Offbeat stories and character were one of the things that made Ratchet & Clank so popular. The other was its addictive gameplay and arsenal of wacky weapons. The arsenal has been upgraded, rounding out at about 20. When compared to other games, this number may seem small, but when you factor in that 14 of the 20 will have four upgrades each, the number becomes much more impressive. Building on the system set in place in
Going Commando, weapons will still gain experience points through use, but the upgrades won't redefine the weapon as much. After leveling, weapons will now retain their same uses, but will increase in range, speed and power.
The weapons available in the playable demo help to illustrate just a fraction of the firepower that will be available in the final release. One of the weapons that quickly got my attention was the Plasma Whip, which is powerful enough that it would even make old Indy proud. Just describing the destructive power of this weapon isn't enough -- but trust me, you'll really, really like it. Another weapons that gained repeated use was the Infecto-Ray, which lets Ratchet infect enemies with a shot. Once infected, enemies will begin to attack other enemies around them. At low levels the weapon's power is rather weak, but as it gains experience and powers up both the range and length of infection will increase.
