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> Results: Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
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The ESRB Says
Animated Blood: GamerDad saw plenty of fake looking blood as enemies were splattered. Fantasy Violence: there are loads of crazy looking enemies that need to be dispatched. It reminds me of an old commercial. The PSP is in need of good games. Ratchet & Clank are in need of a career revitalization. *CRASH!!!* Hey, you got PSP on my Ratchet - you got Ratchet in my PSP. Wow - it's GOOD. Yes it is good, good enough to be possibly the easiest recommendation for the PSP yet. The premise of the game is ... well, regardless of whatever the 'story' is, the REAL premise is to put our heroes in crazy platforming situations with loads of crazy weapons and throw tons of enemies at them. There is so much to do it is hard to know where to begin - the main game is quite a bit of challenging fun, and there are tons of little mini-games, hidden areas and items, and incredibly numerous multiplayer modes that use both the ad-hoc and infrastructure modes. One of the best things about the game is that it is rewarding - when you die, you don't lose anything but a small amount of progress; exploring rewards you with loads of power-ups and items; mini-games are just plain fun and not overdone; and even completing the main game allows you to go back through and collect all of the things you couldn't grab the first time - while being challenged by harder and more numerous enemies, of course. The game looks and sounds great - even with loads of enemies and effects on screen there is never a slowdown in the action. The load times are a bit long, but the camera and controls are the biggest issues and left me with a single thought as I played - it would be better with a second analog stick. But it didn't take too long to get used to the camera control and certainly never caused serious frustration. In fact, nothing about the game causes serious frustration (well, there are a couple of battles ... ) - it is just a great time from start to finish and through whatever side-trips you take into the various multiplayer modes. This is one of those solid fun games you will find yourself playing again and again over time, and is one of the best games for the PSP and recommended for everyone who owns the system.  
The Ratchet & Clank games have always had a bit of an edge to them - their titles (Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal) are full of not-so-subtle double meaning and they are platform games that are dominated by an over-the-top obsession with massive amounts of weapons. That alone has caused my wife - after seeing one of the commercials a couple of years ago - to veto purchases of the games by my kids. But at the same time, ironically, the game is all about having fun. Not mean-spirited fun, but good fun in the nice kid-friendly platform game sort of way. Because that is basically what this is - a nice, friendly platform game with HUGE guns. I belabor that point because I see that as the pivot point for this game. I'm going to stick with the 10+ Age Seal for the game as that really feels about right to me. But whether or not you would allow your 6 year old to play this depends on your stance regarding silly non-realistic characters blowing up silly non-realistic monsters and robots with silly non-realistic weapons.
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