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Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando - A MUST BUY! (1 Viewer)

Gregg Shiu

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 11, 2001
Messages
419
Real Name
Gregg Shiu
Being a huge fan of the first game, I can easily say this is my most anticipated game of the year. The first was one of my favorite platformers on the system, so I had high hopes for this one. I finally managed to pick it up and me and a friend have clocked about 14 hours into it. I think that Jeff Gerstmann of Gamespot's complaints about this game weren't major and easily dismissed. Think of the first as GTA III, and this as Vice City, it's more than an expansion pack; It's a completely revamped game. Initial impressions were that the RPG elements really mixed into the game smoothly. There's still the same cool music and buttery controls. Unfortunately the same occaisional camera control problems have returned too. If you have a PS2 memory card with a Ratchet and Clank save game with certain weapons, a while into the game you can purchase those weapons for free at a shop. Pretty cool, although it's more for nostalgic reasons as most of those weapons will be far too weak to deal out damage later on in the game. Thanks to the awesome new weapons, the games ability to crunch more polygon's (hence more enemies) on the screen at a time, and slightly improved enemy AI, it makes for some really fun firefights and moments of strategizing. Speaking of which, I thought the puzzles were pretty cool. Well, that's my godawful semi-review of this unfinished game. I'd love to see some posts and hear your guys' opinions of the game or hints and stuff as well. Also, I hope this post might have swayed anyone on the fence about purchasing it; I remember when I was at Circuit City I talked about sixty-some odd customers into buying it with only one who didn't enjoy the game! :) Hopefully, I'll find time later to finish up my first time through.
 

JamesH

Supporting Actor
Joined
Nov 28, 2000
Messages
662
Whenever a site really botches a review, I've started to refer to it as "pulling a Gerstman".
 

Peter Manojlovich

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
277
A very good game with high production values. Great presentation, visuals, sound fx and music, smooth animation. Yeah, camera control is an issue, but what 3d game doesn't have camera control issues. Widescreen and prog. scan is supported. Very good play balance, solid interface, well-designed menus, an overall solid product for a good price. The kind of game the guys over at Rare should've come up with rather than the simplistic Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and what Nintendo desparately needed this holiday season to bolster their lineup. What's doubly impressive, is that this title is only coming a year after the original R&C.
 

Steve Y

Supporting Actor
Joined
May 1, 2000
Messages
992
First, Mr. Gerstmann's comments (straw men as they may be):

>The game's reliance on a lot of recycled elements
>from the first game, such as the menus and mission
>screens, seems a little lazy.

The level design, script and cutscenes, enemy AI, lighting effects, control, puzzles, and levels are all better than the first game. The menu screens, while not identical to the first game, follow the same basic format (although there are new menu items involving skill points and unlockables; plus, secret bolts are usable BEFORE you win the game) ... so it basically follows the "ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy, but I would hardly call it "a little lazy".

>Going Commando is as great a game as Ratchet & Clank
>was, but, considering that Going Commando is largely
>the same as the original, at times it feels like more
>of a mission pack than an entirely new game.

Enough elements were altered so that I can disagree with this statement - it IS a whole new game, utilizing (as mentioned above) new control and many new gameplay elements. A "mission pack" it is not. But I suppose it's excusable because he wrote that it only seemed like that "at times". :D

It's an addictive game. I find myself plowing through this baby. In a way that's BAD -- I don't want it to end quickly. Thankfully there's plenty to unlock. Things are just starting to heat up in terms of enemies / weaponry... almost as if my first few hours were an extended tutorial (only because I got good at the demo?)...

Someone at IGN mentioned the storyline wasn't worth mentioning, and that the first game's story was similarly "blah" - but I take exception to this! The story is one of the best aspects of this game, speaking overall. I like that Ratchet started off as something of a brat in the first game and "came around". And man, the cutscenes in the second game are even better.

The arena battles alone are worth the price of admission, particularly the "cage matches" :)

Bless Insomniac games for finally providing the game Rare promised me years ago (the disappointing Jet Force Gemini)

:emoji_thumbsup: :emoji_thumbsup:
~s
 

Joseph Young

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 30, 2001
Messages
1,352
Another :emoji_thumbsup: vote from me.

I can't put this game down! The severity of explosions and particle effects is really ramped up from the first R&C. The comedy (in cut scenes) is really well done, some of it LOL hilarious. The space battle/flight levels are at first deceptively simple, but I can't help feeling that a certain 'Rogue' developer could learn a thing or two from the way Insomniac programmed the enemy fighters' AI, and made the gameplay totally approachable and butter-smooth.

I especially liked the fact that Jak & Daxter are on Clank's widescreen TV in his apartment. One reviewer found that tacky, but I thought it was a tasteful nod (especially since Jak2 is a VERY different game).

So far, so great.

~j
 

Gregg Shiu

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 11, 2001
Messages
419
Real Name
Gregg Shiu
After beating this game a first time through, without giving away too much, there's a LOT more to it in Challenge Mode. More bolts and things to buy with them, namely. I like the incorporating of RPG elements into the game to make it just as fun, if not more the second time playing it. That was something I felt could be improved from the original Ratchet and Clank, once you got the Ryno and Tesla Claw in the first game, each progressive outting got wicked easy and fast. :emoji_thumbsup: :emoji_thumbsup: :emoji_thumbsup: This is sooo worth the money!
 

Craig S

Premium
Senior HTF Member
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Mar 4, 2000
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5,884
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Craig Seanor
Oh man, I wanted to pick this up this past weekend, but my Best Buy didn't have it in yet! :angry: R&C was one of my faves from last year, and I'm glad to hear the new one is of equally high quality.

Ya' gotta love the TV commercials too. ;)
 

Jeffrey Forner

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 19, 1999
Messages
1,117
Originally posted Steve Y:
Bless Insomniac games for finally providing the game Rare promised me years ago (the disappointing Jet Force Gemini)
You know, I never thought of that before, and you're absolutely right. Jet Force Gemini promised to blend the shooter genre with 3-D platforming elements, but all we got was a semi-first-person shooter game with sloppy controls and a poor framerate. Both Ratceht and Clank games do everything that Jet Force Gemini tried to do, and accomplishes it almost effortlessly.

As for me, I just recently discovered the first game, which I finished only a week or so before Going Commando's release. Needless to say, I rushed out as soon as I could and grabbed my copy. I'm 20+ hours into the game and have loved every minute of it so far. It's like Insomniac took all that was great about the first one, tweaked those elements, and fixed many of its problems. If that weren't enough, they took all of these great ideas that they probably had for a game that they never got to make and put them into the sequel. Truly, it is one of this year's best.

I was wondering, when Clank tranforms into Giant Clank and flies off, does anyone else thinks he looks just like The Iron Giant?
 

Jeffrey Forner

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 19, 1999
Messages
1,117
I won't spoil anything for you, but there are a few more nods to Jak and Daxter scattered throughout the Going Commando. One level in particular features a reference which will look extremely familiar to anyone who has ever played the first Jak game. I got a pretty good laugh out of it.
 

Dave F

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 15, 1999
Messages
2,885
So if I were to buy one game, would you recommend Ratchet and Clank 2 or Jak and Daxter 2?

-Dave
 

Ryan_TD

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 8, 2002
Messages
211

I disagree.. Jet Force Gemini was awesome, one of my all time favorite N64 games. But I also would have to say that Ratchet & Clank's 2 games are my favorite for PS2.
 

JamesH

Supporting Actor
Joined
Nov 28, 2000
Messages
662
Dave, I found the pacing and style of Jak 2 to be more appealing, but I think the majority of people would probably like RC2 better. It succeeds at the more quantifiable aspects(length, weapons, etc) except graphics, in which I think Jak 2 has a noticible technical edge if you view them both in progressive scan.
 

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