Insomniac hits another home run with R&C : UYA
User Rating: 9.2 | Ratchet & Clank 3 (Platinum) PS2
I am on my second time through and have spent 44 hours playing this game. I have obtained every weapon and upgraded each to its mega status. I have bought Halo 2, GTA : SA, Ace Combat 5, and it is Ratchet and Clank that has held my interest the most. Even after I beat the game I kept playing. It really drives you to want to upgrade all your weapons to see how much more power they get. Game play is excellent. Those that have played the R&C series are able to just pick up the controller and go. The controls handle very nice. There are some new additions that I really liked. Having 2 quick select menus is nice because you obtain so many different weapons and gadgets that one isn't enough. I am almost positive this feature wasn't in the last one. The game is pretty easy but it is overlooked because it is just flat out fun. I have logged many many hours on the first 2 R&C's and that is also why it may seem easier to me then others. The difficulty goes up on the second time through but your weapons are more powerful so it kind of equals out. Graphics look good as usual. R&C : UYA supports progressive scan although for the life of me I cannot tell the difference when I turn on progressive scan. I have a new Sony LCD HDTV. The colors look very nice. Not much to say on the graphics other then they are on par with the previous games in this series. Sound is ok. I am meaning it is nothing spectacular. It is hard for me to give a high sound score because there is no 5.1 for the PS2. The weapons sound good and the music doesn't bug you too bad. I think it is a good value. Where most new games are $50 R&C comes in $10 cheaper at $40. I have not played the multiplayer version so I cannot comment on that. I don't have my PS2 online. I use my Xbox for online gaming. I think the game has some replay value that it makes you want to buy and upgrade everything. Usually to get everything you will be close to beating the game the second time. Unless you sit in the arenas and just collect bolts that way. Bad way to upgrade weapons though because they upgrade faster in mission then in the arena. I can only assume that with only it bumps this up from an 8 in value to a 9. I give my tilt a 10 because i just flat out love this game. It is hard for me to put it down. I spent over 44 hours on this game in the first 2 weeks. To me this is a must buy. Some may think the game is silly but is actually very entertaining. A few other nice features is the 10% discount on stuff if you have a R&C 1 save file and some free weapons if you have a R&C : GC save file. There are a few more hidden items in this one. You still have the platinum bolts but you also have little trophies aka hidden packages. You can also earn skill points which I haven't done all of them yet. Some people rate this game a 10 and I think that is stretching it. No game deserves a 10. That would mean there was no room for improvement and that did something that has never been done before and there is at least 100 hours of game play in campaign mode. By my standards a 10 is near impossible. The fact that I could complete the game in less then 25 hours (if you don't waste a ton of time collecting bolts), the game is on the easy side, and the fact that it didn't do anything really ground breaking that has been done in the first two in the series is what is holding this back from getting a score in the mid to upper 9's. Still a 9.2 is awesome. If you don't have the first two, this game will make you want to go get them. Go buy this game and enjoy.
