Secret Agent Clank<\/em> is one schizophrenic game. At heart it\u2019s an action-platformer like Ratchet & Clank<\/em> games past, but now more than ever before so many elements from other genres have been mixed in that it\u2019s hard to even categorize the game as a whole. The R&C<\/em> 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<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n

This game literally pulls elements from damn near every genre in existence. It\u2019s 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 \u2013 which is doubly important for a portable game — the quality of all these different activities isn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to sound too pissy here, though. Secret Agent Clank<\/em> has plenty of greatness to be found throughout its 8-10 hour, James-Bond-spoofing spy caper. Clank\u2019s more traditional action\/platforming missions are tremendous fun, complete with the intuitive controls, crazy gadgetry and satisfying action expected from an R&C<\/em> title. Captain Qwark becomes a playable character for the first time as well and his levels are nothing short of pure genius \u2013 too bad they are few and far between compared to the rest of the game\u2019s mission types, though. And you also get to spend ample time controlling a pack of Gadgetbots through some truly thoughtful 3D puzzle stages.<\/p>\n

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\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

I adore the Ratchet & Clank<\/em> franchise and in general had a blast with Secret Agent Clank<\/em>. But as a whole this game doesn\u2019t quite live up to the series\u2019 sky-high standards. It\u2019s a thoroughly enjoyable romp while it lasts, one any PSP owner would do well to play through, but once it\u2019s over you probably won\u2019t feel the draw to ever play it again. Seriously, this is the first game in the series that I haven\u2019t felt the itch to go back and replay immediately after finishing it, and I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong>
\n+ Clank, Qwark and Gadgetbot missions are exceptionally fun
\n+ Humorous, beautifully-presented story<\/p>\n

Cons:<\/strong>
\n– Suffers from “jack of all trades, master of none” syndrome
\n– Spotty load time and frame rate performance<\/p>\n

Game Info:<\/strong>
\nPlatform: PSP
\nPublisher: SCEA
\nDeveloper: High Impact Games
\nRelease Date: 6\/17\/08
\nGenre: Action
\nPlayers: 1<\/p>\n

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Secret Agent Clank is one schizophrenic game. At heart it\u2019s 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\u2019s hard to even categorize the game as a whole. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53,3,513,61],"tags":[6096,699,6275,6100],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3835"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}