Charge Boots are an optional gadget in Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal, Deadlocked and Tools of Destruction. They produce kinetic energy that propels Ratchet forward at a high speeds for a short amount of time before slowing, and allow the player to move through levels faster. Different Charge Boots have been manufactured by Megacorp, Gadgetron, Vox Industries and GrummelNet Industries, with slightly different appearances in the design of the boots and the color of the trail they leave behind.
In A Crack in Time, Ratchet can acquire the hoverboots, which render the Charge Boots obsolete in each following entry of the series. The design for the hoverboots in Rift Apart heavily resemble the Charge Boots from Tools of Destruction.
History[]
Going Commando[]
Ratchet won the Megacorp Charge Boots from the first "Amateur Circuit" race on Joba in the Megacorp Hoverbike Race. Biker Two gave them reluctantly after Ratchet won, as he wanted the boots himself.[1] These Charge Boots emitted a blue kinetic trail.
Up Your Arsenal[]
The Charge Boots, functionally and visually identical to those from Megacorp, were found on planet Daxx, the location of Dr. Nefarious's secret weapons facility, on the island where the Star Explorer landed. They were required to reach a titanium bolt on the same location.
While it can be acquired in the multiplayer mode, the prolonged speed boost function is not available outside of the campaign.
Deadlocked[]
Ratchet later acquired different DreadZone Charge Boots, after completing the last challenge, "Showdown with Shellshock", on Kronos. These differed in that they emitted a yellow kinetic trail and were more compact and tight-fitting. Functionally, they also did not give a prolonged burst of speed, providing instead a short and powerful one.
Tools of Destruction[]
Ratchet found a pair of Charge Boots on planet Mukow at the end of "Trail of Turning Terror" within the Imperial Fight Festival on Mukow. Unlike previous Charge Boots, they were blue in design, and easier to steer and control, with a shorter burst of speed.
Gameplay[]
In Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal, the player must quickly press twice to propel Ratchet forward in the direction he was facing, and holding will allow them to continue moving at a slower speed, with the ability to steer.
In Deadlocked and Tools of Destruction, they instead provided a small, powerful burst of speed, rather than a prolonged one.
Behind the scenes[]
The Charge Boots were added late to Going Commando. For Tabora and Grelbin, Insomniac wished to give the player a mechanism to quickly move around the area, which was originally going to be a small floating car (iterations of which are found in the Insomniac Museum). The Charge Boots rendered this redundant.[2]
In Up Your Arsenal, the kinetic energy trail from the boots changes from blue to a light shade of green in the Holostar Studios and in Metropolis on Kerwan.
Citations[]
References[]
- Video games
- Insomniac Games (2003). Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2004). Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal [Game]. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2005). Ratchet: Deadlocked [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2007). Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.
- Videos
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2011). Ratchet & Clank 2 Dev Commentary: 37 - Insomniac Museum (Bonus 3)youtube-id=hoodKxjvPTc.