Excessive

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando... holy shit. Holy fuckin shit. This is a great game, this is a fun game, this is a near perfect game. Is that a good way to start? Hmmm.. I just recently completed this game, and I figured it was worthy of writing about so, here we go.

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando is a platformer with extremely heavy shooter influences created by Insomniac Games released in 2003 to glowing reviews netting it an average of 90% according to metacritic (gamerankings is down right now). It's the second game in the Ratchet and Clank series, and improves on the first in every way.

There was only one year between when the original R&C was released and when they shipped Going Commando, so the first question that comes to mind is... is this sequel one of those sequels that could easily be called an expansion pack, or is it a real sequel. Going Commando is a full blown sequel, with a new feel, lots of polish, new fun, and all of the problems with R&C fixed and made fun.

Much like the original, the story is filled with humor, and not the lame cheesy type of humor that isn't really funny (Jak I'm looking at you) but real, genuine haha funny stuff that you'll laugh out loud too even if you're alone in the room. The dialog, mood of the game, and some subtle jokes are sooo fun to watch and play, and while the story isn't that complicated, it's not as predictable as you may think. It's by far the best story a platformer has ever had, and one of the most fun stories in a game period.

Usually the first noticeable difference between the first game in a series and the second, is the graphics and how they've been improved. Going Commando features a bit fancier effects, smoother frame rate, and while it's subtle, there is definitely an improvement - it's not huge, but it's there. The visual style is extremely pleasing, great animation, effects, locations... it all looks very nice, it all sucks you right into the game and brings the planets to life.

As for the sound and music, when I was writing about the first R&C, I remember saying that I couldn't really remember the music, and that showed that it was good enough to not be annoying, but not good enough to be memorable, however in Going Commando, quite a few of the planets soundtracks really stood out as above average, so much so that I wondered if I could find the soundtrack available somewhere. The musical style reminded me a lot of Metroid Prime for some reason, so it was very good. The sound effects are appropriate (boom, bang, clang, etc) and the voice acting is extremely well done, quite possibly the best voice acting in any game ever. Ratchet is voiced by James Arnold Taylor, who did the voice for Tidus in Final Fantasy X, as well as most recently Leonardo in TMNT. A new female character is voiced by Kath Soucie who is Tish Katsufrakus from the Weekenders along with close to six trillion other works she's involved with. It's great, funny voice work, very well done.

The number of improvements and just how much they improved the game is staggering, so I'll mention a few of the most important things. First of all, they introduced some RPG elements into the game, making it fun and addictive to fight enemies. Not only does Ratchet gain experience points as he kills enemies (and his maximum life increases by one each time his experience bar is filled) but each gun also gains experience each time it's used to kill something, and if you fill up the gun's experience bar, it upgrades to a more powerful version of the gun. One of the biggest problems in the first R&C is that there was no reason to use most of the guns. I just found the gun that was easiest to kill with and used it for the entire game, but in Going Commando, you are motivated to use each and every weapon because you as the player want to get all your weapons up to their advanced form, so you learn how to use each weapon better, learn when they're good and when to use them and it's tons of fun and very addictive. On top of those improvements, they changed some weapons, and balanced them better this time around, so all of the guns are pretty much equally useful and it's up to the players style to pick which one to use.

Another complaint I had was the lack of a strafe button... well, they added one. So, with guns that are all fun to use, and the ability to run side to side without taking the reticle off the enemy, shooting became something that was kind of filler in the first game, to something really fun and satisfying in the second. I wanted to fight, I wanted the experience and the bolts. The ability to strafe was exactly what was needed to make the shooting fun. Also in the first R&C, one of my complaints was that along with not being able to strafe, it was really difficult to shoot enemies in the air because you'd have to stop moving, aim in first person and shoot, but the enemy would usually shoot you before you could do that. Well, they fixed that in Going Commando by... not having enemies in the air. There are a few, but it's not a normal thing you run into. I think they realized it was difficult to aim at them, and focused more on making the ground enemies unique.

Present in the original R&C was a New Game Plus feature, which means you can start over again but keep your weapons and bolts so that the game would be easier. Well, they kept that basic idea but improved upon it by adding a few things. When you start a New Game+ (or Challenge mode as they call it) you keep all your weapons, armor and bolts, the enemies are harder, there is a bolt multiplier, which means with each enemy or group of enemies you defeat, your multiplier goes up, and the bolts (money) that each enemy drops is multiplied by that number, up to 20 times, so it's really rewarding to play well and not get hit so you make tons and tons of bolts to buy all the weapons and upgrades. On top of all that, every weapon can be upgraded a third time at the store for lots of bolts, and once you have the third form, they can be upgraded a fourth time through experience to gain it's ultimate form. So... what this all means is... it's very rewarding to play through the game again, and quite a different experience as well.

The game was quite a bit longer, when I completed it I clocked in at around 16 hours, which was nice since the first game was completed in under 10.

So what are the bad points about the game? Well, I could only come up with one thing bad to say about Going Commando. It's a spike in difficulty present on the last three planets or so. Up until the last three planets the game is an enjoyable difficulty... the enemies aren't that difficult, but you have to pay attention, it's rewarding and satisfying to blow up the enemies. So you're playing, and having fun and not having too much trouble, and all of a sudden you get to one of the last few planets. I'm not sure why they thought it would be a good idea, but they made the enemies do tons and tons of damage, made tons of enemies in small areas, and the difficulty just about tripled and it got to the point that it was frustrating. It took a lot of practice to be able to get through the last few planets without dying all the time, and I think they should have kept the challenge consistent with the rest of the game. Some people may like the challenge however, and it wasn't that bad, just in contrast to the relative ease of the rest of the game, it got frustrating when it all of a sudden took me multiple attempts at a planet before I could do it.

I enjoyed this game so much that the morning after I had completed the game, I sat down and started a New Game Plus because I didn't want the game to end. I played through the entire game again in one day, getting all of the weapons I had failed to get my first time through, and buying the best armor, and the new gameplay introduced by the multiplier and weapon upgrades made it even more fun than the first time through. If I can play through a game, and then complete it, and then play through it again right away, you know it's good.

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando is one of the best games I've ever played. It takes every single thing that was off about the first game and makes it fun. It's fun, rewarding, addictive and funny. It's so close to perfection, that it should be played by everyone. I enjoyed the game so much that I've given it a 9/10, and if it weren't for that unexpected difficulty spike it would've been a 10. So close to perfection, it's amazing.

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