Currently Playing: Ratchet & Clank

I was up in the loft last night looking for my old X-Box games (Although that's another story) when I stumbled across a huge box of old PS2 and PSone games. Seeing as there's nothing on the horizon worth a purchase until inFamous at the end of the month I thought I'd have a search for something that might fill some gaming time.

I found a copy of Ratchet & Clank which I can remember not being overly impressed with at the time (I think I was expecting something more Jak & Daxter-y) but having enjoyed the PS3 sequels I thought it had to be worth a look.

Obviously as the first game in the series it's basically an origin story with Ratchet finding Clank and then having to find most of the equipment you take for granted in the later games. The first surprise was how good it looked. Compared to my last PS2 on PS3 experience (Silent Hill 2) it stands up very well with the same detailed character models and busy levels (if obviously a lot last generationy.. In fact it's when you go back that you realise how far things have moved forwards).

I'm assuming it's a side effect of running on a software emulation 60Gb PS3 but there's an awful lot of slow down when there's a lot moving on screen. Anyone whose played a Ratchet & Clank game will know there's nearly always a lot moving on screen too.. But it's not game ruining (yet anyway) and adds a kind of bullet time effect which suits my old man reactions.

As you might expect the games a little less refined all round than the sequels. Crucially for a gun based 3d platformer there's no strafe function which makes the combat a little less satisfying than ToD. Although there's plenty of nuts and bolts to collect and weapons to buy there doesn't appear to be any upgrading them either..

So far though it's just as enjoyable. I'll keep you updated.