3.5/5 ★ – Pencil_Nexus's review of Ratchet: Deadlocked.

Well, this was a surprise. I knew next to nothing about Deadlocked and was always confused seeing the cover as a kid. After coming off of UYA, which I felt was the weakest of the trilogy, I was surprised at the doubling down of game design they introduced in UYA. The whole game is built around arena based combat zones. Though they were weak in UYA, it works better here with the condensed level design and condensed weapon count. The gameplay loop is more satisfying than UYA, because it isn't trying to be a platformer shooter, it's just all action. The cutscenes are top notch and the satire is back and actually fits the game's narrative. In terms of weak aspects, visually, it isn't impressive. Since all the levels are just obstacle courses or arenas that you walk forward, it leads to simple level design. The objectives get pretty repetitive, as it's the same missions, but on different planets and arenas. The vehicle sections still suck and they added more, not much to say, they range from suck to fine. Overall, I think I enjoy it more than UYA, which is a hot take... but I'm right.