Dr. Nefarious' party crasher is a custom parade infiltrator hovercraft, with a vehicle-grade hologuise projector, armed with guided missiles and nimblox laser cannons. It is the first major boss fight of Rift Apart.
History[]
Rift Apart[]
Dr. Nefarious used this in the opening sequence of Rift Apart to infiltrate the Festival of Heroes in Megalopolis on Corson V. This enabled him to hide in plain sight, disguised as a parade float of himself, allowing him to get close enough to Ratchet and Clank to steal the Dimensionator. The Doctor used the mech to battle Ratchet and Clank soon after when they pursued him throughout the city. It was then critically damaged, forcing Nefarious to abandon it and fulfill his true goal of using the Dimensionator to transport the three of them to a dimension where he always wins.
Combat[]
Art of the combat ready Party Crasher.
At this point in Rift Apart Ratchet does not have access to his advanced movement options like the Phantom Dash and Hoverboots that he acquires later, leaving him to use his classic moveset. The mech has two nimblox laser cannon attacks. The first is a straight horizontal sweep, which can be jumped over or avoided by using the flower beds in the area as cover. The second attack however, will track Ratchet and follow his position. This is much harder to avoid as the laser will travel to Ratchet faster than he can walk, leaving the sprint ability and side flips as useful but not very reliable to use when evading it. The flowerbeds can again be used as cover against it, but they will inevitably break and much quicker on higher difficulties, eventually leaving you with nothing to hide behind. The best way to get away from the tracking laser is to use the rifts you can tether to on each side of the arena to quickly get away, before it can get too close. On Challenge Mode, the Void Repulser's shield can block the laser, eliminating the need to avoid it.
Art of the Party Crasher in its parade balloon hologuise.
The guided missile attacks will paint red target reticles over the arena, giving you the opportunity to quickly run away from them or rift tether to the other side of the battlefield quickly. Close ranged weapons like the Enforcer are not well suited for fighting the mech, as it will float just beyond the arena, requiring you to get as close as possible to it to land any hits. At 75% health, it will fly out to the distance and several rifts containing horned toads will appear that need to be killed to continue the fight. At 45% the same will happen, but with sandsharks and amoeboids coming from the rifts.
Behind the scenes[]
The party crasher appears as an allusion to the Gadgetron Insta Mech used by Nefarious in Ratchet & Clank (2016 game), considering its great similarity in design.