Ratchet's Back - And This Time, He Means Business! (Ratchet and Clank 2: Locked and Loaded (PS2))

Member Name: plipplop

Product:	Ratchet and Clank 2: Locked and Loaded (PS2)
Date:	19/01/09 (186 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Still great fun, more guns, more gameplay

Disadvantages: Some daft bits

Ratchet and Clank was, without a doubt, my favourite game of all time. The standard of animation, ease of game play and sheer sense of fun left the competition standing for many gaming months. There are, however, only a certain number of times that you can play even the best of games before they start to wear thin. But Insomniac Games were quick to realise the need to satisfy my "Ratchet Thirst" and a sequel was delivered in phenomenally quick time.

Ratchet 2: Locked and Loaded is a worthy successor to the original game. The makers have retained nearly all the appeal of the first game, whilst adding lots of new touches that will ensure a few "oohs" and "aahs" as you start to explore the game's many levels. Although basically a platform/puzzle game, there are new elements of beat 'em up and racing to try and attract a few new players, which means that Ratchet 2 should ultimately please everyone. But does it?

The story of the second game is pretty straightforward. After the heroic success of their first mission, Ratchet and Clank are now known as heroes throughout the galaxy. Whilst Clank relaxes in his new luxury apartment, Ratchet is called upon to help Dr Fitzwidget of XXX Enterprises. Fitzwidget has been working on a new "Protopet", a strange looking blue creature that he hopes to market to the masses. A mystery thief has however, stolen his Protopet and Ratchet is quickly despatched to track down the thief. Pretty soon, he finds himself racing across the galaxy in pursuit of the thief, who, along the way, kidnaps Clank and causes all kind of mischief. As Ratchet, it is your job to make your way through a host of mysterious planets, completing puzzles and challenges and doing your best to reunite the Protopet with his creator.

The basic story is generally different from the first game, but the premise is really much the same. You travel around the galaxy, solving puzzles, finding gadgets and unlocking new planets in your pursuit of the thief and his bounty. It isn't quite as simple as that, of course, and the tale has more than a few twists in it. The game feels considerably bigger than the first, with a higher number of planets and challenges and a lot more to do along the way. As well as the basic exploration side of the game, there are two new battle arenas, where Ratchet is pitted against a selection of bad guys and monsters, in order to earn weapons or points. There are also two new pod-racing sections, with a selection of fiendish new twists compared to the races from the first game and new flying games to keep the Star Wars addicts happy.

To keep the player engaged Locked and Loaded has some new features that encourage you to play the game over and over again. Like the first game, one of the objectives of the whole thing is to accumulate an ever-deadlier arsenal of weapons. You can then upgrade the weapons by killing a certain number of enemies (clearly indicated on the screen) so that your upgraded version has more firepower or holds more ammunition. This is an integral part of the game play, because the monsters and bad guys in the sequel take a lot more effort to kill than those seen in the first game. As well as upgrading the weaponry, by killing enemies, you also accumulate a growing amount of life force (also indicated on the screen) such that after a few rounds, you become harder and harder to kill. There are also weaponry upgrades for sale, different types of body armour and even different upgrades for your space ship. Once you have completed the game once, you can therefore see why there is still quite a lot of fun to be had in building up your arsenal, as all points are carried forward from one game to the next.

Ratchet 2 has the same sense of fun as the first game, with a vast array of monsters and robots to kill that will try and pick you off in a selection of different ways. My particular new favourites are those to be found in the swamp planet, comprising a selection of giant tentacled crabs, belching frog things and purple swimming dragons. As well as the new monsters, there are also lots of new weapons to be found and some of them are particularly awesome to behold. Although the game is essentially about shooting and stomping on things, it's all done in a very jolly way and there is certainly nothing that would be unsuitable for kids. The game is advertised as being suitable for three year olds and upwards and I think this perfectly true - I'd be happy to let my young nieces and nephews play this without worrying about the content. The good thing about the game, however, is that it is very appealing to all ages and as an adult I enjoy it just as much as a teenager might do. Some gamers might find the whole thing slightly childish - the lack of edginess strikes me as something that put off a hardened game player.

The quality of the graphics and animation is certainly on a par with the first game, to the extent that I suspect that some sections were simply copied from the first game and changed around slightly. Ratchet moves superbly and the controls are such that he is simple and intuitive to control. Visibility of game play remains excellent throughout, with none of the erratic jumpiness that similar games seem to suffer from. The range of locations is quite inspiring, with a vast array of different planets, from snowy, icy landscapes through to lush tropical vegetation. The sound effects are great too, and at a high volume the experience really sucks you in. The music is funky, modern and vibrant and amazingly enough, not in the slightest bit irritating. Ratchet 1 and 2 are two of the few games I have ever played where I don't feel compelled to turn the volume down or off.

It's not all perfect though. As far as criticisms go, I would level quite a few at this game. For starters, there aren't enough major differences from the first game and the relatively short space of time between the first game's release and the second means that the finished product feels slightly hurried. If you compare Jak 2 with the first game, for example, there are some quite fundamental differences that mean that you can see what the developers have been doing. With Ratchet 1 and 2, this isn't really the case and I would have been happier to wait a bit longer to give Insomniac a chance to come up with something special. Additionally, the deluge of weapon and life force upgrades means that after a point, things start to become TOO easy and you can burn through the entire game in a short space of time. There are also some wasted opportunities. The introduction of a new villain seems too short-lived to me, and after some inspired chase scenes, things drop off into rather familiar territory.

There are also some really silly sections of the game. In a frozen wilderness, you are supplied with a mining vehicle to locate and extract rare minerals, but whilst you are doing so, you find yourself continually under attack from vicious monsters. Whilst you're in the vehicle, you have no defence, so it becomes utterly impossible to actually extract any of the minerals. After you have completed the game once, the rules change so that you have a multiplier on your points, according to how many villains you have killed without taking a hit. This is easily cheated upon by continually using a new-look force field and as the points rapidly mount up, you kind of find yourself asking what the point of it all is. The villains aren't as good as the first game either and there is a certain inevitability about the eventual plot twist.

These things aside, I still have no hesitation in recommending the game, especially to anyone who liked the first one. There is a tremendous amount of fun to be had here and whilst there was room for improvement, Ratchet 2 is still a worthy successor to the original.

Recommended

Summary: Highly entertaining sequel to one of my favourites of all time