A couple years back, there was a game released on the PS2 which reminded me why I love video games so much called Ratchet and Clank. Ratchet and Clank was my easy choice for game of the year when it was released. One year later, Ratchet and Clank 2: Going Commando was released and far surpassed the high quality bar already set by the preview title. Later this year we are going to see the third game in the series under the name of Ratchet and Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal. The big question I have is simple: Is this going to get my personal stamp of Game of the Year for the third year in a row?

Again, Insomniac is doing this crazy thing that they like to do. It is called "not insulting the gamer." I like this aspect of Insomniac. The story for the new title isn't some banal tripe such as "Ratchet and Clank take a vacation" after not releasing a game in over 5 years. The characters are evolving and we are going to find that Ratchet is taking a back seat to Clank in the the third game's story. Clank seems to be enjoying quite a bit of fame as the star of a televsion show while Ratchet is relegated to a bit part. Enter in a new enemy wrecking havoc accross the cosmos and we have ourselves another round of what should be one of the best action/platform games this holiday season.

One of the biggest changes in the series is going to be the addition of multiplayer components, both split screen as well as online. Now, I'll admit, I'm not the biggest partaker in online blastathons, but I will certainly give Insomniac a shot to impress me. My one fear is that working on the online and multiplayer aspects would take away from the single player experience, which will be where I want to see the best efforts. The only thing that really assuades my apprehension is that Insomniac isn't one of those developers who just put out shlock to release something. They work hard at fine tuning everything they want to do and they have a pretty good idea about what to include in a game and what to leave out.

Insomniac also seems to be streamlining the gameplay a bit compared to the last two entries. Buying weapons, ammo will be handled in a central location in order to avoid excess backtracking or forgetting where you were supposed to go to get a specific upgrade. It's the little touches that count, and so far, Insomniac has earned our trust in that department.

It sounds like the weapons and gadgets are only going to get better this time around as well. It seems that weapons will have even more power up oppotunities. Early reports also seem to indicate that the upgrades will not completely change the functionality of the basic weapon. I guess I'm not the only one who was upset when my Lava Gun was changed into the Meteor Gun. I am excited to see the new range of weapons since early indications of the currently known weapons seem pretty unique. There is a black hole weapon which I'm sure will be a lot of fun as well as other offensive weapons such as the one which infects enemies and turns them against each other. I wonder if we'll see another 'animal' weapon such as the Morph Ray which turned enemies into chickens or the even better Black Sheepinator which turned bad guys into evil exploding sheep. I'm up for crazy monkeys.

Another aspect of Ratchet and Clank that has been done well in the past two games have been the puzzle elements. While no one has seen everything yet, there has been some revelations about a gadget that reflects laser beams found in levels which could be refracted around to not only open doors and locks, but also used for offensive purposes as well. If it's done right, it could be a really cool feature, integrating the puzzle elements seemlessly into the game.

It does seem like we are losing the mini sphere worlds which popped up in the last game. That's fine since I am all for using new ideas. I loved the mini spheres but I'm not a believer that everything from previous games has to be in every sequel. There are also hints that vehicles may be used a little more this time around as well. For anyone that has seen the museam easter egg from Going Commando, we can see that this has been an idea that Insomniac has been playing around with for a while. We saw a bit in Going Commando with the mining vehicles, however they were very specific situations.

The visual experience should be even better this time around. The core engine has been rock solid since the initial release and I'd still put the original games up against any other platformer out there. Insomniac has been busy at work, tweaking the engine even further to bend the PS2's will to fit their imagination. I don't know what they put in the water over in Insomniac's coolers, but they really know their way around the PS2.

Overall, Ratchet and Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal is my most sought after title this year. As I write this, there really hasn't been many titles coming out recently that have really interested me. This holiday season is probably going to be killer this year as a ton of titles seem to be pushed back to the magical Christmas season, but hopefully the third game in the series will do well in the face of the holiday competition. I know I'm looking forward to it so that means you should to!