Developer : Insomniac Games
Release date : 2005
Synopsis :
Ratchet: Deadlocked (known as Ratchet: Gladiator in Europe, Australia and Africa, and Ratchet & Clank 4 in Japan) is a 2005 action platformer, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 as the fourth installment of the Ratchet & Clank series.
The game’s story begins as Ratchet, Clank, and Al are abducted and forced to compete in “DreadZone”, a violent game show in which heroes are forced to kill each other. Ratchet is given a “DeadLock” collar, which will explode if he becomes uncooperative or boring. The three must find a way to deactivate the collars and free the other heroes being held prisoner. Deadlocked was the last Ratchet & Clank game to be rated T, despite the introduction of the E10+ rating earlier that year. It’s also the last main series Ratchet & Clank game to be released on PlayStation 2.
The gameplay is similar to that of other games in the series, but focuses more on shooter aspects rather than platforming. The player, as Ratchet, fights in DreadZone tournaments across the “Shadow Sector” in the “Solana” Galaxy, with a large variety of weapons. This game was the first in the series to feature cooperative gameplay in a story mode, and also includes an online multiplayer mode. Some vehicles return from previous games, and new ones are introduced. For the first time, Clank (in his typical form) was not a playable character.
Deadlocked was met with generally favorable reviews, although slightly lower than its predecessors, with some criticism being aimed at its darker tone, repetitive gameplay and level design, and the removal of Clank as a playable character. It was also a commercial success, selling 2.1 million copies by 2007.
Following the events of Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet, Clank and Big Al have been given the job of running the Starship Phoenix. After the crew are informed that many heroes have disappeared, robot troops overrun the Phoenix, taking Ratchet, Clank, and Al captive.
They are transported to the Shadow Sector, a lawless region of space on the edge of the Solana Galaxy. Ratchet meets Gleeman Vox, the creator of DreadZone, a barbaric game show in which contestants are forced to kill each other for public entertainment. Ratchet is forced to compete in DreadZone, and is fitted with a “DeadLock” collar which will explode if he becomes uncooperative or boring. Collectively referred to as “Team DarkStar”, Ratchet and his combat bots, Merc and Green must fight for their lives while Clank serves as Ratchet’s “Mission Engineer”.
Ratchet competes in a variety of DreadZone challenges, quickly becoming DreadZone’s most popular contestant despite Vox’s numerous slander campaigns against him, leaving Dreadzone’s previous star, Ace Hardlight jealous. Ratchet is eventually sent to compete against Ace, who Ratchet defeats. As Ratchet leaves, Ace tells him to not let Vox corrupt him. Afterwards, Vox offers to make Ratchet a new exterminator and turn him into DreadZone’s superstar, but he is enraged when Ratchet refuses and decides to have him participate in an arena scientifically proven to be unbeatable, which he narrowly wins.
Meanwhile, Clank devises a plan to escape from the DreadZone facility by reprogramming the arena transport pod to take Ratchet to the station’s control level. Here, he can destroy the central computer and deactivate the containment field holding all of the heroes hostage.
Upon his arrival at the control level, Ratchet discovers that Vox has wired the station to explode, and if Ratchet cannot deactivate the explosives, everyone there will die. Running a massive gauntlet of enemies and destroying the station’s power generators, Ratchet deactivates the containment fields and unlocks the station’s escape shuttles. After being defeated by Ratchet, Vox manually activates the station’s self-destruct sequence, planning to kill both himself and Ratchet.
The last shuttle, however, piloted by Al, swoops in to rescue Ratchet. Ratchet climbs aboard and Clank removes his DeadLock collar. The DreadZone station explodes soon afterwards, taking Vox with it. After the credits, Doctor Nefarious and his butler, Lawrence make a cameo appearance, still trapped on an asteroid. Nefarious states that they were supposed to be coming in range of a space station, to which Lawrence retorts he had no idea it was going to explode. Nefarious gets angry and short-circuits, and a clip from the soap opera “Lance and Janice” plays as the game ends. Afterwards it is informed that The Plumber was unable to make an appearance in the game “due to a sump dump on the Rygyllian Nebula”.
Source : Wikipedia
