Introduction
For those of you that have never played the original games on the PS2, it's basically a 3rd person shooter/platform game, with a whole host of weapons and mini games chucked in. The games were hugel succesful on the PS2, and I'll state from the start I'm a big fan of these games, so my review may be a bit biased.
Gameplay
As always, Ratchet finds himself thrown into chaos along with his sidekick Clank. You basically have a number of missions to complete on each planet/level before being able to continue onto the next one, and the gameplay is fairly linear, but if you get stuck on something, it's often possible to wander off and complete another mission, and then have a go at the hard bit again when you feel up to it.
The basic gameplay is a straight forward run around, blast/smash/collect stuff affair, but this is all very satisfying in comparison to other similar titles such as Death Jr on the PSP.
The great thing about Ratchet & Clank games though are the extra mini games/races that they chuck in, where for example you can race on hoverboards, play Clank version of Robot Wars and along with many others.
These mini-games are usually necessary to obtain an item or instructions to enable you to go to the next planet, however they have a lot of replay value, as there are always at least 5 different versions of each mini game, each one increasing with difficulty, and receiving better rewards as the difficulty gets higher.
You have a selection of over 20 weapons to choose from all of which get better the more you use them, and they all act very different from one another, unlike standard shooters where each gun just changes the damage ratio and accuracy.
Sights and Sounds
The graphics in this game are quite simply superb, and I'm amazed they have managed to make a PSP title that looks just almost just as good as the PS2.
I'd probably state that the graphics aren't "quite" as good as the game Daxter (which is the best looking PSP game I've played so far), but you can tell that the team have worked this game from the ground up, and that it's in no way a shoddy port from PS2 engine.
Stuff that sucks
As always with this gametype, some of the levels can get a bit repetitive, but to be honest, this was only the first 2 levels of the game, where you are still getting used to the controls, and basic weapons.
The game is perhaps not as long as I would have liked, but then again I have played these games to death over the years, so I have completed it in about 8 hours (however it's saving grace is the ability to go back through the game with even more weapon upgrades, and finding all the hidden "titanium bolts" to unlock secrets and bonus items.
Conclusion
An absolutely superb game, made from the ground up for PSP, looks and feels fantastic, and great fun to play.
If you enjoyed Daxter, then you will definitely like this game, and in my opinion it actually beats some of the previous titles on the PS2 hands down.
Score : 9/10
Seen a basic second-hand one for £85 which I might be tempted to get come the end of the month if I have enough money. Maybe.