As you guys should probably know by now, I'm a big fan of the Ratchet and Clank series. At the very least, these games have provided some great entertainment even if it got off to a rocky start with the first, not-quite-good game. But those PS2 games from Going Commando to even Deadlocked were all good games. Then the future happened and the games started going to the PS3 but in between the PS2 era and the PS3 era, there were two games made for the PSP that were ported over to the PS2 and today, I'm talking about the first one Size Matters...the PS2 port of course.
After the events of all the games, Ratchet and Clank are taking a well-deserved vacation and hope to not be kidnapped and forced into a gladiator-reality TV show. However, a little girl comes up to them and wants the duo to do some hero stuff for her school project and, of course, they say yes. But then robots come and kidnap the girl with the only clue is an artifact from Technomites, beings that created technology. So now their vacation is cut short as Ratchet and Clank must find this little girl and learn about the Technomites. Oh, Captain Qwark is here looking for his real parents for some reason.
Since this is a PSP port, you do have to expect some things to not as good. For one thing, the graphics are pretty weak. The colors are all washed-out, the FMV's are fuzzy and it's not as graphically busy as the other games but you expect that with these kinds of ports. What people should never, EVER expect are piss-poor controls. There's this sense that something is just off...and then you jump. That's where the problems begin when jumping is a bit slippery. Then you try to glide and that is utterly pathetic, you're pretty much going into a near-vertical fall without going forward. Not to mention that you don't get the rockets but the helicopter...but that's just personal preference.
But what is not personal preference is how bad the camera controls are, as in it works when it feels like it. And when you do need the camera to work, that's when it doesn't feel like working. Then you get attacked or you fall through a pit. And then we get to the skyboarding parts of the game, the obligatory gameplay where you don't go around shooting everything that moves which were always fun distractions. Not here in which the horrible controls unleash their horrible....uhh...horribleness! It takes you from a world where the controls may be horrible, but at least they made sense into something where rules no longer apply. One wrong flick of the analog stick goes you flying 90 degrees into the wrong direction...into a wall...where you wait while everyone else passes you by. I hate those levels.
However, there are good things in this and all of them relate to the writing. If nothing else, the story is wonderfully paced and it moves at a very quick clip. There isn't much chance for boredom to develop. Also, the duo still has their charms and chemistry to keep things from being a bit too dire. There's even a couple levels that are actually awesome and work quite well in the confines of a PSP game: a journey into Ratchet's mind and when Ratchet has to go inside Clank to reboot him. Both levels showcase great visual inventions and even nice throwbacks to the previous games, which makes them the only two levels that are worthwhile.
Alright, despite what I'm saying and that it's even worse than the first game...it's still not all bad. The game is short enough to not wear out it's welcome, keeping frustration to a manageable level. Ratchet and Clank still are as fun and as hilarious as ever. Even the levels are OK with the two aforementioned levels being awesome. It's a bit sad that the controls don't measure up with the previous games, which gets me thinking if things are this bad with the PS2. How bad is it with the PSP since I don't think it has an analog stick? But I digress, you won't suffer too much playing it but it can be safely skipped.
6/10
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