quote IGN.com

April 8, 2005 - Playing through the three Ratchet and Clank games you'd expect that the fourth one would follow along just like the other. More bizarre guns, more oddball enemies, and some plot twists with a unique sense of humor. This platforming shooter has set up a fun formula for those who want to run and jump and sniff the flowers and blow everything in the universe to bits with gigantic piles of ammunition. But with the newly announced Ratchet: Deadlocked on the way all of this is about to change. This shift might not be as radical as the change in the Jak series, but it's going to take the series, and console gaming, to some uncharted territory.



Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal provided the same high-quality thrills of its predecessors, but it also included a solid online portion of the game. Instead of a typical online segment that puts a meaningless bullet point on a box, Up Your Arsenal managed the trick of creating something much deeper than deathmatch. Teams had to work together to take control of a map via node points, hidden items, use of two-person vehicles, and a joined effort to destroy the enemies' fortress.

With Deadlocked, developer Insomniac has gone a few steps further and is now merging the single-player and online halves of the game. While searching for some missing heroes, Ratchet and Clank are captured by media mogul Gleeman Vox. Ratchet gets a Deadlock collar put on him that will explode if he tries to escape. With no choice but to go along, Ratchet enters into Vox's combat show, DreadZone. Until he can figure a way to escape, Ratchet must compete in a series of increasingly dangerous events to keep up the show's ratings. Meanwhile, Clank has become a mission engineer and provides help over the radio.

With this new deadly scenario, Ratchet faces missions that have a series of challenges ahead of him. Instead of the somewhat linear feel of the levels in previous games, Deadlocked will have wide-open levels that are more challenging. There are plenty of enemies to fight as well as four Exterminators, Vox employees who specialize in killing contestants. Fortunately for Ratchet he has a couple different types of friends to help him out. There are some bots that he can control and there's the option to bring a friend along for some co-op play
The entire offline game of Deadlocked through with one or two people. This is not just one level or a LAN or online option, but a two-player split-screen experience for the whole thing. With the challenges there are several times where a coordinated effort is required and with the ability to have a buddy along for the ride this feature alone is enough to make us want to play some more Deadlocked right now. For those who will be playing it solo the bots are no slouch either and can more than hold up on their end.

Ratchet runs around with a squad of bots that are much more evolved from the robos that were in the Up Your Arsenal multiplayer. These bots can be given context sensitive commands that are appropriate for whatever situation Ratchet is in. When there's a bolt that needs to be turned to open up a door, it's possible to quickly assign the bots to turning the bolt or providing cover while Ratchet does it. Other doors need to be hacked into and again this is just one quick button-tap for giving orders. With the commands extremely easy to pull off and varied for whatever's going on, more time can be spent running around and actually playing the game.
And what about the weapons? The arsenal is not as large as before with 10 weapons this time, but the system has been completely revamped. Instead of several different guns with five different forms and corresponding upgrades, the guns can be altered with mods. Using a weapon will upgrade it and open up more slots that can be used. The mods will fall into three different categories: general, functional, and weapon specific. For example, the napalm mod can be put into any of the weapons for that extra burning sensation, but the quad mod is exclusive to the rocket launcher and the bouncing mod will be exclusive to the mine launcher. With all of the different mods and weapons to slot them in there will literally be thousands of possible weapons to create.



Just like the weapons, the bots themselves can be modified as well. Each bot will have its own personality, but this can be tweaked further by swapping out body parts and even changing the textures if players feel that their bots just don't look right. There are many options and this even spreads to the layout of the overall game itself.

With another nod to customizable experiences and non-linearity, players will be able to tackle the missions in the order they want. Players can figure out how they want to go through the game and can win in a variety of different ways. This way they can choose what battlefield or arena they want to try next.

With a single-player game that is based around battlefields and arenas it's easy to see that going to the online experience is just a short skip away. If players have been playing the offline game in the co-op mode, then they'll be even more prepared for what online has to offer them. In this way the two pieces are not uncomfortable neighbors, but really become two halves of the whole.

To make the online experience better this time, Insomniac Games is promising a host of improvements for Deadlocked. There will be new modes, community enhancements, and a deeper overall experience to keep players coming back for more. There will also be more maps as well as a quicker feeling of pick-up-and-play. Hopefully, the integration will bring a new crop of players to the online area of gaming and help to fill out the ranks of Internet fighters even more.
But if players are going to insist on staying offline, the art department has worked to make the whole experience new no matter what. There will be less saturated colors this time around and overall there will be a more aggressive style. Each of the five different vehicles is looking much more like mech robots than the bubbly vehicles from Up Your Arsenal. In fact, everywhere we looked the style was less cartoony than before. It's still not quite realistic, but less unrealistic, as it were.

With this new direction, Insomniac Games is taking a bit of a risk, but it's a risk that's growing organically from what they've been doing in the past. Those who have played and enjoyed the previous games will have no problem jumping into the action this time around. It's different, but it's a new direction that a franchise needs to make before it becomes too much of a copycat of itself. Even though it may look odd it's likely it's what the team needs to do to progress their own skills and take modern gaming right along with them.

quote IGN.com

Usually we don't have the opportunity to check out an updated build of a game we saw just a few weeks ago, but in the case of Insomniac's Ratchet: Deadlocked that's exactly what happened. On display at yesterday's Sony Santa Monica Pre-E3 event, the fourth iteration of one of my favorite PS2 franchises had already showed some noticeable progress when compared to version that Ed checked out earlier this month, particularly with the framerate and feature set.



There were two brand new levels available at the event, both of which were atypically darker than the usual Ratchet and Clank title. The first looked like a dryer version of Orxon from the original game in 2002, with environments heavy on the poisonous green motif complete with jagged rocks and canyons. The other area was a noticeably more bizarre landscape with plenty of geological strangeness to please longtime Clank fans. Both stages seemed built with vehicle combat specifically in mind.

Speaking of vehicles, there were a few new ones at play in this build as well. The coolest of the bunch of was an explosive-oriented tank known as the Puma. An armored terror to be sure, the Puma packed quite the powerful punch and appeared to be the vehicle of choice for most of the gaming journalists attending the event. Other useful transportation like a hover bike and a helicopter "thing" were on display as well.

Another new option in this version of Deadlocked was the vastly different weapon upgrade system. The simple "buy your upgrade of choice" setup that was in the older game is no longer available here. Instead, this new iteration of the game required you to assemble three separate elements together to create a more powerful arsenal. Weapon types, alternate configurations, and mod options are a plenty, and from these various categories, players can start to add their own personal touch.

The feature that Sony reps were touting most was the ability to gain control of enemy nodules with Clank-like robots. They worked similarly to the minion robos of the past and add a layer of strategy to capturing enemy territory compared to the typical run 'n gun style. If you've played a Clank mission before in any of the earlier games, this d-pad controlled extra should feel like second nature.

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E3 2005: Ratchet Deadlocked Update
New Conquest feature revealed. Lombaxes everywhere rejoice!

n the midst of Sony Computer Entertainment's massive booth at E3 this year, Insomniac Games' Ratchet: Deadlocked is undoubtedly one of the most popular titles. Developed specifically around the idea of being a multiplayer experience first, Deadlocked continues to improve with each new build. This latest version (which is six or seven points past the disc I saw a few weeks ago) goes to prove it too, as it has already made a number of significant improvements as well as additions to the gameplay.

The most exciting improvement on the list was the inclusion of the all-new Conquest mode. Taking a cue from Battlefield 1942 and Unreal Tournament's onslaught modes, Conquest is essentially an evolving game of base wars. The objective is a simple one -- take your team into the other squad's territory and capture as many nodes as possible in order to achieve a required number of points. The default number of points is 75, but that can be adjusted through rule manipulation before each match.

Ratchet: Deadlocked throws a couple of new twists into the classic base wars objective, though. Instead of just rewarding you for capturing nodes, for example, you'll also receive points for defending them. Additionally, you can make specialty kills or humiliations that beat your opponent so decisively that it increases your overall score. It's a pretty cool idea and a lot of fun to mess around with (though beating random EB employee #6 wasn't nearly as satisfying as blasting one of my co-workers would have been).

There's good news for solo players too. Insomniac confirmed with us today that the co-op adventure mode will be very heavy on what the Ratchet series has always done best -- tell a story. Mission based and filled with plenty of familiar characters, the plotline is apparently almost has heavy when characterization and cutscenes as the older Ratchet games -- which raises its stock in my book quite a bit.

But the new information surrounding Deadlocked doesn't stop there. The new version of the game also boasts the brand new "Morph" mode that allows players to turn any weapon they have into a variation on the Sheepinator. But instead of just changing enemies into sheep, users can transform them into chickens and ducks too (it's all dependant on what weapon you're modding). Apparently there's a fourth secret barnyard animal as well, but Insomniac reps on hand didn't want to reveal what it was yet (my money's on a pig, but we'll see what happens).

Other new E3 additions, like the inclusion of progressive scan, improved bot AI, and supplementary moves for enemies (cover crouches, and the like) have also made their way into the build. Players can even use tag-team tactics now that will allow them to freeze one guy with an ice ray and then blow him apart with the napalm gun. Neat!