While the game is easy, great controls, great weapons and an amusingly told story add up to a great adventure.
The game begins with a message from Captain Qwark indicating a robot army is moving into the territory, and before long you find yourself being shot at by said robot army. You begin with a trusty wrench to beat your foes around the head with, your Combustor which is a long range weapon, and Fusion Grenades. The game is presented like most action platformers, allowing you to swing the camera around your character as you see fit, apart from a few fixed camera points. The camera is rarely a problem, with only a few occassions where it comes up too close or doesn't frame the action properly, but these are fleeting. There is an aiming assist function that highlights the enemy you will aim weapons at if you have one selected, and you can also go into a aiming view if you want more specific aim.
The action is higher profile than the platforming, but there is still enough to warrant a range of skills. There is a double jump, using Clank's rotors to glide, and high jumps. This is further aided by some gadgets that you will pick up during the game. You collect bolts from downed enemies and by breaking boxes around the environments, and these can then be used to buy more weapons and devices. With about 15 weapons you would expect some to be disappointments, but they are fairly diverse and are nearly all fun to use. These range from the Ravager, which is like an electric whip, Nano Swarmers, which is a limited time turret, and the Shard Reaper, which acts as the games shotgun. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is also the most innovative. The Tornado Gun fires a... uh... tornado, which you can then control by tilting the Sixaxis to ram into enemies. This is neat in theory, but is too hard to control if you are also trying to dodge enemies or incoming fire while moving the camera around.
There is a leveling up aspect both as Ratchet, and for your weapons. You earn 'nanotech' when defeating enemies, and this increases your Hit Points which are paltry at the beginning of the game. Your weapons also earn experience as they are used to defeat enemies, and earn increased damage. Once they max out to level 5, they also earn another bonus. For example, your Combustor turns into the Magma Combustor, which fires 3 shots instead of 1. Furthermore you also collect Raritanium, which is used to upgrade weapons at the Grummelnet weapon shops, independant of the standard leveling. These range from additional damage, more ammo capacity, faster firing, and more range. These are arranged in hexes, and while you can go in different directions they do need to be unlocked in order. There is usually an additional special ability for each weapon that can be unlocked this way as well. Thus you have not only a vast array of weapons to assault your enemies with, but their attributes will vary throughout the game.
In addition to traditional weapons, there are some other fun devices as well. Chief among these is the Groovitron, which throws out a disco ball and makes enemies in the vicinity, including bosses, stop attacking and start dancing for a period of time. Others let you leech health from your enemies, or cause them to attack each other. While I didn't bother too much with devices and relied on standard weaponry, they were all still fun to try out. The enemies that you use all of these weapons on are also quite diverse. They begin with basic grunts that try and smack you down, and soon fire weapons at you as well. Flying machines will shoot lasers or lob grenades in your direction, pirates will approach you with shields that need to be dealt with lightning or explosives, and some enemies will roll into a ball and try and crush you. Bosses or mini-bosses are also diverse and require different methods to avoid their fire and effectively return your own.
While the action platforming make up most of the gameplay, there are some other elements as well. There are some sections where you will be jetissoned into a level from your ship, and use the Sixaxis to dodge incoming missiles or air traffic before you reach the ground. Others require you to earn devices, such as the Decryptor. This is used to access some doors which opens a minigame with a circuit board. You use the Sixaxis to tilt a metal ball which bridges gaps in the circuit as an electric current runs through it. Robo-Wings also let you fly if you are standing on a launch pad, and again the Sixaxis is used to control your flight. These are short and entertaining, so they break up the main action just enough. There are also a few space ship combat levels which are from the perspective of behind the ship. In these the left stick moves your ship, and the right stick controls your cursor on screen as enemies sawrm in and out. While not exceptional, they are still an enjoyable piece of the game.
Clank also gets his own parts in the game where Ratchet can not enter. Here he is assisted by the Zoni, aliens who are a part of the story, but only Clank can see. Clank has no weapons, but has the ability to slow down time, which lets him walk through some traps or closing doors. Once he activates the Zoni, he can also use them to levitate, to fix objects in the environment, or charge up panels. Due to the limited nature of his abilities the levels feel a bit empty compared to the normal level design, but aren't bad.
While the story itself is not too exciting or complex, you will still be charmed by the way it is told through amusing cutscenes. Among my favourites are satire on advertorials, and a hand drawn plan to infiltrate a prison. Captain Qwark in particular is highly entertaining, as a buffoon who isn't really a hero but firmly believes he is one if perhaps a little misguided. Emperor Tachyon, the last of the Cragmites and your nemesis in the game, was also a highlight. In fact, I can't say that any of the characters were a disappointment. They were all larger than life, with the aesthetic of a cartoon show.
The graphics are bright and vibrant, everything runs smoothly, and there is plenty of attention to detail. For example, when you throw a Groovitron, you will see Ratchet & Clank also jiving, and even the armour vendor joins in. The voice work is fantastic from everyone, whether it be in cutscenes, or during the action. It's highly amusing to throw a Groovitron at a boss to hear him say "I WILL kill you... right after I stop dancing". I found the game so entertaining that I went back and played it through a second time straight away, which is a rarity for me. The game is reasonably easy, and the second time around you get challenge mode, which is harder but also infers some bonuses. You get a multiplier to your earned bolts and Raritanium by killing enemies, but it resets if you take damage. You will need those bolts the second time around, because once your weapons are up to level 5, you can purchase an upgraded version for a pretty penny, and then level it up to level 10. You can also revisit levels with gadgets you found later on, which can unlock areas that were not accessible the first time around, and earn yourself Gold Bolts (for the collectors out there) and Holoplans. Once you have the complete holoplan, you can unlock an ultimate weapon. While the game lacked challenge, I found it abundant in the thing that matters; fun.