Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

"Sequel to one of the best platformers"

Ratchet & Clank Going Commando is the sequel to one of the best platformers Ratchet & Clank which was released back in November 2002; then followed by Going Commando a year later. Just like the first game it is fun to play and still is enjoyable as the first along with that humor that we've seen from its predecessor, even though that there was a couple changes made for the sequel. One of those changes made for the sequel is being able to level up so you will be able to take more damage as well as leveling your weapons by constantly using them so they can do more damage to enemy or boss. I know that when I first heard about this game I was hearing something about that people thought that this was the first game over again, but I wonder if those people realized that if it was a the first game over again then it probably wouldn't be called Ratchet & Clank Going Commando. I do have to say that this game is just as good as the first Ratchet & Clank but in a way a bit better then the first with being able to get the nanotech up to where you can take more damage and the same with the weapons but only to where they're stronger.

STORY: 9.3/10
The story of Ratchet & Clank Going Commando picks up right where Ratchet & Clank left off at. The game will start off with Ratchet & Clank appearing on a TV show called Behind the Hero and Ratchet feels that nobody needs a hero but the President of MegaCorp Abercrombie Fitzwidget calls for Ratchet to retrieve the experiment. You'll have to start off going from planet to planet to get information on where to go to find this experiment that Fitzwidget had sent you to find and get it back to him, but along the way you'll be running into others that may be trying to stop you in any way possible. You'll may run into a few faces that you may have met from the first Ratchet & Clank but I don't want to ruin that for those who have played the first game and yet to play this game. I rather let the person find out themseleves rather then me giving them away in this simple review.

GAMEPLAY: 9.4/10
Just like with the first game the gameplay of Going Commando is still good but I heard that there may be a couple glitches and whatnot. The only problem I had with the gameplay was when I was playing through a couple sections the game froze but it might've been a glitch in the game or the system itself; other than that the gameplay of Going Commando will not let you down in almost any way possible. Even in the other areas of the game such as where you have to pilot the ship to driving a hoverbike in the hoverbike races is another area in which the gameplay will play out real good as you go through those as well.

GRAPHICS: 9.6/10
The graphics seem that they haven't changed much from the first game, for example the level of detail seems to be the same as the first and maybe a slightly more detailed then that of the first game. Then comes the character modeling which seems to be just as good as the first with Ratchet and Clank along with others that you may run into throughout the game, and I do say that Insomniac made sure that the character modeling was just as good as the first game that they gave us back in 2002. Each enemy is detailed nicely, even though that some of them may look ugly in appearance but that doesn't mean that there wasn't time spent on making them look the way that they do in the game.

SOUND: 9.4/10
The sound of Ratchet & Clank Going Commando is even better than Ratchet & Clank since there are new enemies along with new weapons that you find in this game as you progress throughout the game. Each weapon that you use in this game sounds so realistic and the voice acting for the game is just as good as the first but it seems that it was a bit better then that of the voice acting done for the first game. It seems that the sound effects used for this game for example with weapons that have a bit explosiveness to them sound like something that you hear in real life or almost to what you may hear in real life. The sound overall, I have to say seems that it has been improved since Insomniac done the first Ratchet & Clank.

DIFFICULTY: 9.5/10
This is one part of the game that has improved since the first game that's one thing for sure. One way that it may make this game more challenging to the player is what I said earlier in this review with the addition of the RPG element of being able to level up [nanotech-wise] to be able to take more damage but not only that, the weapons can be also be upgraded to a higher level of it. At first the weapon may not be that strong but after using it for a while you'll be able to get a stronger version of that weapon, and another thing that they have is a armor for Ratchet in which is given to you by Megacorp at the beginning of the game. With that armor you can go about not taking do much damage but as you progress you can purchase upgrades for this armor to where you won't consume so much damage as proposed to before the upgrade of the armor.

CONTROLS: 9.4/10
The controls are basically like that of the first game such as being able to change the camera angle to the view that best suits the way that you like to play games such as Ratchet & Clank Going Commando. With basically the same type of controls as the first game but with a few changes in which makes this game challenging for anyone who may be a fan of this series or may be new to this series so this is definitely one thing that this game is good for is good controls each time that you play this game. So whether or not you wonder if this game has controls that are easy to use then this is one of those games that don’t require much to be able to use the controls while some games take some time to get used to the controls, but that's not the case with this game.

REPLAY VALUE: 9.6/10
The replay value of Ratchet & Clank Going Commando is just like the first game with a high replay value since everybody can't find everything their first time through just like with the first game where some can't find everything the first time through. With not knowing where some things are and you don't find them before you beat the game but you can always play through again to see if you can find what you couldn't find or maybe go about getting anything else that you weren't able to find/get on the first time through. There will be some people that will be spending a lot of time on this game either trying to find everything or just trying to get everything 100%, so this game does offer a great replay value just like most platformers do.

OVERALL: 9.6/10
Ratchet & Clank Going Commando is just as fun and enjoyable like the first Ratchet & Clank game with much that you can do. Also you can have fun blowing most of the things that you can go about doing that do such as enemies, bosses, along with some environmental areas in which you can destroy throughout the game. I never thought that the Ratchet & Clank series would be so fun and enjoyable just like they were back in the days when I started playing games with Super Mario Bros., but I just wish that there were games like Ratchet & Clank or be just as fun as any other game that is released. Maybe someday there will be more games just as fun and enjoyable as this series is and if Insomniac continues with the Ratchet & Clank series then they should keep the series just like it is with the humor. I don't see this series ever going serious like some people say, and I want to see this game to stay the way it is; and never change the way it is.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/11/04