Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (Ratchet & Clank 3 in Europe) is a platform game developed by Insomniac and published by sony. It was released in North America on November 2, 2004 and was met with critical acclaim, earning an average review score of over 90%. It is the first game in the series to utilise Sony's Network Adapter for online play.

Story
Channel surfing past Clank's new TV show, "Secret Agent Clank", Ratchet stumbles across a news report about his home planet, Veldin, being under attack by an army of aliens named Tyhrranoids. The lead suspect is a robot by the name of Dr. Nefarious. After racing to Veldin and being crowned as the new sergeant for the Galactic Rangers, they are contacted by the President on the whereabouts of the only man who has ever defeated Nefarious. It turns out it was Captain Qwark, who apparently lost his memory while working to save the Florana Jungle's fauna. He now believes himself to be a monkey. After Qwark and his companion Skrunch (a one-eyed monkey) are led to the ship, Sasha, captain of the Starship Phoenix, has been ordered to assist Ratchet and Clank.

Aboard the starship, they leave Captain Qwark in his new quarters. After leaving Qwark, they find Sasha listening to a transmission from the president on planet Marcadia, who turns out to be her father. After that, Nefarious intervenes the transmission and declares war on the "Squishies", or organic life forms. Ratchet and Clank then venture out to Marcadia's capital to assist the Galactic rangers and the president. After assisting the president, Ratchet and Clank return Qwark's memory by playing a video-comic (Vid-comic), and is sent to Annihilation Nation to claim the Tyhrraguise (a device which conceals the wearer as a Tyhrranoid) as prize. However, after claiming the Tyhrra-guise, Ratchet and Clank are informed that the president has laid the outcome of the war into Qwark's hands.

The "Q-Force" (Big Al, Helga, Skid McMarx, Ratchet, Clank, Qwark, and Sasha) is assigned a new mission (rather Ratchet's new mission) to infiltrate Nefarious' base on Planet Aquatos to acquire as much information on Nefarious' plans as possible. They find that Dr. Nefarious is Clank's biggest fan, along with an encrypted star-map to the Tyhrranoids' home planet and base, Tyhrranosis. Nefarious and his butler Lawrence are shocked to see that their base has been infiltrated, and later find out Qwark is behind it. After Al decrypts the starmap, and the group (mainly Ratchet and Clank) infiltrate the base on Tyhrranosis and destroy it, Dr. Nefarious sends the Q-Force a transmission, still shocked that they actually infiltrated his base. Al traces the transmission to planet Daxx, and before leaving, Ratchet acquires a new gadget from Helga, the Hypershot, a combination of the Swingshot and the Dynamo.

When he lands, Ratchet is led by Al to a computer terminal that contains data on Nefarious' new secret weapon called the Bio-Bliterator. Clank also finds that a transport ship had just left for the Obani Gemini moons the day before. Ratchet, Clank, and Skid make their way through the first two moons only to find the third is protected by a "Omega Class Disintegration Shield". Ratchet then gets an urgent call from the Galactic Rangers who need his help on Blackwater City against the Tyhrranoids. Ratchet leaves to help them, but Skid decides to stay and work on the force field. Ratchet and Clank arrive on planet Rilgar and help the Q-Force defend their base. The pair soon set out to find they need to find Courtney Gears, a pop-star singer they believe is working with Nefarious. Ratchet and Clank return to the set of Annihilation Nation to find Courtney Gears, begging to be in one of Clank's movies. When Clank asks for info on Nefarious, she knocks him out and brings him to Nefarious herself. He gives Clank a choice: join him or die with the "Squishies". Back at Clank's trailer, Ratchet is ambushed by the Tyhrranoids. Fighting his way back to the ship, he finds Clank, who is acting very strange. Ratchet asks him about Courtney, but all Clank says is that Nefarious' star cruiser is named the Leviathan.

The two land on Obani Draco, the third moon, where Skid was able to bring the shield down. As it turns out, it is Courtney's hideout. The two discover the Bio-Bliterator there, a machine that changes organic life forms into brainwashed robots bent on destroying the "Squishies". After that, they confront and defeat Courtney Gears. Upon finishing her off, they receive a transmission from Sasha, who tracked the Leviathan to the Zeldrin Starport. Leaving Skid, who has been transformed into a robot by the Bio-Bliterator, because he was a test subject. They head for the starport to meet up with Qwark.

The Q-Force reach the Leviathan and fight their way through hordes of enemies until they find Nefarious waiting. It turns out that it was a trap, as he activates the self-destruct system and warps out of there. All of the Q-Force returns to the Phoenix, except for Qwark, who stays behind, saying he thought he saw something. Ratchet and Clank fly off just as the Leviathan explodes, still debating whether to leave Qwark behind.

After a funeral for Qwark on the Phoenix, Ratchet flies to the city of Metropolis, which is under attack by Tyhrranoids. During the battle, Nefarious uses the Bio-Bliterator to turn hapless citizens and Tyhrranoid invaders alike into robots. Ratchet battles his way to a hovering train, where it is revealed that the real Clank has been the prisoner of Doctor Nefarious ever since an evil copy known as Klunk replaced Clank and met with Ratchet at Holostar Studios. After defeating Klunk, Ratchet and Clank are reunited, and they fly to the planet Zeldrin to investigate the wreckage of the Leviathan, hoping to find what Quark was looking for.

On Zeldrin, they discover an encrypted data disc (The Master Plan), and a recording that reveals that Qwark was alive when the cruiser went down. They resolve not to tell the crew that Qwark is alive until they find out why he didn't report to the Phoenix. After playing a video game that contains information as to the whereabouts of the Quark's hideout, they fly to the Thrann Asteroid Belt and battle past security robots and hostile Lawn Ninjas (invented by Megacorp) until they find Captain Qwark himself, who has abandoned his fight against Nefarious in favor of the comfort and safety of his hideout. Ratchet leaves in disgust, but Clank makes one last appeal to Qwark, stating that he had an opportunity to "become the hero you have always wanted to be".

When they return to their ship, they receive a garbled transmission from Sasha, who tells them that the Phoenix is under attack. Ratchet helps the Galactic Rangers regain control of the ship and free the captured Q-Force members. Al tells Ratchet that he has finally cracked the encryption on the data disc, which contains a complete copy of Nefarious' battle plans. Ratchet must fly to the planet Koros to destroy the Bio-Bliterator before it is unleashed on his beloved home, Veldin.

Ratchet and Clank reach Koros, and after battling hordes of Nefarious' troops, Clank uses the ion cannon there to destroy the Bio-Bliterator. However, Sasha soon reports that a second Bio-Bliterator is housed at a command center on planet Mylon, guarded by an entire army of robot Tyhrranoids. Ratchet and Clank fly to Mylon, fight through the command center, and reach the Bio-Bliterator, just in time for Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence to escape. Luckily, a dropship arrives for Ratchet and Clank to pursue Nefarious to his launch site.

At the launch site, Ratchet and Clank battle Dr. Nefarious once and for all. After a short while, he falls down and begs for mercy, fooling Ratchet into a false sense of victory before running away. Ratchet chases after Nefarious, and, with the help of the Galactic Rangers, defeats him. Nefarious and Lawrence then warp into the Bio-Bliterator, which transforms into a giant robot. Ratchet and Clank look utterly doomed- when Captain Qwark flies in to fight alongside them. Ratchet and Captain Qwark engage in aerial combat against Nefarious and the Bio-Bliterator, and destroy it. The Bio-Bliterator self-destructs, and Nefarious and Lawrence are warped away to an unknown location.

Cut to the premiere of the latest Secret Agent Clank episode, where Clank and Skrunch face off against Maximillian's forces on a snowy world. The premiere is a huge success, and Ratchet even gets a kiss from Sasha.

The last scene is of Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence, sitting on an isolated asteroid, out of range to teleport to escape for the next several thousand years. Lawrence suggests some music to help pass the time but Nefarious only screamed LAAAWWWWWWRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weaponry
Insomniac expanded on the extremely popular concept of the weapons' upgrading based on usage, with five possible upgrades initially and another three in the "Challenge Mode" for a total of eight versions of each weapon. Rather significant upgrades (such as enabling a "lock-on" mode) can be added in certain levels in addition to the standard increase in range, power and ammo capacity; upgrading to the final level (both "Level 5" in the standard campaign and "Level 8 Omega" in the Challenge Mode). Another improvement from the previous game, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, is that imported weapons (the ones that continue from the previous game, such as the Miniturret Glove) can also enjoy the many levels of upgrades that the new weapons can earn.

Gadgets
Many of Ratchet's devices were carried over from Ratchet & Clank to Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, but the alterations from Going Commando to Up Your Arsenal are much greater. The "Swingshot" idea has been combined with the "Dynamo", and the button-timing puzzles of the "Electrolyzer" or "Infiltrator"

Insomniac Museum
There's a hidden easter egg in the game called the Insomniac Museum. In there, you can kill monsters cut from the game, play Qwark Vid-comics that didn't make it, and more. The correct way to get there is to win the six floor trophies in the Phoenix's trophy room, but there is a way to get in the Insomniac Museum without getting trophies. It's not a glitch; there is a transport pad that goes straight to the museum somewhere in Metropolis, but it's only active from 3 A.M. to 4 A.M. To do this, you can either wait until that time or set the PlayStation 2 internal clock to that time and boot up the game.

Demo game
On RC:UYA, there is a demo of Sly 2: Band of Thieves. To play this, on the main menu, hold L1+L2+R1+R2, then a message will come up. Beat this demo and a cheat will come up. Do this during game play on the main game. Just pause and press what it says. You get a Wrench Replacement of your wrench, giving you the Dual Laser Saber. Enjoy!

Bosses

 * Captain Qwark (Planet Florana, Nabla Forest)
 * Robotic Space Eel (Qwark Vid-Comics, Pirate Booty)
 * Gary and Helen (Anihilation Nation, Station Q9)
 * Momma Thyrranoid (Planet Tyhrranosis, Korgon Base)
 * The Warship (Planet Daxx, Research Facility
 * Scorpio (Anihilation Nation, Station Q9)
 * Terror Of Talos (Holostar Studios, Lot 42)
 * Courtney Gears (Obani Draco, The Zygan System)
 * Dr. Nefarious (Qwark Vid-Comics, Deja Q All Over Again)
 * Giant Klunk (Planet Kerwan, Metropolis)
 * Dr. Nefarious (Planet Mylon, Launch Site)
 * Bio-Bliterator (Planet Mylon, Launch Site) (This is the last boss of the game)
 * Captain Blackstar (Qwark Vid-Comic #1 Special Edition) (This is was a boss that was cut from the game)
 * Cyber-Eye (Unnamed Qwark vid-comic) cut.

Online multiplayer
Up Your Arsenal featured online multiplayer modes, Deathmatch, capture the flag, and Siege (in which you storm your opponents' base and try to destroy the power core within) are all represented. Up to eight gamers can play at a time, and the game supports voice chat through a PS2 compatible headset.

You can also play the same games with a friend offline, using two controllers.

In addition, online rankings can be found on the Insomniac website, but you must register at the community page first.

Graphics
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal is one of the few Playstation 2 games to support both 480P graphics and 16:9 widescreen technologies.

Trivia

 * Up Your Arsenal was the official sponsor of the WWE pay-per-view event WWE Armageddon.
 * Up Your Arsenal was taken from the vulgar british phrase, "up your arse".
 * The "&" sign in the logo is flipped over to form a "3", indicating that it is the third title in the series.