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Visually the game has few peers on the Playstation 2.
Visually the game has few peers on the Playstation 2.Visually the game has few peers on the Playstation 2.

The game has a mission based structure, with each completed mission opening at least one other mission or task that you can then move on to. Your hub of sorts is a spaceship called the Phoenix. Here you can make upgrades to your armour, check out your trophies and play some videogames. The console of choice isn't a Playstation any more, with the Video Comic device being what all the kiddies want. Rather surprisingly, this state of the art games machine is home to a fairly traditional side scrolling platform game, featuring Captain Qwark. Throughout the game you collect new chapters in the Qwark stories, each one providing a short burst of gameplay, accompanied by some tongue in cheek back story on Qwark.

The cutscenes are full of mild humour, with Qwark's mission plans providing the most consistent laughs. The voice acting is great; nearly all the characters in the game are memorable and each has a voice perfectly fitting their look. Even the mouthless guards convey personality, almost always reporting to Ratchet while under heavy attack. News style reports make up the majority of cutscenes, but there are a few notable others that stand out; a music video complete with full lip-synching and a set of robotic dancers is a real highlight.


The online games have great stat tracking and have a good number of options to customise the play

Mixing this much combat within a platform game could have proved difficult, but it has been pulled off exceedingly well. You have a variety of control schemes on offer, allowing you to control the game in a traditional 3D platform style, or giving you the controls of a first person shooter. Whatever you chose, the game plays superbly; sensitivity on the analogue sticks is perfect and you never feel that the controls have let you down.

The single player game is more than good enough to stand alone, but also included in this bumper pack of a game is a great multiplayer mode. This can be played with four players on one console or with up to eight online. Deathmatch and Capture the Flag are pretty standard in multiplayer shooters, but the standout mode is the team-based siege mode. This mode gives each team a base and then sets up a number of neutral nodes. These nodes can be captured by using your wrench to turn the nodes screw. Once captured the node gains a turret which is used to take out the opposing team and occasionally gives you items and vehicles, helping you take control of more nodes. The aim is to eventually storm the enemy base and destroy their power source, ending the game. Playing online is a lot of fun, even if the gameplay is pretty simple, particularly if you are used to more advanced PC shooters, but there is little like it on the Playstation 2. The online games have great stat tracking and have a good number of options to customise the play, making Ratchet & Clank 3 online worth coming back to time and again.

Online play is great fun, and will keep you coming back.Online play is great fun, and will keep you coming back.

Ratchet & Clank 3 is visually one of the Playstation 2's stand out titles. The series has always looked good and the third instalment is no exception. Environments are massive, character models look great, colours are vibrant and the game's frame rate rarely hiccups. This is a game that wouldn't look out of place on the Xbox or GameCube.

With a single player game easily lasting more than fifteen hours (more if you take part in various optional missions) and an online multiplayer mode that is unlike anything else on the Playstation 2, it is easy to recommend Ratchet & Clank 3. Fans of the previous games will love the new missions, while newcomers to the series will find a game that is a joy to play, either by yourself or with friends.

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