Game: "Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters"

Console: PlayStation 2

Developer/publisher: High Impact Games

Genre: Action/adventure

Number of players: 1 or 2

Rated: Teen, for animated blood, fantasy violence

The premise: After four PlayStation 2 games (this one takes place before the PS3 game,) you'd think the boys would be able to take a vacation once in a while. Now Ratchet and Clank have to deal with a kidnapping, the irritation of Captain Quark and his quest to find his family, plus the mystery of the Technomites that Clank keeps talking about.

What's a Lombax to do, besides strap on his gravity boots, ready his blaster and wrench and get ready for another go-round?

Game play: If you have ever played any next-generation platform game, the controls will feel familiar. The game plays in third-person, with the ability to move to first-person. For some strange reason, this version (the original was for the PlayStation Portable) moves somewhat slower and slows down the action.

The good/bad: For everyone who complained about the awkward control scheme of the PSP, here's your chance to use the familiar PS2 controller.

The graphics look stretched and the frame-rate is choppy, giving this game the worst graphics of the series.

You do not need the PSP to play another "Ratchet & Clank" game.

The multiplayer has been reduced to a pitiful two-player head-to-head with only two modes to pick from. This is a great disappointment, considering the PSP had four players going head-to-head via wireless. The last PS2 game had online play, too.

Tips: To save money, do not buy ammo; instead, wait for Gadgetron ammo boxes.

If you want to have a more powerful arsenal, buy add-ons, such as auto lock-on, for your weapon.

Using the same weapon consistently will build up its level and make it stronger.

Destroy boxes and anything else littering the landscape for extra bolts.

My take: This is difficult for me because I have always thought the Insomniac versions of the Ratchet games were pretty good. But this game is not a very good transference of a PSP game to a home system.

Of course, "Size Matters" is a third-party game — but thanks to games such as "Daxter" and "God of War: Chains of Olympus," we see that third-party games can actually be pretty good.

If I were to choose, I would have to say that the PSP version of this game would be the one to get. This PS2 version is a waste of time, with a very low fun factor.

Jeffrey Davis, of Honolulu, is a video-game enthusiast.