In the space of a month, Sony's given us a chance to preview two games in the same genre: the first was Jak II, and now we have Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando. The two games are very similar: both platformers, both sequels to highly successful platformers, both feature two heroes who help each other, both incorporate the use of weapons, both published by Sony (although they were designed, programmed, etc. by different companies)... the list could go on. But Jak II is not Ratchet and Clank.

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando has a weak story -- the heroes from the first game were kidnapped and sent to a different galaxy. Insofar as I know, a burning question from the first game is still left unanswered: just what IS Ratchet? Obviously background info isn't going to be a strong suit. But it doesn't necessarily follow that the plot of the game is going to be weak, too -- discovering what's really going on is billed as a major part of the game, so Insomniac and Sony have left themselves some leeway.

Anyways, on to the demo itself.

This demo was rather long-ish, and I'm not so sure that every feature was representative of the game as a whole. Dying didn't reset such things as money, accomplishments, etc. Also -- and this was my biggest gripe -- no instructions were provided, aside from two or three "instructional" dialogue boxes that suggested such things as L1 to aim.

Ratchet controls rather well, once you get past the more difficult "figure out what button does what" bit. Movement is rather imprecise, but the game does come with strafing controls, a double jump, and (luckily) autotargeting. The more you kill, the more experience Ratchet gets, and the more money Ratchet gets. Experience makes Ratchet harder to kill, money means you can buy more weapons. Your guns also get experience, and past a certain point they "upgrade" -- for example, the one-shot Lancer turns into the machine-gun Heavy Lancer. Easy enough.

The camera could use some work, but it's not as bad as other offerings (Mario Sunshine's camera is a good example of how bad things can be). The right analog stick moves the view around, as well as in and out. While the camera might not be perfect, it also doesn't seem to get caught behind walls as much as the cameras in many other games.

The levels are decently designed, but a big attraction is the fact that they might not necessarily be linear -- at least, the demo level wasn't. The enemy AI is also rather low -- while in some cases this may be appropriate, in some cases a better AI would lead to a better game (if a more challenging one). Enemy patterns are extremely easy to figure out, and in some cases (especially the arena) all you have to do is fire.

And yes... aaaah, the arena. As well as the spherical worlds and the hover racing.

Ratchet and Clank incorporates minigames into its mish-mash of genres. The arena and spherical worlds use the same basic gameplay as the regular game, while the hover racing does its own thing. All of them seem to fit into the same world. The spherical worlds in particular work exactly the same as the rest of the game, just with a different set of objectives. It's been done before, but Ratchet and Clank does it pretty well. The arena lets you try different challenges for bolts (the money in Ratchet and Clank games), and it's very welcome for leveling and getting cash. I had it glitch on me once -- the menus died after I won a timed challenge -- but it only happened once. Hopefully it's not a common occurance.

The hover-racing seems to be, at first glance, a whole different game. The controls are overly sensitive -- hit the d-pad and you'll turn 45 degrees, and there is very little you can do about that. And don't even try it with a joystick. But you can get used to it after a while, and all in all it's not bad. The controls, aside from the twitchiness, remind me of WipEout, at least as far as I can figure out. True to platformer form, this part of the game is also heavily dependant on items.

I'll be the first person to admit that I'm not a wonderful action gamer, but I've played more than my fair share of platformers, and this looks like it will be one of the better ones. I'll predict that with regard to platform games, this will be rated a 90/100.

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