Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Replay Value: 9/10

Ratchet and Clank was a game that surprised many. It was a new game that did not build up much hype. But through solid gameplay, insane weapons (I mean, who hasn’t wanted to turn their enemies into chickens?), light-hearted humor and overall great fun, the game was a great success and became a Greatest Hit.

About a year later, Insomniac Games surprised everyone by releasing a sequel to the game rather quickly. But don’t let the short amount of time fool you… this game was everything that the original R&C was, plus much, much more.

Ratchet and Clank have not been too busy after saving the galaxy for the first time. But, a distraught CEO named Abercrombie Fizwidget needed his experiment returned from a thief. The game’s story is told through cutscenes and is generally light. Luckily, there are not too many cutscenes, allowing you full control of destroying everything in sight.

And destroy everything in sight is exactly what you do. Why? Because it is fun. And not only is it fun, but it also helps make your character stronger. The more enemies you kill, the more “experience” you get. The “experience” will give Ratchet more health.

My main complaint about the original Ratchet and Clank was how one could play through the game using almost exclusively the wrench. In Going Commando, this is not the case. Not only are you all-but-forced to use different weapons, there are more rewards for them. If you use one weapon a lot, the weapon will gain experience, and eventually “upgrade” into a better version. The better version of the weapon has greater range, more power and a larger amount of ammo.

A nice touch is how the game rewards you for playing the first game. If you did, and if you purchased some of the weapons (such as the tesla claw and the visibomb gun) then you will receive these weapons for free. You still have to pay to get the R.Y.N.O. II, however. Another word of praise… the R.Y.N.O. II is worth the high cost this time. It truly is the ultimate weapon.

There are a lot of fun weapons in this version. There are your more traditional guns (such as an automatic rifle, a sniper rifle, rocket launchers, and a shotgun-esque gun) and there are also the fanciful weapons. The fanciful weapons are the most fun in my opinion. There is a gun called the Bouncer. This gun shoots out a large ball. This ball hits an enemy and explodes, releasing about twenty-five other little balls, each exploding on impact. There is also the sheepinator. This is a gun that turns enemies into sheep. Af! ter used a lot, the gun turns into a black sheepinator. This gun turns enemies into sheep that will run around for a bit then explode. That’s priceless. There is also the spiderbot glove. This is a weapon that releases a little spider. This spider is remote controlled and can be ran around for about 30 seconds. You are able to hide behind a wall, release the spider and blow up enemies before they can even see you. They are also useful for acquiring some of the Platinum Bolts (I’ll let you figure out how, though.)

Not only do the weapons upgrade automatically, but you can also take control and add on more modifications by spending “Platinum Bolts” (the hidden bolts). These add-ons include an acid mod that depletes an enemy’s health over time, a lock on mod so you don’t waste ammo, and an electric mod. The electric mod is more fun, because if you shoot an enemy in a pack, the electricity will hit the other enemies in that pack.

The customization does not stop there. You can customize your rocket ship. This is important for those Star Fox-esque space missions. You can add on torpedoes, nukes, more armor, or even change the look of the ship.

There are also racing missions, reminding me of the Wipeout series. These are hovercraft races with the ability to shoot the enemies.

The levels are well done in this game. Unlike the previous version, backtracking is unnecessary. It is easy to obtain a lot of bolts (the currency in the R&C universe) without having to backtrack. You can backtrack if you want to get a few of the extras in the game, but the game can be completed without having to do so.

The game is full of little extras for people who care enough to try. There are the large, open areas that house crystals. You must collect a certain amount of crystals in order to progress in the game, but you have the option of returning to the desert and collecting all of them to gain a rather large sum of bolts. There are also the platinum bolts and skill points. These are other little extras. The skill points allow for some little “cheats” (such as big head mode) and add a bit more fun to the game.

The game is harder than the original. It does require more thought and more firepower. The AI is more intelligent, working together and occasionally hiding behind objects.

Ratchet and Clank both control better in this game. I do not even know how many times I had died using Clank because he fell off a narrow space walk in the first game. Luckily this has been addressed and fixed. Both Ratchet and Clank’s controls are much tighter.

And, yes, Giant Clank is back for a few levels. And he is still much fun.

The game is beautiful. There are many vibrant colors and beautiful landscapes in this game. Some of the better effects come from the weapons, creating excellent animations and colors of exploding bits.

Ratchet and Clank are full of polygons and sport the same amount of personality and enthusiasm on their faces. The cutscenes in the game display the looks in their faces. This really adds a lot of emotion to what the characters are saying. The enemies also have many polygons. There is a slight aliasing problem, but it is very small and almost not worth noting. You are able to tell from a distance what the enemy is and what kind of weapon he is carrying.

Speaking of seeing from a distance, you are able to see a lot in this game. There are no pop-up or fog effects in the game. You are able to see the entire map if you are high enough.

The frame rate runs rather solid at 60 fps, dropping with some of the more insane weapons.

The game supports Dolby Pro Logic II, so you know you have quality surround sound in this game. The music in the game sets the mood, but that’s about it. Nothing too flashy to write home about.

The characters have a distinct voice in the game. Ratchet is not as much of a pain in the ass this time around, but he kept his sense of humor. Clank still sounds like a little robot. The enemies taunt and cheer when scoring a successful hit, and they also die with some rather random and at times humorous sound effects. While battling in one of the big arenas, the fans will cheer whenever Ratchet is hit from an enemy, and the loudspeaker chimes in with some sort of a “OOOHHHH He’s gonna feel that one in the morning!” line.

The ambiance sounds are nice, like the whooshing of passing cars and the sounds of birds chirping. It adds a lot to the feel of different planets.

The game is designed to play more than once through. On the second time around, you get a bolt multiplier. The multiplier works by increasing with the amount of enemies killed. It can reach as high as 20x, getting harder to increase the higher the multiplier is. But, if you take damage, the multiplier resets. This makes it easier to purchase the insanely expensive weapons.

Unfortunately, there is no multiplayer in this game. I think it would be entirely possible to have a multiplayer. There is a part in the game where you are in the desert with a car to dig up rareatanium (the rocket-ship upgrade currency) and the car is vulnerable to any enemy. This would be great fun to have ratchet drive and clank in the backseat shooting the enemies, like in Halo. Maybe we will see this in a sequel.

The game is enough fun, however, to want to play again just to see how much stuff you can accumulate.

I have wanted to write this review for a long time now. But before I started, I wanted to sit down and play the game to get a better feel for how it should be scored. The bottom line is that I could not stop playing the game, it would get very late at night and I would get too lazy to write the review. That is simply how much fun and how addicting this game is. This is one of those games that deserves to be in any PS2 owner’s gaming library. It will not take too long to completely fall in love with this game. There are so many things to do in this game, you are bound to find something to enjoy.