Ratchetrospective: Ratchet and Clank 2: Locked and Loaded (Going Commando)

We return return with the second entry in the Ratchetrospective

Ratchet and Clank returned for their second outing only a year after their first game, looking at it now, does it hold up, well let’s take a look

We start off on Veldin where Ratchet and Clank are giving an interview for a show called ‘Behind the Hero’ they had their share of parties after Drek’s defeat but things have slowed down lately. The broadcast of this is noticed by Abercrombie Fizzwidget, founder of the Megacorp company in the Bogon Galaxy. He teleports the two into a ship, he has a mission for them. An experiment was stolen by a masked thief and they need the duo to return it. Ratchet is keen but Clank isn’t. Clank is offered a job and a suite in Megapolis, which he stays at for the first few segments of the game. Ratchet is given some extra training as they track the thief to a flying lab on the Planet Aranos.

In new armour, Ratchet boards the lab; he encounters the thief, who remarks it’s time to upgrade his security. He takes the protopet and heads away, calling in Thugs4Less for assistance. Ratchet heads back to his ship where Fizzwidget shows him security footage of the masked intruder and the thugs stealing a map from an outlet on Oozla, incidentally deactivating the perimeter defences.

Ratchet heads to Oozla where he retrieves 2 new gadgets as he fights through the creatures that passed through the deactivated defences. Fizzwidget contacts him and informs him that the thugs have moved a jamming array in the orbit of the Maktar Resort, and it’s interrupting the broadcast of their galactic gladiator event.

Ratchet fights off a thug ship ambush and heads to that nebula as Clank is kidnapped by the masked thief. Ratchet destroys the jamming array and gains a new gadget from the galactic gladiator. Knowing Thugs for Less is involved, he shows Ratchet a Thug pastime, hoverbike racing. Since hoverbikers all use MegaCorp bikes, Fizzwidget has got him a pass. Ratchet also receives a transmission from the thief, telling him to cease and desist or Clank will suffer. Angry, Ratchet heads to Megapolis to rescue him.

Ratchet does rescue Clank and Clank decides to join the mission. He also collects some old gadgets from their apartment. They head to the planet Barlow and win the hoverbike race. They get a message from the Thugs4Less leader telling them about a new rendezvous point in the Feltzin System. Ratchet and Clank head there to intercept any stray transmissions.

They defeat a ship ambush and discover that the thief has ordered some thugs to go to Canal City on Planet Notak. They head there, but arrive too late but after exploring they find some robots who say they’ve received a second order from him and are willing to show them, for a small price. This reveals the thief’s location on Siberius. They head there, find the thief and collect the protopet.

So, that’s the story of Ratchet and Clank 2, it’s shorter than I imagined but… Nah, I’m just kidding. They head to the planet Tabora to drop off the experiment to Mr Fizzwidget. When Fizzwidget arrives he ‘accidentally’ crushes their ship and ejects them from his. As they leave the caves the thief confronts them, wanting the experiment back. The thief trips and is unmasked. She’s a female (in later games we find out she’s also a Lombax) she tells them that they’ve put the entire galaxy in jeopardy but rather than explain why, like a rational being, she tells them to head to the Megacorp Testing Facility on Planet Dobbo to find out more.

They meet a hippie who says he can repair the ship in exchange for 10 crystals. They provide and true to his word he fixes the ship. After finding a new gadget, they head to Dobbo, they meet 'the Mathematician' who tells them that they can get an invite to the Megacorp games if they beat a challenger on a nearby moon. There’s a growth pad nearby and Clank transforms, Giant Clank defeats the challenger and they get an invite. They also discover that the experiment is highly dangerous, seen eating its handlers and experts recommend it be destroyed.

They contact Fizzwidget who seems kinda oblivious to them, they agree to meet at Megacorp’s Deep Space Disposal facility in the Hrugis cloud. Fizzwidget gives them a password but it’s wrong, the defences begin to attack them. They hold off the defences but Fizzwidget was called away to film a commercial for the Megacorp Armory on the planet Todano. Ratchet meets the shady guy who offered the RYNO in the last game, who sells them a new gadget for them to get into the games. 2 new gadgets are awarded from the combat.

They head to Todano where they meet Stuart Zurgo in a side-mission. I know I don’t usually cover them but he’s relevant for later. He’s annoyed Ratchet and Clank shamed Captain Quark and wants some new Quark merchandise. They make their way through the Armory but Fizzwidget isn’t there. The lombax contacts them, we learn here her name is Angela Cross. She tells them that the experiment, now called the protopet is intended to be marketed. Fizzwidget is on Planet Boldan giving out free protopet samples. Oh and the Thugs have chosen to work with MegaCorp to protect Mr Fizzwidget now they’ve made a better offer.

They head to Boldan but discover the Fizzwidget there is a robot. It’s a trap set by the thugs who arrest them and take them Angela’s flying lab, now converted to the Thug’s prison ship (in a matter of hours apparently). Thanks to a female info-bot-like darling, who has shown before but hasn't done anything significant, Clank manages to break Ratchet out. They receive another transmission from Angela. She’s infiltrated the Thugs4Less fleet but is caught (shame she didn’t have a mask and a voice disguiser, that would’ve been helpful.) They also find the Plumber who sells them the Quark statue that Zurgo wanted and promises they'll meet again in another year or so. Ratchet and Clank head to the fleet on planet Gorn, taking out some of their big ships.

They receive a transmission from the Thug leader, warning them to stay away but he just transmitted his exact co-ordinates so Ratchet and Clank head there. Unfortunately he is waiting, with a giant robot. With no growth pad in sight, they use roof turrets to bring the goliath down, signalling the end for the Thug leader. They free Angela who shows an entry to his personal log about the MegaCorp Distribution facility on the planet Smolg, there are masses of protopets being shipped and he wants a bigger slice of the action.

Angela says that to stop it once and for all they have to break into Megacorp Headquarters. She has an old ID she can use for such a purpose on her home Planet of Damosel and heads there whilst Ratchet and Clank head to Smolg to disrupt the protopet shipments. Whilst there they receive a distress transmission from Angela, the protopets are attacking her home, they also find a piece of a new gadget and encounter a smartened version of the creatures guarding the crates.

Clank relates to him and he sells them a news report showing Allgon City on the planet Damosel being devoured by protopets. They head to Damosel and encounter a rock blocking their path. The hippie comes to their aid once again, saying he can move the rock if they bring him some moonstones. They bring him and he moves the rock, telling them that he has a second part of a new gadget which he will give to them in exchange for more moonstones. They find enough and gain the part but find they need the fully assembled new gadget to get to Angela’s home.

They head to Allgon City and find the final part of the new gadget. After fighting their way through protopets they find a guy and his sock puppet who say they can assemble it for a small fee. They do so and Ratchet returns to Greblin, rescuing Angela. They discover that the original protopet is being used to create all the others, so they need to destroy the original protopet to shut the operation down (although why they can’t use another is beyond me, these things breed quicker than the fastest of rabbits)

They are about to head to the protopet duplication room but the female infobot stops them. She shows them a clip of Captain Qwark loudly expositing his new plan for no reason. He intends to save the Bogon Galaxy from the Protopet.

Before we continue I should mention Qwark. He was caught selling bogus Gadgetron merchandise because the hygenator he was advertising in the last game had a defect, and was sent to prison. But he managed to escape and his whereabouts are unknown. He’s taken the guise of Mr Fizzwidget. He records himself using one of Angela’s devices, the helixomorph, which was created to render the protopets harmless (she once worked on the protopets flaws at Megacorp) and frames Ratchet, Clank and Angela as those responsible. Unfortunately, when he uses the device the protopet grows to a ginormous size and eats Qwark. Needing to get back the device to figure out what went wrong, Ratchet and Clank attack and eventually defeat the giant protopet, who then spits out Qwark, who spits out the helixomoph.

Clank eventually concludes the problem, the battery is in backwards (yeah, that's totally how that works), and they find the real Mr Fizzwidget in a storage closet. Angela amplifies the device with MegaCorp’s TV transponders, curing the other protopets. Qwark is given a job testing MegaCorp merchandise and is in severe pain when he’s forced to test MegaCorp crotchitisor.

With the first story done so well, this one had a tough act to follow and to an extent it did so, with no infobots (although convenient screens in places) and fewer pathways with no story reasons for you to take them. Bear in mind, as a game this is common, it’s not unusual and even into Nexus there will be examples of this

There aren’t that many memorable side-characters in this one, and they do try. Zurgo, the Mathmatician, The Hippie and the sock-puppet guy all seem like Insomniac’s signature quirky character but none of them seem to stick, with Zurgo only coming back for the 10^th anniversary, that’s some way away yet.

Some characters that did work, Angela Cross, it’s nice to have a little bit of inside knowledge. Her beginnings as a thief was some wasted potential since she never seemed to use that guise once Ratchet found out who she was. The Thug Leader worked too, he was a low life, wanting money, prepared to kill to get it. He faces Ratchet on 3 separate occasions, each time more powerful than the last. I hesitate to add Fizzwidget to this list just because we never really saw him, it was Qwark the whole time.

And this is a bit much for Qwark, I felt he doesn’t really have the intellect for this scheme. Although it does fit his character that he’s willing to put everyone in danger just to be seen as a hero again, Qwark’s redemption arc begins in the next game which is fine, there’s really no direction for him to go further in this direction but I feel some problems which I’ll outline in the next game.

I’m not going to do a full gameplay analysis each time, since each game builds on the same basic formula, so instead I’m covering notable changes or additions

James Arnold Taylor as Ratchet

Mikey Kelley did an OK job as Ratchet in the first game, but the way he came across was not the way the needed for the future instalments of the game. James Arnold Taylor is an amazingly talented actor. If I’m not mistaken, he also voiced the hippie in this game.

Weapon, Health and Armour Upgrades

With this game, and most of the games going forward you gain experience as you defeat enemies, gain enough and your nanotech (health) increases, weapons will also upgrade to a secondary, more powerful form with extensive use. This is a great innovation allowing the difficulty of the enemies faced in the game to be significantly tougher without making the game nigh impossible (save for one enemy, but we’ll get to that) you can also buy armour for a few bolts to better take some of the damage

Mini Collect-a-thons and Arena Battles

Whilst the bolt balancing for this game still wasn’t perfect (planet Todano offers significantly less bolts than the planet before and after it) if you’re in the need for the latest weapons or armour, you can now go back and complete these challenges for a nice reward

Space Combat

This is one of the weaker aspects of the game, enemies constantly attack you from behind, manoeuvring is difficult at best and radar is usually not particularly helpful. But they’re far from impossible and there are bonus challenges for a few extra bolts

Hoverbike racing

I’m not a massive fan of the racing minigames in the Ratchet series, so I’m far from disappointed that they’ve yet to make a comeback after this game (at least not in its earnest form) add to that that only one of these races is compulsory for the game, the second is for a gadget which is great for open worlds but is problematic in less open ones.

Swingshot orb design

OK, this is a minor point but in the original game, grapple points and swing points had distinct looks, not so much in this one.

Clank gameplay

Clank now controls microbots, which are just gadgebots with a different name, he can also control bridge bots, hammer bots and lifter-bots. There are only 2 major clank segments and the lifter-bot gets the short end of the stick here, only appearing once across the two levels.

Giant Clank

Clank here has limited ammunition but can jump higher, guess which one they kept for the next game and thus far Giant Clank’s last appearance?

Strafing

This allows you to dodge enemy fire whilst still facing the direction in which you can fire back. A great feature that helps with the tougher enemies.

Platinum Bolt weapon modifications

You can gain extra weapon mods like lock on, acid, shock etc from a few select vendors in exchange for Platinum Bolts, this game’s equivalent of Titanium Bolts. It’s nice to add a few new features to the list.

Challenge Mode

A mode that unlocks once you’ve completed the game, allowing you to restart with all weapons and experience but with tougher enemies. You get a bolt multiplier to earn some extra cash, challenges are worth more than before and a mega-weapon series so you can upgrade your weapons further

Default max ammo on weapons in vendor

With bolt balancing now meaning you can always afford ammo, this is useful

Nanotech boosts

Honestly, you earn these by performing tasks similar to those that would earn you platinum bolts. It also means you can’t reach maximum nanotech unless you find all of them, and that’s no easy feat.

Raritanium used for ship upgrades

Raritanium is earned in space battles and can be mined on some worlds and is used to purchase upgrades to your ship, the upgrade to the main cannons is in my opinion essential to the later levels

Weapons

In total there are 23 weapons in this game. There are your standard blaster, shotgun, bomb launcher, rocket launcher and sniper rifle, plus there are 5 returning favourites from the last game (the bomb glove, the tesla claw, the visibomb gun, the walloper and the decoy glove, which are all free if they detect a save file from the last game where you bought these) all downplayed in usefulness but let’s take a look at the more interesting weapons

Chopper/Multi-Star

A weapon that slices into enemies, in its upgraded version it splits into multiple disks. When I initially played the game, this was my go-to weapon. Of course these days other weapons take that spot

Seeker gun/HK22 Gun

You fire it and it’ll automatically lock onto and attack a nearby enemy. The upgraded version fires 3 shots at once. It’s a powerful weapon early in the game.

Mini-Turret Launcher/Mega-Turret launcher

This launches a mini-turret that fires lasers at your enemies, it upgrades to fire guided missiles. Great for crowd control as you can fire your own weapons whilst they’re firing

Shield Charger/Tesla Barrier

It’s a shield that protects you, it’s useful pretty much from the point its released, helping you deal with a mass increase in enemies and especially useful with the YETIs. If you want it to upgrade, you’ve got to kill some enemies with it, I recommend using the smaller ones for that.

Synthenoids/Killonoids

These summon 4 killer robots that blast your enemies, in the upgraded version they also fire grenades. A warning, however, each time you use one, it takes 4 ammo, and they’re not cheap.

Lava gun/Meteor Gun

Fires a steam of lava at enemies, upgrades to fire meteors. Like most people I’m not fond of the upgrade which reduces the range of the gun. It’s still pretty powerful for a rapid-fire weapon though.

The Bouncer/Heavy Bouncer

Fires a large grenade which explodes launching a few dozen mini grenades, upgrades to be bigger. This is another great crowd control weapon, with a lot of power behind it, maybe a little too much as you can defeat the big boss solely with this weapon

Plasma Coil/Plasma storm

Fires a charged bolt that shocks nearby enemies, upgrades so it can shock whilst in flight and ricochet off walls. This is another effective crowd control weapon but sadly limited by a limited ammo capacity.

Hoverbomb gun/Tetrabomb gun

A bomb which is navigatable around obstacles if you hold the fire button down. A useful weapon if not quite as clear to guide as the visibomb gun. That combined with its relative expense meant it was not a fun I purchased during the main playthough

Spider-bot glove/Tankbot glove

Fires a spider-drone capable of exploding and taking out some enemies upgrades to have additional firepower. This weapon offers the independent control aspect the hoverbomb did not, and it’s essential for some Platinum bolt missions but it’s limited area of effect combined with the time limit and its inability to bypass obstacles means it is only worth it’s cheap (relatively) price tag

Sheepinator/Black Sheepinator

Much like the morph-o-ray, this turns enemies into sheep, it upgrades to make those sheep bombs. Again, useful on smaller enemies, not so easy on tougher ones.

RYNO II

I may be in the minority thinking this but the latest version of the RYNO is a really generic single missile launcher. It serves the power of the RYNO but a bit lacking in function, there are better weapons for crowd control than the RYNO

Zodiac

The big gun from MegaCorp, a very powerful weapon which, if you can use it properly, disintegrates anything in its path. The fact it has very low and very expensive ammo, combined with a not foolproof firing capacity means it’s one I tend to skip over.

Clank Blaster/Clank Shocker

A challenge mode exclusive weapon that allows antenna to shoot out laser blasts

I’ve briefly mentioned YETIs, those are the most annoying enemies in the entire Ratchet franchise, thank heaven they’re confined to a single planet. The issues with the level come from the fact it was completed in 3 days by a developer who was not initially intending to work on it at all. The bug here was that the pre-attack animation on the creature was too short, not to mention they come out in considerable number and can attack from all sides. I recommend using the shield charger or tesla barrier to avoid the worst of this. This one is so infamous that an award is given out called the YETI award for worst piece of a game to make it in.

I also think that 2 different hacking puzzles was a bit excessive

For the most part, Ratchet and Clank 2 is a major step up from its predecessor. Much like in the Empire Strikes Back it introduces a lot of the staples the franchise is best known for. It’s not without its issues, but it’s a thumbs up from me.

Rating 80/100

Memorable Quotes
"Are you man enough? Hero enough? Insane enough to step into the ring with two of the fiercest warriors in the Galaxy? If you answered yes, you're a big fat liar"
"This update is strictly classified 'if you are watching this, you're fired'"
"And don't bother trying to find me because I got wind.... I mean I'm like the wind"

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Images/clips used in this review are from Ratchet and Clank 2: Locked and Loaded (Going Commando) and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use