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Release Date: November 11, 2003
Developers: Insomniac Games
Publishers: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platforms: PlayStation 2
Genre: Platformer, Shooter
Players: 1
Rating: 3+

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (known as Ratchet & Clank 2: Locked and Loaded in certain PAL regions) is a 3D platformer/shooter developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony. Released for the PlayStation 2 in 2003, it is the second game in the Ratchet & Clank series, following Ratchet & Clank and preceding Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal.

Well the setting for this game was great as it took your location away from the planets in the first game. Infact, it's set in a completely new galaxy. You go to many different planets in this game, ranging from planets with earth like scenery, to planets filled with red grass... They kept the concept of going to a bunch of planets kinda similar to what you did in the first game. And they kept the bolts in all the levels. Overall the setting was perfect and much greater than the first

The gameplay was just so much better than the previous one. I mean the first was was great, but this game was great X10! The gameplay was about stopping these creatures called "protopet" these are very dangerous creatures that are going to be branded as toys to the whole galaxy, and you need to kick their fury butt. Weapons, they have brought a whole new arsenal of weapons into this game. ranging from ranging from Blitz Gun(like a shotgun) to a Lava Gun(you can guess what this does..) They have brought a leveling up system into the game, so the more you use a certain gun and kill enemies with it, it will upgrade, changing the physical appearance and what the gun can do, increasing the damage of the gun and how it looks as a emblem when selecting it. This was so good to see, gave more to play for, and all of those 100% try-hards like myself, can try and get every weapon up to maximum level. Also ratchet can upgrade, as you progress and kill enemies throughout the game ratchet will level up, making him move powerful and add extra health to him, making the game a whole lot easier. Also they kept bolts being the currency again which was pretty good, made the game last longer running around for the bolts of the aliens or robots you had recently killed. On to the mini-games. Arena battles, these would happen a few times throughout the campaign, fighting a whole bunch of enemies, sometimes coming up against a miniboss at the end. Hover bikes races, this is where you would have a face paced race on hover bikes, racing over high jumps, sharp corners and having a mini battle along the way, this reminded me off the races on Jak 2. and space battles, which was just a mission where you would go through a space area usually filled with many obstacles and a lot of bad guys. Overall the gameplay was really fun, an amazing sequel.

The graphics had changed quite alot since the previous game. Alot of new scenery, having to deal with frame rate as most missions are fast paced. And they dealt with it pretty well. I didn't experience any bugs while playing so the graphics were pretty fresh. The gun shots effects ran pretty smoothly no bugs from that at all. Also the visuals were brilliant. Overall pretty good graphics at the time this game was out, so a pretty big success.

The controls were very easy due to the game being a 'platformer' making controls simple for everyone, teh new weapons and stuff like that didn't make the game any more complicating, also the use of new gadgets. There were no complicating moves at all which was good. The game could be played with very little effort and more fluent making it the perfect controls for the game.

Going Commando was received with universal acclaim. 1UP.com said that "Everything that Ratchet & Clank did, Going Commando does better, and the tweaks and additions just push it further over the top." Game Informer's Andy McNamara said that the game has "the best and most compelling content [Insomniac] has put out to date."

Overall this was a very good game, and an amazing sequel to the already amazing series. I hope they bring out a new game soon after the latest one was reviewed as being one of the worst so far. I would like to see it restored to its former glory.