An unfortunate result of Going Commando being so much fun was the eventual stagnation the Ratchet & Clank games would see going forward. It's one of those problems that doesn't really apply to some of these earlier titles without the ability to recognize how little innovation the series would see from this point. And there's a pretty interesting discussion to be had about the need for evolution in a series as comfortable as Ratchet & Clank. That conversation is well beyond what I could possibly explore without at least five years of planning and revision, only to ultimately be abandoned like all of my other long-term writing projects, but I'm sure it would be at least a little neat. Regardless, Up Your Arsenal is less an evolution from Going Commando and more of a refinement.
Insomniac clearly liked the idea of weapon growth as presented in Going Commando, as this time around, all weapons have five different levels of growth as opposed to the two from the prior game. Weapon mods have also been streamlined so that they apply automatically as your weapon level increases. These changes do fix the primary issue Going Commando had in the late game, with numerous weapons becoming redundant or ineffective. This problem still exists, but it's much easier to get value out of the wide variety of weapons pushed your way. Even experimental ones like the Infector or Plasma Whip can provide value beyond gimmick in specific situations. The problem this does create, however, is the overwhelming sense of bloat. There is no way to have everything accessible through the weapon wheel menus, so at least a few guns will eventually stray from your sight. It is all too easy to settle in on a few weapons that work in most situations and just not bother touching the others. I guess that's where the level up system has some benefit, as it encourages you to use all your weapons in tandem in order to maintain consistent growth, but then you just end up having less fun with the game. It would be ideal to have every weapon feel unique and function effectively, but that is certainly going to present a challenge, and it's not like this problem doesn't persist throughout the rest of the games.
The good news is that this is a pretty dumb nitpick. I'm basically complaining that the game is too fun and forcing myself to do the unfun stuff is ultimately unnecessary. So what exactly does this game do so well then? Well, it has deincentivized platforming to a pretty wild degree. More than any game yet, Up Your Arsenal is about the combat, and that works out because it's extremely fun. Ratchet's smooth movement has remained almost unchanged from what I can tell, and it's even more satisfying in this one to weave in and out of fire. The difficulty has also seen a bit of a rise, which feels strange coming off the breezy Rift Apart not too long ago. Up Your Arsenal is by no means hard, but it does have it's moments.
This is probably also where the writing hits it's peak. Dr. Nefarious is an incredible villain because of how well everyone plays off of him. He's got hilarious dialogue and stellar voicework to boot. He's also quite intelligent and competent in this one, literally almost succeeding in genocide. It reinforces a problem I had with the 2016 reboot and Rift Apart, where Nefarious is almost purely comic relief. Essentially, Nefarious was so well-written and popular that he became a recurring villain, which ended up hurting his character in some unfortunate ways. Dude's just not complex enough to carry on past this one game. I'm doubtful he was intended to be used more after this, but Insomniac got really lazy with the writing. The Qwark stuff is also great and it highlights big writing issues later on in the franchise as well, but I don't need to get into all of that because I'm saving it for the reboot writeup which I won't ever get to. Basically what I'm saying is Up Your Arsenal is almost too good of a stride to hit, and following up on it was going to be hard regardless of what Insomniac did. It's just so damn good. 5/6
Insomniac clearly liked the idea of weapon growth as presented in Going Commando, as this time around, all weapons have five different levels of growth as opposed to the two from the prior game. Weapon mods have also been streamlined so that they apply automatically as your weapon level increases. These changes do fix the primary issue Going Commando had in the late game, with numerous weapons becoming redundant or ineffective. This problem still exists, but it's much easier to get value out of the wide variety of weapons pushed your way. Even experimental ones like the Infector or Plasma Whip can provide value beyond gimmick in specific situations. The problem this does create, however, is the overwhelming sense of bloat. There is no way to have everything accessible through the weapon wheel menus, so at least a few guns will eventually stray from your sight. It is all too easy to settle in on a few weapons that work in most situations and just not bother touching the others. I guess that's where the level up system has some benefit, as it encourages you to use all your weapons in tandem in order to maintain consistent growth, but then you just end up having less fun with the game. It would be ideal to have every weapon feel unique and function effectively, but that is certainly going to present a challenge, and it's not like this problem doesn't persist throughout the rest of the games.
The good news is that this is a pretty dumb nitpick. I'm basically complaining that the game is too fun and forcing myself to do the unfun stuff is ultimately unnecessary. So what exactly does this game do so well then? Well, it has deincentivized platforming to a pretty wild degree. More than any game yet, Up Your Arsenal is about the combat, and that works out because it's extremely fun. Ratchet's smooth movement has remained almost unchanged from what I can tell, and it's even more satisfying in this one to weave in and out of fire. The difficulty has also seen a bit of a rise, which feels strange coming off the breezy Rift Apart not too long ago. Up Your Arsenal is by no means hard, but it does have it's moments.
This is probably also where the writing hits it's peak. Dr. Nefarious is an incredible villain because of how well everyone plays off of him. He's got hilarious dialogue and stellar voicework to boot. He's also quite intelligent and competent in this one, literally almost succeeding in genocide. It reinforces a problem I had with the 2016 reboot and Rift Apart, where Nefarious is almost purely comic relief. Essentially, Nefarious was so well-written and popular that he became a recurring villain, which ended up hurting his character in some unfortunate ways. Dude's just not complex enough to carry on past this one game. I'm doubtful he was intended to be used more after this, but Insomniac got really lazy with the writing. The Qwark stuff is also great and it highlights big writing issues later on in the franchise as well, but I don't need to get into all of that because I'm saving it for the reboot writeup which I won't ever get to. Basically what I'm saying is Up Your Arsenal is almost too good of a stride to hit, and following up on it was going to be hard regardless of what Insomniac did. It's just so damn good. 5/6