Ratchet: Deadlocked

"A honest and unbiased review by a die hard Ratchet and Clank fan"

Introduction:
Another year passed, another year Insomniac releases a Ratchet title. I have been waiting ambitiously for this game's release. What did all that waiting result in you ask? Utter disappointment. I will review the single player campaign only, as the single player mode is the reason I love the R&C series.

Story:(4/10)
This is what makes the Ratchet games so fun. Previous R&C games involved many characters in its story resulting in some great moments and tons of humor. They were longer and had more cut scenes to connect the story and define character personalities. For example, even though Captain Quark was not the starring action hero in the games, I got to know him and love him as an arrogant and silly galactic super hero who puts himself first ahead of anyone else. Deadlocked has a story but its loosely connected and is done via few and very brief commercials and cut scenes. This was truely sad, as it seemed Insomniac did not care about the single player campaign and were more concentrated on multiplayer mode.

Graphics: (8/10)
As any other R&C title, Deadlocked delivers with some great graphics on the PS2. You will never see so many enemies on screen at the same time while unloading loads of ammuntion into them look so great....while all this is going on, there are constant explosions that just look fantastic.

Sound: (7/10)
Not bad, but not great. The sounds of explosions and weapon fire sound great. The sounds of the commentators repeating the same lines over and over again.....not so great. They are funny once, but after hearing the same lines mission after mission, I just got a little bit annoyed!

Gameplay: (6/10)
This is the most important category for any game and has been the "Foundation" of the R&C series. First off, lets talk about the weapons, which are what set R&C apart from any other games. The weapons are fewer and for the most part recycled from previous titles. No originality went into making newer and funner weapons. The leveling up system is better and more interesting than other titles. The mods were supposed to be the big deal in this game. With alpha mods, you can increase ammo, damage, etc. of weapons. Omega mods allow you to add extra effects and damaging capabilities to your weapons such as acid, electricity, or even ice (freeze your enemies.) The mods, were interesting but not enough to get me excited about the game. Previous games were chalk full of variety (i.e. hover bike races, arena battles, starship/space battles, timed challenges, clank missions, platforming, gadget using sequences, etc, etc,). With Deadlocked, go capture the nodes! Do it 30 times and you beat the game (wow,how exciting). The game literally consists of 5 one minute missions repeated over and over again until the ending credits appear. The bosses? Lousy, in fact the first 3 bosses are like fighting the same boss....the only difference, they have a different head. Luckily the last two bosses are more of a challenge. But sadly, there is not much to beating the game. Keep your finger on the trigger button and rotate your analog stuck to point at all the enemies around you until they're all dead. That's it, nothing more, nothing less.

Replayability: 8/10
It ranks high because if for whatever reason you do decide to play this game more than once, there is a lot to do: challenge mode, various difficulty settings, unlock secrets, level up all your weapons to unlock ninja ratchet, 150 skill points, etc.

Fun factor: 6/10
Blow *?%! up. It's fun, but for how long?

Ratchet and Clank Factor, What we expect from the series: 4/10
Ratchet is there (but not his face!), clank is but not really, no interesting characters to get to know, no Quark (game is about abducting super heroes, yet no Quark, does that make sense?). No gadgets, besides the swingshot! Platforming is almost non existent. Wake up Insomniac, fix this problem for future Ratchet titles.

Overall: 6/10
Its a good GAME, but not a great RATCHET game. It's basically a prettier and more polished Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. We've come to expect better from Insomniac, and it looks like they wanted to make a multiplayer game and had to throw in a story mode. It feels rushed and definitely short. You will beat the game in 6-7 hours, yeah, that's right, 6-7 hours. This will be the first Ratchet game that I don't keep in my collection-selling it on ebay now. Here's hoping for a future sequel that takes the series back to its roots.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/21/05