Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
released on Jun 27, 2012
A remaster of Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
A remaster of the PlayStation 2 Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, featuring 720p HD with support for 3D graphics and PlayStation Network trophies.
Also in series
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Love the weapon diversity and humour
When I found out that we wouldn't be getting a new Ratchet game until 2029, I felt the urge to re-visit what I consider to be the best PS2 Ratchet game.
Up Your Arsenal rules and is still a ton of fun to play today. It's not quite as good as some of the later entries, but I love it to bits. The gunplay and movement feel really satisfying. Leveling up guns feels better than ever all the way into Challenge Mode.
God I love this franchise.
Up Your Arsenal rules and is still a ton of fun to play today. It's not quite as good as some of the later entries, but I love it to bits. The gunplay and movement feel really satisfying. Leveling up guns feels better than ever all the way into Challenge Mode.
God I love this franchise.
Now this is more like it!
It really is great that the original Ratchet & Clank trilogy was able to finish strong with this third entry, which really feels like an amalgamation of everything great about the last two games fine-tuned to near-perfection, at least in my opinion.
I have to confess, though, that this is the Ratchet & Clank game I've played the most of overall, with me renting it from Blockbuster for what seemed like once a month just so I could dick around in the multiplayer. Most of the time, I doubt I was even playing against a second person, I would just run around and try out all the weapons for hours on end. There was just something inherently satisfying about it.
Somehow, however, I barely ever touched the single-player campaign. Having done so now, though, I can safely say it does indeed live up to the fun I had with multiplayer way back when.
It feels like nearly everything is on top form here so far, especially the writing and story. While there's slightly more going on than in the last two games in terms of stakes, the narrative doesn't feel too bloated because of it. The tone, character dynamics, and comedy itself all click into place nicely in Up Your Arsenal, helped mostly by the introduction of the series' staple villain, Dr. Nefarious. I can definitely see why some prefer Drek or even Qwark from previous games over him, as he doesn't really come across as a truly menacing antagonist at any point. However, his voice performance and the rapport he has with his butler/sidekick Lawrence really sell him as an entertaining presence that steals every scene he's in.
The combat and upgrade systems are in top form here too. On paper, the improvements made to gameplay in Up Your Arsenal don't seem too big compared to Going Commando, but it definitely comes across as the entry that plays the best of the three.
That being said, there are still lingering complaints. For one, the hacking minigame is incredibly tedious and is the least enjoyable variation of it in the trilogy. I'd much rather it just be a reskin of the wire-connecting minigame from Going Commando instead of the weird tractor beam-based defense one we get here.
The steep difficulty spike in the last few levels also felt very abrupt. I'm fine with the difficulty increasing towards the game's end, especially leading into the final boss fight, but here it just made things tedious. There were a few sections that I had to re-do many times just to get through them, which normally wouldn't be such a hassle, but it didn't seem like there were sure-fire methods or strategies to short-cut certain enemy encounters.
Regardless, Up Your Arsenal is a huge step or two above its predecessors, with the best gameplay and narrative so far, complimented by a fantastic multiplayer offering that I can personally vouch for as a lot of fun.
8/10
It really is great that the original Ratchet & Clank trilogy was able to finish strong with this third entry, which really feels like an amalgamation of everything great about the last two games fine-tuned to near-perfection, at least in my opinion.
I have to confess, though, that this is the Ratchet & Clank game I've played the most of overall, with me renting it from Blockbuster for what seemed like once a month just so I could dick around in the multiplayer. Most of the time, I doubt I was even playing against a second person, I would just run around and try out all the weapons for hours on end. There was just something inherently satisfying about it.
Somehow, however, I barely ever touched the single-player campaign. Having done so now, though, I can safely say it does indeed live up to the fun I had with multiplayer way back when.
It feels like nearly everything is on top form here so far, especially the writing and story. While there's slightly more going on than in the last two games in terms of stakes, the narrative doesn't feel too bloated because of it. The tone, character dynamics, and comedy itself all click into place nicely in Up Your Arsenal, helped mostly by the introduction of the series' staple villain, Dr. Nefarious. I can definitely see why some prefer Drek or even Qwark from previous games over him, as he doesn't really come across as a truly menacing antagonist at any point. However, his voice performance and the rapport he has with his butler/sidekick Lawrence really sell him as an entertaining presence that steals every scene he's in.
The combat and upgrade systems are in top form here too. On paper, the improvements made to gameplay in Up Your Arsenal don't seem too big compared to Going Commando, but it definitely comes across as the entry that plays the best of the three.
That being said, there are still lingering complaints. For one, the hacking minigame is incredibly tedious and is the least enjoyable variation of it in the trilogy. I'd much rather it just be a reskin of the wire-connecting minigame from Going Commando instead of the weird tractor beam-based defense one we get here.
The steep difficulty spike in the last few levels also felt very abrupt. I'm fine with the difficulty increasing towards the game's end, especially leading into the final boss fight, but here it just made things tedious. There were a few sections that I had to re-do many times just to get through them, which normally wouldn't be such a hassle, but it didn't seem like there were sure-fire methods or strategies to short-cut certain enemy encounters.
Regardless, Up Your Arsenal is a huge step or two above its predecessors, with the best gameplay and narrative so far, complimented by a fantastic multiplayer offering that I can personally vouch for as a lot of fun.
8/10