PSP Ratchet & Clank offers four-way multiplayer mode
Size matters, it seems, as Sony ratchets up its PSP output
Weapons with names as exotic as the Blitz Cannon, the Agents of Doom and the Shrink Ray were made to be shared with friends – preferably along with some choice words about how royally you've just shafted them.
Enter Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, which boasts more lovingly-named firepower than a serial killer's toolbox.
In this first PSP outing for the multi-selling PlayStation series, the disarming duo find their holidays interrupted by a dangerous plot involving a kidnapped girl and a lost race of brainy boffins called the Technomites. Pocket Gamer's initial theory that the Technomites will be stood on speaker stacks gurning and dancing whilst chanting 'banging banging banging!' at our heroes have not yet been confirmed.
In single-player mode, you can expect as at least as many jokes (of a better quality than ours) as weapons, as you explore, jump and blast your way across the galaxy. You'll be able to play as robot sidekick Clank as well as Ratchet (a mammal of indeterminate origins), upgrade as you go with a customisable armour system, and also take part in races and battlefield missions.
As for the multiplayer mode, all Sony has said so far is that up to four players can compete head-to-head. We don't know what characters you'll play as, for instance, although we'd imagine that given the game's entertaining backstory you'll be able to adopt the role of your favourite Ratchet & Clank cronies when you take to the arena.
Whatever the case, my Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters score will certainly be bigger than yours when the game launches in early 2007.