Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2) review

With the second installment of the Ratchet & Clank series adding more elements to the formula, will the third installment be able to top it?

Story

Ratchet and Clank return to the Solana Galaxy after learning that Veldin, Ratchet’s home planet, was under attack by Tyhrannoids. When they arrive, Ratchet is immediately recruited by the cowardly Galactic Rangers. After saving Veldin, the Galactic President discovers that an evil mastermind named Dr. Nefarious was behind the attack, as he plans on destroying all life forms in the galaxy. The duo then locate Captain Qwark, who has a history with Nefarious, and assembles the Q-Force to put a stop to Nefarious's nefarious plan.

Some members of the Q-Force are characters brought back from the first game like Al, Helga, and Skidd. New characters are introduced like Skrunch, Sasha, Courtney Gears, and Doctor Nefarious. Skrunch is Qwark's cycloptic monkey friend who aids Clank during his gameplay. Sasha is the captain of the Starship Phoenix, the Galactic President's daughter, and Ratchet's love interest. I think Sasha serves as a good love interest because she has a great personality, being helpful as well as open to everyone, especially Ratchet.

For Courtney Gears, the name alone is pretty obvious that she is a parody of Britney Spears, but not just that; I think she is also a satire of any mainstream pop artist. This is evident when in one scene, Ratchet describes that she is “not the hottest pop star in the galaxy because of her singing.” You ever wonder that this applies to a lot of pop artists nowadays?

(from left to right) Dr. Nefarious and his butler, Lawrence

And does it need saying? Doctor Nefarious is one my favorite video game villains of all time. He’s your typical mad scientist bent on taking over the galaxy and annihilating all organic life forms, but he is also funny as heck. The scenes where he short circuits or yells at his butler, Lawrence, always left me busting a gut.

In fact, this is probably the funniest game in the series, but I'm not going to reveal any more funny moments because you have to see them for yourself if you haven't played it.

Gameplay

Up Your Arsenal plays like its predecessor, where it is a 3D platformer with shooting and RPG elements. You purchase a variety of weapons and gadgets with bolts, the game’s main currency. You can upgrade your health meter and weapons by defeating enemies and gaining experience points. You can upgrade weapons up to Level 5 (Level 8 in challenge mode). You can try out new weapons before buying them through the VR training, which fixes the problem of buying weapons that are not as useful or great. My favorite weapons are the Plasma Whip, Agents of Doom, Spitting Hydra, and the Rift Inducer. Quite possibly the worst weapon in the game is the Infector, which turns enemies against other enemies, but not as useful as it could have been. Despite that, this is probably the best selection of weapons that not even later games could match.

Example of Qwark Vid-Comic gameplay

The main hub of the game is the Starship Phoenix, where you can buy armor and weapons, complete VR training, customize Ratchet’s ship (though it’s pointless seeing as how we never even use it) and playing Qwark Vid-Comics. The Vid-Comics are episodic video games about Qwark’s fight against Dr. Nefarious taking place years before the events of this game. They are side-scrolling, beat ‘em up shooters where you play as Qwark, getting from Point A to Point B, and sometimes there is a boss at the end.

Free-falling at the start of the Ranger missions... wicked!

Throughout the game, you will take part in Ranger missions in certain planets, where the Galactic Rangers have to attack and invade the Tyhrannoid bases. This serves as a template for the Siege mode in the multiplayer, which I will talk about in a little bit. You can also ride vehicles like the hovership, though the controls are a little iffy since you ascend and descend with the shoulder buttons and you strafe with the left analog stick.

The gladiator battles return, also including gauntlets to navigate through, which tests your platforming and shooting skills to the test. Completing these challenges will earn you a good number of bolts. Another way to earn bolts are the crystal missions, this time taking place in the sewers of Aquatos, where you have a nonlinear world and you find crystals and trade for bolts and oh my gosh, this is the worst crystal mission in the series. The Amoeboids were annoying to fight and the game suffers from slowdowns.

Like the Gold and Platinum Bolts from the previous games, there are a total of 40 Titanium Bolts hidden throughout the game. Collecting them will unlock skins for the player. There are also hidden collectible trophies scattered through the game, as well as task trophies. Collecting them all will unlock a special surprise. The Skill Points return and once again, completing a certain number of them will unlock cheats.

Clank’s gameplay has not changed as he can still control Gadgebots and give them various commands. One new addition included, however, is the Banana-Guided Autonomous Monkey Device (or BGAMD, for short), a banana gun which is used to guide Skrunch to reach certain areas as well as serving as a distraction against enemies (talk about animal abuse) but he can't be killed, which is fine, since escort missions in games are annoying in general. He can turn giant once again, where he fights bigger enemies with missiles and his fists. Unfortunately, there is only one Giant Clank section in the game.

This is the first game in the series that includes multiplayer, both online and offline. There are three multiplayer modes: Death Match (killing opponents to the frag or time limit), Capture the Flag (obtaining the opposing team's flag and taking it back to your base), and Siege (capturing opposing team's base). Some of the weapons from the single player make an appearance and can be upgraded to Level 2 when you defeat other players. The offline supports up to four players, whereas the online can support up to eight.

I never got to play the online multiplayer on the PS2, and when I finally got to play on the HD Collection, I was greatly underwhelmed. I know a lot of people love the multiplayer, but I didn’t care for it that much.

Graphics and Level Design

As usual, the game looks amazing and each world looks completely different, and it's probably one of the best-looking games on the PS2 and still to this day. As well as that, some levels like Metropolis and Blackwater City from the first game make a return. One thing I really started to notice in the game is that there is a lot of brown and orange, similar to how there is a lot of blue in Going Commando.

Audio

The voice acting is once again outstanding, with special praise going to Armin Shimerman as Dr. Nefarious. The voice he creates for the character matches Nefarious's madman characteristic. By the way, did you know that Shimerman played a character named Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine? Ironic, isn't it?

David Bergaud composed what is probably his best score in the series. There were a lot of epic tunes throughout the game from Planet Aridia, Starship Phoenix (under attack), Koros, and Qwark’s Hideout. But the best track in the game, hands down, is the Obani Gemini. It was such a relaxing and warm tune; sometimes I mute the game’s audio whenever I play that level just to listen to that song. As well as that, some of the music from previous installments were either reused or remixed.

Conclusion

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal is just as good as Going Commando, if not better, though A Crack in Time is my favorite, but that’s for another time. Though some aspects were underused (Ratchet’s ship, Giant Clank, Warp Pad gadget) and the crystal mission on Aquatos was incredibly annoying, it exceeds in every other aspect from the story, comedy, music, gameplay, and replay value. It's also debatable as to whether or not it has the best selection of weapons in the entire series. Although I’m not a fan of the multiplayer, I know a lot of other people enjoy it, so don’t let my opinion on that discourage you from playing it. Easily one of the stronger titles of the series.