An excellent action game combining shooting and platforming with a lot of replay value. A must-buy for every PS2 owner.

User Rating: 9 | Ratchet & Clank 3 (Platinum) PS2
By sonicmario555 | Review Date:
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal is the third installment in the R&C series. Ratchet & Clank 2 brought a huge amount of new content after R&C1. Such as the weapon leveling up system, spaceship combat, the essential combat element; strafing and a lot of others. Up Your Arsenal follows pretty much the same formula as Ratchet & Clank 2, but it doesn't bring as many new things as R&C2 did once. Although, here's what's new compared to Ratchet & Clank 2:
-Spaceship combat is gone
-Weapons can now level up to level 8, which is a great addition
-Captain Qwark minivideogames, which are a fun distraction from the main game
Along with those, we have a completely new arsenal of weapons, some of the best weapons of R&C2 can be bought later in the game, some new gadgets and a total of 19 new planets, including some old favorites like Blackwater city of Rilgar and Metropolis of Kerwan. The soundtrack is deeply Ratchet & Clankish, some tracks however are recycled from the earlier games, which is a neat thing, but it wouldn't have hurt if Insomniac had made a completely original soundtrack for Up Your Arsenal.
The gameplay is as same as ever. There are parts where you need to run & gun your way through. There are parts where you jump and glide your way through. There are some parts where you puzzle your brain to get through. A new gameplay addition is a mission based system in some planets, where you complete missions of warfare against the Thyrranoids. Of course, you don't have to do them yourself, you get a pack of mostly useless Galactic Rangers to help you. In some missions, you must run your way around the battlefield, blasting Thyrranoids and turning bolt cranks. And sometimes, you must take a flying war machine called the Hovership and provide cover fire for the Rangers.
The game is fairly lengthy, and when you complete it, you can complete the game again and again and again in Challenge Mode, where the enemies are a lot more sturdy and dangerous, your weapons can be leveled up to the Omega level and you get a truckload of bolts for every enemy you kill. Plus there are hidden trophies and Titanium Bolts for you to find. And even if you've done all that, you can aim to complete all the Skill Points. Skill Points are secret objectives, and by completing them, you gain cheats like Big-head mode or Ships to ducks mode.

So overall, Ratchet and Clank 3 is an excellent action game combining shooting and platforming with a lot of replay value. The game lacks true difficulty, but the fun of playing forgives that matter. Any owner of a PS2 would definitely be pleased with this.

The good:
+ A lengthy game with a lot of replay value
+ Gameplay is tight and variable
+ The story and cutscenes are humorous and well made
- Lacks true difficulty, even in the Challenge Mode

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