As the only Ratchet & Clank game I played from start to finish before this week, due to it being short and sweet with the most addictive gameplay loop thus far, Deadlocked was a fun one to return to.
Deadlocked is quite the departure from the original trilogy from a gameplay and tonal perspective. It essentially comes across as The Running Man for kids, with Ratchet forced to compete in an intergalactic gladiator game show known as 'DreadZone' in order to win his freedom. With Clank taking on more of a mission control role this time around, Ratchet is instead aided by two repurposed combat bots known as Merc and Green, who provide some much needed combat assistance and levity on the battlefield.
As you'd expect, the focus is much more on combat than ever before in the series, with platforming kept to a minimum in order to just get you from A to B, instead of providing you with traversal challenges to spice things up. It's an understandable change, given where Deadlocked's priorities lie, and its absence would have been felt more had the game been any longer.
Naturally, combat feels the best it has in these games so far. The arsenal they provide you with in Deadlocked is perhaps not as inventive or dynamic as ones before, but they're definitely the most satisfying to wield and modify thanks to the weapon mods and damage effects you can apply to them as you rank up.
This is the first entry with an adjustable difficulty, and it definitely makes sense, as you can easily feel overpowered quite quickly if you just focus your attention on your favorite weapon and rank it to its max level. Or, of course, you can set it lower and live your power fantasy to the fullest, which won't provide you with much challenge, but will make you feel unstoppable in the game's arenas.
The narrative is a very simple yet effective 'zero to hero' story, with Ratchet rising in the ranks and taking the crown from reigning champion Ace Hardlight. What makes it stand out, though, is the camaraderie shared between Ratchet, Clank and Al as they reckon with the harsh and violent world of DreadZone. There are some great little character moments scattered between each arena, as well as some hilarious vignettes of DreadZone trying desperately to market themselves in increasingly bizarre ways.
Despite the heavy stakes Ratchet and crew are presented with, it still manages to feel light and fun in that classic Ratchet & Clank way, without betraying the game's core concept.
Deadlocked is a really solid little entry into the series, with some truly great character writing and biting satire interspersed. The one thing that really holds it back for me, though, is its repetitive nature. Each planet you visit gives you a series of objectives that are ostensibly the exact same each time but dressed up slightly differently. They throw some variables in there now and then, and like I said, the game is short and the combat is fun enough for it not to seem too dull, but it really does feel like you're going through the motions for a lot of this game.
Still, a really great epilogue to the PS2 era of Ratchet & Clank, with satisfying combat that still holds up very well today.
8/10
Deadlocked is quite the departure from the original trilogy from a gameplay and tonal perspective. It essentially comes across as The Running Man for kids, with Ratchet forced to compete in an intergalactic gladiator game show known as 'DreadZone' in order to win his freedom. With Clank taking on more of a mission control role this time around, Ratchet is instead aided by two repurposed combat bots known as Merc and Green, who provide some much needed combat assistance and levity on the battlefield.
As you'd expect, the focus is much more on combat than ever before in the series, with platforming kept to a minimum in order to just get you from A to B, instead of providing you with traversal challenges to spice things up. It's an understandable change, given where Deadlocked's priorities lie, and its absence would have been felt more had the game been any longer.
Naturally, combat feels the best it has in these games so far. The arsenal they provide you with in Deadlocked is perhaps not as inventive or dynamic as ones before, but they're definitely the most satisfying to wield and modify thanks to the weapon mods and damage effects you can apply to them as you rank up.
This is the first entry with an adjustable difficulty, and it definitely makes sense, as you can easily feel overpowered quite quickly if you just focus your attention on your favorite weapon and rank it to its max level. Or, of course, you can set it lower and live your power fantasy to the fullest, which won't provide you with much challenge, but will make you feel unstoppable in the game's arenas.
The narrative is a very simple yet effective 'zero to hero' story, with Ratchet rising in the ranks and taking the crown from reigning champion Ace Hardlight. What makes it stand out, though, is the camaraderie shared between Ratchet, Clank and Al as they reckon with the harsh and violent world of DreadZone. There are some great little character moments scattered between each arena, as well as some hilarious vignettes of DreadZone trying desperately to market themselves in increasingly bizarre ways.
Despite the heavy stakes Ratchet and crew are presented with, it still manages to feel light and fun in that classic Ratchet & Clank way, without betraying the game's core concept.
Deadlocked is a really solid little entry into the series, with some truly great character writing and biting satire interspersed. The one thing that really holds it back for me, though, is its repetitive nature. Each planet you visit gives you a series of objectives that are ostensibly the exact same each time but dressed up slightly differently. They throw some variables in there now and then, and like I said, the game is short and the combat is fun enough for it not to seem too dull, but it really does feel like you're going through the motions for a lot of this game.
Still, a really great epilogue to the PS2 era of Ratchet & Clank, with satisfying combat that still holds up very well today.
8/10