplayer (though we still don't know if they'll go with Infrastructure play too), over half an hour of cinematics (and what we saw was great stuff), music from series composer David Bergeaud and the return of original voice cast members Mikey Kelley and David Kaye as Ratchet and Clank. In short, it's portable Ratchet, and as far as we can tell, it's been done with no corners cut.
If this is what's in store for the future of PSP titles, Sony might finally deliver on all those lofty promises of a console experience at home. Hopefully we'll get more extended time and insights into the game come E3 in two weeks. Check back then.
But then again, that was a sort of side story, so what happens when members of the other biggest 2nd party development house leave to form their own studio, and take a direct continuation of arguably the strongest internationally-acclaimed North American-developed franchise on as their first product? You get a run-on sentence. And you get Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, a PSP version of the series that picks up after Deadlocked.
Thing is, despite the title, Size Matters doesn't seem to realize it's a PSP game. It's as incredibly fluid and gorgeous as the PS2 versions of the series, causing more than just a double-take, but and overwhelming sense of giddiness that, yes, PS2 games can indeed translate directly to the PSP and arrive wholly intact. Or maybe that's just us. We're prone to giddiness an awful lot.
Ratchet and robo-buddy Clank are tired. They're tired of saving the universe, tired of fighting bad guys, tired of competing in deathmatch tournaments to save their lives because the collars around their necks will explode if they don't. They're just tired. Vacation time! The pair jet off to a paradise planet and start catching rays on the beach when they're interrupted by Luna, a spritely pigtailed little girl who needs pictures for her school project on heroes.
But they're tired.
Still, the pair agree, and run around the island while Luna snaps pictures. This also serves as something of a tutorial for the controls, setting up the game's light auto-targeting system (a red circle appears over the enemy that you're facing, and you're then given the ability to do a hard lock/strafe around them, or just let the game lazily lock on as you fire away), and getting you used to familiar moves like a long jump over gaps, using Ratchet's wrench to turn cranks, and generally just come to grips with the way the controls have been pared down for the PSP experience -- which is to say not much.
Of course, shortly after you figure this out, dear Luna is captured, and you're forced to hunt her down, in the process learning of a far, far more nefarious plan on the seemingly quaint resort planet. Vacation over.
High Impact Games, being birthed from the Insomniac womb, is rather familiar with the series, and as such they've managed to bring over the essence of the project, carrying with it a healthy smattering of weapons and gadgets (we played with a flame thrower, walked up walls with the gravity boots, launched a couple acid bombs and unleashed dual fire from the trusty Scorchers), as well as keeping intact the basic RPG elements for Ratchet so he continues to get more powerful.
Perhaps most impressive about the visuals (which were, we're reminded, still quite early) is how close they are to the PS2 version. An attention to keeping the game incredibly bright and colorful wasn't lost on us, nor was the game's smooth animations and great monster designs (anytime creepy crawlies come out wearing Hawaiian shirts, we're fans). Amazingly, the Ratchet model is made up of half of the polygons that were in the PS2 version. Take a look at the screenshots and see if you can tell.
High Impact is planning Wi-Fi multiplayer (though we still don't know if they'll go with Infrastructure play too), over half an hour of cinematics (and what we saw was great stuff), music from series composer David Bergeaud and the return of original voice cast members Mikey Kelley and David Kaye as Ratchet and Clank. In short, it's portable Ratchet, and as far as we can tell, it's been done with no corners cut.
If this is what's in store for the future of PSP titles, Sony might finally deliver on all those lofty promises of a console experience at home. Hopefully we'll get more extended time and insights into the game come E3 in two weeks. Check back then.