Secret Agent Clank – PSP – Reviewed

The last few weeks have been particularly straining with the amount of content, competition and reviews to get out, especially when Nick decides to go and get married, I go on a boy’s farewell weekend (For a friend off to Canada), and Nick also timely decides to go on Honeymoon (Just so thoughtless). It’s amazing how you get to rely on your teammates, and how you don’t miss them until they are actually away. So it was Lazy and myself plodding away at the keyboards over the last little while, and when a few PSP games landed on my desk, I was actually quite relieved to play a couple of more light hearted titles.

This brings me to the first of those two titles, Secret Agent Clank. Now it’s once again no secret that I have a rather large soft spot for the Ratchet and Clank series, as I do with the Jak and Daxter series, and it was only a matter of time before the inevitable sidekick focused game would makes its appearance from the R&C series, just like the J&D series. As I enjoyed the Daxter game, it was with great anticipation that I opened up the box for this title, and what a box it is. You see, sometimes we as press get different boxes to what the consumer gets, and this one was actually worth mentioning, as it came in a small box labelled “Robot Tailors -EST. 2100-“ on the front, with what looks like a suit packed inside. When opened, both side of the box slide out to reveal a mock computer, with the disc stored inside, and a secret message directed at you, Clank.

I digress. This time you play as Clank, Ratchet’s one liner witty sidekick, in a style very similar to Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, and yes you do get the chance to play as Ratchet as well, but these are few and far between. The story revolves around you arriving at the Galactic Museum, only to watch the authorities drag your faithful companion off to prison, for stealing the “Eye of infinity”, a priceless Gem. Now as we all know, this does not sound like our favourite lombax, and it’s up to Clank to find out exactly what’s happening.

As I said earlier, the gameplay is very similar to the franchises norm, except for one thing. Instead of rushing in blowing things up, in the trademark series fashion, you are forced to take a rather different approach this time. Stealth. Now I don’t mean to sound ungrateful here, but since when did this duo ever get involved in stealth. It’s supposed to be blast and destroy your way through things, just like we love. It actually takes away from the whole experience of the series, and I think this is where things went a little wrong. Now this does not continue the whole game, and yes it’s true to a Spy’s repertoire, but it actually gets irritating (I can’t believe I’m putting R&C and irritating in the same story -PD). It doesn’t feel right, not by any stretch, and I can’t imagine why this was done.

One thing you do still have is the cool weapons and gadgetry, so this saves some of the pride of the title, and don’t think that because Clank is Pint sized, his weapons are the same. You will also get the chance to play as Ratchet and Captain Quark in the game, although these are more distractions than valuable additions.

From a graphic point of view, the game looks good, yet not great. It seems a bit sparse at times, and the camera can be a pain in the a$$ at points. It does flow smoothly, and the action gets quite hectic at times, and the game handles itself well.

Onto Audio, the usual blasts and witty one liners are all present, and the sound is actually pretty damn fine, and captures the moment rather handsomely (Did I just say handsomely – PD).

Overall the game looks like an R&C title, feels like an R&C title, but just does not quite capture the magic of the series. I am somewhat disappointed with this game, it never got me excited to be Clank, as it should have, but some people will inevitably love it. Give it a try first if possible. Above average, but not great.

Scoring:
Gameplay: 7/10 [Not Great]
Presentation: 7/10 [Once again, a little wanting]
Sound: 8/10 [Pretty cool]
Value: 7/10 [A decent length]
Overall: 7/10 [A little wayward for the series]

Last Updated: July 18, 2008