A third method of powering up involved the more subtle Alpha Mods. Every time a weapon powered up, it earned an Alpha Mod, which improved a more fundamental quality of the weapon, like its speed or impact. So for instance, when the Dual Vipers leveled up to level two, they not only did more damage per bullet, they also had a faster rate of fire, thanks to the Speed Mod that came with the level-up. Assuming that each weapon gets an additional Alpha Mod each time it levels up, you could bump up the speed on the Dual Vipers until they could drain their 300-round clip in seconds, or increase the Magma Cannon's impact until it knocked enemies across the level. And when you consider that the Alpha and Omega Mods can be assigned in nearly endless combinations to a variety of weapons that also level up on their own, you begin to see just how deep the customization goes.
The Spice of Life
All the weapon customization in the world wouldn't mean a thing if the gameplay wasn't up to snuff. Fortunately, that's not the case. There's a lot going on in Deadlocked's combat sequences, but once you get the hang of the controls, it's every bit as fun and furious as your better first-person shooters, and it's easier to see what's going on behind you to boot.
While there's run-and-gun combat a-plenty, Deadlocked is far from being a one-trick pony. The first mission involved using Ratchet's bots to hack orbs in order to reach a Land Stalker spider tank at the end of it. The second mission began with Ratchet near the Land Stalker, which he could enter and use to unleash carnage on his enemies. A third mission featured Ratchet piloting a Land Stalker on rails and shooting enemies and targets to rack up a certain point total before reaching the end of the course. In more than one mission, Ratchet had to fight his way to bolt-like nodes and order his bots to turn them while defending them from enemies as they appeared.
The variety of enemies was impressive, as well. There were at least half a dozen distinctly different enemies in the demo, from little rat-like robots with big jaws to huge floating beetles with devastating rapid-fire lasers. Each had their own unique attacks, and it was tricky finding one weapon and Omega Mod combination that worked effectively against all of them. Putting the Freeze Mod on the Dual Vipers slowed the giant beetle creatures down to the point where they weren't nearly as much of a threat, but slapping the Shock Mod on the Dual Vipers was a much more effective way to take out the weaker chomping enemies, which often attacked in swarms. Assuming that we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg here, the rest of Deadlocked should make for a quality addition to the Ratchet franchise.