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The first Ratchet & Clank took us on a fun and silly adventure through the Solana galaxy, letting us obliterate aliens and robots with a large arsenal of weapons and get around with fun and creative gadgets. The sequel, Going Commando, took us on another fun galactic adventure, featured some refinements, and gave us all new toys to play with. Not only did the game let us engage enemies on-foot but also take the fight to the skies and into space. It felt much more action-packed than its predecessor. The fun action platforming wouldn’t stop at Going Commando. It was followed up by Up Your Arsenal which would continue the series tradition of letting players annihilate evil aliens and robots with a diverse arsenal of weapons. Developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal was released for PlayStation 2 in November, 2004. A remastered version was released for the PlayStation 3 in June, 2012 and Vita in July, 2014 as part of the Ratchet & Clank Collection. For this review, I played the PS3 version. Up Your Arsenal is the first game in the series to offer multiplayer which I didn’t get to try. The online services were shut down some time ago.
Up Your Arsenal starts off with a bang. Ratchet and Clank travel to planet Veldin after they receive word it’s under attack by the Tyhrranoids and assist the Galactic Rangers in fending them off and this whole war backdrop remains consistent throughout the story. After defending the planet, they learn Dr. Nefarious is responsible for the invasion and track down Captain Qwark for information since he defeated him once before. Afterwards, Qwark forms an elite squad called the Q-Force, comprised of multiple members including Ratchet and Clank, and the duo travel from planet to planet in an effort to stop Dr. Nefarious from wiping out all organic races. While the plot is predictable, it’s also silly which is to be expected. With a wacky cast of characters and often humorous dialogue, it would be hard not to enjoy watching these characters interact and the story play out unless you’re just a grumpy gus or negative nelly.
You’ll get to play as both Ratchet and Clank. They retain their move sets from the previous games and if you have save files from those games on your system you’ll not only receive discounts on weapons but also some free weapons. Up Your Arsenal is an action platformer so you’ll be running, jumping, and gliding around the environments while blowing away enemies with a large and diverse arsenal of weapons and you’ll also have to utilize gadgets to get around. The camera still sucks because it works against you, forcing you to frequently manipulate it manually. You can strafe but trying to strafe, control the camera, aim, shoot, and dodge projectiles simultaneously can be cumbersome. It’s even worse when you want to lock onto enemies because locking on requires holding down two buttons.
When it comes to the story, Ratchet and Clank travel to different planets and locations by ship. You’ll have to complete objectives, collect items, and acquire coordinates to travel to new planets. Bolts act as a form of currency and are earned by defeating enemies, completing certain objectives, and braking crates and objects in the environments. In addition to the bolts, nanotech, and ammo crates, Up Your Arsenal introduces special crates like the Jackpot and Inferno crates. Jackpot crates will temporarily multiply the amount of bolts and experience you earn and the Inferno crates temporarily make you invincible and increase the amount of damage your wrench inflicts. Unfortunately, the fun ship battles that were present in the previous game do not make a return. Neither does racing, thankfully. I’m grateful for the latter because it sucked in the previous games.
The Starship Phoenix acts as a hub area of sorts. This is where you will receive mission briefings, can view any trophies you’ve collected, access vendors, train in combat scenarios, and play vid-comics. The vid-comics are sidescrollers where you play as Qwark and shoot enemies and collect tokens. These comic episodes actually make up a storyline supposedly detailing Qwark’s defeat of Dr. Nefarious. Like Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal gives you plenty of ways to earn bolts which is good because you’ll need them to buy the various weapons and armor that become available as you progress. There isn’t as many what I’ll call “bolt farming zones” as there was in the previous game but you can participate in Deathcourses and fight waves of enemies in a battle arena for bolts and other prizes. Titanium Bolts are hidden around the planets and act not only as collectibles but also a special form of currency that can be spent to unlock skins.
The experience system from Going Commando is carried over. As you defeat enemies, you’ll gain experience and when you earn enough, your maximum nanotech, which represents your health, increases. Using weapons raises their experience and they will level up. Weapons become more powerful with each level but sometimes additional capabilities are unlocked like the lock-on mechanic for example. When a weapon reaches level five, it turns into a more powerful variant. You can make them even more powerful by buying mega upgrades which are only accessible in the Challenge Mode which is unlocked after beating the story for the first time. You get to play through the story again but will keep all your weapons and upgrades from your first playthrough and in addition to being able to buy mega upgrades, you’ll earn more bolts and face tougher enemies. I like the upgrade system because it encourages you to use all of the weapons at your disposal and trying to level them all up can be addictive.
Up Your Arsenal doesn’t feel like the same jump we saw going from the first game to Going Commando. It feels more like Going Commando with some more refinements. Much of the gameplay feels very been there done that but that also means it’s a lot of fun. It’s simply fun just running around different planets blowing things up and killing enemies in various ways. You’re going to acquire a large arsenal of weapons, several gadgets, and you can assign weapons and gadgets to the quick select menu which you can access at the press of a button. Just like the previous entries, the quick select menu can’t hold everything and having to frequently reorganize the menu can be slightly tedious but at least this time you’re given a second ring of slots so you can hold more stuff.
One thing I really like about Up Your Arsenal is that it feels more weapon-focused than gadget-focused. Some items will trigger minigames like the Hacker and Tyhrra-Guise but there’s nothing as bad as the minigames triggered by the Electrolyzer and Infiltrator in Going Commando. There’s a lot of cool new weapons and several from the previous game do make return including some of my favorites like the Lava Gun and Bouncer. My favorite new weapon is by far the Qwack-O-Ray. Much like the RYNO, it can feel like cheating but it’s a lot of fun to use. It turns enemies into adorable ducks that become more deadly as the weapon levels up and it doesn’t consume ammo. You’ll get to use projectile-based weapons, the Infector can turn foes against each other, and with the Rift Inducer, you can unleash rifts that suck baddies in. Every weapon feels useful and because each planet is populated with tons of enemies, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to use each one.
Each planet has Gadgetron Vendors that sell weapons and you can access armor and ship vendors on the Starship Phoenix. The Ship Vendor sells cosmetic changes for your ship but it seemed like a waste of bolts, especially in the beginning, since there’s really no benefit to buying any of them. I preferred to save my bolts for weapons and armor. The game is set in the Solana Galaxy so you will visit some planets that you’ve been to before. In typical Ratchet and Clank fashion, each planet has its own theme, obstacles, hazards, and enemies to defeat and the game becomes more challenging as you progress. You will engage some bosses on your journey with the final bosses being the most difficult one in the series up to this point. At least in my opinion. You will have to use gadgets to get around and will have to revisit planets later on when you’ve acquired the appropriate gadgets to gain access to new areas.
Much of the game has you running, jumping, and blowing enemies away. Some planets let you drive vehicles and depending on the mission or objective, you’ll get to fly around and blow shit up which is a lot of fun. But it’s not like the ship battles from Going Commando. I can’t say the game ever got too difficult but trying out all the weapons and becoming more powerful as you progress makes for a great and addictive time. You’ll engage different alien creatures, robots, aircraft, and the game is very action-heavy. Some planets let you assist the Galactic Rangers in battle missions where you have to complete various objectives for bolts. Unlike the previous games, planets do not feature their own sets of missions. The story will take you to planets to complete specific objectives. However, if you take the time to explore the planets, you’ll find Titanium Bolts, Trophies, and other items. You’re free to roam around each planet and can reference a map at any time and the planets do provide shortcuts or transports back to your ship.
Up Your Arsenal is easily the best looking game in the original trilogy. It’s more detailed while keeping in line with the cartoony, colorful, and vibrant look the series is known for. The character models and animations look good, the game is full of diverse environments, and the action is accompanied by nice visual effects. However, as expected based on my experience with the other two remastered games, this PS3 version could have been better. I noticed frequent pop-in and the presentation looks more like a simple upscale than a full blown remaster. The audio work is solid and the soundtrack is full of catchy and whimsical tunes that fit the style of the game perfectly. On the technical side, I noticed the frame rate dip whenever there was a lot of action on-screen. Other than that, no major bugs or issues.
I was a little nervous that Going Commando would bombard me with minigames and while it does include more than its predecessor, most of them turned out to be a lot of fun. Even with that knowledge, I was still a little nervous going into Up Your Arsenal, hoping it would deliver more fun action-packed minigames and side content and not overload me with boring and tedious stuff. I’m happy to say it delivered. And no more racing although I did read that a racing minigame was planned but was cut before release. Halleluja. I do think Up Your Arsenal strays a little further away from its platforming roots. I still consider it an action platformer but when I think of the game, I remember more action than platforming. The same could be said for Going Commando I suppose. The weapons are a big highlight of the game, more so than gadgets and I was more focused on blowing things away than I was on getting around and exploring. Whether that’s good or bad will be up to you. The game does give you plenty of reasons to explore but the action is always front and center. Personally, I had a great time with Up Your Arsenal. The action was fun enough that it kept me engaged from beginning to end. The camera can still suck and controlling Ratchet during combat can sometimes feel cumbersome but I was able to get passed it and enjoy myself.
I would definitely recommend Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal to fans of the series and action platformers. It’s a great game with a ton of action and a lot of cool toys play with. It still retains some of the issues that have plagued the series since the beginning but the good outweighs the bad and there’s a lot to see and do and the gameplay is fun and can be addictive. Definitely check it out.