The Lava Gun is a weapon manufactured by Megacorp in Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal, and Up Your Arsenal's multiplayer mode. It functions similarly to a flamethrower, firing a continuous thin stream of lava at enemies.
In Going Commando, the Lava Gun can be upgraded to the Meteor Gun, which fires meteors instead. In Up Your Arsenal, the Lava Gun instead upgrades to the Liquid Nitrogen Gun, which fires a continuous stream of liquid nitrogen that freezes enemies.
Characteristics[]
The Lava Gun is a long rifle with various shades of dark red and gray paint. It features a left-hand grip, and a canister of lava preceding a cone-shaped nozzle. It spews out an orange-red stream of lava a short distance from the nozzle.
The Meteor Gun and the Liquid Nitrogen Gun upgrades both share largely the same appearance. The weapon is longer with a much larger canister that takes up more space, with only a left-hand grip, a few tubes, and a much larger nozzle. The Liquid Nitrogen Gun only differs in color, being completely blue rather than orange and red.
Gameplay[]
Overview[]
Ratchet using the Lava Gun.
The Lava Gun fires a continuous stream of lava that burns enemies for moderate damage. The stream follows Ratchet's movement, letting him sweep it across groups of foes. Spinning causes the lava to arc in a circle around him, making it useful against enemies that close in from behind. Performing flips increases the stream's reach by twisting it through the air, though it takes practice to hit targets reliably this way. First-person aiming is technically possible, but too slow to be practical.
The Lava Gun excels against swarms of smaller enemies thanks to its wide coverage, ease of use, and large ammo supply. While less effective against tougher foes, it still contributes steady damage.
Going Commando[]
Ratchet using the Meteor Gun.
The Lava Gun is available from a Megacorp vendor for 25,000 bolts upon reaching the mining area on Tabora. With use, it upgrades into the fundamentally different Meteor Gun. In challenge mode, the Meteor Gun can be further upgraded to the Mega Meteor Gun for 200,000 bolts, and then to the Ultra Meteor Gun.
On its own, the Meteor Gun suffers from short range and erratic spread. With the Lock-On Mod, however, it becomes a reliable medium-range weapon, functioning like a more powerful version of the Heavy Lancer. Because its damage was balanced around its initial drawbacks (200 shots remove about 80% of the Mutant Protopet's health), the lock-on upgrade makes it one of the most powerful and cost-efficient weapons in the game.
Up Your Arsenal[]
Ratchet using the Liquid Nitrogen Gun.
The Lava Gun can be purchased from Slim Cognito on Aquatos for 40,000 bolts, or obtained for free with a Going Commando save file. Here, it upgrades into the Liquid Nitrogen Gun, which functions similarly but freezes weaker enemies and shatters them on death. In challenge mode, the Mega Liquid Nitrogen Gun is available from any Gadgetron vendor for 260,000 bolts.
At V2 the weapon inflicts lingering acid damage, at V3 it gains lock-on capability, and at V5 it transforms into the Liquid Nitrogen Gun. Like its predecessor, it is especially effective against groups of small or medium enemies, though later weapons such as the Plasma Coil and the Qwack-O-Ray ultimately surpass it.
Behind the scenes[]
The Meteor Gun in Going Commando received particularly bad feedback for being an upgrade that changed the purpose of the Lava Gun. The Lava Gun was designed to be similar to the Pyrocitor in terms of spinning around to damage nearby enemies, but the Meteor Gun undid this, leading to criticism. The original thoughts when developing it were that the Meteor Gun was stronger and dealt more damage, and was thus an improvement, without thought given to the functionality change. The criticism led to changing the upgrade to the Liquid Nitrogen Gun for Up Your Arsenal.[1]
In a video for A Crack in Time around the time of the My Blaster Runs Hot weapon contest, Brian Allgeier listed the Lava Gun as his ninth favorite weapon of the series.[2]
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.
- Videos
- Allgeier, Brian [Games @Insomniac Games] (2011, April 27). Allgeier's Top 10 Ratchet Weapons - Behind the Scenes - RCF: ACIT [Video]. YouTube.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2011, July 16). Ratchet & Clank 2 Dev Commentary: 13A - Glider and Mike's Bad Dynamo Setups [Video]. YouTube.