The goon infantry is the most basic unit type of the Thugs-4-Less during their jobs in the Polaris Galaxy. They initially appear, unnamed, as enemies in Into the Nexus and go on to make a return in Rift Apart.
They prefer to stay back, using cover and take shots at Ratchet or Rivet from a distance with their blasters. Throughout both Into the Nexus and Rift Apart they will become upgraded with stronger weapons and armor.
Later in Rift Apart, undead goon variants of the goon infantry appear as enemies on Savali.
History[]
Into the Nexus[]
The thugs take aim in Into the Nexus
These thugs work for the twin crime team Vendra and Neftin Prog, and appear as enemies until Mr. Eye is unleashed and the nethers become the primary enemies.
Rift Apart[]
The goon infantry first appear in Megalopolis early into Rift Apart, and are the first enemies encountered. The goons are hired by Dr. Nefarious to attack Ratchet and Clank during the Festival of Heroes and are deployed by their dropships into the city.
Goon equipment in Rift Apart.
When mass dimensional chaos ensues after the Dimensionator is destroyed, the goons continue to pursue their bounty through the tears in the dimensions into Rivet's universe. During this journey however, some of the goons' forces became displaced and ended up inside various pocket dimensions. On the Sargasso of Rivet's dimension, the goons cross dimensions with their forces and attack Rivet as they are unable to differentiate their lombax target from her and Ratchet. Their dropships deploy goon infantry, goon rushers, zoom goons, and robomutts around Sargasso as Rivet attempts to liberate the morts they have taken hostage, to interrogate and find where their bounty targets are. Later, they are found throughout the planet when Rivet is collecting zurpstones for the optional mission "Help Trudi". The goons around the planet try to take the zurpstones for themselves to eat, fighting both Rivet and the grunthors for them.
They are fought at Zurkie's Battleplex in the Bronze Cup challenge "Boomstick Blast" by Rivet, using only an Enforcer, along with several zoom goons.
Later, on the intact dimension version of Blizar Prime, the goons again cross dimensions in pursuit of Rivet in their dropships and on hoverbikes. After Rivet reaches the mining site's main drill and activates it to obtain some Phase Quartz, she discovers the drill is what destroyed the Blizar Prime in her own dimension. Whilst attempting to stop it and save the planet, she is forced to fight off goon infantry, goon rushers, vroom goons, and their attack dropship.
Inside the space pirates' barracks on Ardolis, dimensional rifts open and several goon infantry emerge, where they attempt to battle both Ratchet and the pirates.
They are then seen as prisoners within Zordoom Prison when Rivet infiltrates the complex in order to rescue Ratchet, Clank, Kit and the rest of the Resistance. After being broken out of their cells along with all the other inmates, the goons form an alliance with her and her allies against the Nefarious Troopers that imprisoned them. Later in Megalopolis, they assist Ratchet and Rivet against Emperor Nefarious' forces and his Imperial Power Suit.
Several of the blasters used by the goon infantry are seen at the entrance to Zurkie's gastropub in the weapons confiscation room. Many of their blasters are also seen confiscated in a large pile at Zordoom Prison, along with swords and hammers used by gthe goon rushers, when the they were captured and imprisoned by the Nefarious Troopers.
Combat[]
Due to their tendency to shoot repeatedly at the lombaxes from a distance, you will need to always keep an eye out for their red laser projectiles, in case you accidentally run straight into them. During hectic firefights with multiple enemies, their blaster shots can sometimes be hard to spot. The goon infantry is different from the pirate corsairs and Nefarious Lasertroopers, due to a combat roll move they use to quickly leap into and out of cover. They will also flank Ratchet and Rivet if they stay behind cover themselves, making them the most intelligent infantry type enemies in combat. If you like using the Shatterbomb, be careful of this move, as they are more than fast enough to roll out of the way, their increased evasive movements can make them harder to hit than any other enemies. With all that said, goon infantry do not have a lot of armor, so almost any other weapon in your arsenal will work quite well on them. If they get too close to you they will smack you with their gun in a melee attack. The laser projectiles they fire from their blasters can be caught with the Void Repulser and fired back at them. These goons in Rift Apart are often accompanied by their faction's swarmer unit, robomutts.
Behind the scenes[]
Concept art of a ranged weapon utilizing thug
Concept art of this enemy for Into the Nexus originally had them wearing a backpack of some kind, which was attached to a chaingun-like weapon.
Citations[]
- ↑ Rift Apart, Savali Spybot