Secret Agent Clank

Secret Agent Clank for PlayStation Portable is a 2008 action-platform game developed by High Impact Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is a Ratchet & Clank spin-off built around Clank, the small robot partner who usually supports Ratchet, and turns an earlier secret-agent joke from Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal into a full adventure. The PSP game sends Clank into a galaxy-spanning investigation after the priceless Eye of Infinity disappears from the Boltaire Museum and Ratchet is found at the scene. With his friend jailed for a crime he insists he did not commit, Clank adopts a tuxedoed undercover identity and follows the trail of the stolen gem.

The main campaign combines third-person platforming, combat, and spy-themed set pieces. Clank runs, jumps, attacks, explores hazards, and faces enemies across locations ranging from museum interiors and rooftops to casinos, laboratories, snowy terrain, and spacefaring facilities. Rather than relying solely on the brief puzzle sequences traditionally associated with Clank, Secret Agent Clank gives him a broader action role and a dedicated set of equipment. His tools include the returning-style Tie-a-Rang, explosive cuff links, the Tanglevine Carnation, a Blowtorch Briefcase, a Thunderstorm Umbrella, and Holo-Knuckles. These gadgets support both direct confrontations and the deliberately playful secret-agent theme.

Progression follows the investigation from one lead to the next as Clank searches for the people moving the Eye of Infinity through the galaxy. He encounters suspects and criminals including Number Woo, Countess Ivana Lottabolts, the Kingpin, and ultimately Klunk, his villainous double. The story uses a series of changing environments and escapes to keep its mission moving: Clank can take part in stealth-oriented button prompts, ride vehicles such as a snowboard or speedboat, and call on the Gadgebots when a problem requires their assistance. Giant Clank also returns, allowing the normally compact hero to become a huge combat machine for selected encounters.

Ratchet and Captain Qwark are playable as well, giving the game several distinct perspectives on the same crisis. Ratchet's prison chapters put the series' usual heavily armed hero in a setting filled with inmates he previously helped put away. These sections emphasize arena-like combat and connect back to Clank's progress, including moments where weapons are sent into the prison disguised inside cakes. Qwark's scenes are presented as passages from his self-authored autobiography, so they turn his famously unreliable bragging into exaggerated action episodes. The Gadgebots also receive puzzle-focused moments in which the player switches between them to navigate obstacles and free Clank from traps.

Secret Agent Clank adapts the Ratchet & Clank formula to Sony's portable hardware while making its lead character the center of the action. Clank can improve his Clank-Fu techniques and equipment, and the campaign mixes familiar shooting and platforming with rhythm-like infiltration challenges, vehicle sequences, boss fights, and character-specific interludes. The result is structured less as a single-style platformer than as an adventure that regularly changes pace. Its James Bond-inspired presentation is reflected in the formal outfit, gadget names, international-style villainy, and the contrast between Clank's calm professionalism and the series' comic characters.

Released in North America on June 17, 2008, the PSP edition was the original version of Secret Agent Clank. A PlayStation 2 adaptation followed in 2009, developed by Sanzaru Games, but the game began as a handheld Ratchet & Clank story from High Impact Games, the studio also responsible for Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. For players exploring the series beyond Ratchet's main adventures, Secret Agent Clank offers a look at the partnership from Clank's point of view, while still making room for Ratchet, Qwark, the Gadgebots, and the recurring science-fiction comedy of the wider universe.