Clank, Ratchet’s wee robot buddy or the unlockable backpack from Resistance: Fall Of Man, gets to star in his very own little robotic adventure in this addition to the ‘platform games on the PSP that you really wish had another thumbstick so you didn’t have to keep using the L and R buttons to move the camera’ genre.

It’s only a slight problem, but when a lot of the game relies on you moving Clank around the levels, sneaking up on guards and trying to stay out of their line of sight, it can become a little tiresome having to stop and adjust the camera every time you turn a corner. Getting spotted by guards and tripping laser sensors does, like Metal Gear, start alarms going off and every guard will rush to your position to kill you. It’s inconvenient and a little annoying when you stumble into a guard you couldn’t see because you had the camera the wrong way round, especially as you’re awarded bonuses for getting through rooms without being spotted.

Clank does have a load of gadgets to help him out though and they’re all cutely spy based – his bow tie, when thrown, turns into a razor-sharp boomerang, his pen fires out gloopy dark matter for covering up the laser sensors, and eventually you get more spy gadgetry like the cuff-link bombs and, bizarrely, a flower that eats people. While stealthing his way around Clank can sneak up behind guards and perform a noisy-looking stealth kill by tapping out a button sequence. There are quite a few of these mini-games throughout the game and some puzzles involve Clank ordering about even smaller robots, the Gadgebots. You also get to play as Ratchet himself while he is still in prison and you get to jump into Captain Quark’s space boots as he records his autobiography, which is perhaps one of the best sections.

The reason all this is going on is because, in a totally out of character move, Ratchet is seen stealing a precious gem from a museum. Ratchet is promptly arrested and sent to prison, so it’s up to Clank to sort the whole mess out by confronting the mastermind behind the crime. It’s pretty easy to guess who it is if you’ve played Size Matters and, as usual, the writing is above average for a platform game.

Godammit! There’s not much to hate in Secret Agent Clank, which means we actually like it. Us liking a platform game?! The world has gone mad.

Tim Empey