Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal -- Further Upgrades.

Ratchet & Clank was a run and gun platforming game that did everything right. The depth of the game gameplay was amazing. You would run and gun through the levels and there were a ton of weapons and items to acquire and use all the while enjoying the great graphics and art design along with a charmingly well done comic storyline. The game hid titanium bolts within the levels to be found. They also had hidden skill points to be found. They changed up the gameplay with vehicle combat. You would actually have to complete the game once to be able to access the mega weapons within a new game plus. You couldn't get all the skill points until the second go round. You couldn't truly call the game complete on a single play through. You were rewarded with the true ending and some good unlockable bonuses. So what did Insomniac do when faced with making the sequel Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando? They did the usual thing of bringing you much more of the same in the sequel. Only they didn't stop there. They added an experience system to the great weapons featured in the series.  As you used your weapons, they would gain experience until they would level up and become new and stronger weapons. You could level them up three levels. They also added some new spherical levels. Where the whole level is on a sphere that you can rotate as you play through it.  They added optional treasure hunt levels. Of course they're only optional for the normals. The completion types have no choice. Once again you had to complete the game once to be able to have access to the mega weapons and then proceed to leveling them up and earning the final skill points to call it truly complete. They went one step further in using the save file from Ratchet & Clank in Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando. If the game detects a save file from the first game you'll have access to a bunch of free weapons from the original game to be used in the second game. You can even level those weapons up to level three.  You can't reach truly complete in the second game without having the first game's save file. So that brings us to Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. Once again the game uses the previous game's save file to grant you access to select weapons from the second game. Not only that, but the second game's save file is altered by the original game's save file presence so that it shows you played both games thus unlockingselect weapons from the first two titles. They've kept the titanium bolts and skill points intact and have added trophies to be found within the levels. They've thought up new and improved weapons, which can now be leveled up to level five in the first play-through. Once again you can't achieve true completion without playing through it a second time. In the second play-through you'll get access to the mega weapons which can now be leveled up to eight where they become omega weapons. There is just a massive amount of stuff to do in truly completing the third game. As of this entry, I've completed the game once, achieved all the skill points possible, found all the titanium bolts, leveled all weapons as far as possible, and earned all the trophies possible. It took me twenty-six hours. Playing through Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando twice took less time. I have started in on the second play-through. The enemies are stronger, and they add a bolt multiplier. Bolts are the currency in the game. You get them from defeated enemies or smashed items. The multiplier allows for you to earn the bolts from which to buy the mega weapons much faster. I have leveled a couple of them to level eight and omega weapon status. Luckily they start at level five where I had leveled them in the first play-through. It shouldn't take too long to earn the bolts to buy all twenty weapons and get them up to level eight. The reward for truly completing the game in Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando was something called the Insomniac Museum. It was a level you could run around and look at all the exhibits which ranged from effects demonstrations to abandoned character concepts to the history of the characters and much more. It was easily one of the coolest rewards offered by any game. One of the few that really felt like a reward for all the hard work put into accessing it. The Insomniac Museum makes a return in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. Hopefully it will prove just as rewarding.