Finally, fans of "American Gladiators" and furries have something in common. Insomniac Games recently released yet another iteration of its popular "Ratchet & Clank" series, with the now Clank-less "Ratchet: Deadlocked."
It's no coincidence that Clank didn't make the title of the game — he's now been reduced to a relatively unseen supporting character who, every dozen missions, pops up to say something relatively meaningless. This overall belittling of a character long pivotal to the plotline of the series seems more like a slap in the face to long-time fans than a necessary step for the games.
But that's a pretty minor gripe. After all, Clank has never been the star of "Ratchet & Clank" games. The fuzzy, witty, absurdly-huge-weapon-wielding lombax (an alien race characterized by its big, floppy ears and other cat-like qualities) has always been the one that gamers really loved, so it comes as no surprise that Insomniac chose to take his career solo.
Wait, what's that? Ratchet is now a cyborg and spits maybe a little more than a handful of cheesy lines? Interesting.
As is probably evident by now, "Ratchet: Deadlocked" is a drastic change in an otherwise successful series. While one can only assume Insomniac had the best of intentions when making these changes, they are without a doubt a step in the wrong direction and need to be remedied next time around.
Gone are the excellent platforming sequences of the first three games. Gone are the entertaining plot-points and ability to upgrade your own spaceship. Gone are many of the aspects that seemed to be the bread-and-butter of this series.
The newest "Ratchet" title sees Ratchet & Clank captured by Gleeman Vox, who runs the successful TV show "Dreadzone." He fixes Ratchet with robotic upgrades and attaches an exploding collar to his neck, giving him no choice but to compete on "Dreadzone," a robotic, over-the-top version of "American Gladiators."
While this may sound like the best idea a game developer has had in quite some time, it winds up feeling somewhat stagnant and forced. Cut-scenes are few and far between in the new "Ratchet," though they do offer glimpses of genius when they actually happen. One of the best aspects of this series is the sense of humor displayed by its writing team, but their talent goes relatively unseen in "Deadlocked."
Though "Deadlocked" certainly isn't what some fans were hoping for, that's not to say the game is devoid of any fun. On the contrary, there are literally hours of incredible game play awaiting anyone willing to put up with the game's lackluster storyline. Battles are fast and frenzied, rivaling the action seen in blockbusters like "Halo" and "Resident Evil 4." Granted, it's more like "Resident Evil 4" cross-bred with "Animal Crossing," but the combat is nothing to scoff at.
Ratchet is accompanied in the Dreadzone by two robotic helpers, who follow him through various arenas and lend a helping hand when assistance is needed. Most of the time, however, they are getting destroyed by Dreadzone opponents and need Ratchet to repair their injuries.
It's kind of nice to have a couple of badass robots watching Ratchet's back throughout the intense combat, but when they display the intelligence of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, it's less than thrilling. The time spent repairing broken robots is perhaps only outweighed by the time spent thinking, "Gee, I'm not really sure why Paris-bot just stood there watching the horde of enemies kill me — and why is Nicole-a-tron staring at that wall?" Of course, this is an exaggeration, but the AI is arguably a little sketchy at times and leads to more deaths than it does moments of love for robotic teammates.
Interestingly, "Deadlocked" offers some of the most impressive visuals yet to be seen on Playstation 2. The amount of action taking place onscreen at any given moment is truly staggering, with an incredible amount of detail packed into every aspect of the game. They may be a tad cartoony, but one would be hard-pressed to find another PS2 title to rival the visuals of "Deadlocked." After seeing what Insomniac can do with the PS2's aging hardware, it's hard to not get excited about future "Ratchet" games on the PS3.
The highlight of "Deadlocked" is undoubtedly the vast array of weapons available to Ratchet throughout his adventures. This time through, Ratchet can equip any of his weapons with various modifications, all in an effort to get the most out of every firearm. It's incredibly satisfying to discover the right mod for the right weapon — definitely as close as this game gets to genius. The first time a player learns the beauty of the ice mod on the dual machine guns is an experience not to be forgotten.
The weapons are great fun to tamper with, but on the whole, they aren't all incredibly useful. In fact, one can easily make his or her way through the entire game using only three weapons, completely disregarding the rest of the available arms. Melee weapons have never proven themselves incredibly useful in this series, and the Scorpion Flail is easily the most useless item in "Deadlocked." Other than the Dual Vipers, the Magma Cannon and the Arbiter, the weapons go widely unused and seem to be little more than half-baked concepts.
Perhaps what hurts "Deadlocked" most of all is the fact that it's been too much Ratchet in too short of a time. "Up Your Arsenal" came out just a year ago, making it far too soon to come back out of the gates with another "Ratchet" game. Insomniac seems to be taking a cue from the "Tony Hawk" series, trying to crank out a new game every year without any sign of stopping.
Fans of well-crafted, gorgeous levels and high amounts of plotless action would do well to check out "Ratchet: Deadlocked." For everyone else … there's always "God of War."
Rating: 3 out of 5
