Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time

The release of Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time brings a dramatic conclusion to the storyline that begun with their debut Playstation 3 title, Tools of Destruction. Following on from the events of Quest for Booty, A Crack in Time was marked as the point in which the series’ biggest questions regarding Insomniac Games intergalactic duo would be answered for its fans. Long-term fans that have followed the series will undoubtedly appreciate all that is revealed within the game far more than those that are picking up a Ratchet & Clank title for the first time. Yet regardless of such a fact, here we find a fantastic platform title that is well worth checking out.

Picking up from the end of Quest for Booty, having discovered that Clank’s disappearance was engineered by the evil, devious mind of Dr. Nefarious, Ratchet once again packs his wrench and races across the Galaxy with Captain Quark to save his best friend. Along the journey, you’ll uncover hidden truths regarding both Ratchet and Clank’s origins, as well as revealing what destiny has further in store for them. However the game places an even larger issue regarding the future of both characters due to the fact that as they draw closer, both wonder as to whether their destinies continue to lie together, or is it time for the greatest duo the universe has ever seen to part ways?

For those that are worried, it isn’t necessary to have played both previous titles as A Crack in Time reflects over all the past events at the start of the game, ensuring that everything is explained as fully as possible so that you can understand everything that follows. Needless to say it leads to a fantastic conclusion, but I won’t spoil it for you!

The game retains its core elements of both platforming and blasting your way through areas with an array of unique, but nevertheless crazy, weaponry. Whilst you will spend the majority of the game playing as Ratchet, it is the sections in which you play as Clank that add a whole new type of puzzles based around manipulating time.

You’ll encounter rooms that have a series of time pads on the floor, which you must utilise to record whatever actions Clank performs. Each recording must assist the others in overcoming obstacles – accessing a lift so that another version can get up onto a platform for example – and in doing so, two of your recordings will end up on switches that unlock the door leading into the next area. These new mechanics work incredibly well, and figuring out how to assist yourself to pass each puzzle provides some of the most challenging and rewarding sections of the game.

In comparison to this when playing as Ratchet you’ll find tasks become more combat based or travelling across space, coming across the occassional puzzle where you must utilise your trusty Wrench to make use of mechanisms that allow you to form a path to continue on your journey. Ratchet also receives a new toy this time around in a rather funky set of hover boots, not only allowing you to retrace your steps in levels faster but also providing him with the ability to now use jump pads to get around levels – which provides some breathtaking and rather fast-paced moments.

As with all Ratchet & Clank titles alongside the humour found within the dialogue and personalities of its characters, much of the enjoyment comes from getting your hands on a largely diverse, yet inevitably ridiculous, set of weapons. It can be said that each weapon will provide you with an entirely fresh gameplay experience, and as you progress through the story you’ll quickly become spoiled for choice as to how to dispose of your enemies. As with previous games, each shot/ kill you make with your chosen weapon will increase your experience using it – leading to upgrades that allow it to become more powerful. What is great is that majority of weapons can be upgraded relatively quickly through use, and therefore you will almost always be able to tackle any enemy encounters without difficulty – as long as you’re careful that is!

Whilst the game introduces some brand new weapons – such as the Spiral of Death, Rift Inducer 5000 and Chimp-o-matic – alongside some old favourites. These are all entertaining to use yet it is the new range of Constructo Weapons that really stand out within the game. These encompass the Constructo Pistol, Constructo Shotgun and Constructo Bomb. What makes them different is that they can continually be altered with a variety of different ‘mods’ that you pick up on your travels.

As an example, the Constructo Pistol consists of three categories; Upgrade (including Ricochet, Scorcher and Impactor), Chamber (including Blast, Coil and Beam) and Trigger (including Charge, Hasty and Pull) components. Selecting one of each of these will directly alter the way that the weapon deals its damage with various enhancements including bouncy bullets, ammunition that will set enemies alight for a short period or even effects how the bullets are projected. In total I can estimate that there are over twenty-seven different combinations per weapon, providing the player with complete control over how these weapons work within the game.

Alongside this is a further enhanced version of Space Travel, that now allows you free control to fly (if that’s the right word for a space ship?) around the systems that you visit during the story. Insomniac had stated that they had intended to improve the exploration within this title, as well as adding in more replay value for fans, and they have achieved this through the introduction of numerous moons. Within each system there are a number of moons that hold unique rewards at the end – be these Zoni, that you must collect to allow yourself to continually upgrade Ratchet’s ships abilities and weapons, new Constructo Weapon mods, or maybe even an elusive Golden Bolt. The moons provide you with some great platforming challenges, yet although they retain the series’ charm I couldn’t quite remove the fact from my mind that such an idea seemed so borrowed from Nintendo’s acclaimed title Super Mario Galaxy. A worthy inclusion of course however, and one that adds a further level of challenge and replayability to the title as you seek out each moon’s reward.

You’ll find yourself in space combat situations again this time around too, and these work incredibly well. Through the use of lasers and heat seeking missiles, enemies never really offer to much challenge – yet fortunately the odd Boss encounter will. I imagine the ease of destroying basic enemy ships was to ensure players didn’t spend the majority of the game in space, yet more diversity here in enemy type and difficult would have been more than welcome.

Whilst space travelling, a rather amusing inclusion is a set of new ‘Space Radio’ channels that advertise crazy commercials, movie trailers, and play a rather broad variety of groovy music – ensuring you don’t get too stressed out by all the hi-octane action. For long-term fans, the characters that present these Radio shows also provide the occassional piece of trivia regarding previous unanswered questions from the series.

The controls remain mostly unchanged in comparison to previous titles, which is good as those used before worked so well. Each character is particularly responsive, allowing both platforming and combat to be performed with ease and accuracy – rather than hampering the overall gameplay.

Graphically, the game cannot really be faulted and Insomniac have produced a title of the highest quality. Both the characters and environments look so incredibly life-like that at times you’ll often feel that you are watching a Pixar film – it’s that good.

So there you have it, A Crack in Time results in being a title that will appeal to all audiences. With this becoming the eighth title in the series, whilst it retains many of the core elements of the franchise and sprinkles in plenty of new features, it doesn’t prevent it from being the best yet and one that is well worth picking up.

Lost Gamer Verdict: 9/10