Your favorite snarky bucket of bolts - no not C3PO, the other one – Clank is back in a new pocketable adventure from the folks at High Impact - the same studio who did a bang-up job of bringing the Ratchet & Clank franchise to the PSP with last year’s release of Size Matters.  This time Clank is on his own as his trusty, and sometimes petulant, sidekick Ratchet has been caught on video-tape stealing the rather valuable Eye of Infinity diamond from the local museum.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to don the persona of Secret Agent Clank, enter the dangerous world of fast-paced cars, high-tech gadgetry, far-flung locales and unleash a can of Clank-Fu-whoopass as you attempt to get to the bottom of Ratchet’s misdeeds.

The Lombax Who Loved Me

Secret Agent Clank is set between Size Matters and Tools of Destruction within the Ratchet & Clank cannon.  The goal for the games producers was to improve upon some of the elements delivered in Size Matters – such as the vehicle gameplay - probably its weakest point – while delivering a fresh experience for Clank fans with a combination of fast-action, high-speed vehicle chases, spy gadgetry that would make Q proud, and a rogue’s gallery of ‘neer do wells’ who will attempt to stop our metallic hero at all costs.   

Anyone who played Size Matters will find Secret Agent Clank easy to pick-up and play.  The game eases you into the core concepts of movement, combat and stealth in the early levels as Clank investigates the scene of the crime.  Avoiding detection by the museums automated sentries, for example, not only allows Clank to avoid ‘the dogs of war’ but will reward him with special gadgets and items for completing sections of the game without raising the alarm. While gameplay centers on Clank, as the title implies, fans of the series are in for a treat as Captain Qwark makes an appearance as a fully-playable character.

License to Thrill

Every spy has to be ready for a little CQC action and little robot Clank is no exception.  An expert in his eponymously labeled ‘Clank-Fu’ our robot friend will unveil various attacks in his fast-action move set throughout this adventure.  Our first glimpse of Clank-Fu in action is in the stealth take-downs of the museum guards in the early levels.  Stealth take-downs require the player to sneak up behind an unsuspecting victim, hit square, and then tap randomly selected four-button combos within a set time-limit in order to successfully execute.  If done right you’ll be rewarded with one of Secret Agent Clank’s judo-licious Clank-Fu animations.

Though Clanks hands are registered as dangerous weapons, he has more up his sleeve than a few well-timed judo chops.  Clank will be outfitted with proper tools of the spy-trade ranging from more common objects like the Bond-influenced Tie-a-Rang - which works like a cross between the Bat-a-Rang and the now infamous bladed top-hat employed by the classic Bond villain, Oddjob – to the more arcane Tanglevine Carnation – a vicious flower indigenous to Sunitrope7.  You’re no daisy! 

The Gadgebots are back, or forward depending upon how you look at it, as well to assist Clank in his missions though, if we told you more about it we’d have to…well, you know.

Infinity is Forever

Secret Agent Clank will attempt to re-live the high-speed vehicle chase sequences so much a part of the spy genre by introducing an improved version of the Size Matters control system.  Some of the vehicles hinted at herein are snowboards, hovercrafts and your standard four-on-the-floor sports cars.    Secret Agent Clank provides a solid breadth of gameplay experiences and the team at High Impact’s efforts to blend the Ratchet & Clank milieu with that of Bondian-style espionage seems to come across well; harnessing many of the elements that make the two so fun and exciting. No matter how this adventure ends you can rest assured that our Secret Agent Clank, the ‘man’ fluent in 1.6 million languages, covert codes and secret handshakes, will surely live to die another day.   

Secret Agent Clank ships on PSP June 17th in the US with release in Europe, Asia and Japan to follow as localization is completed.