The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
The gameplay of Deadlocked is similar to that of previous Ratchet & Clank games, with a combination of shooting, action, and platforming, although it emphasizes more on the combat aspects of the series, with little platforming. Deadlocked was the first game in the Ratchet and Clank series to contain an adjustable difficulty level, and is the first to have a cooperative story mode with two players.
The player controls Ratchet from a third-person perspective, although first-person play is possible, while competing in missions and tournaments, defeating enemies, and occasionally controlling vehicles. "Combat bots", two robots which follow the player in most missions, give Ratchet extra firepower, and perform several tasks for him, such as planting explosives and hacking orbs. Combat bots can be upgraded and given new paint schemes, head designs, and weaponry. After completing missions, the player is awarded a certain amount of "Dreadpoints" and bolts, the game's form of currency.
Story
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".
Development
After the completion of Up Your Arsenal, Insomniac thought of ways they could advance the series further for the fourth game to stand out. For about a month and a half, they worked on RCR: Ratchet Racing, a vehicular combat game similar to Twisted Metal; when the team found out about Naughty Dog's Jak X: Combat Racing, another vehicular combat game, they cancelled RCR to avoid competition. They then started developing a title called Ratchet & Clank: NEXUS (unrelated to 2013's Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus), with Ratchet and Clank on a single planet in the midst of a global conflict between two alien races, which in turn causes tension between the two as they have differing views on the matter taking place. This project would later change direction to become Deadlocked, featuring a darker story inspired primarily by the Halo franchise. Ratchet: Deadlocked was revealed at Santa Monica Studio's pre-E3 event in April 2005, then further shown at E3 2005.
Deadlocked was released in North America on October 25, 2005, and in Japan on November 23, 2005. It was released as Ratchet: Gladiator in Europe, Australia and Africa on November 18, 2005, and November 24, 2005, respectively. The PlayStation 2 online servers were terminated on June 28, 2012.
Reception
The game was generally met with positive reviews. In 2006, Deadlocked was added to Sony's Greatest Hits range for North America. It was similarly added to Sony's Platinum range for PAL regions on May 12, 2006, and to Japan's The Best range on June 29, 2006.
As of June 30, 2007, the game sold more than 2.1 million copies worldwide.
