Ratchet & Clank: A Long Review Part 5

Today we'll be dealing with my two least favorite levels. We cross the battlefields of Batalia, and get to the toxic planet of Orxon,

The version of the game I'm playing.

PLANET 9: BATALIA
 

Such a clever name.

Welcome to the aptly named Batalia, which is, of course, in the middle of a war with the Blargian troops. Immediately we run into our new small, annoying enemies, little robots with round bodies and eye stalks. Their gimmick is that they can fly around in the air, and come down to shoot lasers at you. Like the other small annoying enemies, they are easily taken out by the wrench.

After easily taking care of the robots, I head over to the shop, which is selling a new weapon, the Devastator! A rocket launcher that costs 10,000 bolts! Yeesh, that's the most expensive thing so far, besides the RYNO! After buying some Blaster ammo, I encounter another path, which has a grind rail. Time to really try out our Grind Boots!

This is a very long and twisty rail, which requires me to hop to other rails, and jump over exploding mines. I get hurt by a trio of mines, but that was mainly due to my poor jumping skills. At the end of the ride we come across a soldier, who tells them to put their hands up. Clank responds that they're trying to save the galaxy, but Ratchet gets pissy again and calls him an idiot. The soldier says he really doesn't care and that all he wants is to get off the planet. It turns out he joined the army just to get money for college, and that he just wants to see his family. He also says he'll give us an Infobot for 2000 bolts.

After paying the fee, he gives us the Infobot and... jumps into the water, which is about 50 feet down. Okay. Anyway, the Infobot shows a video from planet Gaspar, which has a Blarg scientist showing off a special mind control helmet that allows the person wearing it to mentally control a spaceship. Ratchet says that he wants one, and Clank says that the Blargs there might know where Drek is, and after a short argument, Ratchet realizes that they both have to get to the planet, and that's all that really matters.

Back to the main path, we come across a new enemy, a yellow robot wielding a machine gun. It shoots rapid fire bullets, which makes it a very frustrating enemy to dodge. After beating the two robots, I fall off a thin platform and die. I'm a bit rusty at this.

After making it back, I enter a grassy area and head down a spiraling pathway, where I encounter more new enemies. These guys look like the Blarg soldiers from planet Eudora, but now they throw grenades and hide in shrubbery, which makes them very annoying to kill. After I activate a bolt crank that makes a bridge, I go back up and find a hidden cave with some crates in it. Once I exit the cave I somehow get ambushed by a GIANT TANK and die, and just to taunt me, a tutorial box pops up and tells me that I should buy the Devastator. Thanks for that.

The tanks have quite a short range, so after making it back, I shoot at it from a safe distance. After a quick water ride and nanotech break, I enter another area with a giant tank. This one's a bit tougher to find a good place to shoot, but I make it go boom in the end. But this is another area where I can bring up a problem: the lack of strafing. Strafing, for those not in the know, basically means "Running from side to side and shooting your gun". With strafing, I could have made that tank o down even quicker and without much worry.

After activating another bridge via bolt crank, we run  into the Commando again, saying that he can't get into the compound, and that we need to get something to help us walk through a ventilation shaft to get to the other side. We don't have the item we need to do that yet, but the Commando does give us another Infobot, which shows a news feed to the Blargs, stating that the new planet is almost complete. After another short argument (Are you seeing a pattern here), I head back to the ship and head to planet Orxon.

PLANET 10: ORXON

Yep, this is pretty much Orxon in a nutshell.

 Once we land, it turns out that the planet is actually uninhabitable, as Ratchet can't go outside the ship without an O2 Mask. What that means is that we get another Clank section. Joy. Orxon is an incredibly haunting level, as it looks like it was genuinely abandoned a long time ago. The music is also amazingly dark and atmospheric.

As we go into the abandoned laboratory, we encounter a new enemy, a large crab thing that cannot be taken out by Clank alone. Guess we gotta find some Gadgebots. Luckily, there's a few nearby, being guarded by some frogs, which are our small enemies for this level. After getting three Gadgebots, I take out the crab, but get ambushed by a frog, meaning I'll have to get them again. After getting them back, I use them to open a gate so I can continue.

I enter the next area, sneaking past a crab monster, and find two of the 6 needed gadgebots waiting for me. I explore a bit, and find the 4 other ones, and open the gate. Immediately, I run into two more of the buggers. The next room consists of nothing but door and button puzzles, and there's not really much worth talking about, but after that I find the Magneboots, the item we need to finish off Batalia.

Of course, before we go to the ship, there's one more thin we need to deal with. The next area is a type of war field, with bombs constantly dropping from the sky. Your goal is to get the Gadgebots, make your way across the field, through a lab with fire balls flying through it, and then crossing a bridge with acid at the bottom. I make my way across and find... that I'm missing 2 Gadgebots GOD DAMN IT.

So I make it back with the two I missed, which opens the gate... to another Gadgebot puzzle, this time filled with enemies. Uggggghhhhh.  The next gate requires 10 Gadgebots, which also activates a turret, shooting down two Blarg helicopters guarding an Infobot. Clank says that he shouldn't let Ratchet see it, but at the ship Ratchet forces it out of him. It turns out that the Infobot is showing a video for Jowai Resort on planet Pokitaru, which also advertises a free O2 Mask. Ratchet, of course just wants to go there for the vacation, but he manages to convince Clank that they'll jjust get the O2 Mask and leave.

We've done everything we can on Orxon for now, but We'll be back, and when we are, we'll be getting the most important thing ever. Anyway, let's head back to Batalia and clean things up.

The ventilation shaft is actually a very weird pathway, which goes upside down and can get very disorienting. We've finally made it into the city, which is, of course, crawling with enemies. After dealing with all of them, including two tanks, we cross a bridge and meet The Plumber again! He says he's there to fix the planet's air defenses, but everyone on the planet is a wuss, so they can't actually use it. Why even install a turret if you didn't think anyone would attack you?

Anyway, I hop into the turret and a minigame begins. We have to shoot down four Blarg ships with a turret. Unlike most video game turrets, this one doesn't heat up when used for too long, but it can only take 4 hits before you have to start all over again. Once the ships are dealt with, The Plumber gives us his fathers Metal Detector, which is the most useful gadget in the game. It can detect and dig up hidden bolts from the ground.

But that's all for Batalia, but before I leave I buy the Devastator, as the run through Orxon and the city has given me enough bolts. Of course, when I enter the shop, they have a new weapon available, the Visibomb Gun, which costs 15,000 bolts. We'll talk about the Devastator in the next part.

Next time, we go swimming with the fishes and... something else, I forgot everything about Gaspar. Also, sorry for the long gap, but I will finish this soon. I have another thing I want to do in this style, but I have to finish up R&C first.

Ain't he cute?