Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Secret Agent Clank is the first game that stars the robotic hero in a lead role and completely separate from his headline making, tag-team buddy Ratchet. The spin-off follows the exploits of Clank's alter ego, Secret Agent Clank, who solves intergalactic mysteries much in the same manner as everyone's favorite British spy. In fact, much of the inspiration of the game is taken from classic James Bond movies with campy villains and tongue-in-cheek lines that border on absurdity, in a good way. While Clank is on the box, Ratchet and the always hilarious Captain Qwark are playable characters that intertwine throughout the overall story arc and serve to change up the gameplay style.

What's Hot
The Ratchet and Clank universe is rich and expansive. The exploration of the Secret Agent Clank character is a great side-story to the standard adventures that many gamers are familiar with. The super intelligent and often aloof Clank is a great character to highlight with all his quirks and idiosyncrasies. Because the story was specifically crafted for the Clank character, the personality traits are even more pronounced. Clank takes the best from the spy genre, even including a phone booth that takes you to a weapons dealer. While the script isn't Oscar worthy -- it doesn't pretend to be -- the humorous tone throughout the game is genuinely funny. Voice talent is top notch and the same actors are used as in the console versions.



Continuing to take full advantage of the spy theme, Cufflink bombs, flamethrowers and electric umbrellas are at Clank's disposal to make Q jealous. Ratchet has his own set of weapons so there is more than enough variety in the weapon selection so you don't feel limited because of the PSP platform. The inclusion of a PDA that calls the ammo store was such a great item that it is just as potent as actual weapons. Many of the weapons also serve as gadgets by having a contextual purpose, like using the Tie-a-rang to cut wires.

Most of the levels feature lots of robots but the backdrops of the different planets give life to the game. There are some levels that are simply eye popping. Clank, being a man of disguise, always looks good both in terms of technical power and art direction. Some enemies will remind you of past foes from other games but there is enough diversity to keep the bad guys interesting. Really pretty visuals, overall.



What's Not
While deserving credit for trying something new, the rhythm based events that script an event are broken. It's a hybrid of a quick time event and rhythm game like Amplitude. The first time you encounter this event, it is an unusual change of pace but it is used far too much. There isn't a really convincing case for the side scrolling bar because the music isn't strong enough at those parts to help the rhythmically challenged. There is another issue and that is the lock picking mini-game. It is set up like a simplified version of Tetris where all you have to do is match two colors to make them disappear. There are a few columns that need to be cleared to open the door. It slows down the fact action of the standard gameplay and the mini-game isn't fun to have it appear as frequently as it does.

Speaking of gameplay, there are some hitches in the gameplay that keep Clank from having seamless action. The targeting mechanism works well at a distance but when the action gets too close, it is hard to aim and run away at the same time, making for some clunky fights with Clank.



There is a point where you'll wonder why the game is named Secret Agent Clank. It features the other cast of characters frequently and when the story gets good for Clank, you switch to another character. The stories do intertwine, so it makes sense, but more emphasis on Clank would have been nice.

Final Word
The best part of Clank is how enjoyable the game is to play. The story is lighthearted, characters are memorable and the action is constant. High Impact Games deserves some credit for their braveness at trying to include new elements which might have worked if they weren't milked to the last drop.