As a kid I played the first Ratchet and Clank over and over on my brother's PS2, but never any of its sequels. I have been looking forward to experiencing the rest of the trilogy, similar to how I went through the Sly Cooper trilogy a while back.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this game as much as I had hoped. That is not to say that this is a bad game by any means, its actually very good. To me it just doesn't seem to come together the way the first game did.

I will say the gameplay has been streamlined nicely, and Ratchet feels much better to control. Strafing is a godsend for many enemy encounters. I really liked a lot of the new weapons, especially the Bouncer. Weapon leveling is also a sick addition that made me enjoy using the guns way more.

While the moment to moment gameplay is fun, certain sections can grow very tedious and frustrating. For example, the Thugs-4-Less boss fight was easy but took forever, while Planet Grelbin and its yetis are an absolute pain.

I think my biggest issue in this though is the story. It felt very much like an "and then..." plot, where the next thing happens just so that something can happen. There really isn't anything in the way of character growth or change, Ratchet just goes from being a misinformed errand boy to a correctly informed errand boy. In the first game you really got a sense you were exploring a galaxy, in this several of the worlds feel like they just exist as a level to shoot some guys and get an item in. The first game's story is no magnum opus, but its simple with a well defined character arc and engaging villain. The villain in this game is a last minute twist that leads to a mediocre final boss and the quickest story wrap-up I've ever seen.

These issues don't completely tank the experience, because the story is not the main focus of these games. The big focus is running around and shooting guys, and that hits way more than it misses here. I just can't fully get behind the "perfect evolution of the series" take I've seen. Hopefully Up Your Arsenal can marry the gameplay of Going Commando with a more engaging story akin to the first.