Ratchet: Deadlocked

Ratchet: Deadlocked, titled as Ratchet: Gladiator in Europe and Australia, and Ratchet & Clank 4th: GiriGiri Ginga no Giga Battle in Japan, is an action/shooter game that is the fourth in the Ratchet & Clank series. This game features many upgrades from its predecessor, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. It was released on October 25, 2005 in North America.

Modes
The game includes many of the same modes of gameplay as Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal such as online games with nine other people (ten people max to a game), and many of the same weapons. New modes and attributes include co-op gameplay in single player mode (better named, "story mode" now), and newer, more devastating vehicles. Also, the addition of a vastly more RPG style in the form of custom armor and weapons.

Multi-Player
The online mode features five modes: A completely revamped version of Up Your Arsenal ' s "Siege" (in which players captured nodes and attacked the enemy base) called Conquest. This new mode features nodes which players must capture and vote upon upgrades to sustain their lead. Points are awarded for taking and defending nodes as well as several kill variations (Sharp shooter for a sniper kill, road kill for running over an enemy, and a Humiliation kill for defeating a foe with the series trademark default weapon the wrench). Other modes are classic multiplayer modes such as Capture the Flag (CTF), Deathmatch (Team Deathmatch is also part of this), King of the Hill, and Juggernaut. The losing players or teams have their Deadlock Collars detonated. Each mode is changed to fit with the Ratchet & Clank universe, but still retain their main objectives and play styles. The online multiplayer is still highly popular, with hundreds of players logging on each day. Insomniac has removed Ratchet's sidekick, Clank, as a playable character. In addition, many of the platforming elements from the previous games, including gadget-based puzzles, have been removed.

The second mode of multiplayer is local play which enables up to 4 players with the use of a multitap to play against each other. Unlike the first game, local play only lets you choose from 4 colors instead of 8, and has all the options of online play, except you don't have your name floating above your head, so you instead Player 1, Player 2, Player 3 and Player 4. Also, the screen is split up to be shared with 3 other players.

Plot
Heroes from all over the galaxy have been kidnapped, and some of them were turning up dead. The captured heroes have been forced to, regardless of whether they wanted to or not, compete on the leading Holo-Vision program in the criminal Shadow Sector of the Solana galaxy: DreadZone, the brainchild of the media magnate Gleeman Vox, which was watched by trillions of sentient beings throughout the sector. It featured illegal, uncensored, gladiatorial combat to the death, with the former hero Ace Hardlight as its uncontested and undefeated champion. Regardless of whether he liked it or not, Ratchet was forced into becoming the newest contestant on DreadZone. Ratchet, to everyone's surprise was eventually able to defeat every exterminator, including Ace Hardlight. Ratchet became the grand champion of DreadZone. Gleeman Vox offered Ratchet a huge deal to make Ratchet head of the Exterminators and to make Ratchet-related products. Ratchet turned it down. Then later, Clank and Al reprogramed the DreadZone shuttle to take Ratchet to the control level. Ratchet destroyed the containment fields, freed all the heroes and defeated Gleeman Vox himself. Vox then set the station to self-destruct, as part of a plan to have Ratchet and Vox to die together on live Holo-Vision, giving Vox the best ratings he had ever had, but at the last second, Clank brought a ship that rescued Ratchet. Ratchet first rescued Slugha and left Vox to die alone, when the DreadZone station blew up with only Vox left in it.

Basics
Ratchet: Deadlocked is quite different from the rest of the Ratchet & Clank franchise games, gameplay-wise. The large levels were replaced by shorter, combat-based (instead of the normal platforming sequences in other games) action sequences that the players may repeat any number of times for extra bolts and Dread points, skill points, or just for fun.

The skill point system had also been altered. Instead of having a single list of skill points (and some of them were not location-dependent), you had a list for each planet/station you visited. This resulted in a huge amount of skill points, since each planet had 15 specific points (165 total), larger than in any other game of the series. Also, unlike in the other Ratchet & Clank games, you were directly told exactly what you needed to do in order to complete the skill point.

Characters

 * Alvaro, Juanita
 * Aquagirl
 * Big Al
 * Clank
 * Eviscerator
 * Green
 * Hardlight, Ace
 * Kid Nova
 * Merc
 * Ratchet
 * Reactor
 * Sasha
 * Shellshock
 * Vox, Gleeman
 * Wanamaker, Dallas

Bosses

 * King Leviathan (Mini-boss)
 * Shellshock
 * Reactor
 * Eviscerator
 * Ace Hardlight
 * Gleeman Vox

Weapons

 * Scorpion Flail
 * Magma Cannon
 * Dual Vipers
 * The Arbiter
 * B6-Obliterator
 * Hunter Mine Launcher
 * Fusion Rifle
 * Holoshield Launcher
 * Miniturret Launcher
 * The Harbinger

All of the weapons in Deadlocked can be upgraded to level 10, and 99 once the game is completed. Once the weapons reach level 99, their visual effect changes to a rainbow-ish shot.



Gadgets

 * Swingshot
 * Grindboots
 * Charge Boots
 * Gravity Boots

Omega Mods

 * Acid
 * Shock
 * Freeze
 * Morph
 * Napalm
 * Mini-Bomb
 * Brainwash
 * Time-Bomb

Alpha Mods

 * Ammo
 * Aiming
 * Impact
 * Speed
 * Area
 * Jackpot
 * XP
 * Health

Planets and locations
(in order of appearance)
 * DreadZone Station
 * DreadZone's Battledome
 * Catacrom Four
 * Sarathos
 * Kronos
 * Shaar
 * Orxon
 * The Valix Belt
 * Torval
 * Stygia
 * Maraxus
 * Ghost Station
 * The Battledome Control Level

Power Ups
There are two powerups only accessible through multiplayer online and local play.
 * Quad Damage - A temporary powerup giving you 4x the power to ALL of your weapons which usually results in a 1 hit kill.
 * Allied Shields - A temporary shield that will surround you for a minute and protect you from heavy damage.

Critical reaction
Deadlocked initially received mixed reviews.

IGN Reviewer Jeremy Dunham wrote: "''Though diehard Ratchet and Clank fans will probably miss the puzzle and platform elements that made the earlier games a more complete experience (this one included), the shooting mayhem of Ratchet: Deadlocked is still a whole hell of a lot of fun. Insomniac's hilarious storytelling doesn't miss a beat even when presented in this year's more limited form either, and the awesome combat sequences are marred only by occasional (but very noticeable) battle slowdown and infrequent camera issues experienced during rail grinding.

''Ratchet's problems are easy to live with, however, when you realize just how much the multiplayer option has to offer. Five different game types, almost a dozen varying planets, plenty of customizable options, several cool power-ups, and an excellent stat tracking system are just a few of the reasons that you and nine other friends can should enjoy your next few months via Network Adaptor. Throw in a cool co-op mode and plenty of unlockable goodies, and you don't need any other reasons to pick this one up''".

It is believed to be the most morally ambiguous and darkest of the original series. The weapons appear to be built in a more destructive sense, they don't have the fun like appearance which they have in the other series. Players who start playing Deadlocked as their first Ratchet & Clank game will take more time to master the other previous titles due to the analog lock-strafing capabilities. The co-op funcionalities make this game, even that the story is short, look a fantastic experience for players who like to team up with friends. Too bad that the other games don't have this funcionality.

Cameos

 * Courtney Gears: Seen on one of Big Al's computer screens, and mentioned by Dallas and Juanita. She is recovering after the UYA boss battle and she appears alongside Reactor as his girlfriend in the Reactor: Introspective cutscene.


 * Dr. Nefarious: Makes a brief cameo at the end looking for the DreadZone station. He is still stuck on a meteorite, and still has that head radio flaw, revealing a hilarious voice over with Lance and Janice.


 * Lawrence: Makes a brief cameo along with Dr. Nefarious.


 * Jak: Unlockable skin in multiplayer. Note that only the second player in the co-op mode can use it due to Ratchet and Jak being dimensional enemy counterparts.


 * Captain Qwark: Makes a small voice cameo at the end of the game, in which he says to Ratchet that the whole "heroes being kidnapped" rumor is false, because nobody came to capture him, and "who could make a series about galactic heroes without Captain Qwark?". His cameo is only heard, not seen, for he is talking to them on a phone call. And there is also a cheat that makes all DreadZone Strikers turn into copies of Captain Qwark and makes them slightly dumber and easier to kill.

One of the vehicles in the game, a buggy with a rear-mounted turret, is called the Puma, the name given in the machinima series Red vs Blue to the Warthog in Halo, a vehicle that performs a similar duty.

Trivia

 * On the Japanese cover, and on preview versions of the game, Merc and Green had legs.
 * Agent Zero's (from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage) name appeared on the scoreboard of heroes competing in DreadZone.
 * This is the only game to date where Ratchet's tail is not visible (excluding the opening cutscene).
 * This game's plot is a parody to the film The Running Man which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was also parodied in this game.