[PS2] Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando ROM Download

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando ROM Screenshots

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando ROM Description

In 2002, the first Ratchet and Clank game made its debut. The game basically just kind of reinvented the platformer in a lot of ways by taking the focus away from your ability to jump from one ledge to another and instead putting the focus on weapons and cool little missions. It eliminated a lot of the backtracking that had become common to the genre, and you didn’t have to go out of your way to collect a billion little things. For all of these reasons, plus technical ones, the game was an overwhelming success—it was fantastic from start to finish.

Story

Now, here we are: Insomniac and Sony have teamed up yet again to release Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando, which is the sequel to the previous game. Going Commando takes place in an entirely different galaxy than the first game. Going Commando picks up the story several months after the first game’s conclusion. The pair are now heroes, and they’re being interviewed for this music-like show about heroes. Of course, someone sees this show in need of a hero, snaps up our duo, and whisks them away to another galaxy.

Here’s where they meet Mr. Fidge Widget, who is the head of Megacorp. Essentially, the narrative revolves around the kidnapping of an experimental creature, a furry little guy, from their facilities, and their desire for Ratchet to retrieve it. Of course, the creature turns out to be more than it seems originally—it turns out to be these horrible evil things that the company’s trying to market as a pet. So it spirals out from there and turns into your basic save the world from peril sort of thing.

Gameplay

Since the game takes place in a different galaxy, you’ll encounter a lot of different weapons and a whole host of new worlds to tromp around in, but the gameplay is basically the same. Ratchet’s armed with his wrench; you still have objectives to complete; you still have to do backtracking; and basically, you’ll just make your way through the levels with your wrench and your host of new weapons and complete these objectives as you encounter them.

The game’s main difference lies in the abundance of upgrades added throughout. With each one of these new weapons you pick up, as you use them, you’ll gain experience. When you reach a certain threshold of experience points, it’ll upgrade into a new weapon that’s more powerful. This upgrade method applies to all new weapons, except for a few exceptions. A few weapons from the first game are also unupgradable.

Ratchet also accrues experience points, albeit their display on the screen remains limited to a meter only. When this meter fills up, you’ll earn one more little pip on your life bar. This makes you stronger as the game progresses, so your weapons become stronger. You’ll encounter wrench upgrades and armor upgrades that make you take less damage and do more damage. The game’s difficulty ramps up alongside this in a pretty clever way. It’s not just that the enemies take more hits to kill; you actually have to vary up your tactics a lot as you proceed because the enemies just get more and more challenging.

Mini Games

The game also has some mini-game-like sections. You’ll encounter hoverbike racing and some space combat scenes. Additionally, you’ll discover a ship upgrade area, where you can buy more weapons or better shields for your ship, making the space combat sequences much easier to deal with. Generally, these mini games are optional, yet each one presents a mandatory challenge: a prize awaits you for winning the race or eliminating all these ships, typically an item necessary to advance the story. You can then go back to these arenas and other areas and compete to earn money, which is a nice touch.

Graphics and sound

Graphically, Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando looks a lot like last year’s game; it’s only been a year, so there haven’t been a whole lot of adjustments made. You occasionally encounter new spherical worlds in Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando, where you assume the role of a giant Clank. Your tasks include punching your way through buildings, destroying a UFO, and battling another large robot, all of which are quite impressive. But by and large, the game looks roughly the same. You’ll encounter a host of new weapon effects to go with the new weapons, but by and large, the frame rate looks good. It’s a great-looking game, though probably not as impressive as it looked last year because games like Prince of Persia and Jak 2 have raised the graphical bar.

Sound-wise, the game maintains the same basic feel as the first game, with great voice acting and humor that actually works quite well. In addition, it has the same upbeat, uptempo music. Some of the tracks are really reminiscent of those songs from the first game. So the game really maintains a cohesive atmosphere with the first game, and at times it almost feels like more of a mission pack with cool upgrades and new levels than a full-on new game.