Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

North American PlayStation 2 box art
Developer(s) Insomniac Games
Naughty Dog (addi. development)
Idol Minds (HD edition)
Mass Media (Vita port)
Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment
Composer(s) David Bergeaud
Series Ratchet & Clank
Engine Insomniac Engine v.1.0
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 (HD), PlayStation Vita
Release date(s)
Genre(s) Platformer
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (known as Ratchet & Clank 3 in Europe and Japan and Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal in Australia) is a 2004 3D platform video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the third installment in the Ratchet & Clank series and was released in North America on November 3, 2004. Shortly after it was released in Japan on November 25, the first volume of the Ratchet & Clank manga, drawn by Shinbo Nomura, was released. A demo of this game was included in Sly 2: Band of Thieves.

The gameplay is similar to previous games in the series but introduces new features such as a new control system and more levels in the upgrade system for weapons. It follows Ratchet and Clank's adventure through a fictional universe to defeat a robotic villain, Dr. Nefarious, who intends to destroy all organic life. Characters such as Dr. Nefarious and Sasha, a Cazar starship captain who helps Ratchet throughout the game, are introduced, and a number of characters return from the original Ratchet & Clank.

Up Your Arsenal is the first in the series to offer online multiplayer as well as single-player. The service was terminated in June 2012, however the PlayStation 3 HD version features the online mode. Multiplayer features three different modes of play available on all of the maps and has a selection of the weapons from the single-player game. As well as the multiplayer mode, it has many other differences compared to its predecessors such as higher quality graphics, larger worlds, and drivable vehicles. The voice cast from the previous game return as their respective characters, and new actors were hired to voice the new characters.[2][3]

The game was met with critical acclaim upon release, earning an average review score of 91% at Metacritic.[4]

Gameplay

Ratchet and Clank on a planet's surface. Visible are the weapon and bolt information, and a Gadgetron vendor. The player is currently equipped with a shield barrier.

Despite straying further from a classic platform game, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal still offers some of the basic features of a platform game but with a strong mix of action and shooting; PGNx Media has dubbed it a "combat-platformer".[5] It offers melee and long range combat and boasts a large, varied arsenal as one of its primary features as it has been in previous games.

As the player progresses through the game new weapons and upgrades can be obtained. As well as the 20 weapons available to the player, each weapon (apart from the RY3NO) has eight levels of strength,[6] which is different to the previous game's four levels of strength. Five upgrades are available after a weapon's purchase and then three after that once the game has been completed, the player starts "challenge mode", and purchases the weapon's upgrade. Alongside the weapons, which are primarily used in combat, there are ten gadgets that can be collected for use in other situations.

For most of the game the player will be in control of Ratchet but in some areas the player takes control of Clank,[7] Ratchet's ally. Clank can give commands to smaller robots called Gadgebots to perform tasks with the use of a command menu to solve puzzles and attack enemies.[8] Clank also features in "Giant Clank" scenarios where Clank transforms into a larger and more advanced form and can battle similar size enemies;[9] in this form he gains increased firepower with rockets and bombs and a large amount of health. During the single-player game, the player can also play as Captain Qwark in 2D side-scrolling levels (called "Vid Comics"),[10] which build upon the history of Captain Qwark and his previous conflicts with Dr. Nefarious.

The game offers a large range of enemies[5] and different stages.[11] It also features online multiplayer modes, such as Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, and Siege (in which the player storms the opponent's base and tries to destroy the power core inside).[12] It supports up to eight players at a time and supports voice chat through a PS2-compatible headset. Internet connection is needed if playing online against other players.[13]

Plot

Characters

The player character and main protagonist is Ratchet, a Lombax from the planet Veldin (voiced by James Arnold Taylor). He wields a wrench as a melee weapon and can use a large arsenal of weapons. Clank, Ratchet's robotic sidekick and sometimes co-protagonist (voiced by David Kaye), is usually attached to Ratchet's back and uses attachments to help Ratchet's movements.[2] Dr. Nefarious, the main antagonist of the game (voiced by Armin Shimerman), is the robotic form of a former organic life form. He has a hatred for organic life and tries to destroy it.[14] At the end of the game, Doctor Nefarious is left stranded on an asteroid, eventually making cameos and reappearances in later titles.

Story

The game opens with Ratchet and Clank finding a news report about Ratchet's home planet, Veldin, which is under attack by an army of aliens named Tyhrranoids.[15] The lead suspect is a mysterious villain by the name of Dr. Nefarious. After they help to defeat the Tyhrranoids on Veldin, the Galactic President tells Ratchet that Captain Qwark, an enemy from the first two games in the series, is the only person to ever have defeated Dr. Nefarious and that Qwark's help is needed to defeat him again. Ratchet finds a now-feral Qwark living in the jungle, and takes him to the Starship Phoenix, whose commander has been ordered to help Ratchet and Qwark defeat Dr. Nefarious.[16] Upon having his memories restored, Qwark creates the "Q-Force", a team of "elite" soldiers working against Dr. Nefarious, and assigns Ratchet a new mission to infiltrate Nefarious' base[17] and acquire as much information on Nefarious' plans as possible. They find out that Dr. Nefarious is a fan of 'Secret Agent Clank', Clank's TV show, along with an encrypted star map to the Tyhrranoids' home planet.[18] After the Q-Force destroys a Tyhrranoid hive on their home planet, Dr. Nefarious sends the Q-Force a transmission[19] mocking them and telling them that they won't be able to defeat him; Al traces the transmission to planet Daxx.

Ratchet and Clank arrive at Daxx and learn about something called a Biobliterator, but not what it does.[20] They also find a music video by Courtney Gears (a parody of Britney Spears), which tells robots to destroy organic lifeforms. Ratchet and Clank investigate Courtney Gears' activities, but she manages to charm and eventually kidnap Clank. Unbeknownst to Ratchet, she hands Clank over to Dr. Nefarious. Nefarious gives Clank the choice to either rule the Universe with him or to be a disgrace to all robots by pairing with the organic life forms;[21] Clank refuses Nefarious' offer. Unknown to both Ratchet and the game's player, Dr. Nefarious replaces Clank with an evil twin named Klunk, while holding Clank prisoner. Ratchet, with Klunk, then follows up on the Bioblierator on the Obani Moons. While helping them access the third of the moons, Skidd, another member of the Q-Force, is kidnapped by Courtney Gears. Ratchet enters the third moon to save him, but is too late as Skidd gets transformed into a robot.[22] Courtney Gears attempts to do the same to Ratchet, but Ratchet fights and defeats her before she gets the chance. Meanwhile, Sasha tracks down Dr. Nefarious on a Star Cruiser called The Leviathan and upon Ratchet's return she sends him and Qwark to infiltrate the ship.[23] When Ratchet arrives, however, he discovers that Dr. Nefarous lured them to the ship as a trap, and he activates the self-destruct system before teleporting out.[24] Qwark says he may have found intel and, much to Ratchet's dismay, Klunk asserts that they must leave him behind. The duo escape just as the Leviathan explodes.[25]

While Ratchet is fighting off yet another Tyhrranoid invasion in the city of Metropolis, Nefarious uses the Biobliterator to turn the helpless citizens and Tyhrranoid invaders alike into robots. Before Ratchet can attack him, Dr. Nefarious escapes the city and Klunk attacks Ratchet. After defeating Klunk, Ratchet and Clank are reunited, and discover that Captain Qwark is still alive and is hiding at his secret hideout,[26] but they cannot convince him to rejoin the fight against Dr. Nefarious. Ratchet and Clank reach another one of Nefarious's hideouts and Clank destroys the Biobliterator. However, Sasha soon reports that a second Biobliterator is housed at Nefarious's main command center on planet Mylon,[27] Ratchet and Clank arrive at the command center and confront Nefarious, but before they can defeat him he teleports inside the Biobliterator, which transforms into a giant, heavily armed robot. Having regained his bravery, Captain Qwark flies in to fight alongside them and they engage in aerial combat against Nefarious and the Biobliterator and defeat it. The Biobliterator self-destructs, and Nefarious and Lawrence (his butler) are left stranded on an asteroid after attempting to teleport away from the explosion.[28] The ending fades to the Q-Force and their allies watching the premiere of the latest Secret Agent Clank holofilm.

Development

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal was the main focus of the Insomniac Team during development.[29] The team of around 115 people were aiming to create a new Ratchet and Clank game that would differ significantly from its predecessors and almost end up being two games in one.[29] Insomniac believed that one of the key processes in the development process was the rigorous testing. Working closely with Sony and listening to fans of the Ratchet and Clank series, they gathered feedback and made improvements to the game. They felt that they had created a game that would appeal to a number of genres with the inclusion of elements of platform, action and side-scrolling gameplay.[29]

At the same time, Jak 3 was being developed by Naughty Dog, a company closely tied with Insomniac. Naughty Dog's Jak & Daxter series and the Ratchet & Clank series are in similar genres; each game in both series' has been released at a similar time and both contain references to each other. Ryan Schneider, an employee of Insomniac, said, "The analogy that I like to use is that at Insomniac we like to look at it as how Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant act when it comes to their professions. We don't really look at it as how we compare to other athletes or other games, we just try to do the best that we can and elevate the sport."[29]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings91.54%[30]
Metacritic91/100[4]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Game Informer10/10[31]
GameSpot8.7/10[32]
GameSpy5/5[9]
IGN9.6/10[33]
OPM (US)5/5[34]

Before its release, IGN was highly anticipating the final version of the game as they had played two previous versions of the game already.[33] Concentrating on the multiplayer aspect of the game, they praised the developers for moving a solely platform game into the multiplayer genre so well. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal was featured at the E3 games festival in 2004, where there was a playable demo. Only the multiplayer Siege mode and a single-player demo were available but they were enough to get 1UP.com's award for best action game at E3.[35]

Soon after its release, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal received critical acclaim. GameSpy awarded it 5 stars out of 5,[9] and IGN said that "You MUST buy this immediately" due to its extensive line-up of weaponry, high quality graphics and polished sound effects.[36] IGN did, however, believe it was easier than the previous game, Going Commando, while GameSpot thought that the gameplay was too similar to the previous title, but both reviewers considered these as minor issues and they made little difference to the overall score. Gaming magazines GamesTM and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine both mentioned that the offbeat comedy that was apparent throughout the majority of the game was one of the points that made it unique.[34][37] X-Play said "A mixture of excellent gameplay tweaks and new activities make the third one easily the strongest game in the series and one of the best games of this year" and giving it a full five star rating.[38] According to Metacritic's collection of reviews, 12 separate reviewers gave the game the highest possible score.[4] In 2006, Edge Magazine featured a "Time Extend" article on Ratchet & Clank: Up your Arsenal and among other points, focused on the amount and variety of weapons available to the player.[39] In August 2005 Up Your Arsenal entered the Greatest Hits line-up. Since its release, it has sold over 2.15 million copies in the US alone.[40] IGN listed the game 18th on their list of "The Top 25 PS2 Games of All Time".[41]

References

  1. ↑ Stevenson, James (May 29, 2014). "Ratchet & Clank HD Trilogy hits PS Vita in July". PlayStation Blog. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal Info". GameFAQs. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando Info". GameFAQs. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
  4. 1 2 3 "Ratchet and Clank: Up your Arsenal (ps2: 2004): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  5. 1 2 Liz, Jose. "PGNX Ratchet and Clank: UYA Review". PGNX Media. Archived from the original on April 20, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2007. External link in |publisher= (help)
  6. ↑ Weapon Upgrades - Ratchet and Clank: UYA Game Manual. Insomniac Games. 2004. p. 14.
  7. ↑ Clank's in control! - Ratchet and Clank: UYA Game Manual. Insomniac Games. 2004. p. 11.
  8. ↑ Stevenson, James. "Mania Games Ratchet and Clank: UYA Review". Mania Games. Retrieved April 2, 2007. External link in |publisher= (help)
  9. 1 2 3 Turner, Benjamin. "Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal GameSpy Review". GameSpy. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  10. ↑ Vid Comic Gameplay - Ratchet and Clank: UYA Game Manual. Insomniac Games. 2004. p. 19.
  11. ↑ Dunham, Jeremy. "IGN Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal Review Page 3". IGN. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
  12. ↑ Multiplayer Modes - Ratchet and Clank: UYA Game Manual. Insomniac Games. 2004. pp. 26–27.
  13. ↑ Offline Multiplayer - Ratchet and Clank: UYA Game Manual. Insomniac Games. 2004. p. 30.
  14. ↑ Nefarious: Greetings, robots. Too long have we suffered under the squishiness and foul stench of organic life forms. Soon, you will have the pleasure of my benevolent, iron-fisted rule. And as for you filthy organic life forms, you can look forward to being ANNIHILATED! (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  15. ↑ Darla Gratch: Just hours ago, [Veldin] was invaded by a race known as the Tyhrranoids. [...] This reporter believes that Veldin will be destroyed in a matter of hours. (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  16. ↑ Sasha: This is Captain Sasha of the Starship Phoenix speaking. I see you have located Captain Qwark. [...] Bring him to the Phoenix. (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  17. ↑ Qwark: Ladies, gentlemen, oh, and Helga, you have been assembled here because of your skills [...] Each of you has proven worthy to wear the Q! Our first mission will be to infiltrate Nefarious' top secret base on planet Aquatos. Impossible, you say? Perhaps for a lesser strategist. Behold, my brilliant plan! (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  18. ↑ Ratchet: Look, [Nefarious] has the entire Secret Agent Clank holo-vid collection! Clank: That's, disturbing. I have downloaded an encrypted star map. Ratchet: Maybe Al can decode it. Let's go. (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  19. ↑ Ratchet: Someone just transmitted a message onto the ship. I need you to find out where it came from. Al: Let's see [...] I've found something suspicious. Beaming it over now. (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  20. ↑ Ratchet: Biobliterator? I see what you mean. What exactly does it do? Clank: That information has been deleted. (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  21. ↑ Nefarious: Then I will give you a reason. Join me, and together we will rule an army of robots! Or refuse, and follow your beloved squishies into the black hole of oblivion!(Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  22. ↑ Ratchet: What! They turned Skidd into a robot! That's impossible!(Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  23. ↑ Sasha: We've located the Leviathan. It's refueling at the Zeldrin Starport now. Qwark and the monkey are already there.(Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  24. ↑ Nefarious: I lured you here so I could witness your demise! Speaker: Auto-Destruct sequence initiated. Bye bye. Nefarious: Lawrence, teleport us out of here. (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  25. ↑ Ratchet: What are you doing? This ship could explode any second! Qwark: I think I've spotted something important. I can't leave without it! I'll meet you back at the shuttle! (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  26. ↑ Qwark: Oh! How did you find me here? Ratchet: We found your secret vid-comic, Qwark. Qwark: Oh, that. Listen, when I escaped from that star cruiser missing death by mere nano-seconds, I thought something. I COULD HAVE DIED! Me! (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  27. ↑ Sasha: Well done, boys. There's no telling how many lives you just saved. But we're not done yet. Al just finished decoding the disk. Nefarious secretly built a second Biobliterator, more deadly than the first. (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  28. ↑ Nefarious: Lawrence, engage the teleporter. Lawrence: Would you care to specify a destination? Nefarious: Who cares? Just get us out of here. (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal) Insomniac Games, 2004
  29. 1 2 3 4 Moreaux, Wellington (May 17, 2004). "Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal interview". Gaming Age. Archived from the original on August 3, 2004. Retrieved April 13, 2007. External link in |publisher= (help)
  30. ↑ "Game Rankings Collected Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  31. ↑ Game Informer. November 2004. p. 150.
  32. ↑ Gerstmann, Jeff (November 3, 2004). "GameSpot Review". GameSpot. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  33. 1 2 Lewis, Ed (August 9, 2004). "Ratchet & Clank: Up your Arsenal IGN Preview". IGN. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  34. 1 2 "OPM Review". 1UP.com. November 1, 2004. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  35. ↑ 1UP Staff (2004). "Best of E3 2004". Retrieved October 17, 2007.
  36. ↑ Dunham, Jeremy (October 28, 2004). "Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal IGN Review". IGN. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  37. ↑ Games TM Staff (2004). Games TM - Review - Ratchet & Clank 3. Highbury Entertainment. p. 106.
  38. ↑ "Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal G4 Review". G4TV. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  39. ↑ Edge Staff (2006). Time Extend - Ratchet & Clank 3. pp. 90–93.
  40. ↑ "US Videogame Chart". The Magic Box. Retrieved April 2, 2007. External link in |publisher= (help)
  41. ↑ IGN PlayStation Team (August 10, 2009). "The Top 25 PS2 Games of All Time - PS2 Feature at IGN". IGN.

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