Besides the camera the controls are fairly good. As long as you remember which button does what you’ll be problem free for the duration. And even if you do momentarily forget which button does what it’s easy enough to recover and get back in the action.

The gameplay is not totally the same, but close. It’s smash and grab, search and rescue and generally becomes repetitive after only a few hours. The gameplay hasn’t changed all that much from the very first iteration of the franchise and this gives some comfort while boring others. I’ve always been a Ratchet & clank fan personally but even I find myself wondering at times why I need to run through some bushes to get bolts or smash crates to get bolts or complete silly simple missions to get bolts. I mean really, life is not just the bolts! There are other things to collect like golden bolts, which give you more bolts and allow you to unlock skins, Zoni which will upgrade your ship, schematics to create a mega-weapon and nanotech to upgrade your gear in various ways.

There is an interesting use of time recording where you can have multiple Clanks running about opening switches and doors. That’s something new but you get to use it so infrequently in the game that it just doesn’t make enough of a difference.

But what it all adds up to is relatively repetitive, yet entertaining, gameplay. It is broken up with some space flight missions, boss battles and side missions, but it’s mostly just platform movement and collection of overly abundant stuff. So what’s new in this title from the others? Well it’s got a new story, or rather, a continuing storyline. Ultimately I suspect that they’re going to run out of steam and no matter whatkind of story they have, the game will simply stop appealing to gamers. Yes it’s very well done, yes it’s Ratchet & Clank but in a world littered with hundreds of platform titles sometimes they all seem to blur together. This one stands out because of the story and some of the graphics and features (like the weapons which have always been unique) but in the end, it’s the exact same game and gameplay.