One of my favorite franchises from the PS2 (and later ported to the PSP for a few rounds before going onwards to the PS3 where I'll probably never see it again... unless I, you know, invest in a PS3) the Ratchet and Clank series is one of my favorites (right up there with my other favorite the Sly Cooper series).
It all started with an evil planet of polluting resource wasting aliens who managed to use up all their own resources on their homeworld (yeah, like we haven't heard that one before). Left with a ruined world they decided to launch a campaign to create a whole new world by stripping prime sections of real estate off of other worlds and building it over an artificial planetary heat core, then dropping it into another planet's orbit (after destroying said planet) to create an ideal new homeworld. And how did they go about accomplishing that? Well by invasion and ruthless planetary conquest of course combined with upbeat positive empowering public relations campaigning through the media as seen through a series of infobots which, by they way, always clue you in as to where the bad guys are headed (or have headed) next! Gotta love it when the bad guys of every Ratchet & Clank series turns out to be so damn media savvy! Darn!
Anyway since you can't destroy a galaxy by multimedia alone (no matter how many American Idol reality TV shows or inspired spin off singing dancing etc shows you create to bombard the people with) you need an army, and it's in one of these robotic factories of death creating that Clank is well born. Since the factory was turning out gigantic mega robots it's clear that the robot that will later be named Clank (by Ratchet no less) is going to be marked for the discount bin if the robots chasing him weren't so bent on destroying him that is. One thing leads to another and Clank steals a ship only to crash on the same planet as Ratchet, who ends up collecting him as "Salvage" from his ship only to find out he's still "alive". One thing leads to another and Clank manages to recruit Ratchet in the task of alerting people to the threat of Supreme Chairman Drek and his people's plans to build a new homeworld (by tearing apart other people's worlds).
To do this they first seek out Captain Qwark who, if you remember subsequent Ratchet & Clank games, turns out to be evil in this game (or just a major sellout as he's most definitely selling out for an endorsement deal with Drek).
So you have your work basically cut out for you. All you have to do in this game is...
1-Save the galaxy from Drek's Extreme Makeover plans (Galaxy Edition)
2-Stop the traitorous Captain Qwark who well actually he's not that much of a threat, but you do get to fight him once in a wee bit of a sub boss battle
3-Collect a ton of weapons and that's it. You don't get to upgrade them here BUT collect them you should because there's another reason to do so, which I'll remind you of shortly.
4-Play mini games like hoverboarding (which is harder than it looks and sounds) and a few shooter rounds (like you controlling gun platforms or the occasional ship battle though it's not as good as the ship battles in Going Commando).
5-Oh, and you get to watch Ratchet & Clank bicker like an old married couple in this game at times. Weird. You think the State of Massachusetts will ever legalize marriage between a Lomax and a robot? Yeah, right.
If you remember later Ratchet & Clank games (or actually played later Ratchet and Clank games) then you'll have no problems making this game go. The series is easy to pick up and play right out of the jewel case which is a good thing. Basically it's the same control scheme and the same techniques as later Ratchet & Clank games (I'm sure even the PS3 version has the same general dynamics though I haven't played it yet so it's only an assumption on my part), only without the spiffiness of upgradeable weapons or upgradeable self (though you can at one point in the game save up bolts to buy cans of nano (sold in a vending machine) to slightly upgrade your health meter abit (but that's the only upgrading you can do in this first outing)).
There are some original gear in this game not seen in later games though, which is a plus.
Metal Detector - Helps you find loose bolts lying around, sort of like the douser you pick up in Psychonauts for finding those arrowheads you use as currency in that game (only easier to use than the douser).
The Intruder - Another device to help you play a hacking game. This time out you line up three rings of lasers with connectors on the outermost ring so that all the connectors are lit green. Nice mini game.
Hydro weapon - Instead of turning water to ice and vice versa this super soaker type device drains and fills water into sections (through a port which is down when you fill and raised when you drain). Nice since several levels require you to solve a simple set of drain and fill puzzles.
The gameplay is classic Ratchet & Clank, which is abit much since it seems that Insomniac makes great games, but hasn't strayed far from the same formula of gameplay from game to game (though to be honest I only played the first three PS2 games and the PSP game to date and missed the final PS2 and, of course, the PS3 game), which is now a bit of a disappointment since Ratchet : Deadlocked and the newest PS3 outing seems to be the same experience as past Ratchet & Clank games - though again how would I know since I haven't played either yet. So I might be off on that score. But who cares. The one thing I do know is that the games are solid and fun... still some innovation would still be a welcome sight.
Oh, and this is the shortest of Ratchet & Clank games. Half as long as Going Commando, you will not need long to play and finish this but then again this game has far more uses than simply being a trip down nostalgia road and a chance to see how it all began. Don't forget the game flagging! Data from this game can be used in the other games (except probably the PS3 version of course), giving you the ability to buy previously owned weapons bought from Gadgetron at either a discount or for free (there's a shop in Going Commando that reunites you with some of your old weapons for free if you have data from this game).
That more than makes up for the price of admission (which was darn cheap since I bought this used from Blockbuster, a practice that is one of my cost cutting ways to save money on reviewing games BTW) since you can use the data (once you finish the game) in future Ratchet & Clank games. That's nice.
Overall the Ratchet & Clank series is one of the most solid platforming experiences I've played on last previous gen system standing PS2. Along with Psychonauts, the Sly Cooper franchise, and a few more? I think it's safe to say that Ratchet & Clank is one of my favorite PS2 platformers out there for what it's worth. Sure, I do wish the gameplay would have innovated abit more over time but that doesn't diminish my love for this game series one iota. There are a few innovations that separate it from future games of the series, but it didn't seem enough for me. Still it is the first outing so I'll take what I can get out of it.
Bottom line? It's probably best said that this game is for the Ratchet & Clank fans, or for those who are going to get into the franchise and buy the games. The only real use for this game will be the ability to use it's save data to unlock major discounts on weapons in future versions of the game (Going Commando & Up Your Arsenal being two games I know for certain this feature works with). Otherwise the game is short, probably doesn't have any solid replay value short of the occasional pull out of the collection every few months, and (again) is only good in the way you can apply this gameplay to other games (or just admire how fun the original was, even if it was a tad bit on the short side of things).
Anyway you should be able to pick this game up at a nice tidy little discount so I don't see why you wouldn't want to give this game a chance if you can find it in some bargain bin at your local GameStop or online from Amazon or wherever you buy your used games from. A 4 out of 5.