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Good: Things blow up real nice, intelligent combat bots

Bad: Little mission variety

I miss: The Clank missions

Well, it's the holiday season better do the sequel checklist. New Tony Hawk? Check. New Jak game? Check. Sly Cooper? Check. Ratchet and Clank? Oh, here it is.

In their final outing for Playstation 2, Ratchet and company are taken prisoner and forced to participate in an interstellar reality TV show, DreadZone. On DreadZone Ratchet is sent to various planets throughout the galaxy where he must accomplish specific goals in order to advance to the next planet where he'll do it all over again.

The objective based gameplay leads to a much more linear path than previous Ratchet games. You are given a planet with a set of objectives that are accomplished in the standard level format. Once you've completed you move on to the next planet and start all over again. At times you're given the option to choose between two planets, but regardless it's limited.

The story mode can be played either single player or cooperatively. In co-op you and a partner share ammunition and weapons and it's impossible for you both to have the same weapon equipped. This makes coverage and teamwork essential.

The only real difference between Co-op and Single-player modes is the inclusion of offensive and defensive power moves. Aside from that and the horizontal split-screen that makes battling air-born foes a pain the addition of another player delivers largely the same experience.

Another, much more intuitive, addition to Deadlocked comes in the form of your combat bots. In battle these two bots not only fight alongside you, but they also perform indispensable skills like throwing EMP grenades at heavily shielded turrets or providing you with zip lines to access other areas on the map. They are also self-repairing, making them virtually inexhaustible cannon fodder.

Ordering the bots is done through the D-pad with a unique action corresponding to each direction. Instructing the bots is a minimal task that only occurs when you're in an area where their services are needed. That said, they respond quickly to orders and never fall victim to any of the A.I. screw ups found in other squad-based games. At times, they're almost too good, especially once their armor and weapons have seen a couple of upgrades.

The only complaint I have with the new squad-based system is that it came at the price of the Clank missions. Fans of the series can attest to just how much fun these missions were in the previous installments. They also provided a nice break from the core gameplay of the title.

In Deadlocked that break comes in the form of vehicle-based levels. You'll pilot the Landstalker, a giant walking tank; the Hoverbike, self-explanatory; the Puma, an off-road vehicle with a vulcan turret; and the Hovership, an interstellar craft capable of firing volleys of missiles onto unsuspecting victims.

The vehicles control decent, but the faster ones like the Hoverbike and Hovership feel loose and floaty. This wouldn't be a problem, except that vehicles play a part in every stage at one point or another so you're constantly forced to deal with them. On the default difficulty their missions are forgiving enough to deal with the control issues, but it would've been nice if Insomniac had taken the extra time to tighten.

New stuff aside the central, trigger-happy gameplay the Ratchet series is known for remains unchanged. The game features nine guns-all fully upgradeable, and capable of releasing all kinds of devastation on your enemies once completely leveled.

Deal out hot doom with the Dual Vipers or tear hordes of enemies asunder with the Magma Cannon, the Ratchet Universe's version of the shotgun. As you progress through the game your arsenal becomes pretty intimidating. Especially with the added Omega mods. The Arbiter is a vicious missile launcher on its own, but with the added time bomb mod it's a force of nature.

Deadlocked is in no short supply of enemies to use this arsenal on, either. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by robot zombies, overlords, nuclear-powered mechs and egomaniacal television stars. Combat gets so frantic at times that Attention Deficit Disorder, if not a requirement then is at least an advantage.

Online multiplayer makes a return appearance as well. It consists of the usual modes(CTF, Death Match, Juggernaut, etc.). The pregame lobby models itself very closely to the lobby found in Halo 2. Player ranks are positioned next to their respective name and you're allowed to change team affiliation, manage buddy lists, send invites and change skins.

As for the multiplayer gameplay: it's a lag-free, but undeniably flawed experience. Some guns lose their targeting reticule if you switch to first-person and then back to third. USB headsets don't recognize or voice communication is choppy and difficult to understand. Even the weapon selection system comes up short, often requiring you to halt your movement to choose a new weapon and anyone who's played a multiplayer videogame can tell you that halting your movement is the easiest way to get greased by a rocket/magma blast/ sniper round.

Deadlocked 's major flaw is the lack of variety in its Story Mode missions. On each planet you can expect to pilot some form of vehicle, capture multiple bolt points and protecting a certain object or structure for a set amount of time.

It's fun at first, working with your squad to hold off incoming bots or protecting a teammate while they hack a door or turn a crank, but by the time the last planet rolls around you've done it so many times that it's lost much of the excitement.

The DreadZone tournaments provide a break in this stale formula, but there are only three of them.

Repetition aside, Ratchet: Deadlocked is a fine third-person shooter. While the new additions vary from great (the combat bots) to tolerable (the vehicles) it's nice to see the series go in a new direction. New developments aside, the core gameplay is largely unchanged. This should please fans of the series and newcomers alike.

Graphics: A-

Sound: A-

First Play: B

Last Play: B-

Gameplay: B

Overall: 86% B