For several months, one of my coworkers has insisted that I need to play Ratchet and Clank. I put it on my game rental queue and forgot about it until recently. I was able to borrow it from a friend and finally began the famous platformer.

As a fan of the Spyro the Dragon games, I was hoping that Ratchet and Clank would deliver the same solid gameplay. Fortunately, I was right. The game was clever and fun, filled with characters that were quirky without being too annoying. Unlike Spyro, which seemed geared toward a younger audience, Ratchet and Clank was a little more gritty. Enemies exploded and you got to shoot with a gun. It felt more like a PG movie rather than a G movie.

I breezed through the first few levels. There was not quite enough story to compel me to play past two hours at first, but that two hours was a lot of fun. I didn’t seem to have too much trouble with the jumps (a common trouble spot for me) or locating necessary items. Ratchet can glide like Spyro, helping the game to feel familiar simply through its mechanics.

I had a lot of fun playing Ratchet and Clank today. Compared to games like Jak and Daxter, where the voices grew annoying and the game had some ridiculously hard required tasks, this game felt very well-balanced. Diligence in collecting the currency around levels would help you get the best weapons. It felt rewarding in all the right ways.