Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

"The wonderful sequel to an original, unique, and incredibly addictive game."

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando is the sequel to the critically acclaimed platinum hit, Ratchet and Clank, released by Insomniac Games, makers of the Spyro series, in November 2002 as a PlayStation 2 exclusive. Going Commando was also created by Insomniac and was released almost exactly a year after the original, in November 2003. Ratchet and Clank was a huge success in the gaming industry and with good reason. Insomniac was successfully able to combine the elements of a great action game with the elements of an addictive platformer to create a game that was really like no other. It had unique weapons and gadgets, beautifully detailed worlds, and a great storyline. This greatly surprised the gaming world, as they expected another generic platformer with lots of item collecting and bland gameplay. Going Commando follows the same basic formula of Ratchet and Clank, throwing in a few changes and welcome additions to end the original's position as the best action platformer ever released.

You still play as Ratchet, the Lombax (which is a creature that is basically a cross between a rabbit and a cat) mechanic who teamed up with a robot named Clank to down an evil ruler named Chairman Drek. Drek was planning to take the best parts of every planet in Ratchet's home galaxy and combine them all to create a wonderful super-planet, but Ratchet and Clank were able to stop him in time. They became instant celebrities after the defeating Drek, and apparently, they were so well-known, even people in other galaxies knew of them. This time around, the game takes place in the Bogon Galaxy. A mega-corporation called...well, MegaCorp, has had an experimental creature stolen from their laboratories. The MegaCorp president, Abercrombie Fizzwidget, hires Ratchet and Clank to track the thief who stole the creature and to bring the animal back to MegaCorp. As the game progresses, you find out that the creature has an incredibly dangerous side to it and the story becomes much more complex from there. Eventually, their quest to return the experiment back to MegaCorp turns into a mission to save the galaxy from destruction.

One of the main focuses of all Ratchet and Clank games is to discover and use all of the cool and very unique weapons that are available. Because you are in a brand new galaxy in Going Commando, you now have to get your weapons from a different weapons supplier. That supplier is the company that you are working for, MegaCorp. MegaCorp doesn't develop the same exact weapons as the weapons supplier from the first game, Gadgetron, so some of your favorite weapons from the original don't return in this game. However, the new ones will easily more than make up for the losses.

Rather than starting out with the Bomb Glove, you start out with a close relative of the Blaster from the original, the Lancer. You still have your trusty Omniwrench 8000, but it does seem to do less damage now. As I've mentioned earlier, there is a brand new selection of weapons in the game. There are 19 MegaCorp weapons and you will be happy to learn that some of them are essentially different versions of the weapons from the original. For instance, there's one weapon called the Plasma Coil, which fires out a ball of electricity. This is basically a different version of the original's Tesla Claw, which shot out bolts of electricity. Most of the new weapons are relatives of the old weapons, but there are some unique ones that weren't seen in the first game, such as the Bouncer, which shoots out a huge bomb that explodes and sends out numerous smaller bombs.

If you still miss your Gadgetron weapons, you'll be happy to learn that a few of the Gadgetron weapons will be available for purchase a little bit into the game. Best of all, if you have a save from the original with all of the weapons on the same memory card you use for this game, you will receive all of the old weapons free of charge. Think of it as Insomniac's way of rewarding you for being a dedicated fan of the series. You will be sad to hear that the Gadgetron weapons are pretty much worthless in this one, however. As MegaCorp vendors only sell MegaCorp products, there is only one vendor to buy Gadgetron ammo from - the vendor where you get the Gadgetron weapons from. Now, if that wasn't bad enough, even if you come fully stocked with ammo for your Gadgetron weapon, you'll run out of all of it in about three minutes AT MOST. For some strange reason, Insomniac made the Gadgetron weapons incredibly underpowered, especially when compared to the MegaCorp weapons. So, you get to re-use your Tesla Claw, but its ammo dies as soon as you start shooting it. I mean, I know you gave us a bargain by giving us the weapons for free but what's the point when you won't even use them 90% of time, especially in Challenge Mode.

A new feature introduced in Going Commando is the weapon upgrade. For those of you who have played the original: remember the gold weapons? Well, now you can upgrade nearly every MegaCorp weapon just by killing enemies with it. That's right, each weapon (excluding the R.Y.N.O. II and the Gadgetron weapons) has an upgrade bar and a small percentage of the bar is filled every time you kill someone with it. The MegaCorp weapons have three stages of upgrades: gold, mega, and ultra. Once the bar is filled completely, the weapon will upgrade to its gold form. Once you get a weapon to gold and you beat the game, you can replay it in Challenge Mode and you will be able to purchase the mega version of the weapon. Once you obtain the mega version of a weapon, you can upgrade it to its final stage, ultra. The gold upgrade changes your weapon into a newer and stronger one and the upgrades following that make your weapon stronger and add more ammo capacity. You can also upgrade your Gadgetron weapons directly to mega, but they will still be incredibly underpowered and not worthy of use.

The Ratchet and Clank series has been known for its use of imaginative gadgets and Going Commando continues that tradition. There is a collection of new gadgets but you will notice a few familiar faces. Each of the gadgets serve very different purposes. For example, one of the newer gadgets, the Tractor Beam, fires a beam that will attach itself to an object and allow you to move it anywhere you would like to. The Thermanator is a water-controlling device that allows you to freeze water or melt ice. The gadgets are important features of the game as they will be used to solve various puzzles and to progress through the game. As with the original, you will find most of these gadgets in the game, but there are a few that will require purchase.

As I said earlier in the review, Going Commando follows the same basic formula as Ratchet and Clank. The levels are still planet-based; you will use your spaceship to travel from planet to planet to complete various goals and objectives. Sometimes, you will be forced to return to a previously-visited planet after obtaining a certain item to complete a once-uncompletable goal, but Insomniac manages to keep the backtracking to a minimum.

Aside from the new weapon upgrade feature, Going Commando brings a lot more to the table. To allow you to alter the properties of your weapons, Insomniac has included a small collection of weapon modifications that can be purchased by paying platinum bolts to mod vendors. Bolts are the main currency of the Bogon galaxy (and the galaxy that the original one took place in), and platinum bolts are a rare form of the currency. Since they are so rare, they are very prized and because there is only a limited amount of them, they are only used to purchase weapon modifications. There are three types of modifications: lock-on, which adds a lock-on feature to your weapon; acid, which adds a lasting damage effect; and shock, which adds a tiny spark of electricity to your attacks for extra damage. Certain modifications can only be used for certain weapons, so if you collect all 30 platinum bolts, don't worry about not being able to try out all of the mods.

One thing Insomniac changed is the game's play time. The play time of Going Commando is like the original's play time increased by ten-fold. They really gave you a lot of bang for your buck. This time around, you aren't restricted to the main game. There's the ability to participate in hoverbike races. If you've played the original, you know what the hoverboard races are. Well, in place of those, there are hoverbikes. The hoverbike racing mini-game is a lot more in-depth than the hoverboard racing from the original, making it much more competitive and exciting. You can always try out the new arena mode, in which you fight a multitude of enemies for various prizes, ranging from being able to progress in the game, to new items, to a huge reward of bolts. There are two arenas and they have many different challenges, ranging from simply killing a few enemies to having to battle two bosses at once. The arena mode adds tons of extra to do for whenever you get tired of playing the main game. I've spent hours battling in the arena, trying out some of the harder challenges.

Just like its predecessor, Ratchet and Clank features some amazing visuals. The game's graphics are even more beautifully illustrated and animated than the original. Each planet has colors that fit its theme and setting. The soundtrack is just like the original - cheery music. It's appropriate and fits the game's mood however.

To give an incentive for replaying the game, Insomniac has added a Challenge Mode, accessible only after beating the game at least once. Challenge Mode allows you to replay the game with an increased difficulty. To help you deal with the tougher enemies, you get to purchase mega versions of the MegaCorp weapons, which has been explained earlier. Aside from increasing the difficulty of the game, Challenge Mode also increases the number of bolts you get by adding a bolt multiplier. There are different types of bolts, some that are only worth 1 and some that are worth much more than that, such as 10 or even 100. Killing enemies without getting hit increases the bolt multiplier by 1X. The higher the bolt multiplier is, the more you will receive the more valuable bolts whenever you kill an enemy. Note that getting hit will automatically reset your multiplier and the maximum amount on the bolt multiplier is 20X. Dying from falling, however, will have no effect on your bolt multiplier.

There is so much more depth in Going Commando than what is covered in the review, but I'll leave that for you to discover. I could go on and on for days describing the new features but I feel that this review gives you a good idea of what you expect for the most part. Going Commando manages to do what most other sequels fail at - not change too much from the original but add enough new stuff to make it a better game. This is the best platformer ever released and I guarantee that you will not be disappointed if you pick this up. If you consider yourself a gamer, you must have this game in your collection.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/30/06