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The Holoshield Glove is a weapon manufactured by Gadgetron in Up Your Arsenal and its multiplayer mode. It is a metallic, silver and blue glove with purple highlights. It launches a holoshield in front of Ratchet that absorbs projectiles (although enemies can pass through it). The shields are mostly transparent, with a bright purple center, becoming largely opaque at higher levels.

The Holoshield Glove can be purchased from a Gadgetron vendor upon reaching Tyhrranosis for 30,000 bolts. Being a shield-type weapon it can actually upgrade upon absorbing damage. These upgrades give it the ability to damage nearby enemies, which will also help to upgrade it. At V5, it upgrades to the Ultrashield Launcher, which in turn can be upgraded to the Mega Ultrashield Launcher in challenge mode for 140,000 bolts.

The Holoshield Glove did not reappear, but its technology reappeared in the form of the Holoshield Launcher in Deadlocked.

Gameplay[]

The Holoshield Glove is an anomaly in the arsenal, as unlike other weapons, it lacks major offensive capabilities at V1. At this level, it can damage enemies only upon deployment by being thrown at them, but it's main purpose is to absorb damage while deployed until it eventually runs out on its own, or is overwhelmed by enemy fire. Absorbing damage is required to upgrade into its more powerful variants, meaning the Holoshield Glove upgrades very fast if bombarded with as many ranged attacks and projectiles as possible, but this will also cause it to run out more quickly. At the end of the game, it is outclassed by the Shield Charger.

Holoshield Glove gameplay

Ratchet using the Holoshield Glove.

Combat-wise it is very situational prior to the upgrades, and is mostly useful against enemies that fire ranged attacks from a stationary position such as the soldier bots. Against a lot of other enemies, Ratchet is more than capable of evasive maneuvers on his own by use of strafing and flipping moves. It also holds potential in small and enclosed quarters with less space to move, as a row or stacked series of holoshields can easily withstand damage for a while. Two dangers that the player must be aware of is that a holoshield can and will run out at some point, and that it does not block enemies from physically traversing it and engaging in melee.

As the shield upgrades, it gains some minor offensive abilities. At V2, it saps nanotech from enemies and transfers to Ratchet, at V3 it deflects projectiles back to enemies, and at V4 it simply increases the size of the shields. At V5 it upgrades to the Ultrashield Launcher and will start to damage nearby enemies with an electric pulse. These attacks are usually not fast or strong enough to be truly considered of actual use in combat. Regardless, throwing down several holoshields can prove useful in a pinch when overwhelmed.

The Holoshield Glove remains difficult and slow to upgrade, as often enough outright taking down the enemies is easier and faster, making the shield rather useless.

Collection bug[]

The Holoshield Glove suffers from a bug in the version of Up Your Arsenal from the HD Collection. Although the weapon appears more or less indistinguishable in its durability in normal mode, the shields drastically suffer from the increased enemy damage in challenge mode. Attempting to use the weapon against enemies will see them almost instantaneously overload the shield with a single burst or attack, even at V8, whereas they are entirely viable in the original PlayStation 2 version. Due to this, not only does the shield fail to protect ratchet from enemies, but upgrading the weapon becomes notoriously difficult. A viable option to upgrade it in challenge mode is to use the V5's innate attack and projectile deflection against the one-eyed robonoids and other small enemies near the end of the game.

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