NTSC U/C copy played on a PAL modified PlayStation 2 Slim.
I'm constantly surprised when people state Up Your Arsenal is their favorite of the PS2 Ratchet games. Even playing this game as a kid I wasn't really convinced of its quality and coming back to it as an adult after wrapping up Ratchet 1, 2 and Deadlocked this really does feel like the weakest of the bunch.
Mission design feels wonky - often following the standard formula of running and gunning through a well-crafted level to reach an objective with the occasional death match arena and more open arena to spice things up a bit, but it was the repeated "survive enemy waves in a small area" missions that frustrated me, not only forcing you to play through essentially the same content up to 5 times in a row, but doing so with it lasting way too long each time. It felt like padding, and with the previous Ratchet games not really having experienced that before it was a real shame to see it here.
My other issue was with the story. I know non RPG PS2 games were typically light on plot and the Ratchet series never did take itself very seriously but the complete lack of competency from anyone outside of Ratchet and Clank is incredibly frustrating at times. The story feels less like a whacky sci-fi adventure that the previous 2 games set the tone for and more like a parody of itself, with returning characters being boiled down to caricatures of what they once were.
The weapon selection is nice at least, with an evolution on some of the previous entries but with the later levels featuring enemies that just soak up damage like nothing else they all feel kind of pointless in the end. The Spitting Hydra feels completely useless both in it's base and fully upgraded forms with enemies taking as many as 10-15 hits with the thing before dying, and the same critiques can be applied to a handful of the other weapons too. The last few levels and bosses ended up requiring too much ammo from me in the end so I ended up using the rocket boots to skip entire portions of the stages to get to boss encounters fully stocked, with the final fight with Nefarious being especially egregious.
Overall, Ratchet 3 ultimately fine. It would feel like a good game on its own but in comparison to the previous games and the fact development was especially rushed with the multiplayer content taking up a fair bit of the team's time, I just didn't care for this one. The other PS2 Ratchet games I've gone back to multiple times as well as their New Game + modes, but when I finally finished Up Your Arsenal this week I put it down and have no intentions to really go back to it again.
But then maybe I'm just bitter this got higher reviews than Jak 3 at the time od release and I was always a Jak guy first.
I'm constantly surprised when people state Up Your Arsenal is their favorite of the PS2 Ratchet games. Even playing this game as a kid I wasn't really convinced of its quality and coming back to it as an adult after wrapping up Ratchet 1, 2 and Deadlocked this really does feel like the weakest of the bunch.
Mission design feels wonky - often following the standard formula of running and gunning through a well-crafted level to reach an objective with the occasional death match arena and more open arena to spice things up a bit, but it was the repeated "survive enemy waves in a small area" missions that frustrated me, not only forcing you to play through essentially the same content up to 5 times in a row, but doing so with it lasting way too long each time. It felt like padding, and with the previous Ratchet games not really having experienced that before it was a real shame to see it here.
My other issue was with the story. I know non RPG PS2 games were typically light on plot and the Ratchet series never did take itself very seriously but the complete lack of competency from anyone outside of Ratchet and Clank is incredibly frustrating at times. The story feels less like a whacky sci-fi adventure that the previous 2 games set the tone for and more like a parody of itself, with returning characters being boiled down to caricatures of what they once were.
The weapon selection is nice at least, with an evolution on some of the previous entries but with the later levels featuring enemies that just soak up damage like nothing else they all feel kind of pointless in the end. The Spitting Hydra feels completely useless both in it's base and fully upgraded forms with enemies taking as many as 10-15 hits with the thing before dying, and the same critiques can be applied to a handful of the other weapons too. The last few levels and bosses ended up requiring too much ammo from me in the end so I ended up using the rocket boots to skip entire portions of the stages to get to boss encounters fully stocked, with the final fight with Nefarious being especially egregious.
Overall, Ratchet 3 ultimately fine. It would feel like a good game on its own but in comparison to the previous games and the fact development was especially rushed with the multiplayer content taking up a fair bit of the team's time, I just didn't care for this one. The other PS2 Ratchet games I've gone back to multiple times as well as their New Game + modes, but when I finally finished Up Your Arsenal this week I put it down and have no intentions to really go back to it again.
But then maybe I'm just bitter this got higher reviews than Jak 3 at the time od release and I was always a Jak guy first.