The Great Clock, the center of this installment in the Ratchet and Clank Future series keeps time itself. “Time is not to be tampered with!” Orvus would say. A Crack in Time delves into the pasts of both Ratchet and Clank. Could the Lombax race be saved? Does Clank have a new purpose in life, that doesn’t involve Ratchet? Does Qwark get a new quirky outfit? Does Dr. Nefarious go into those random fits? Is the Plumber present?
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Developer: Insomniac Games
Platform: PlayStation 3 (reviewed)
All of these are pretty much answered in this game. “Pretty much,” because a loose end that gets tied up for this game, doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll stay tied in another. Which isn’t a bad thing, it could set up the story for other games. And with what a success this game was, I wouldn’t be questioning, “Another installment?”
The game starts out with Clank, which is a refreshing part in this game. Many people for whatever reason hate on Clank parts, but who can blame them when it’s pretty much the same thing over and over? Previously Clank parts included controlling other bots and getting from Point A to Point B. Not that bad, killing baddies in between was fun. And then others had Clank just do mini Ratchet levels in essence.
This is no longer the case, with entire sections of the Great Clock up for Clank’s discretion. One activity is fix time on planets.
It’s like a mini-game where Clank, with his trusty Chronosceptre shoots at time anomalies (R1), and moves the planet around (Left Stick). The whole purpose is to make sure the planets have stable time. That way Ratchet can later visit the planet and get Gold Bolts he couldn’t before.
Why does Clank care? Because his knowledge of where he comes from, and what he’s expected to do put him in that position of fixing time; ensuring time is in working order with the Great Clock. So naturally, he’ll want to do what he can, it’ll only please his new friend Sigmund, Junior Caretaker at the Clock and Orvus, his father.
Another thing you’ve probably read about is how Clank can now create multiple selves. This new puzzle mechanic allows the player to control Clank once while doing a save of his run. Then goes back and records another Clank, which then can do more. And you keep piling on recordings and having each of your selves opening a door, lifting a platform, getting your past selves through and going to the end of the puzzle.
An ingenious new style of gameplay, that for Clank couldn’t be more asked for. A fresh new taste of how Clank’s levels in the game can contribute, instead of hinder to the overall enjoyment.
If you’ll recall, many games have some inconspicuous Qwark mini-games that you can find. You’ll be happy to know “My Blaster Runs Hot” is an 8-bit mini-game, playable with a friend that has Qwark shooting 8-bit baddies and rescuing green little alien buddies. Bosses are even included, and as you progress, it gets very challenging. It’s definitely worth your time.
Now Ratchet’s segments are just as great! With new weapons like the Sonic Eruptor, Constructo weapons, Tesla Spikes and others, it’s really quite hard not enjoying the hilarious animations for each enemies’ deaths. The new Groovitron Glove still makes enemies dance like no other, and even friendlies/natives to planets, so it’s really nice to see how Insomniac pays attention to detail.
The new Constructo weapons come in three flavours: Pistol, Bomb and Shotgun. All are very fun weapons and allow the player to customize the outcome of what the weapon does. Painting it, bullet type, after-effects and the likes, it’s quite ingenious to add to this installment!
Ratchet comes across this other Lombax, Azimuth, who’s been banished from the Lombax race for what he’s done. Trying to get the Lombaxes back, and learning that Clank is at the Great Clock, he helps Ratchet get there. Azimuth has all the right intentions, and you really feel sorry for him, but he makes all the wrong decisions, and hurts those around him. A player really feels for him as he feels abandoned.
Along with Azimuth is Dr. Nefarious. The best Ratchet and Clank villain ever, has returned to torment both Ratchet and Clank. A new sinister plan has been hatched, a new strife that needs to be killed and of course, manipulation of the Zoni. Wait, what? Yes, Dr. Nefarious’ plans include the Zoni, but what IG has done so well, was get such a great voice actor that really brings the antagonist to life.
Really, Dr. Nefarious just would not be Dr. Nefarious without his wonderful VA. But not just he, all these characters in A Crack in Time are voiced incredibly well. It adds a depth to the game that other games lack sometimes. And it’s refreshing to have such a colourful, vibrant world filled with such believable fictitious characters.
And the replayability in this game is phenomenal! Gold Bolts have returned, collecting all the Zoni unlocks a secret boss to challenge even the most skilled players, getting all the Constructo weapon mods is also possible! Don’t forget about purchasing every Omega Weapon and leveling them up to VX and all the Skill Points that we’ve come to expect!
And who can forget the battle arenas that we’ve been experiencing the past few years? With new challenges and obtainable weapons, like the Spiral of Death, has players coming back, wave after wave of enemies.
But what is so great, is that these collectibles are mostly in space! Ratchet goes into Aphelion and roams the sectors in a 2D plane, which is at least better than the forced routes in Tools of Destruction, and allows landing on moons, or mini-planets!
Perhaps in another game, we’ll get to move around in a 3D space, but this works really well this time around. These mini-planets were done way back in Going Commando, along with a full-on 3D maneuverable space, but the scale of this space is remarkable. Every mini-planet really feels like a platforming stroke of genius. Going through “kill a certain amount of enemies” planets, find the Zoni/Gold Bolt/Constructo Mod planets and so on. Each one brings its own uniqueness to the table. You’ll love the planets, I was pleasantly surprised by how many there actually were.
The space missions on the other hand, only one will have you feel as though a certain mission type is repetitive, and that’s destroying enemy ships. Quite possibly the most boring part of the game, and most uninteractive, is fighting off so many ships for a mission.
And another discrepancy I have with this game is how the camera hasn’t really been fixed. Especially with Ratchet’s new Hover Boots. The camera can be very frustrating at times. Sometimes the camera will stay in a certain fixed position in a boss fight, while you fall to your death because you can’t see Ratchet.
And playing on harder difficulties was rewarding. But even Hardcore is a little too extreme for me. So no matter what your playing style is for Platformers, I know you’ll enjoy this one.
The Final Word
A Crack in Time brings a lot of fresh new air into the series, really showing off what Insomniac Games can do to Ratchet and Clank, despite the amount of games already created. Clank’s gameplay is the best it’s ever been, platforming is brought back to its original bar of excellence, and exceeded, and no matter what you don’t like about the game, there’s heckuva lot to make you still love it.
– MonsterVine Rating: 5 out of 5 – Excellent
