Ratchet and Clank 2: Going Commando

[Olvelsper]

R&C2 is an action-adventure game for the Playstation 2. Priced at about twenty bucks at current date, it is one of the 'Greatest Hits' line. This game isn't afraid to get its hands dirty as its developers, Insomniac, drew upon several different genres for it, much like its prequel, Ratchet and Clank.

Insomniac wanted to give the gamer a definitive and enjoyable experience, and by god if they saw that it'd make sense and be fun for a racing game to be on a this planet, or if this bit of space in between missions could use a dash of space shooter induced excitement, they were going to throw it in there. From galatic deathmatches shown throughout the galaxy via pay-per-view events, to grinding along a system of rails while being chased by angry killer furballs and trains; nothing ever seems out of place, as the game's tongue in cheek humor and overall lighthearted mood made it all click perfectly.

This is also seen throughout the game as it sends former hero Ratchet, and his little buddy Clank through another wild and crazy adventure to save a new galaxy from peril from a very...bizarre menace. The plot is liberally coated with several pop culture references, but they're tweaked in just a way that they don't come off as too overbearing. Likewise, these gags are more universal in nature, so they won't leave you scratching your head too badly if you ever want to pick it up in the future.

Controls are tight during exploration and combat, with a handy dandy quickswap menu you can customize with your favorite weapons and gadgets so you can swap on the fly in combat. Experience gain is in this game in the form of little meters below your (that is, Ratchet's) life bar, and a bar below each individual weapons' profile pic at the upperright corner. When you fill up both meters via enough kills, you gain another fourth of a life and/or an upgrade to your weapon.

With these level ups, come flashy cutscenes/effects whereupon you go Super Saiyan-like and blow up all the enemies/objects in the area when you increase your life. For weapons, they go through a transmogrification where the weapon flashes (in a different universe/dimension/weapon space) and is replaced with a flashier and bigger gun. It comes with a free  refill of ammo, so it gives you more chances to blow shit up.

And blow shit up you must, because the one complaint I have about the battle system is that the weapons level up so damn *slow*. While you aren't thinking of it while running around the levels, as there's almost always a goodly supply of foes to slay, they hardly give any experience at all, taking like fifty enemies for a smidge of experience to appear on the bar.

The life meter seems more balanced, though. At least from my experiences with it.

Now, for the soundtrack...well, my ears aren't very musically apt, but I'll say that the techno/electronic/rock type of tunes throughout the game are pleasant to hear. Nothing jarring at all, but most of the effect I tend to get are the sounds from the grunts and explosions of battle, which are crisp and clean.

And really, for a game with guns in it, that's all that really matters to me.

Exploration is handled with an off the shoulder third person camera view from behind Ratchet, and the areas themselves are wide and expansive, so you'll never have camera difficulties. Usually. Sometimes during battling in the arena, for example, the camera's staunchness to stay behind Ratchet lets enemies get the drop on me, but that's more my fault for not moving the right analog stick more to get the camera to smoothly spin around to show what's behind him.

This game has plenty of replayability in the form of a New Game+ mode, whereupon they fixed the Bolt Shortage Issue that Dracos was talking about in his review of Ratchet and Clank 1. In New Game + or Challenge Mode, as they call it, you can replay the game on a higher difficulty and as you fight with the Level 2 Upgraded Gear you earned on your first play through, the bolts you gain are given multipliers, up to twenty.

If you keep fighting well without getting hit, you can keep you bonus, but if you're hit once, it's back to the regular pace of gaining bolts. For all of ten seconds before you kill a few enemies to get a x5 multiplier. It's easy to keep a bonus of somekind as you go through, which is fortunate since you'll be spending lots more bolts on the Level 3 upgrades which you can now buy.

There's also lots of collectables, in the form of Moon crystals, Raritanium, and Platnium Bolts. Crystals are just another way of making a quick buck as you can sell them to a New Age Alien Hippy for 20-30kish per crystal, Raritanium is the currency you pay to upgrade your spaceship to have a fun time in the space shooter/racer portion of the game, and Platinum Bolts return from R&C1 so you can trade to upgrade your weapons even further by modding their ammo and giving them lock on mods.

No, unfortunately the spaceship doesn't gain anymore upgrades after you're done and want to try to buy more stuff in New Game+, despite the Weapons gaining another buyable upgrade. Sorry Drac, no Death Star for you.

Another way you can get the bang for your buck is via Skill Points. Throughout the game you can perform assorted tasks, ranging from casual destruction of public property to osterically making a planet sculpture go nova. With the completition of these tasks, you gain skill points that go to unlocking various sundry 'cheats' like Big Head Mode, and my personal favorite - Double Oh Ratchet.

About the only two other things that I think of in this game is that even with lock on, the projectile weapons tend to miss more often than I'm comfortable with. That, and it seems to have lost  the whole Buddy feel that I hear the first one has. This is more akin to a very *strange* spy flick. Even including an optional outfit for Ratchet that looks a lot like 007's typical fare.

But hell, the comedy alone makes this game gold.

[Dracos]

I've just begun this and Olg's right.  The whole buddy theme just is not there.  From the get go it feels like a bond genre game.

Still nifty though.  And it was nice getting most of my old guns back for free =D

Dracos

[Olvelsper]

Yeah, a neat little tweak, that. It reads the save from Ratchet and Clank 1, and when you hit the post apocolyptic planet, you get to get all your gear from the first game that's being sold there for free.