Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters

Rating Everyone 10+ Genre action Publisher Sony External Links Ratchet and Clank Website

For the life of me, I cannot put my finger on the actual working parts behind what I like to call the "humans and shiny objects" principle. Even if one is doing the most important of tasks, all it takes is a glimmer of light out of the corner of the eye to make a person stop and turn their head toward the glimmer. That's the draw. Regardless of whether or not the distraction is worth looking, the fact is that you've already looked. Looking and liking is another can of worms altogether. Connected with the initial hope, if you have a great product, making it "shiny" is a great capturer of common interest.

Although this is my first introduction to the successful Ratchet and Clank franchise, I believe that Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters is a perfect illustration of my initial argument. Why can't I stop playing this game? No offense to the creators, but this title is not the penultimate gaming experience. Is it mindless addiction, or is it a timely execution of classic gaming fundamentals? You already know the common cookie-cutter answer to this question, and that is a little bit of both. But the real question is, why?

For Size Matters we find R and C taking in some R and R at the beach, where we see Ratchet contemplating giving up the hero business and enjoying a little "me" time. All the while, some lisp-laden little girl is doing a school project on heroes and recognizes our destructive duo. What becomes a photo-op for a school project leads to Clank stumbling across a Tehcnomite artifact. Technomites are a legendary race renown for their machinery and innovation. Looks like a hero's work is never done, and Ratchet and Clank bound across planetary platitudes in order to solve a quickly unraveling mystery about Technomite existence.

Although there is a screen devoted to controller function, it will take less than five minutes of button fumbling, coupled with succinct tutorial bites throughout various stages, in order to get the lay of the land. Ratchet is armed with his trusty beat-wrench of pain, but it's no substitute for the Lacerator and Acid Bombs that you also begin with. I love the beatdown, but not as much as I love the shoot-em-up, blow-em-up! As with all other weapons that you can purchase, constant use will result in upgrades. Upgrades result in more damage. More damage results in more fun.

Aside from the normal platform and puzzle solving fare, there are other game modes interlaced within Size Matters. My personal favorites are the ones involving Clank. There's the Robot War, where Clank gets to pilot a little moped with spinny blades in order to blow up other utilibots to win bolts and other prizes. There's actually more to the Robot War, but I don't love them as much as I love buzzsaws. Then, there's the Giant Clank SuperMegaMegaMode with plasma bolts and full-on spaceship destruction. There is also a series of hoverboarding mini-matches involving a Cheetah, in more than one sense of the world. So, to tally up, you mix one part Battle Bots, one part The Iron Giant and one part Back to the Future

What could make Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters any better? How about some actual degree of risk or difficulty. Annoyance factors aside, there is virtually no penalty for dying. You get more chances to rack up on bolts for upgrades, more weapon experience, and a larger life count due to more kills. Double that with an uninhibited license to explore each stage and skill goes right out the window. It still doesn't explain why this game is nigh improbable to depart from. It's almost like you want to die just to play the same segments over and over again. Certainly an odd catharsis, and something that Ratchet and Clank is able to exploit with grim efficiency. By all accounts, a great game that operates on a previously successful formula. We're certain to see more!