Introduction and Plot
Ratchet: Deadlocked (or Ratchet: Gladiator in Europe, Australia, and South Africa) was released in 2005, and was the last game in the franchise developed by Insomniac to be released on PS2 as two years after this they would make the leap to the next generation with the Future games. There were two more games in the franchise to see PS2 releases, but they were:
- Developed by High Impact Games as opposed to Insomniac
- And were of… dubious quality
Now in charge of the Starship Phoenix from the third game; Ratchet receives a call from Sasha talking about recent hero disappearances, being linked to an underground televised competition called “DreadZone” (referred to as DZ from now on), with DZ drones teleporting aboard the ship to bring Ratchet, Clank, and Big Al into their custody.
They are transported to the DZ Space Station, where all three are fitted with collars that are set to detonate if they try to escape, refuse to participate in DZ challenges, or, as antagonist Gleeman Vox puts it “become boring”. Unlike previous entries, Clank now serves as Ratchet’s support as he competes in arenas and challenges, with two support droids named Merc and Green acting as utility and fire support during gameplay.
The two bots share some banter between each other and observations on whatever situation Ratchet has gotten himself into, which can be entertaining in some scenarios. But much like the commentary from DZ presenters Dallas and Juanita, lines start to get repeated fairly early on, to the point I was able to recite a line fully before it finished in game.
Deadlocked is a radical departure from the action platforming gameplay of the original trilogy, instead focusing more on gunplay and vehicle sections, with the traditional open planets also being scrapped in favour of individual missions on both the DZ Station and planets across the Shadow Sector. I sometimes jokingly refer to this game as “Ratchet’s response to Halo” because of this shift.
Weapons
Despite a greater focus on gunplay; Deadlocked features less weapons than the first game of the series. Whilst the original game had 14 weapons, with sequels increasing this number as well as featuring legacy weapons to fill out the roster, this game has 10 weapons, 2 of which are derivative of legacy weapons, meaning there is technically only 8 original weapons included.
Part of the starting line up includes the Dual Vipers, two rapid-fire submachine guns perfect for crowd control against smaller mobs. However, unlike the rapid-fire weapons of previous entries, the low damage of the Viper rounds will quickly become a detriment as more powerful enemies are introduced to DZ challenges. They do find some utility as a weapon for the best chance of applying debuffs to resilient enemies using Omega Mods.
A returning weapon is the Miniturret Launcher from R&C2, which does find a new lease of life in the more action-oriented scenarios of Deadlocked. Whilst all games put a focus on using your mobility to be decrease your likelihood of being hit Deadlocked provides areas and corridors where a defensive strategy paired with mobility will win the day, which is where this weapon shines. Its upgraded form also diverts away from its origin, becoming a focused laser turret instead of a beefier rocket turret.
And as with all games, there is a R.Y.N.O-style weapon, both expensive and devastating, this time called the Harbinger. The operation of this is pretty unique compared to other variants of the R.Y.N.O, the Harbinger will fire rockets that paint targeting lasers onto the ground, at which point cannons will rain death from above, annihilating everything these enemies know and love. The upgraded version, known as the SuperNova, instead uses these targeting lasers to go Armageddon on your foes, showering them with meteors which leave behind impact craters.
Usually with my Ratchet-based content, I leave the R.Y.N.O equivalent to last, as it is usually the most powerful weapon in the game. This time, I am speaking with my bias and spreading the good word of my favourite weapon in this game: the Scorpion/Leviathan Flail.
Normally, melee weapons outside of the Omniwrench do not tend to interest me. The Walloper is underwhelming compared to even the wrench itself, and the Plasma Whip is boring until upgraded.
The Flail takes all my expectations of a melee weapon and blows them out of the water. With the ability to handle crowds of mobs, small to medium enemies, and even some bosses the Flail offers the more daring user an interesting way to handle enemies close up as opposed to this games shotgun-equivalent, with it earning a mod on level-up to the Leviathan Flail that allows Ratchet to heal from the damage he deals to enemies mitigating the risk.
It has been mentioned briefly throughout this section, but weapon modifications are greatly expanded compared to previous games, with mods comprising of two categories this time round: Alpha Mods and Omega Mods.
- Omega Mods are one per weapon, adding either an elemental aspect to the weapon or a potential debuff, and must be brought from the weapon vendor
- Alpha Mods are up to a total of ten per weapon, and are earned as a weapon levels up with the option to purchase new mods in Challenge Mode
My advice? Put Shock on everything. Even with the low damage weapons Shock can turn the higher difficulties of the game into a complete cakewalk, and in the right scenarios can make your PS2 cry from slowdown as it struggles to render explosions, lightning effects and enemy bits flying everywhere as you rip and tear until it is done.
Gameplay
DZ Space Station acts as your hub level, this is where you start the game and return to after earning enough medals from completing challenges on other planets. Most plot progression fights/tournaments take place here and this is also where you can buy new weapons, upgrades, and cosmetics for your combat bots. There is also a little podium where you can check your DZ ranking against other contestants, who you never see so it is a bit pointless. Clank is also situated at this station and he serves no purpose except for cutscenes.
As mentioned, the game has done away with exploration on planets, with the form of challenges taking its place. Each planet has between 3-7 primary challenges which are needed to earn medals to participate in the progression tournaments, and 1-3 secondary challenges unlocked after completing the primary challenges on most planets. Secondary challenges are mainly for bolts and “DreadPoints”, a minimum of which are needed to advance to other planets.
Hidden collectibles such as gold/platinum bolts are not included in this entry, instead the skill point system is expanded upon from previous games, with each planet having 15 total skill points to earn and earning bolts when one is achieved. The criteria for these can vary with some persisting themes:
- Complete a challenge on X difficulty level
- Defeat X number of enemies with Y weapon
- Defeat X number of enemies within Y timeframe
- Complete a challenge without healing/taking damage
- Complete a challenge within X timeframe
- Inflict X amount of debuffs with Omega Mods
All the criteria for the skill points are clearly described in the list for each planet, so achieving them is not the same as completing the obscure tasks required of you in previous entries.
Like previous entries however they are still used for unlocking cheats, most of which are aesthetic minus 3 which add mods to your wrench and vehicle or give Ratchet a Ninja skin which improves his speed and physical capabilities. The aesthetic cheats range from changing the colours on your HUD, adding permanent weather effects to the world around you, or letting you hold one Dual Viper sideways to look more badass.
The game’s presentation definitely shifted more towards darker colour palettes to fit the themes of the game more, thankfully this doesn’t lead into the mid-2000s territory of “everything is brown and dreary” as there is diversity in colours used, the overall aesthetic is just edgier. And as usual, the game runs at 60fps if you are not torturing it with Shock mod.
There are some options for exploration within missions themselves, though this normally just leads to more of a certain type of enemy needed to fulfil a skill point, or a Jackpot crate which is just filled with a lot of bolts.
RPG elements present in previous games remained, with XP being used to upgrade your health and weapons once more. Weapons can go up to Level 10 on a first playthrough, and once upgraded to a “Mega” variant in Challenge Mode can be levelled all the way up to Level 99.
For the first time in the series, you were able to set your difficulty before loading up your save file, ranging from “Couch Potato” (1 star), going through “Contestant” (2 stars), “Gladiator” (3 stars), “Hero” (4 stars), and finally reaching “Exterminator” (5 stars) being unlocked upon completion of the game. My recommendation is Contestant if you are new to the franchise and going up if you want a challenge. Coach Potato is way too mindless to be fun at points in my opinion.
Armour is unlocked through gameplay progression this time round, but all it does is offer a visual bonus with no impact on damage reduction. To this end you could be better off using one of the many skins that can be unlocked in the extras menu using the stars earned from completing challenges.
Due to the gunplay taking centre-stage, there are actually very few gadgets Ratchet himself can use this time, any and all gadget play is relegated to the combat bots who can be commanded to use gadgets with the D-Pad, making sections of them using something like the Hacker Ray more like an escort mission than anything else.
Vehicles now form a more integral part of the game, with multiple primary and secondary challenges putting you in control of one of four different vehicle options, three of which are returning/revamped.
Returning from the previous game is the Hovership. With more refined controls than the previous entry and a slightly expanded arsenal, in addition to a damaging primary cannon there are now missiles that can be locked onto multiple enemies at once making it useful for dealing with both ground and airborne threats.
Also returning but in a slightly adjusted form is the Hoverbike, last seen in R&C2. Whereas the Megacorp hoverbikes are more geared towards racing around tracks the DZ hoverbikes are more combat-focused, being able to strafe and having machine guns mounted on the front for skirmishes. Challenges centred around the bike tend to be more focused on speed.
Building on the foundation of the Turbo Slider from R&C2, the Puma is a vehicle that has good speed capabilities paired with good offensive capabilities, equipped with machine guns on the front of the car if simple roadkill isn’t enough for you, and a more powerful energy cannon mounted on the top that can be aimed by a passenger.
Finally, and completely original to this game, is the Landstalker. A quadrupedal walking tank, again equipped with machine guns but now also carrying plasma mortars that can be locked onto enemies before firing, allowing you to either eliminate a handful of medium enemies or concentrate your firepower on one large target. The Landstalker is often used in auto-walking target gallery challenges, requiring you to earn a specific number of points before reaching the end.
Multiplayer was included again with it encompassing more of the game. The main campaign could now be played entirely cooperatively, with you and your partner gaining access to the gadgets your combat bots would use normally, and there was competitive multiplayer with an online mode that lasted until 2012 when the PS2 servers were shut down. If anything, I just love that this is another way the PS2 enjoyed such a long active lifespan as a console.
Controls
There is not much to comment on regarding the controls this time round, as Insomniac continued to use the fantastic system that had practically perfected with R&C3. There is no Clank this time around for thruster pack moves so everything is solely on Ratchet who controls the same as before, strafing and flipping from side-to-side during combat feels good to use.
The Puma and Hovership control practically identical to their previous iterations, with some tightening of the Puma’s controls to adjust for the fact it is used for racing style missions now. The Hoverbike feels slightly floatier and not as tight to control as I would want it to be, but for the few missions where it sees use this is not much to complain about.
And the Landstalker is… alright. Being heavy artillery, it is obviously a slow-moving vehicle, with some options for mobility in the fact it can leap to dodge out of the way or move towards a goal faster. This would be fine except for higher difficulties where the enemies are tougher, outputting more damage than you are, and you are in a tin can that will soon become your coffin.
Final thoughts
Deadlocked is a perfectly good game if you are interested in experiencing the mission style structure of the gameplay and how the more gunplay focused approach plays out. My main comment to make that this would be a perfectly fine standalone title if it were not for the Ratchet and Clank branding.
This is not a Ratchet game, this has no business being a Ratchet game, it is perfectly enjoyable on its own but compared to the games preceding it (and then the games following on from it); you can definitely tell this was supposed to be something else entirely during development.
I still enjoyed playing it all the same, and it provided a good challenge as well. If you find this cheap for PS2 or PS3 and fancy giving it a go, I recommend picking it up, especially if you can find a friend to play along in co-op with you.
Rosalia's Rambles 