Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

"Great, but Just More of the Same."

(( Closed Captioning for the hearing impaired ))

The formidably anticipated sequel to the PS2's beloved classic, Ratchet and Clank-- Going Commando seemed to promise instant success. But if your looking for a deeper combat system, you're barking up the wrong tree. This game is likely the best platform game to date, but even with an addition of more and more weapons, gadgets, enemies and a long awaited strafe, Going Commando is really nothing but more of the same. Not that we're complaining!

GAMEPLAY $$ 8/10 $$

If it aint broke, don't fix it-- and thank goodness, they left well enough alone on the good points from Ratchet and Clank the first, and made some improvements on the bad.

<< Controls 8/10 >>

Learning Curve-- approximately 1/2 to 1 hour. If you've played the first, I'd give it 15 minutes. Insomnia really knows its way around the PS2 controller. Fans of the first Ratchet and Clank will recognize the basic control scheme. I was relieved to see that the easily accessible quick select function was still, er, functional. You can easily assign whatever weapons or gizmos you want to
the quick menu, and bring it up with a tap of the triangle button. Moreover, this function has been improved in as much as the action actually freezes. In the first game, you often found yourself running for your life, and being robbed of dear life, while you fumbled through your menu. Luckily this time, the action freezes. A much needed improvement.

Moreover, the regular menu is easily brought up as well. And, it is broken up into subcategories, such as items, weapons and gadgets, so you can easily maneuver from one heading to the next. This is great, and not a real improvement from the first go around, but completely functional.

Another great improvement was the addition of the strafe. Hold down the R2 or L2 button and Ratchet can strafe to and fro-- making his combat skills much more deadly. At times the game even seems like a well made first-person-shooter. This skill was only available with the rocket-pack in the first game, but now it is available with the touch of a button.

The strafe improves an already fun melee engine where you have both a wrench to use like a sword, or a galaxy sized assortment of various doom-bringing weapons. The thing that sets Going Commando apart from other PS2 platform games like Jak and Daxter has got to be the assortment of weapons, and here they are in a plethora- and easily accessed at your touch.

<< Action 7/10 >>

Nonstop action! Blast, smash, blow your way through tons of enemies. The only downfall is that most of the enemies are far to easy, and the ones that are hard- are way to hard. The hard guys are hard only because of sheer numbers. Plus there is a cheapness factor of about 10 on some of the levels. It seemed like guys just appeared out of nowhere sometimes to shoot you in the back.
But, mostly the game is pretty straight forward. I dug all the explosions and background interaction. You can blow up just about everything and anything. Ratchet and Clank become all powerful beings, and with the ability to weapon-upgrade- they are second to none in their universe.

<< Camera 8/10 >>

Great, easily moved camera. You use the left analog stick to control Ratchet, and the right to maneuver the camera. If even that doesn't work out for you, it's easy to break into first person mode.

GRAPHICS $$ 7/10 $$

<< Textures 6/10 >>

The textures were not near as deep as I usually like them to be. The graphics were a tad more crisp then the predecessor, but still much to cartoony for my taste. They are anything but bad though- don't get me wrong. I really like the backgrounds for all the worlds, but there was no jaw-dropping scenery for me just to stare at. And for as open as the worlds may have seemed, there was still a "shoebox" feel to some of the space. Still some good sci-fi environments, but nothing to write home to earth about.

<< Colors 8/10 >>

Bright when they needed to be, dark and brooding at other times, but soft around the edges- like a rainbow. Even the dark sterile military industrial complex type environments seemed like a good place for Rainbow Bright to make her mark. It was hard to buy at times, but for the cartoony
look they were going for, I don't see any reason to spit hairs.

SOUND $$ 7/10 $$

<< Voice-Acting 8/10 >>

Superb. I enjoyed every minute of the acting, the voices really added depth to the characters. You could tell there was some real talent behind the characters- and talent that seemed to enjoy what they were doing.

<< Music 6/10 >>

I can't hardly even bring one song to mind that I particularly enjoyed. Frankly, the music sounded like it was directly transferred from the first game. If they were fixing to pull that move, I would have expected some of the better songs from the first to be carried over. Unfortunily, the music is a victim of this game's biggest problem, that it's more of the same.

<< Effects 8/10 >>

Great effects here. Lots of BOOMS! POWS! and ZINGS! And- there is a really tech-electronic sound to most of the weapons that lends itself to the sci-fi atmosphere.

STORY $$ 4/10 $$

Poor story. Ratchet and Clank are summoned to another galaxy by the Megacorp President to take care of business. There are a few twists and turns, but nothing that keeps you guessing- or on edge. I was severely disappointed in this lack of effort in their writing department. If all they were looking for was a backdrop to continue the series, they found that, but with no guts, no feeling and certainly no originality. Though, at times it was funny. But lo! The comedy was so forced I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

TIME $$ 9/10 $$

At the very least, 30 hours. But with the various skill points and other optional merchandise you can collect, you could spend up to a 100 or more hours logged on. No joke folks! You'll get bored before you complete everything.

REPLAYABILITY $$ 8/10 $$

Supreme replay value on this one. There is a challenge mode- which is much harder- that unlocks after you trash the baddies the first time through. Not only that, but there are more weapons upgrades to achieve and skill points to tackle. You could play for hours on end, days at a time, weeks, months, YEARS! and you would still be chugging along. That is... if you could stand it.

BUY OR RENT?

Buy. Most definitely buy. Especially if you're a fan of the series, or platform games in general. If you want something you can visit, or revisit time and time again, this is your game. Plus, there is no way you could beat it on a three-day rental. Not unless you are willing to play 15 hours or more a day. You simply would want to own this one. You can pick it up for cheap used.

FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS

I had a fabulous time with Going Commando. I'd suggest it to anyone asking if it was a good play or not. Unfortunately, it was nothing more than the same old Ratchet and Clank that we knew from the first game-- this is by no means a bad thing, but I guess I was just expecting something different.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/19/04