With its enjoyable combination of guns and gadgets, goofy humor, challenging action and best-of-class graphics, Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank series has made quite the name for itself on the PlayStation 2. However, with the announcement of a third game, I had to wonder if Insomniac could change things up enough to make a third outing worthwhile. Just what was left to be done in this now-familiar universe and gameplay style?

Perhaps Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac Games and progenitor of the current "going commando" craze, anticipated such sentiments, because he started the recent press unveiling of the new Ratchet game thusly: "Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, I can say, is the most ambitious game we have ever attempted. Today we're going to show you why."Show us they did. And when the day was done, any notions that the third Ratchet would be a me-too rehash had been summarily dispatched.

The reason can be conveyed through two simple words: "online multiplayer." Yep, Ratchet is going where no platforming "mascot" has gone before: online.

Not Your Average Platformer

Oh, it has split-screen, too.
Insomniac's not joking around here. Brian Hastings, the game's co-producer, explained his goals for the online play: "... I don't mean that we've whipped some minigame together so that we could put online on the back of the box. That's not it. We intend, and we are going to, compete with the top multiplayer and online games in November." He went on. "I really believe what we've done here, what we've done with multiplayer and online, is going to change the platforming genre more than any other advancement since Mario 64." Ouch. Blinx just got dissed.

Luckily, Insomniac had eight PS2s networked together at the press event, so I got to jump right in and sample the online action for myself.

While the final game will have a variety of online modes to choose from, journalists only got to play a team-based game that was a variation of Capture the Flag. Each team had a base, defended by four deadly, AI-controlled turrets. The goal was to run across the map to the opposing base and take out its cannons. Once accomplished, you could step onto a pad to enter into the base's inner sanctum, at which point your team would win.

Obstacle based "gauntlets" will test your mettle.
That was easier said than done, of course. Turrets could be restored and healed, and it was quite the dangerous jog to get to the opposing team's side of the map. Vehicles added another foible. A high-altitude bomber, which could carry two players, was able to rain death from above. Alas, I was only ever on the receiving end, never finding one of my own. A ground-based buggy vehicle provided quicker conveyance between points, but seemed a sitting duck for the weaponry of ground-based players. (And it couldn't run them over, either. Believe me, I tried.)

Clearly, the online game was still in an early state. That said, it's remarkable that it's come this far in the four or so months that the game's been in development. Like Jak III, Up Your Arsenal has a development cycle of only one year, and the game is already coming together wonderfully.