Maybe I'll re-write or clean up this review at a later date, but I would like the world/my future self to know that this is my favourite Ratchet and Clank game. The progression between levels and upgrades is an elegant display of mastery of the systems introduced in the first game. Perfect sequel.

Only problem is the story is absurdly bad. I genuinely don't know if there's a single joke that lands properly for me. But as a game that you play with your hands, it owns. Perfect New Game+ experience, too. If at this point in time of you reading this review I have not written an Up Your Arsenal review, I'll summarize that the things I think it does worse than Going Commando are just having a few too many mechanics that gum up the works. Still a fantastic game worth your time, and the story and jokes are twenty times better, but there's just something about going from beginning to end in Going Commando that will never get old to me.

My friend and I have tried to beat this game literally more than a dozen times, but we've never succeeded. There's something both infuriating and fascinating about playing a game that doesn't save (without Memory Paks) and having to force yourself to play it all in one session or to keep your console on all night to finish it in the morning. And even if you get close to finishing it, sometimes the game just crashes, or one of you will accidentally bump the console and cause the game to freeze, creating momentary terror followed by prolonged sadness. Gameplay-wise, it's pretty fun. The level structure is exciting, and getting to pick your colour-coordinated character is fun. (Unlocking characters could be fun, but the fact to play as them you have to start as level 1, essentially forcing you to start from the beginning, makes them unviable.) The main draw is just having fun with your bud(s) and hearing that funny announcer say, "FOOD IS GOOD."

One of my hottest takes in this world is that Tools of Destruction is a bad game.† I've heard some people realize this futile truth recently, but it's painfully obvious that this game was rushed to be a showcase game for the PS3. The biggest redeeming quality for me is the fact there's a lot of out-of-bounds opportunities you can get into with the Razor Claws. Being able to see the environments in ways you're not intended to is more fun than the moment-to-moment gameplay. And the story's bad.

†Bad game in this context meaning a bad RaC game. Overall, I think it's just a little below okay in terms of value.