Split-Screen :: The Game-Geek’s Daily Read

by Ravi Sinha

As one of the three successful experiments Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) carried out in 2002 to find the perfect new mascot for its PS2 console (the other two being Jak & Daxter and Sly Cooper), Ratchet and Clank went from unassuming Lambox and robot sidekick to high-tech weapon hoarders fashioning their careers on one smoldering heap of enemies at a time.

Surprisingly built on a modified Jak & Daxter engine, Ratchet and Clank is Sony’s first PS2 brand to successfully make the transition into the PS3 era. However, in cooking up yet another smorgasbord of apocalyptic proportions, it’s easy to forget just how much fun it was to experiment with weapons and unload them into any nefarious foe in the original titles. Who could forget getting their hands on the RYNO, the most expensive weapon in most of the games, and making red splattered canvases of entire races (or if you’re the roboticidal type, then oil canvases of entire assembly lines)?

Hence, we present to you ten top picks for our favourite weapons in the Ratchet and Clank series, from weapons featured only once to permanent artillery that accompanied our dynamic duo in their rise to galactic fame.

10. N60 Storm

First Seen in: Up Your Arsenal

Every Ratchet and Clank game has your typical no-frills rapid-fire weapon to accompany the Wrench. The one weapon that you’d probably rely on last, even if it was very instrumental to your survival in the beginning stages. The N60 Storm trumped other versions of such multi-purpose weapons by featuring a very high-rate of fire and ammo caches, cheap ammo prices and though the damage done was moderate, multiply it by the insane number of bullets hitting your foe and it levels out. It can be used not only to take out foot-soldiers and small crowds of enemies, but can while away good amounts of health off the initial bosses. Though you’ll likely ditch the weapon in high-risk situations (hello, end-boss), it’s still a keeper.

9. Scorpion Flail

First Seen in: Deadlocked

Honestly speaking, the Plasma Whip from Up Your Arsenal was a brutal disappointment. What could have been an enticing alternative to the Wrench became the alternative to painting a target on your head and begging your enemies for a beating. Okay, maybe not that much (Hard mode still haunts me) but it was still very underwhelming. That’s why when you pick up the Scorpion Flail, a seemingly small, metallic, spiked ball mace, in Deadlocked and watch as it increases to the wrecking ball size to bury your enemies in craters, the Plasma Whip suddenly seems non-existent. The Scorpion Flail was especially useful in mid-air, as it pin-balled back and forth to nail enemies both in front and behind you. Nothing says cost-effective room-clearer like this portable meteor on a chain. On top of that, it has more range and attack power than the Shock Claws (Tools of Destruction) while still being as speedy. Why isn’t it higher on the list then? It would have been real nice if you could move in the middle of using it.

8. Pyro Blaster

First Seen in: Tools of Destruction

Theoretically, all gamers love explosions (yes that includes RPers too), so by the same token, all gamers would love using fire to make the dreams of moronic virtual cannon fodder for searing, scalding pain come true. The series has had its share of flame-throwers and lava stream shooters but the Pyro Blaster trumps them all by featuring both in the same weapon. You first start off with what seems like a normal flame-thrower and once you level it up, you can shoot hot jets of lava from the barrel (good for close combat). Why is it better than the Lava Gun from Up Your Arsenal? Once you properly upgrade it, this baby shoots two streams of lava with a wider reach. That’s double the third-degree burns and quintuple the satisfaction of wasting hordes of enemies away in a fiery haze.

7. Rifle Series

First Seen in: Going Commando

Once again in the no-frills aisle of weapon selection, the different sets of rifles spanning the Ratchet and Clank series feature a plethora of names (the one pictured here is the Fusion Rifle from Deadlocked). Though they all basically span the same normal function, once the battles become more intense, this baby becomes all the more necessary for dispensing enemies at a far range. The rifles all contain an extraordinary amount of damage, and one head shot does what 100 N60 bullets would do to some enemies. Not too flashy, but does the job and does it well despite the slow rate of fire and small clips.

6. Holoshield Generator

First Seen in: Deadlocked

Like the Holoshield Glove from the first game, this silver-hued weapon basically puts up a force field before your enemies and blocks you from their shots. Why does it score over the other shield makers? Firstly, the shield stops all incoming projectiles rather than playing favourites and halting only a few.

Secondly, enemies can’t pass through this shield — they can try if they like the pain (or getting their health sapped when the weapon levels to V10). Defense may be the last thing on your mind, especially in the hop-and-bop-less Deadlocked, but when it comes with so many snazzy features, who could resist?

5. Agents of Dread

First Seen in: Up Your Arsenal

The Agents of Doom could best be described as miniature kamikaze Clanks; they normally run into enemies to damage them. Initially, they were the ammo for the Glove of Doom before getting their own individual canisters. On their return in Arsenal, the Agents had undergone drastic changes. Not only could you roll out 8 at a time (4 per each canister) but on fully upgrading them, they become the Agents of Dread armed with rocket launchers and mini-jet packs. Once they run out ammo, they rush at your enemy and detonate in a mini-nuclear explosion, for old times’ sake. Let’s see Chucky do any of that.

4. Plasma Coil series

First Seen in: Ratchet and Clank

The one trump of fire always seems to be electricity, for electrocuting your enemies to a crisp comes a close second to torching them into oblivion. The Plasma Coil, in this case, was an intuitive invention of modernistic future design that properly demonstrated the tenets of “pain-for-all”. One bolt of thunder would shock one enemy before amicably moving onto his friends. The damage is good and the weapon is less expensive than the RYNO but the real fun comes when you level it up in Up Your Arsenal. Imagine one giant ball of thunder rolling towards your foe, toasting foes as it passed before vapourising the head honcho into dust. We’d imagine this plays havoc with the neural collective of our foes who, on seeing their beloved comrades die, have had their brains forcefully rewired to see their deaths again and again for the rest of their mortal life. Eh. We’ve thought more sadistic things.

3. Mini-Turret Launcher

First Seen in: Deadlocked

What do you do when the Agents are on vacation? Or totally AWOL? Back-up is plenty available in Deadlocked, but nothing else does the same and simultaneously conveys your status as a cheating jerk as much as the Mini-Turret Launcher. No wonder Vox Industries was in a dispute over the technology — the turrets launched here are more improved over previous games. They can fire up to 360 degrees, gun down aerial targets and additionally, can’t be destroyed by enemies (though their ammo doesn’t exactly last forever). Fully upgrade the weapon into the Quasar Turret Launcher and laugh as your foes run in vain from its fully charged homing lasers.

2. Harbinger

First Seen in: Deadlocked

Hoo-boy. Simply put, this is one of the most devastating Ratchet and Clank weapons ever, created in simple answer to Gadgetron’s RYNO series. The RYNO IV featured in Future is essentially a knock-off of it, but at least it rips from the best. Simply pull the trigger and sit back as enormous search-light sized lasers rain down on from the heavens, obliterating any thing that gets in your way. The destructive power of the Harbinger surpasses that of previous RYNOs and it’s most basic form can only be truly displaced by…

1. RYNOCIRATOR

First Seen in: Up Your Arsenal

Once you fully upgrade that puny 8-rocket shooting RY3NO, gaze upon this beauty and know its full destructive cataclysm of potential, for you have earned it. The RYNOCIRATOR gives new meaning to words, “Smite you down”. Once you pull the trigger, a number of missiles sail ahead of Ratchet before converging at a single point.

The blast is so powerful that the entire screen literally dissolves into a white flash, seconds before everything comes into full view. Everything, except your enemies of course. Even if some brave/suicidal fool some how tries to block the convergence with his massive shell, just touching a single missile will reduce him to ashes. The estimated cost of ammo is about 1000 per rocket but considering the pure destructive scale of this weapon, it’s worth it.