Ratchet Goes Commando, Outdoes Jak?

Thanks to 1UP for its review of Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando for PlayStation 2, as the reviewer argues: "The original Ratchet & Clank was, for my money, the best platform game of this hardware generation when it came out", and goes on to rate the Insomniac-developed sequel just as highly. IGN PS2 is also impressed, and discusses the showdown with Ratchet's technology-sharing PS2 rival, Naughty Dog's Jak II, commenting: "If I had to pick just one platformer this year - and that's a tough call, considering the incredible game that Jak II is - it would be this one." Finally, GameSpot rates the title as "a great game", although caution that "...at times it feels like more of a mission pack than an entirely new game."

Comments

Re:Moron.

[Anonymous Coward]

Riiight, that must be why the market is currently flooded with FPSs, and why only about 3 or 4 companies worldwide develop platformers.

Moron.

Frustrating.

[lowmagnet]

I Liked J&D up to a point. After that point I tolerated it. The point is this: Any place where the game ceases to be a platformer, and starts its flight/chicken/shooting range simulator mode.

The same thing happened in Sly Cooper. They have sections that play out as mandatory mini-games.

I bought a platformer. As such, the aforementioned games are great in their primary genres. They begin to suck, IMO, once they go outside the bounds of their primary development and shift play styles.

I have no problem with games where they keep the same play style and switch characters, as long as the characters use the same controls. This is extremely important, especially when I spend a great deal of time at the outset figuring the controls to a game out.

Jak 2 was disappointing...

[Masem]

When comparing the first Jak and the first R&C, both games are very tight, but Jak has just a bit of a edge for some extra polish and a touch more on the humorous side.

However, while the concept of putting GTA-like missions into a platformer is very unique and could possibly charge up that genre for future games, Jak 2 lost a lot in the sequel when comparing game play. Humor is there, for sure, but there's not as much puzzles in terms of how to make certain jumps or get around certain enemy hoards, and while mini-games exist, they're not as varied as what was in Jak 1. The game quickly becomes all about the weapons, as opposed to melee combat, and even there, there's no difficult challenge when in the field when armed. It took me about 18hrs to finish it, but I've heard others were 10hrs or less. And unlike Jak 1, getting the elusive (every secret/object/etc) 100% completion doesn't feel like one will get much for it.

R&C 2, based on the demo, looks like more of the same, but upping/changing the weapons and improving the game engine (there's a level that is a small, 500m-ish diameter asteroid sphere that you can walk around and see the horizon change that fast). So saying that it can just be a mission pack/add-on may be truthful, but sometimes, it's best not to mess with the gameplay of a title when you release a sequel. With Jak 2 being a disappointment despite the hype, I don't expect R&C 2 to let me done even if it is just R&C with new toys. The original was a nicely polished game (save for one underwater against-the-clock level that I know has frusterated players left and right) and if the sequel is simply more of the same, all the better.

Now if they would only get out a sequel to Sly Cooper, keeping again the same formula but upping the gameplay amount, then we'll be all set...

I expect to get my copy of R&C 2 tonight to confirm everything.