LogFAQs > #950721985

#19. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2, 2003)
Look Im just gonna wind up saying a lot of the same stuff here. But this was my introduction to the series. I got into this series from seeing it on Xplay way back in the day and I just thought it looked like an awesome, fun game, with cool wacky weapons and solid platforming and yada yada yada. I got the game. I loved it. I loved the series. The humor runs kind of goofy sometimes, but in that good way where you cant not enjoy it- it works well. Qwark is here again too, probably at his best since hes the main villain for the last time, even if he doesnt reveal himself a bit into the game. The plot is pretty memorable here, revolving first around chasing down THE THIEF, who is this female lombax named Angela who never shows up again but hey at least shes relevant here. Then progressing to fighting the Thugs 4 Less bandits who are fun, and eventually Qwark and his top-secret project the Protopet, basically a feral Kuribo ripoff. The fight against it at the end is particularly memorable since its this cute little fuzzball with teeth the whole game and eventually becomes a monster. The fleshing out of each level having multiple paths for multiple objectives also was well-implemented here. Im sure it was in the first game too but more on that

The gameplay is a tight, effective, and satisfying experience, as always, and truly controls great. I suppose now is the time to mention how much I hate the first Ratchet & Clank game because the controls are just mind numbingly terrible and make no sense. You can run and shoot but you cant really aim because the auto lock on aim is janky as hell and doesnt really work, if you want to really hit something you have to stop moving, go into first person mode, aim and shoot, while meanwhile a million things are shooting at you from a distance and a bunch of tiny guys are biting your toes all the while you can only take 4-6 hits near the start of the game. Plus, if you try to move and shoot at the same time, youre always shooting in the direction youre moving, because theres no strafe button. Its a truly miserable experience and I am so glad I didnt play that game first or else I never wouldve played this series ever again (HI @Whiskey_Nick ). The second game fixed this very simply by making the lock-on auto aim shooting actually work properly and THEY ACTUALLY ADDED A STRAFE!!! Like being able to shoot straight forward while moving left, right, or back, CAN YOU IMAGINE????

I love the arena in this game, love the varied and colorful environments, running around and using all your weapons equally so you can upgrade them all lets you really experience all the games weapons (even if the only upgrade once or twice)-all great. Running around this games open world areas, collecting all the crystals is a grind, but in a good way. I liked trying to go around to find all the giant sandworms. Ditto for the icefield iceworms. The racing segments are solid also. But ultimately, this game is about how great the CONTROL actually feels, especially over the first. So maybe a couple of the other R&C games are better, but this one is still awesome, and is here for not just that but also being the one that got me into the series, and playing it later on the PS3, it still held up damn well.

Weapons I love in this game: the RYNO II (one of the most fun versions because of its silly over-weaponized looking design, even if it doesnt play 1812), the Bouncer(which shoots an exploding spike ball that explodes into more smaller spike balls), the Sheepinator (turn your enemies into Sheep exploding sheep when upgraded), the Zodiac (basically a weapon that instantly eradicates most weak enemies on screen and does good damage to tougher enemies), and my favorite, the Plasma Coil (shoots an electric orb that as it makes contact with enemies, arc-lightnings/chain reactions itself into even more enemies).



Next up: It doesn't matter how strong or how used to the level you get, sooner or later, you're gonna get one-hit KO'd by some (hilarious?) bullshit. You'll scream in frustration, then fire it up and try again.

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~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS