Ratchet: Deadlocked

"Arena fighting is in."

The Ratchet and Clank games have pretty much already proved that they are great. This one is no different; it goes in a different direction than the others but ultimately comes out blazing.

Story.
Not as thought out as the other games, but still manages to make things understandable. Apparently there is some type of Arena survival reality show, and Ratchet—along with Clank and Al—have been abducted and taken to Dreadzone. Clank gives you tips that are rarely necessary, and Al upgrades your bots. Ratchet must fight his way through legendary heroes to make it out alive, or else he'll end up dead, along with his home planet. Ratchet is too much of a super hero to do that. A cool little thing they added to the game is that for every mission/challenge there will be two hosts who present it as if were in live TV (which it is for the story) but it serves as to making the story more believable. Needless to say, hilarity might ensue.

Graphics.
Keeping with the series evolution, this game looks beautiful. Everything still has that vibrant and colorful cartoon like look, but it is now a bit darker. The planets that you will visit will provide a nice change from scenery as each one is a completely different from others. Also, this time around there is more places with a futuristic sleek look. All the animation is done nicely and rarely is there any slowdown, except in some very big battles where stuff is blowing up all over the place.

Gameplay.
This is possibly the biggest change that this fourth installment in the series has done. Though the platforming elements were barely there in Up Your Arsenal, this game has practically done away with that part. There are some parts that require jumping on platforms, but those make up a very small part of the game. This game is mostly a straight out shooter, and a damn good one. Adding to the arena fighting are new improved vehicles, the most noticeable, the land stalker, a sort of walking tank.

Default controls are now more shooter friendly. They can still be changed to how they were in the older games, a lock strafe, and FPS mode. All of these are easy and very fluid. This part of the game is probably the best. It is still very easy to dodge enemies, by just jumping around all over the place, using shields, or your bots for covering fire. But this time the game seems harder, as nanotech (health) seems to level up slower, and (for the harder difficulties) getting hit takes a big chunk of health out.

The bots are actually helpful and provide good company. They are needed to take out shields, hack into things, and do other neat stuff, but most importantly they are useful in battles. Being upgradeable, they can take out some easier enemies and cover you while you take the big ones out. They also have an ultimate attack that provides a devastating blow to multiple enemies.

One part that many might find to be a let down is the number of weapons, there are only 10, including the ultimate weapon. But this is not a bad thing. The reason is that this time around there is alpha and omega mods. Alpha mods aren't that important to mess with, as they are basically improvements from leveling up a weapon (i.e. more ammo, better aim, faster fire rate, etc). Omega mods are the familiar ones, they give each weapons a special ability. Some examples are the shock, time-bomb, and acid mods. Shock, enemies hit by the gun (along with close by enemies) get an electrifying shock. Time-bomb attaches a very deadly bomb that when detonated destroys many enemies near by. Acid makes anyone hit by the weapon keep getting hurt by acid. Only one omega mod per weapon and not every weapon can have all the mods. To add to the depth, the weapons in the game can now get to level 99.

Sound.
Just like its predecessors, this game does not let down. The explosions and other effects are top notch, and just awesome. The voice-overs are very well done and provide humor when it's needed. This is basically all there is, music isn't a big part. It's there, but it is mostly just to fill in the background, not meaning it's bad. The background music fits in very well with the given situation. Each planet has its own music for battles and such.

Replay Value.
Deadlocked has capitalized on this factor. Now, aside from the many difficulty levels, and many extras in the main game (like skins, cheats, and leveling up all those weapons), there are many more modes. Added to the line up is the very fun co-op mode that will let you along with someone else play trough the game. Multiplayer has been improved. Since the whole game is based on arena fighting, there are many new types of games, worlds, and vehicles to drive. Online is pretty good to.

Ratchet has been through many adventures in his life, and this is as exciting as any other ones he's had. For those expecting platforming, this game is not that. What it is though, is a fantastic shooter with depth and some of the best replay value I have ever seen. Considering the game is short, and a blast to play, with all the extras, you'll find yourself playing for many hours.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/24/05, Updated 12/26/05