WHER THE HELL IS CLANK
User Rating: 9 | Ratchet: Deadlocked PS2
Insomniac can't seem to figure out if less is more or more is less. Such is the hallmark of a developer with a lot of creative ideas on their hands and neither enough development time nor the ability to implement them all. The developers of Ratchet: Deadlocked fall into the old trap of trying to figure out the perfect balance for a game. The first three Ratchet and Clank games, in successive iterations, have gradually added more and more stuff: more guns, more upgrades, more challenges, more gadgets, more extras, and so on, almost to the point that the game was beginning to feel bloated. I appreciate the sentiment, as what's there is great; the problem lies in the fact that some of these concepts were never implemented to their full capacity. A quick tour around the hidden developer rooms in Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal show that there are many more cool ideas that never came to fruition.
So, where does that leave Deadlocked? Still searching, to some extent, but in other ways, it also shows measured restraint on the part of the Insomniac crew, and that eventually works in the game's advantage. Essentially, the design philosophy of Deadlocked seems to be focused around causing as much destruction as possible. That's always been a hallmark of the series, really, but it always seemed to find equal ground with the platforming elements, which are sorely missing here. That's not to say that they are completely absent, as there are a few decent platforming segments throughout the game, but the bulk of it centers around surviving enemy encounters in various ways.
