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Content review for this game:
Pertaining to content listed in the upper left corner of this site.
Mild violence: (This is the second game in the series) After defeating the last game's villain and saving the galaxy, Ratchet (the main character, who resembles a cat, with ears similar to the Star Wars character, Yoda) and Clank (his side-kick: a small robot with a personality and appearance that falls somewhere between C3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars) became famous, and in turn, have had lots of down time. That is, until a person named Abercrombie Fizzwidget, the owner and CEO of Megacorp, calls them up and asks them to retrieve a stolen project of his, dubbed, the "Protopets." When they finally track down these Protopets, they find that the Protopets are extremely vicious and can multiply at an alarming rate--and they've started to attack everyone who's bought them. Now to find some way to destroy them...
The story itself is full of silly, slapstick, sarcastic, and clever humor, with many spoof-like promos, like one for the arena that states, "Ask yourself--are you man enough? Hero enough? Insane enough to step in the ring with two of the fiercest warriors in the galaxy? If you answered yes...you're a big fat liar!" There are also more of these promos that advertise Megacorp's Protopets, and involve the narrater talking about how adorable the Protopets are, while it shows the exact opposite on screen. So in other words, it is sarcastic and a bit over-the-top, but pretty harmless, cartoony, and all done in a fun, light tone.
The violence is very fantastical, with mass explosions, crashes, constant fire from the enemy, and pretty much utter mayhem and frantic chaos. The enemy consists mostly of robots, and later on, the Protopets. Ratchet will be fighting these enemies with a couple dozen (and fully upgradeable) weapons. The majority of these weapons have exaggerated and ridiculous fire-power, like a lava gun, a gun that shoots saw blades, a rocket launcher, and even a gun that turns enemies into sheep. Ratchet can also attack enemies with his wrench. When Ratchet disposes of an enemy, it will explode into a cloud of bolts (the game's currency), metal (if a robot), colorful firework-like particle effects, and/or puffs of smoke. Beyond this, the overall tone of violence is pretty mild, the cutscenes' action is comparable to Looney Toon's over-the-top antics, and the actual gameplay is no worse (in fact, maybe a bit more mild) than the sometimes chaotic and moderately violent cartoons kids watch today.
Crude humor: The ESRB didn't mention this in their rating.
- One Promo is for the Desert Riders, a group of "tough" bikers led by one of the game's villains. It shows an interview with one of these riders which goes, "Before I became a Desert Rider, I didn't fit in anywheres. I had low self-esteem, bad breath, (whispers) a thing for ladies under garments. But these guys understand me. They really do."
- Near the end of the game, there's a scene with Clank and a female (she's pink) robot talking. Clank asks her, "So, what do you like to do for fun?" She then shows him something on her screen (you don't see). As she does, his entire head spins and he then states, "Oh, my goodness!" Although I don't think it's intended to be sexual in nature.
- If you had read my review for the first game, I mentioned the Personal Hygienator. Well, while Ratchet and Clank watch a news report, they find out that Qwark (the maker of said product) had not disclosed the product's defect, which seems to cause severe irritation in sensitive body areas, and now he's in trouble with the law. After the report, Ratchet states, "Well that explains a lot." Clank replies "Yes I suppose it..." But Ratchet cuts him off mid sentence and says, "All this time my Personal Hygienator must have been causing that itch!"
- Later, after the end credits, it shows a brief scene after Qwark has finally been captured, and is being punished by having to test other questionable products. This new product is called the Crotchitizer (no one knows what it does), which when tested on Qwark, makes him scream (you only hear this).
Mild Language: The ESRB didn't mention this either, although it is extremely mild. Near the end of the game one of the main characters says, "Alright, just what the **** is going on!?" However, the entire word is bleeped out, and there's no way to tell what she could of said.
Difficulty-wise: Although I would recommend this game for ages 10+ content-wise, it's the hardest in the series, and this fact was even mentioned in many of the press reviews after the game's release. The overall gameplay mechanics remain the same (read my Up Your Arsenal review for more info on gameplay), as all the other Ratchet and Clank games do, but, the enemies (and their number), the levels and bosses are far harder than any of the other games. For one, even if you upgrade all your weapons and armor to their max level, the enemy still takes an incredible amount of damage before dying, and not only that, but later in the game, the enemy never seems to stop coming, and the health system in this is particularly unforgiving. So, I recommend going with another game in this series for younger gamers like, Up Your Arsenal or Tools of Destruction.
However, the secret to beating any Ratchet and Clank game semi-comfortably is to upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. Whenever you have the chance to buy a new weapon, get new armor, or upgrade weapons, do it, as you'll have to, to counteract the ever-ramping difficulty. So, I could maybe see some interested and extremely determined kids 10+ complete this game, especially if they've played other games in the series, take the time to constantly upgrade their equipment, level up weapons in the arena, and take time to earn plenty of bolts.
Closing comment: This, in my opinion, is probably one of the lesser in the series, mostly because the difficulty is heavily unbalanced, making the majority of the game very frustrating, even for veteran Ratchet and Clank players (I haven't beat it yet!). But, as always, it does have a funny, entertaining and well done story, and if you're willing to play through the hard parts (which is mostly the whole game), than it's still worth playing. Content-wise, this game is pretty mild, and even though it's rated "T" for teen, I would recommend this for ages 10+. But this series has always been challenging, even for adults, and in my opinion this one is the hardest in the series. So, difficulty-wise, I recommend this game for ages 13+.
