PlayStation 2

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

March 23, 2004

PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/goingcommando/cover.jpg[/floatleft]Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Snowcone and I am a Ratchet & Clank-oholic. After being introduced to the first Ratchet & Clank a short time ago by a good friend, I became addicted. The game possessed a unique sense of style and humor that made it impossible for me to release my grasp of an otherwise wretchedly designed controller. It was only a short time later that I learned of an impending sequel, at which time I was only partially thru the first game. I gave my lovely wife the opportunity to express her thoughts on the first game and I couldn’t have said it better myself.

After being blown away by RC, I had to wonder what on earth Insomniac could throw into this game that would make it anything more than a re-release of the same old game with different levels and a slightly modified story. After receiving a demo of Going Commando, I wrote up a short preview of the game and my anticipation began to mount. The game mechanics were still the same, but Insomniac played the one card that seems to always do it for me. Insomniac added experience points and their form of “leveling up”. I have made it no surprise that I don’t care too much for the true to form turn based RPGs, but I do love the aspect of upgrading your character and growing along side them.

What exactly did Insomniac do that suddenly made my blood boil with anticipation? Add experience points which in turn increase your nanotech aka life meter? Check. Add experience points which allow your guns to be upgraded to a much more powerful version of the standard weapon? Check. Allow you to purchase black market add ons for these weapons as well as upgrades for your otherwise plain ship? Check. Allow you to purchase varying levels of armor in different stages of the game? Check. It is all there folks. Insomniac reused the perfect parts of the first game and added things that my feeble little mind had yet to even conceive.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/goingcommando/ss02_thumb.jpg[/floatright]Most reviewers have a preset amount of time they like to spend with a game before they feel comfortable trying to explain their thoughts on it. For some people it is only a few hours while others like to complete the game before they begin the writing process. Typically, I like to get my feet wet and truly understand what the game is all about, but with Going Commando I accidentally beat the game and got about 80% of the way thru it again before I pried myself off the couch and into the office to get things rolling. Typically I would call that “slacking”, but in this case I am very glad that things worked out that way and I will explain why.

In the first RC, you were given the option to replay the game from the beginning with your set of weapons in tact. This would obviously make the game much easier, but as an added bonus you were able to purchase gold versions of the same weapons for a much higher price. This same feature was available in Going Commando as well with the presence of “Ultra” versions of the same weapons. (Standard weapons upgraded via experience to Mega Weapons, 2nd time around you purchase Ultra weapons and upgrade them a 2nd time to Mega Ultra. Confusing isn’t it? ) Not only does this allow you to upgrade those new Ultra weapons via experience points, they make the task of obtaining them much easier by adding a “bolt multiplier”. The way this works is that the multiplier increments itself as you kill enemies as long as you don’t get hit. Get hit and it resets back to 1. The multiplier itself tops out at 20, but is still a welcome addition. Obviously if your multiplier is at 10, then you will receive 10 times the normal bolts you would for killing an enemy or destroying a breakable item. It quickly becomes an element of the game that would make purchasing a few of these Million bolt weapons very very difficult if it were not present.

Now that I have ranted for far too long about the parts of the game that really make it shine to me, I want to address the things that will make this game a welcome addition to any gamers library. For starters, the story is great. Insomniac delivered a well written plot complete with twists, predictable as they may be, and a perfect dose of humor. Ratchet & Clank interact like a comedy duo with many years under their belts and it never seems to get old.

Many times, the main complaint in some sort of 3d game is the camera control and it took me going back and restarting Kingdom Hearts to realize just how good the camera is in RC. You have perfect control over your viewpoint and it behaves exactly as you would expect it to. I cannot honestly think of one complaint that I have about the camera implementation and I applaud Insomniac for that.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/goingcommando/ss06_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]The graphics engine that was used was basically the same as the first game. In case you were wondering, the engine was actually developed by Naughty Dog for use in the Jak & Daxter games, so if it seemed very familiar that is why. You will also notice the presence of a few Jak style scenes and cameos. Just like the original, the graphics were flawless aside from the occasional view from the wrong side of a wall. I was also pleased at the absence of the v-sync issues that seemed to run rampant in Jak 2. I really look forward to seeing what else Insomniac can accomplish with this aging PS2 hardware.

The music was subtle and not overbearing. It didn’t make you want to play with the game on mute while playing for long periods of time. The voice acting was spot on and is actually an area that Insomniac shines in. Their actors do a wonderful job of portraying the true spirit of the character they are reading for and they really give them a unique personality. This is an even greater feat when you discover that only a handful of people were used and they often did 3+ voices each.

Obviously I feel that the game is not only worth my time to play all the way thru, but I am almost thru it a second time. If the game was not fun or didn’t possess an extremely high replay value in my eyes then I would have stored it away for a rainy day after the first time, but I can’t stress enough that it is even better the second time around with the Ultra weapons that you will be receiving.

Overall I can easily say that Going Commando is my vote for Game of the Year on the PS2. Insomniac added a level of depth to an already refined engine, tossed in a dash of humor, and a side of well written plot. The end result was Going Commando. I typically like to recommend that gamers rent games before purchasing since I know we all have different tastes, but I honestly can’t advise you to waste money renting what should be a mandatory title for all PS2 libraries. This one definitely gets a huge Snowcone seal of approval and one of these days we may just have a fancy graphic to go along with that!

Jak 2

December 17, 2003

PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/jak2/cover.jpg[/floatleft][author]Dots[/author]
Sequels to games make me nervous, really nervous; especially when I list the original game as one of my favorites. What makes matters like this worse is hearing things like “nothing like the original” and “this game has a ‘Grand Theft Auto 3’ style to it.” Those are just a few of the “bad” things I had heard about Jak II. Despite what the idiots that propagate the rumor mill say, I was still all for giving Jak II a try. I am glad I did. Sure it has a darker theme, yes the game play is different; but change isn’t always bad. Well, unless your name is Jak and you were experimented on with bad eco for two years.

[author]Snowcone[/author]
I gotta agree that the GTA3 style game play that was added made me nervous. I wasn’t a big fan of GTA3, but I found out after playing Jak 2 that it wasn’t the game play that I didn’t like but the characters and the story. Jak & Daxter had a great story and I really enjoyed the game but I got a little tired of running around collecting stuff. Jak 2 combined the open levels and mission based style of GTA3 with the true to heart platform levels that J&D was full of. Someone at Naughty Dog was listening as they made the “collection” aspects far and few between. Even after all that I heard about Jak 2 before I got a chance to play it, I was blown away with what they had done to the game. My first impression was 2 thumbs up and boy do I love it when I am right.

[author]Dots[/author]
Which rarely happens for Cone, so this was a good thing. I digress. The running from one end of the expansive main city level to the other did become a tad tedious at times, especially when you accidentally kill a guard and are being hunted when all you want to do is get to your next mission point. But I can look past all that running around to what is a really important feature to the game – the detail of the levels. The city itself that you spend the majority of your time running about in is so real feeling. There is even a “bad” side of town. Each time you have to leave the city walls to venture out among the Metal Heads you are exploring levels you can tell someone put a lot into. That is my favorite aspect of the game. Well, that, and when Jak goes all berserker on metal heads when he turns into Evil Jak. That’s right, I said Evil Jak.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/jak2/ss03_thumb.jpg[/floatright][author]Snowcone[/author]
To truly understand just how expansive the main city hub is, you would have to play the game. It can literally take several minutes to get from one side to the other. I know many people didn’t like that aspect of the game, but I have to give Naughty Dog some credit for building a world as expansive as that without using loading screens. How they did it is anybody’s guess. Not only were the levels expansive, but they were graphically beautiful. “Highly detailed” and “stunning” are phrases that come to mind and while I had to force myself to finish J&D, I am still putting off the completion of Jak 2 as I just don’t want it to end. So the game looked fantastic, but how did it play? Just like you would expect, only you get guns this time.

[author]Dots[/author]
Yes, the guns. This was one thing that was a change from original to sequel that made an impact on the game play in a good way. All basic movements, jumping and dive rolling, and fighting moves were the same making it easy to pick up the controls right away; if you have played Jak and Daxter before. Also added to Jak II was the use of the hover board. It not only helps you to get around town, but you can play like Tony Hawk and race like, well, some fast race guy. With the addition of guns and the hover board, I would swear that Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games, the creators of Ratchet and Clank, were one in the same. One thing that I loved about Ratchet and Clank was the diverse mediums of game play they had in the game, from puzzles to racing. Jak II added those elements making the game less about collecting Precursor Orbs and more about mastering a variety of skills.

[author]Snowcone[/author]
Platform fans don’t fret, there are still plenty of J&D style levels for you to play in this one. I will admit that I did have to do a double take to make sure Insomniac and Naughty Dog didn’t create Jak 2 as some sort of joint venture. Jak 2 seemed to draw the elements that were missing from J&D from R&C. They were seamlessly integrated into Jak 2 and it was a perfect fit in my eyes. Before I played it, I heard that Jak actually had a speaking part in Jak 2. One of my favorite parts of the original was the interaction between Jak & Daxter and I felt like that was fueled by Jak’s silence. Since Jak didn’t do a whole lot of talking in the original, there was this kind of akward time of getting used to him talking in this one. I was worried that his voice might ruin some of the chemistry between them. I was wrong. Jak’s voice was perfect and it fit the dark tone of the sequel like a glove. The voice acting was excellent and the use of Clancy Brown (Shawshank Redemption and recently Carnivale) as the Baron was excellent. I can’t think of one voice in the game that didn’t seem to fit the character perfectly. Due to the fact that the style of gameplay changed significantly between J&D and Jak 2 there were some significant changes to the difficulty factor of the game. Many of the missions are very short and don’t take much time to complete, but boy can they be hard. While I know how frustrated I got, I feel it would be more humorous to let Dots explain things from her perspective of watching me play these levels.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/jak2/ss06_thumb.jpg[/floatleft][author]Dots[/author]
I can’t really say what the experience was, as I was hiding behind the sofa trying not to be seen. Okay, it wasn’t all that bad. But I have honestly rarely seen my husband get so mad at a game. I swore he was going to break the controller or the PS2 or the TV or all three. Cone is by no means a violent man, but there were sometimes when one of our cats would cross his path and I thought he was going to hurl him across the living room, all because he had failed his mission literally 20 times. Now, this isn’t to say that all missions were that hard, cause they weren’t. Overall, I would say that with all the additions made the game feel more complete than the original. So on that note, I will conclude my little portion of this review; Jak II is different from its predecessor in many ways, but those differences are what in my mind make the sequel surpass it by leaps and bounds.

[author]Snowcone[/author]
There is no doubt in my mind that Jak 2 is way better than J&D. Many sequels crash and burn and Naughty Dog made sure they didn’t follow suit. I have to concede the point that since Jak 2 is so much different than J&D it may not appeal to the same audience as the first one. The move away from a pure platformer to a platform hybrid may alienate some of the hardcore platform junkies while at the same time appealing to a more broad audience with the GTA3 style action. Jak 2 is a winner in my book and I can’t stress enough that this is one of the most solid titles in the PS2 library right now. If you own a PS2 you absolutely owe it to yourself to give Jak 2 a try.

P.S. Tell the Baron hi for me.

Final Fantasy X2

November 25, 2003

PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by Mike Carabajal Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/ffx2/cover.jpg[/floatleft]There is something to be said about a time tested formula. Fans of the prestigious Final Fantasy series have come to expect relatively the same game with a different setting and story line from one title to the next. Of course Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft) does not disappoint as we have over ten titles to showcase their excellent work. Since information first leaked out about the first ever Final Fantasy sequel, you could just tell something would be different with Final Fantasy X2. Continuing the storyline from Final Fantasy X, FF X2 once more pits our characters in the world of Spira. As you play through the game many old friends, locales, and baddies will make reappearances sending you to a trip down memory lane. However this game is not about the old, it’s about the new. A new attitude, new game play, new battle system, and a whole new aura. Final Fantasy X2 is an experience all its own.

[heading]Girl Power[/heading]

Upon watching even the opening movie you will know that, yes, a whole lot has changed. The melancholy aura that ruled over Final Fantasy X is no longer there. Spira is a bustling new world searching for itself once more. Gone are the days where death lingers in the mind of everyone, and Square Enix makes sure you can tell. The locales, while remaining the same are now full of life. And your characters, well they scream attention.

Yuna, Rikku, and new girl Paine are the new A Team. They are an energetic group of sphere hunters traveling the world searching for adventure, they are the Gullwings. Yuna of course is your main character, and the story has her searching for information concerning whatever happened to “Him”. The game makes a passive reference to who could be Tidus (Him), as Yuna joins the sphere hunter gang in order find more clues on his whereabouts. The full of life Rikku of course is her motivation as Yuna still needs a little pushing out the door. New girl Pain is your stereotypical “lone wolf” gothic girl with a hidden past. The diverse personalities of the group make each character stand out beautifully, as this truly is a story about relationships with friends.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/ffx2/ss02_thumb.jpg[/floatright][heading]Girls, tighten your scrunchies[/heading]

A new game means new directions and Square Enix has taken liberties on both game play and exploring. Yuna is a representative of the team (which I like better as opposed to having them follow you around like Final Fantasy 8) as such you lead Yuna around the gorgeous landscapes. What’s new however is that Yuna can now react with the landscapes. She can jump, climb, and hop along to find her way through puzzles, or even get to that hard to reach treasure chest. While this was a much talked about feature before the game was released its not like you think. I was under the impression you could control her in true Lara Croft platform fashion. I was wrong; you are only able to have her react. It works very similar to Final Fantasy mini games, the ones where you must press the “O” button at the right time. Yuna only jumps when she reaches a ledge. Failure to press it at the right time has her just stumble, making you back up and try it again. It’s more of an after thought really; however the game puts it to good use with races over terrain and such.

FF X2 brings with it a non linear storyline as well. Certain hotspots are found by the Gullwings and you are given a choice as to which place you want to go and the difficulty of the stage. The game is broken into missions, as you will have to perform objectives to move along the story. This is a far cry from the walking around from town to town that we are used to.

The battle system is hyperactive. The new concept is that of constant action. The user not making quick decisions will lead to a severe butt whooping by the fiends you meet along the way. Gone as well is the extremely helpful “queue listings” that Final Fantasy X had, what that means is you will no longer see whose turn is next. You simply input your actions and then a small bar counts down the time till the character takes the action. Of course for spells or special attacks the bar has a charge time. Simple attacks or item actions are almost instantaneous. Once you get a handle on how particular fiends go about their battle plan you can make a rough game plan on how to tackle your opponents with a healthy mix of charge and instant actions.

The biggest addition to game play is the dress spheres. Dress spheres act as jobs did in previous incarnations of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy Tactics. You can switch your dress sphere mid battle. The three girls can make for any combination of the classes available from the strong “Warrior”, the sharp shooting “Gunner”, the healer “White Mage”, the powerful magician “Black Mage” among a myriad of other classes available. If you are ambushed by a fiend that has a strong defense against full frontal attacks you can simply switch your dress sphere to a better class such as “Black Mage” and utilize that class’s black magic abilities to pound your enemy into submission. With each dress sphere comes all sorts of class abilities and of course, a new look for that character.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/ffx2/ss04_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]Items play a smaller role in equipping this time around. You cannot get better weapons and such as the girls come equipped with the weapon of the class they happen to be at that moment. You are able to equip items that give your particular class abilities. This way even though you are in “Thief” dress sphere and are unable to cast magic your items will let you cast a few black magic spells. This is best to have on your “tanks” so that they may be able to do both magical and attack damage to your opponent. Items also give you bonuses such as more HP, MP, or even defenses or total resistances to certain attack types or status ailments. Garment grids are chosen for all the characters or each character can chose her own. Garment grids are a layout of how your dress spheres are placed. You can only move one space at a time during battle so positioning your dress spheres on your garment grid is invaluable. Some garment grids do not offer enough space for every single dress sphere you have, however some do have “gates” that offer boosts to a dress sphere if you pass through them while changing outfits during battle. This may all sound complex, but you will fly through it in no time flat. Advanced players may even plan ahead as to how they want to specialize their characters, which will add a unique customization to the game.

[heading]Spira is as beautiful as ever[/heading]

Final Fantasy X was the first Final Fantasy game to utilize the power of the next generation consoles. As it stands Final Fantasy X is an art project with its lavish usage of colors, sound, and landscapes. The Caribbean-Eastern setting that the designers made Spira as is still there in its gorgeous atmosphere. The Final Fantasy Team once again brings us original character design, just like we can always count on them to do.

This game is truly inspired in its graphical touches, from even the smallest details to the elaborate costume design. Tropical ambience or the echoes of cavernous dungeon crawls will bring you into the settings fantastically as the sounds of Final Fantasy X2 are perfectly placed. From Leblanc’s outfit being inspired by famous fashion designers, to the new characters inspired by futuristic anime design, show that a great deal of time went into the creation of the game’s look and feel. As an artist myself I look to past greats for inspiration. Something tells me that there will be designers of the future that will reference this game and its previous edition as their muse.

[heading]Pickle is a fan boy, but this game really does rock[/heading]

Yes I am a Final Fantasy freak, but there is a reason why. Final Fantasy brings out the best in RPGs. It brings out the best in story telling, the best in game play, simply the best in video games. Final Fantasy X2 is no exception. This is one game that no matter the review fans will flock to video game stores to purchase it and keep it in their library. If you have never tried a Final Fantasy game (if you haven’t, did you stumble to this site by accident?) then give this particular version a shot. FF X2 is a more action packed and happy go lucky game than its family. I would say a great starting point if you want to dive into the series. This game gets my fullest recommendation. I will be playing FFX2 for years to come, like I do my entire Final Fantasy collection. And yes, the girls look hot too. Yeeesh, I know you were thinking that.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

October 14, 2003

PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by Mike Carabajal Make a comment! / Tweet it!

The strategic roleplaying game genre has a tight fan base. Not many people have ever played a SRPG before, and those that have, share a strong loyalty to the genre. Atlus once again delves into the development of another SRPG in Disgaea. Atlus however took some liberties in the development of this game adding new features, a whole new concept, and of course new gameplay. What they gave us is a beautiful game throughout the board.



Atmosphere

Disgaea is all about atmosphere. The world the designers have created is not only unique, but brilliant. In the vein of a classic B movie horror flick, the Netherworld is dark, humorous, yet colorful and melodramatic. The characters add a depth to the game I have not seen in a while. Each main character has his or her own specific zeal. While the young Dark Prince is a child trying to be as evil as a Dark Lord should be; a young vibrant Angel is trying to find love in the demon filled Netherworld. The contrast in each character creates both funny and over the top melodramatic moments. The voice acting is intentionally bad, that too adds to the B movie appeal

Character design is definitely one of a kind; leaving behind the A

Pseudo Disgaea Review

September 25, 2003

PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by Mike Carabajal Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Snowcone Note: The full review for Disgaea is now available.

What it is not:

Final Fantasy Tactics.

What it is:

Best damn strategy RPG I have ever played.

Pseudo review?

Yeah I am kind of very busy playing it right now. So a review will take a bit longer then expected. What YOU need to do is go out there and find this game where ever it is and play it. If you have never tried the strategy RPG genre before then this is the game to get hands down.

Did I mention?

This game rocks.

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