[#] Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando (Sony, 2003)

Upping the ante, upping the firepower.

The single most genius sequel issue Insomniac sidestepped for Going Commando is "why, if I had it before, do I have to get it again?". Your old guns? Give the game an old save and you'll have 'em free of charge again (though they might be a little weaker next to the big new guns). Your O2 mask and Hydro Pack? You start the game with it, go diving as ya please. This is no retread—Going Commando takes you to a new galaxy, with new weapons, higher stakes, some space dogfighting and now hoverbike races, and plenty of other little minigames, battle arenas, and post-game content to get distracted by. Ratchet grew up a bit! There's even progressive scan! Oh, it's a crackin' good time.

Ratchet and Clank, now galaxy-wide heroes for stopping Chairman Drek's dastardly plans, are transported to a new galaxy and recruited to retrieve a cute little stolen prototype gremlin called a Protopet for the appropriately-named Megacorp. They soon learn the situation isn't quite what it looked like, and it's up to them to fix what they'd inadvertently broken. Again, not a deep story, but a highly amusing one, and a great excuse to take you to a new set of space stations, muddy backwater planets, and vast deserts and tundras to retrieve crystals for strange shaman types (great for zoning out with your chat over!).

For difficulty, the game keeps it fair with weapons and your health that scale the more destruction you dish out. Your vast arsenal this time includes the satisfying crunchy Blitz Gun, the sniper-friendly Pulse Rifle, the, er, suggestive Lava Gun (and its disappointing upgrade), and the absolutely overpowered, playfield-leveling Bouncer cannon. If I can advise you on anything, it's to learn them all, because boy does the right gun come in handy sometimes! If anything, I feel Going Commando is slightly shorter than the first game, and almost to make up for the obnoxious difficulty of the Drek fight, this one's final boss goes down really quick. I don't mind a game you can breeze through, though. You want more? Get a lot more of it here, and quick.