21 years ago, one of the best platforming video games ever released hit the PlayStation 2, and it still hasn't been topped. The platforming genre has its roots in the earliest days of video games, going all the way back to foundational titles like Space Panic, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario Bros. This style of game still thrives decades later, with games like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Donkey Kong Bananza underscoring the timeless appeal of the genre.
One of the best examples of the genre was released 21 years ago today. The third entry in one of the most acclaimed PlayStation franchises, this game didn't just benefit from honed controls and strong graphics. There's a level of ambition in the gameplay depth and a commitment to storytelling through gameplay that few other titles in the two decades since have struggled to match. This is a nearly flawless platformer and remains one of the highlights of the historically impressive and expansive PS2 library.
The third entry from Insomniac Games' Ratchet and Clank series, Up Your Arsenal, was a massive upgrade in several ways and remains one of the best platformers ever made. The title expanded the scope of the universe by including more worlds than the previous two titles, with distinct challenges and gameplay tweaks to adjust to the larger adventure. After two adventures where Ratchet and Clank were underestimated by the universe at large, their heroism leads them to be recruited in the fight against the villainous robot Doctor Nefarious.
This forces them to team up with a mix of familiar faces and new characters, fleshing out the universe further than before with distinct and cartoonish characters. At the center of the narrative is Captain Qwark, a minor villain in the first game and the secret big bad in the second. A goofy but surprisingly dangerous character, Qwark's redemption is a major aspect of the game's narrative and exploration of what makes a true hero.
The sheer scale of the game and the stakes of the mission lent the game the spirit of a genuine adventure, with side missions and collectibles littered across the massive maps that could help transform Ratchet from a regular platforming protagonist into a walking weapon of mass destruction. With over twenty weapons and plenty of possible upgrades, players had the perfect amount of customization and adventure to complement the distinct and well-written characters.
At the core of Up Your Arsenal is a robust platforming/action game that benefits from tight controls and great gameplay design. The game is the happy medium between the more overt platforming aspects of the previous two games and the too-combat-heavy sequel, Ratchet: Deadlocked. The blend of action and platforming is perfect in Up Your Arsenal, encouraging stage exploration and allowing for plenty of combat encounters to explode naturally. The various gadgets the player unlocks over the course of their adventure open up new paths on familiar planets, forcing the player to fully explore the cosmos and get a handle on it to save the day.
The massive stages were ideal settings for challenges that required precise jumps, while the gladiator arena levels gave players a great place to hone their skills. The weapon variety, which always leaned into the more cartoonish aspects of the franchise, is only more impressive here. The Rift Ripper, in particular, a mobile black hole gun that can also shoot bolts of energy, remains a personal favorite sidearm for this writer in all of gaming. Even beyond the combat and platforming, the amount of depth to Up Your Arsenal is amazing. Vid Comics used to restore Captain Qwark's memory early in the game take the form of 2D side-scrolling levels, playing like deliberate throwbacks to older generations of action-platformers like Mega Man that helped influence the series in the first place.
Some levels required players to take part in races, briefly turning it into a Mario Kart-style game with the turboslider and the hovership. Hacking required players to tackle a fun little mini-game to collect green code while avoiding red ones. The most memorable other modes in the game involve Clank, with players assuming the little robot's role for both puzzle-heavy levels and transformations into "Giant Clank," which plays like a riff on a Godzilla video game. All of these different modes reflected the depth of the gameplay design Insomniac brought to Up Your Arsenal, and underscore the sheer inventive nature of the title. That's all, without mentioning the game's multiplayer options, which expanded on the combat for massive firefights and capture the flag missions. It was, simply put, a massive game -- especially for its time.
What makes Up Your Arsenal feel special, even two decades later, is that this massive scope for the game never felt like the game trying to be too many things. The gameplay tweaks fit into the cartoonish "go for broke" version of a sci-fi epic at the heart of the narrative. It all felt like extensions of the core gameplay loops, a refinement of the platforming and action fusion that had made the first game stand out in a crowded field.
Bolstered by strong visuals that still look good today, thanks to their more timeless cartoonish look, Up Your Arsenal felt like stepping into an animated film in the best of ways. Critics at the time of release agreed, with the title earning a 91/100 score on Metacritic, and it is regularly considered one of the best PS2 games to ever be released. It's nearly flawless, with even critical complaints at the time largely focused on comparisons to the previous two titles.
Ratchet and Clank has continued to be a consistently great series, but Up Your Arsenal, especially in retrospect, feels like the franchise firing on all cylinders. The characters are all memorable, the gameplay is tight, and the world-building is top-notch. It's a game with as many bells and whistles as could be fit into the game, but with no sacrifice to the strong core gameplay that made the earlier two games so good.
It's the peak of the platforming genre, with a dizzying depth but easy-to-earn control setup that rewarded mastery but didn't punish newcomers. It pushed the PS2 to the limits technically, but never suffered from glitchy or repetitive gameplay thanks to its different gameplay modes and wide variety of weapons. Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal is one of my favorite video games of all time, and the last 21 years have only made me appreciate it more and more.