Ratchet and Clank (RRP 119.95) from Sony is officially released in New Zealand today for the Playstation 2. The game is being hailed as one of the best 3D platform games released in a long time, and looks like a must buy for fans of Jak and Daxter and Crash Bandicoot. Be sure to check back for our full review early next week.

"Set in a futuristic world filled with spaceships, robots and high-tech gadgets, Ratchet and Clank moves from planet to planet across a vast solar system. Ratchet lives on an abandoned backwater planet and dreams of someday striking out on a magnificent space adventure. Closer to the center of the galaxy, Chairman Drek rules a polluted planet, Orxon, inhabited by an ugly race called the Blarg. He too has dreams, but his concern is conquest and domination. Tired of his polluted world, Chairman Drek comes up with the ultimate solution – to build a new planet using the best parts from many of the other worlds in the galaxy. If he can’t convince the inhabitants to part with a few thousand hectares of their worlds, the army of robots and Blarg warriors can eliminate any resistance."