Ratchet & Clank Collection

 Score: 9.0 

Great Gameplay, Great Graphics, and a Great Value make for a great gift this Holiday Season.

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If you're a fan who's never played any of the first three Ratchet & Clank's BUY THIS GAME. You get your money's worth. For $29.99 you get 3 full Ratchet & Clank games. Sure they're PS2 games, but they're remastered with HD graphics, and they look great. Nobody would know you were playing a PS2 game. The series holds up well 10 years later. I thought that after 10 years the controls would be slow and annoying, but they're just as responsive as any PS3 game. This game rocks.  Here's a review for each individual game included in the collection.
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Ratchet & Clank

 

The game that started it all. The first Ratchet & Clank showed off the potential that the series had. Today it's notable for the things it's missing. One huge thing is Ratchet's ability to sidestep. It a huge culture shock to find out I couldn't step to the left or right while shooting at enemies. Even with Ratchet's sidestep missing this game is incredibly fun. It's the only game in the series where I payed attention to the story. I watched every cut scene with full attention.

The first Ratchet & Clank can be pretty difficult. I found myself turning the game off out of frustration a few times. I did usually get past the part I was stuck on the first try after taking breaks with the game.  The last boss fight was a pain tho. I might have ended up watching the last cut scene on YouTube, but that's not important.
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Going Commando

 

This 2nd game in the series feels more familiar with fans who have never played the first Ratchet and Clank. There's a lot more emphasis on the weapons in this one. This is where the upgrade system for your weapons upgrade was introduced. Also included is Ratchet's sidestepping ability and the ability to upgrade your health as you fight. The game's difficulty is there, but I just find the game so much easier with Ratchet's ability to sidestep. That's not to say I didn't die constantly at certain points.

While I love the action platforming aspects of the series, I felt that Going Commando went overboard with the extra curricular activities. It's bad enough I have to play as Clank every now and again, but I got tired of racing. I don't want to win a race to move the story along. I don't want to fight huge enemies with Giant Clank. I don't want to fly around on a spaceship and shoot asteroids. I just want to smash boxes and shoot enemies. I understand the diversity of the games does wonders for it's pacing and story telling but Going Commando had too much diversity. I'm glad to see in future games they limited the Universe to having one stadium where you can do all of the extra activities you want.

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Up Your Arsenal

This was the first Ratchet & Clank game I ever played. I don't even know why I bought it, but I'm glad I did. I remember it felt like I played it for 5 minutes, but I had really invested 20 hours into it. Out of the 3 games in the collection, this one is the best in my opinion. Weapons now have levels so they continue to upgrade as you play instead of one big upgrade like in Going Commando. I'm still playing this game, but it's replay value from when I played it in 2004 or 2005 remains high. In closing I'll say buy the Ratchet & Clank Collection. Fans of the R&C should have a great time with this one. 

Nintendo 3DS XL Unboxing