Steamwork Endeavor
Virtualdarker | more intense | lombaxy
"Space, a wondrous realm where heroes are forged, a place of peril and adventure, and... and ARGH! I can't do this!"-Captain Qwark
Heroes from all over the galaxy have been kidnapped and forced to compete on the leading Holo-Vision program in the criminal Shadow Sector of the Solana galaxy: DreadZone. It was the brainchild of the insane media magnate Gleeman Vox, and was watched by trillions of sentient beings throughout the galaxy. It featured illegal, uncensored, gladiatorial combat to the death, with the former hero Ace Hardlightas its uncontested and undefeated champion. After the Starship Phoenix was invaded, Ratchet was forced into becoming the newest contestant on DreadZone, with Al and Clank forced to join him. Ratchet was soon introduced to two combat bots that would accompany him throughout the game, known as Merc and Green.
Ratchet and Clank in Ratchet: Deadlocked.
Ratchet is forced to compete in five increasingly difficult Tournaments to advance in the DreadZone Tournament Rankings. After the first tournament, the Marauder Tournament (which was completed in the game's tutorial level), each tournament required Ratchet to defeat one of the Exterminators before he moved on.
As Ratchet moved through the tournaments, his rapidly growing popularity caused concern for both Vox and Ace Hardlight, who were worried that Ratchet would overtake Hardlight in popularity. Throughout the latter portion of the game, the Vox network attempts to ruin the rapidly-rising love of Ratchet and his bots. Hardlight even went as far as shooting Al to anger Ratchet.
While Ratchet was fighting in the DreadZone challenges, Clank tried to find to disable the collars and escape. While attempting to find flaws with theDreadZone Station, he met other heroes, such as Venus, who gave him information to help them escape.
After defeating Ace Hardlight, the last of the Exterminators, Vox offered for Ratchet to become one of the new Exterminators, with promises of wild amounts of money and sponsorships. Ratchet declined angrily, enraging Vox. Vox then sent Ratchet onto a final, nearly impossible DreadZone course known as the Ghost Station. Ratchet had to fight his way off of the station, defeating the ghosts of enemies he had previously killed. After navigating a Hovership and destroying the Ghost Station, Ratchet returned to the DreadZone station. To his surprise, Clank had found a way to escape, but first Ratchet had to deal with Vox, who was planning to detonate the entire Station. After fighting his way to the Arena, he defeated Vox, and was able to save the other contestants and viewers from the explosion.
