Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
It'll take more than your BIG GUNS to take on this challenge. You up for it?
Genre(s): Run & Gun shooter Platformer Platform(s): PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 Release Date: 2003 Developer(s): Insomniac Games Publisher(s): Sony Computer Entertainment of America Series: Ratchet & Clank Predecessor: Ratchet & Clank Successor: Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando (titled Ratchet & Clank: Locked and Loaded in Asia and Ratchet & Clank 2 in Europe) is a 2003 run & gun platformer game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2.

Why It Rocks

1. Ratchet is significantly more likeable than the original game. This is pushed further by giving him a new look and voice actor.
2. Weapons are more powerful and varied than before, and there is a great selection of weapons to use.
   • If you have a Ratchet & Clank save on your memory card, some weapons from that game will be free in this one.
3. Ratchet now gains experience points by defeating enemies, every time he levels up his max health increases and you can purchase sets of armor to increase his defense power. These two mechanics would also be implemented in later games in the series.
4. Just like Ratchet, the new weapons also gain experience points by killing enemies. Upgrading a weapon changes the appearance of the weapon drastically, makes it stronger, may increase its ammo capacity, and may also add an extra ability or improve on an existing ability of the weapon, along with changing the name and design of the weapon to reflect the increased power. This mechanic would become a mainstay of the series and would be improved on in later games.
   • For example, the Lancer upgrades into the Heavy Lancer which dramatically increases the fire rate of the weapon as well as increasing the capacity from 200 shots to 300 shots.
5. The arenas are a great addition.
6. Lots of humor.
7. Opening the Quick Select menu pauses the game now by default. You'll no longer get hit while trying to change weapons during combat using the Weapon Quick Select.
8. Impressive graphics for PS2 standards. The makers of the game were so proud of the advanced visuals in this game they have added a scenic camera angle after entering a planet.
9. Fantastic soundtrack. It keeps the same "techno" style as the first game but also has a more "epic" theme to it.
10. Jak & Daxter make a cameo appearance in several wall posters. There's also a point where when you find an item you get the same sound effect Jak and Daxter plays when you get a Power Cell in that game, Clank also does one of Daxter's victory dances.
11. The game gives several subtle hints that Mr. Fizzwidget is actually Captain Qwark in disguise without making it too obvious.
    • Both characters are voiced by Jim Ward.
12. Improved controls from the previous game. You can now properly strafe around on foot without the Thruster-Pack upgrade and Ratchet overall feels better to control.
13. The Magnet Boots are improved, now Ratchet runs at his normal speed and can jump when using them.
14. The Insomniac Museum, which shows a lot of things that were cut out of the game and also some fun things to play with.
15. The logo for the game is shaped like a 2, hinting that the game is the second game in the series without explicitly stating that in the title of the game.
16. After you defeat the final boss you unlock a new game plus mode (called "Challenge Mode" in-game). In Challenge Mode enemies are much more powerful and have more health, but to compensate you can buy stronger Mega versions of your weapons which can be upgraded again to Ultra weapons. These Mega weapon upgrades are very expensive so you get a Bolt multiplier that increases the amount of Bolts you get from enemies that maxes out at x20 times, which is increased by destroying multiple enemies without taking damage. This allows you to get massive amounts of Bolts quickly.

Bad Qualities

1. There's a massive difficulty spike towards the second half of the game. Enemies start having lots of health and armor, deal too much damage, and the game will often throw hordes of enemies at you without a break.
2. Medicore boss fights:
   • Giant Clank bosses have too much health and Clank has to constantly kill small enemies to recover health which distract you from the boss, making the fights even longer.
   • Another tedious boss fight is the one on Snivelak. The boss has too much health and the only way to consistently damage it is using turrets that the boss destroys quickly, essentially making the fight an overly long turret section.
   • Regular bosses are also rather lackluster, most of them boil down to just shooting at them non-stop until they explode.
3. Clunky spaceship levels where the controls are really loose and it's hard to hit your enemies, but it's very easy for enemies to hit you. You can upgrade your ship but it takes a lot of tedious grinding to do so.
4. The aforementioned Gadgetron weapons have been horrifically nerfed in this game (even the returning Visibomb Gun needs four shots to kill a regular enemy!), and they cannot be upgrade outside of Mega variants.

Game Tips

1. If you're low on bolts, use Battle Arenas to quickly grind for them. This is also a good chance to grind for experience to upgrade your weapons.
2. Often you'll find Ammo Vendors near checkpoints so don't worry too much about having to restock on ammo every time you die, the enemies you kill will most likely give enough bolts to afford that ammo. Do note checkpoints tend to be scarce or non-existent so don't spam shots carelessly either otherwise you'll run out of ammo before reaching the next vendor. Use the stage map to get idea how close you are to a vendor.
3. If you unlock a new planet, make sure you do as many objectives in the current planet as possible before leaving to the new one because there's always a chance that one of those objectives might give you a key item or weapon needed to progress later on.
4. As mentioned above the game will start throwing hordes of enemies at you so make sure you have a weapon for crowd control. The Bouncer is a good option, it deals lots of damage to multiple enemies, has a 25 ammo clip minimum, ammo pickups give plenty of units, and ammo is inexpensive. The Bouncer is also very effective against the final boss.
5. When facing protopets, first of all destroy the devices that spawn them then use a crowd control weapon to dispatch them as quickly as possible, if even one of them stays alive it'll spawn more protopets very quickly.
6. When facing the final boss, don't grab the ammo boxes and let the giant protopet eat them. The giant protopet will launch missiles at you but if it does it won't spawn more protopets that would get in the way. In Challenge mode, the R.Y.N.O. II weapon can defeat the final boss almost effortlessly.
7. In Challenge Mode the Bomb Glove's Mega upgrade costs only 1,000 bolts and gives the weapon a major damage and range boost, making it very useful as a good replacement for the Mini-Nuke and possibly Heavy Bouncer.
8. When you start Challenge Mode, grind for bolts to get some Mega weapons, if you don't, you will be stuck with the standard upgraded weapons, which become useless. But if you get them, they will become efficient again, and will be very useful during the game's difficulty spike in later levels.

Trivia

• The game's title screen shows Clank reading a book, while Ratchet is playing a video game, if you look closely, you will notice Ratchet is playing his own game, Ratchet & Clank. Sometimes on that same screen He will also play Going Commando, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II, Sly Cooper and the Thevious Racoonus, and Sly 2: Band of Thieves, which is a cool easter egg, but easy to spot.

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