Official Website

Platform: PlayStation 2

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1 - 4 + Online

Peripherals: USB Headset, USB Keyboard, Broadband Adaptor (2 - 10 players)

Just a few years ago, if you had mentioned "Ratchet and Clank," anyone with a PS2 wouldn't have a vague idea of what you were talking about save for the few that were aware of the game. Now, just about everyone knows who Ratchet and Clank are and their PS2 adventures have become favorites. The duo are a part of Sony's next generation of video game heroes and the days of having to save the Mushroom Kingdom or wandering the world of Hyrule aren't nearly as appealing as they were a decade ago. Last year's Ratchet and Clank made reviewers ecstatic, and gamers drool with their third game that was near perfection. I was hoping however that we wouldn't see the pair again until the PS3, but they are back . . . at least one of them is.

Ratchet and Clank have saved the universe three times over now, but now it's Ratchet that's going to need saving. He has been kidnapped along with Clank and Al by Gleeman Vox, a criminal mastermind who has created the most sensational combat sport in the universe: DreadZone. Ratchet is now an unwilling participant . . . . ummmm . . . . not really unwilling I guess; he's thrilled about being a part of the death matches. The problem is that he's been fitting with a collar that, should he not do as told, will kill him and there's apparently no way to remove it unless he fights his way to the top of the heap.

I wouldn't consider Ratchet: Deadlocked to be a sequel to Sony and Insomniac Games best selling series so much as it is a side adventure. Deadlocked takes the popular arena events seen in the previous titles and makes it the main focus, and anyone who has played R&C and undoubtedly spent a number of hours trying to complete these battles, unlock new challenges, and earn enough bolts to buy some of those more expensive weapons and gadgets. If you think that this is going to be a completely different type of game however, it's still the same Ratchet and Cl . . . I mean, Ratchet, that you all know and love.

Unlike the arena challenges in the series, you won't be stuck in some small combat area, and instead, Ratchet will move from planet to planet, each with deadly challenges and goals as well as new enemies that he's never before encountered. You'll be so busy fighting for your life you won't even have time to some of the finer things in life, like hack into computerized locks, but Al has come up with the solution. He has purchased a pair of Battle Bots, Green and Merc, from a contestant that "no longer needs them." They will provide additional firepower for you, but they can do quite a bit more. You can have them hack into locks and should the enemies swarm, you can instruct the other to protect his fellow bot. They can toss EMP bombs to knock out indestructible shields, they can toss up temporary grind rails and should they fall during combat, you can simply have them reconstructed in the heat of battle. Your bots will also gain experience, of a sort, as they kill the enemies in DreadZone and once they've increased their meter enough, you can instruct them to unleash a devastating attack. All of this will be done using the D-pad, and it's very easy to use.

As with some of the prior R&C games, defeating enemies earns you experience and increases your level, thus improving the strength of your armor. You weapons will gain experience as well based on the enemies defeated while using them, but there has been a slight change here. By adding modifications onto weapons, you can add a variety of different effects. Omega Modifications will add status effects onto weapons while Alpha Mods increase the overall performance, like the rate of fire and the amount of ammunition that the weapon can hold. These can be added or removed at any time and many are interchangeable between weapons. The Battle Bots can be upgraded and their appearance can be changed as well, so you'll be spending many of those hard earned bolts for not only weapons, but also upgrades.

Each of the combat worlds has skill points that can be earned and later spent on additional features for the game. You will find the details for what needs to be done prior to starting combat and some of these are incredibly challenging. Also, by completing the initial combat course, you will open up a series of Dread Challenges on the world that will earn you not only bolts but Dread Points. You can check your standings at the Containment Area (your new home) to see how you rank against the other contestants on DreadZone. Ratchet will also find himself in some tremendous and challenging battles as he moves higher in the tournament and is forced to face some of Vox's most deadly players, and with Ratchet doing so well, they would love nothing more than to take him out of the game for good.

You will find some familiar gadgets included, such as the rocket boots, the swing shot, and the grind boots, but Ratchet has some other new toys that he can play with. The Land Stalker is a mechanized behemoth that is a walking tower of terror. This mecha can not only crush enemies and annihilate them with its cannons; it has a destructive barrage of missiles that can target multiple foes. Ratchet will also find himself hopping onto a hoverbike, driving through treacherous terrain in a modified four-wheel drive and even blasting enemies from the skies in a hovership. You'll also find that outside of gadget and vehicles, Ratcher has a number of weapons that can be purchased or even won in DreadZone, so you'll have your work cut out for you. The good thing is that it is extremely easy most of the time to have enough bolts on-hand to buy any available item and if not, you can always take on Dread Challenges again and bring in more cash.

If the story mode isn't quite enough for you, Deadlocked features a co-op mode where you and a friend can try to tackle the challenges of DreadZone together, and "challenge" is really the key word in this case. You will be sharing the same arsenal of weapons, and that means that you're drawing from the same ammunition pool, so you can see where the trouble really can be in this case. If you still are craving further action and fanfare, Deadlocked features an online mode of play where you can take on other DreadZone players. You will find death matches, king of the hill, capture the flag, and juggernaut (he with the most kills wins) all available for you to play.

I didn't really notice much different with Ratchet: Deadlocked as far as the graphics are concerned. The game looks very much the same as the previous two releases in the series, but based on the last game, the series definitely is not in need of improvement visually. You'll find though that the designers have once again included plenty of "commercial" breaks (or cut scenes in this case) as well as the return of some familiar faces such as Courtney Gears and maybe even a few other heroes and a villain or two. I don't think that we'll see any major visual changes until a PS3 release of the series.

I wasn't pleased when the announcement for Ratchet: Deadlocked came about, and I really was thinking that this would be something that might spoil the Ratchet and Clank name, especially considering how great the last game was. However, this really isn't a sequel so much as just a side adventure, and being a fan of the arena battles in the other games, this actually is an incredibly fun game and an interesting use of a phase of the R&C games that, for all intents and purposes, is quite minor. Deadlock really does the series some justice and doesn't take away from what many already consider to be a good thing. Deadlocked will certainly appease fans of the series and give them hours of joy blowing up everything and everything, and that's the way it should be.

-mike-