Secret Agent Clank is one schizophrenic game. At heart it’s an action-platformer like Ratchet & Clank games past, but now more than ever before so many elements from other genres have been mixed in that it’s hard to even categorize the game as a whole. The R&C series has always offered a lot of diverse activities to engage in and in the past has always benefited from it. But in Secret Agent Clank, High Impact Games went overboard to the point where the game ultimately winds up feeling like one giant genre mish-mash suffering from an identity crisis.
This game literally pulls elements from damn near every genre in existence. It’s got stealth, rhythm, puzzle, racing, shooting, platforming and the usual RPG-like weapon upgrade stuff. While the diverse range of activities makes for exceptionally well-paced gameplay – which is doubly important for a portable game — the quality of all these different activities isn’t consistently up to par. The rhythm-based, button-press mini-games control poorly and are terribly dull, the stealth elements feel entirely unnecessary for the most part, the block puzzle lock-picking mini-game is overused to the extreme, and Ratchet’s arena challenges seem tacked on if for no other reason than to remind you that Ratchet is still around even though Clank has assumed the starring role this time around.
I don’t want to sound too pissy here, though. Secret Agent Clank has plenty of greatness to be found throughout its 8-10 hour, James-Bond-spoofing spy caper. Clank’s more traditional action/platforming missions are tremendous fun, complete with the intuitive controls, crazy gadgetry and satisfying action expected from an R&C title. Captain Qwark becomes a playable character for the first time as well and his levels are nothing short of pure genius – too bad they are few and far between compared to the rest of the game’s mission types, though. And you also get to spend ample time controlling a pack of Gadgetbots through some truly thoughtful 3D puzzle stages.
As expected, the game — both good and bad parts — is all tied together by a hilarious story, genuinely likeable characters, top-class voice acting, beautifully animated cinematics, and just plain impressive production values all around. High Impact could’ve done more optimization work in terms of load times and frame rate performance, both of which are a bit spotty, but overall this is a high-quality audiovisual PSP production.
I adore the Ratchet & Clank franchise and in general had a blast with Secret Agent Clank. But as a whole this game doesn’t quite live up to the series’ sky-high standards. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable romp while it lasts, one any PSP owner would do well to play through, but once it’s over you probably won’t feel the draw to ever play it again. Seriously, this is the first game in the series that I haven’t felt the itch to go back and replay immediately after finishing it, and I’ve always replayed the previous games at least one extra time. That should be proof enough right there that renting is the way to go with this one.
Pros:
+ Clank, Qwark and Gadgetbot missions are exceptionally fun
+ Humorous, beautifully-presented story
Cons:
– Suffers from “jack of all trades, master of none” syndrome
– Spotty load time and frame rate performance
Game Info:
Platform: PSP
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: High Impact Games
Release Date: 6/17/08
Genre: Action
Players: 1
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If you recall, early last month Sony and High Impact Games began “Operation: Post A Poster,” a create-a-poster contest recruiting Secret Agent Clank fans for a special, top-secret mission to concoct posters of exceptional humor and creativity. Well, the mission has come to an end, the dev team has finished examining all of the submissions, and five worthy agents have been rewarded for their winning efforts. Congratulations and a round of applause are in order for Akujiki, Dangerboy, PiloteDeCiel, Ohidjwae and Mormon_Wookie for their fantastic poster work. For their efforts, each winner will receive their composition professionally printed as a full-sized poster and a collectible Clank figurine. The winners’ posters have also been used as the source of inspiration for a downloadable fan pack containing PSP wallpapers, themes, avatars and banners. Follow the link below to see larger images of the winning posters and download the fan pack.
CLANK’S OPERATION POST A POSTER WINNERS [Secret Agent Clank Message Board]
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Still mulling over whether or not to buy yourself a copy of Secret Agent Clank? Here’s a deal that may help push you in the right direction. Between now and August 20th, SCEA would like to treat you to a $5 off coupon good towards the purchase of Secret Agent Clank at any Best Buy store. Simply download and print out this coupon, head over to the nearest Best Buy with $35 in your wallet, and walk out with one hell of an entertaining PSP spy-spoofing action/platformer.
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Secret Agent Clank fans, Sony and High Impact Games have a special mission for you. Operation: Post A Poster, should you choose to accept it, requires you to take the “Top Secret Asset File” (provided as a zip file) and use the contents to design a Secret Agent Clank poster of paramount humor, creativity and skill by July 21st. The top five poster-creating agents, as chosen by the game’s dev team, will have their creations printed into a 22×28 poster, autographed by the dev team and delivered back to them with a collectible Clank figurine. Even cooler than that, the winning poster designs will also be scaled down and used to create a Secret Agent Clank Fan Pack filled with PSP themes, wallpapers, banners and avatars.
Read the mission briefing in its entirety at the CREATE A SWANK CLANK POSTER! forum thread at the official Ratchet & Clank website.
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So I just got in my final boxed review copy of Secret Agent Clank late Tuesday evening, and look at the cool surprise treat I got with it: a pair of Clank-head cufflinks! Sorry the pics are pretty blurry (my camera is crap), but hopefully they are clear enough to give an idea of what they look like. Pretty neat, huh?
Secret Agent Clank bonus: pre-order figurine [PlayStation.Blog]
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SCEA announced last week that Secret Agent Clank was on track to ship on June 17th, and now this week comes word that the game has just gone gold, meaning Clank’s starring solo debut is heading off to manufacturing and is officially locked in to its aforementioned ship date. Better yet, Sony has also announced that a playable demo of the game’s first level is set for release on the PlayStation Store as part of today’s store update. Don’t see it up just yet, but it shouldn’t be too much longer for the update to go live.
Grab your bolts…Secret Agent Clank has gone gold! [PlayStation.Blog]
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Clank gets a Date [PlayStation.Blog]
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