Ratchet: Deadlocked

"Anyone that thought Ratchet was retired after Up Your Arsenal was sadly mistaken."

Platform games have become very interesting the past few years. Now it has become a practice to team up two different characters in one. Jak and Daxter were the first and Ratchet and Clank was the second. Sony needed a mascot to compete with Mario. They tried to make Crash Bandicoot their official mascot, but that didn't work. Now, it's safe to say that Ratchet and Clank is Sony's "Mario", with of course Jak and Daxter thrown in to the mix as well. A lot of people thought that Sony would have a difficult time topping the fantastic “Up Your Arsenal”. To get right to the point, “Up Your Arsenal” is one of the best platform games that I have ever played; a platform game that should stand right up next to other great platform games such as Super Mario Bros. 3, Megaman 2 & 3, and of course Super Mario 64. While Ratchet: Deadlocked is more of the same, it still is a fantastic game.

In any Ratchet and Clank game, the premise is very simple. Ratchet uses awesome weapons to blast his way threw stage after stage. Most of the weapons are simply variations of weapons from the first three Ratchet games, but still are a blast to use. You are always given the chance to blow stuff up. And blow stuff up you will as each level is simply full of badass after badass. What makes the game even better is that RPG elements are included as well. Basically you can upgrade your health and weapons by defeating enemies. In all, the game is pretty hard at times, but once you have upgraded your weapons enough the game gets pretty easy. Ratchet is also allowed to take battle bots along with him. They will help you battle in any number of ways. The first is that like Ratchet, they can be upgraded with better weapons and armor. The A.I that controls these battle bots are very intelligent, and are a godsend in battle.

The story is well written. Basically Ratchet and Clank are retired and relaxing when they are captured, and held prisoner by a creature named Gleeman Vox. Vox forces Ratchet to battle his way threw the Dreadzone if he ever wants to get released from captivity. The Dreadzone is basically an underground gladiator sports show. Oh and Clank is no longer strapped to Ratchet's back. That's right; Ratchet goes on this lonely road alone.

Graphically the game looks great. Each environment has such nice detail, but what impresses me the most are the character models. For a cartoon type of game, each character looks absolutely incredible. The music and sound is decent, but nothing out of this world. Most of the music in the Ratchet & Clank series is nothing out of this world but it is respectable.

The game has tons of replay value. Going threw a second time; you will start to see the true beauty of this game. Each weapon will be powered up to their most powerful and coolest extent. It's at this point that the game becomes a true masterpiece and makes that jump from good platformer to awesome platformer.

Another great thing about this game is the humor that comes along with it. While the Jak and Daxter series goes more for wisecracks, Ratchet and Clank's humor is a bit wittier. The jokes themselves actually will surprise you when you hear them and will really make you laugh. Of course, I don't think that this game is quite as good as “Up Your Arsenal”, but it still is a great game. Everything about this game is well written and well executed. The humor is fantastic. The gameplay is solid. The weapons are cool. Each environment looks great. In conclusion, this game is fantastic. Buy it!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/05, Updated 10/23/06