It's only fair that a $10 game be held to a looser standard than its more expensive rivals, but Spare Parts occasionally pushes that generosity threshold to the edge.
Spare Parts
For: PlayStation 3 (via PlayStation Network) and Xbox 360 (via box Live Arcade)
From: EA Bright Light/Electronic Arts
Itunes rating: 10+ (animated blood, mild fantasy violence)
Mostly, Parts is a harmless case of Ratchet and Clank lite: You're a robot named Mar-T, and while your default abilities consist solely of running, jumping, punching and firing flimsy projectiles, a handful of found parts gradually allows you to walk on magnetic walls, hover like a rocket and hack electronics.
At its best - which, fortunately, is the rule and not the exception - Parts is a charming, visually vibrant game that uses these abilities to create some clever puzzles and platforming challenges.
Occasionally, though, Parts leans excessively on combat, which, due to sloppy combat controls that remain sloppy even when Mar-T upgrades its abilities, never really feel good.
That comes to a head during the first half of the final boss fight, which drags unnecessarily and, due to a nearly non-existent penalty for death, is not challenging so much as monotonous.
The second half of that fight, which funnels Mar-T's abilities into a dispiritingly rote trial-and-error exercise, falls even flatter.
The bad taste that lingers isn't the deal-killer it would be in a more expensive game, but if you consider your time more valuable than your money, it's still something to think about because you lock in your purchase.
