AgtFox
11-17-2009, 06:12 AM
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time Review
Title: Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Platform: PS3
Developer: Insomniac Games (http://www.insomniacgames.com/)
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America (http://www.playstation.sony.com)
ESRB: E10+
MSRP: $59.99 (http://www.amazon.com/Ratchet-Clank-Future-Crack-Playstation-3/dp/B00275A7LI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1258318134&sr=8-1)
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek
What's Hot: Graphics; well written story; humor in spades; voiceovers are well done; a return to form for the series; controls are tight; nice and smooth camera; actual exciting boss battles; worlds are huge and designed beautifully
What's Not: The need to land on a bunch of small planets and capture Zoni in order to upgrade the ship to get beyond an invisible wall gets tiring; why aren’t subtitles used all the time?
Truth be told, Sony has had an excellent year when talking about first-party game releases. We may disagree with them taking so long to drop the price of the system to a reasonable level, but there is no doubt games like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and this game, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, have solidified Sony as a strong first-party company right alongside Nintendo. This game is really a return to form for the series, even more than the other two games in this next generation trilogy: Tools of Destruction and the downloadable only Quest for Booty.
Insomniac has obviously listened to us after years of asking for close to or equal gameplay for Clank as there is for Ratchet. At the beginning the two are still separated from what happened back in Tools of Destruction. Each of our protagonists has a story. Ratchet is still trying to find his friend and Captain Qwark has decided to help him after a television reporter points out how much Ratchet has done to save the universe versus how much he has. Yes, we actually get to see Qwark in action this time around and it is just as hilarious as everything else about him is.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/ratchetcrack/shot1.jpg
Clank on the other hand is being held prisoner by Dr. Nefarious and his loyal servant Lawrence at the center of the universe (or within 50 feet of it) at the Great Clock. He of course escapes and finds a robotic Junior Custodian that helps him get past locked areas in the base. Clank’s missions are based around the manipulation of time and are often more about thinking than action. Early on he gets a time bomb that allows him to slow down time in an area by throwing it with the R1 button. He will also come upon parts where there are multiple colored squares and he has to record actions on each square in order to get past the section. You do one action and then pop back to the squares, go onto another one and record another action. When you start recording you see the old you do what you just did. The key is to use the multi-colored Clanks to open up the door and allow the real Clank to continue onto the next area. If the puzzle is too difficult and you can’t pass it, and trust me there are some doozies, eventually the game gives you the option to skip it. Only problem is you don’t get the payoff with lots of bolts for finishing the area. The game also talks about the loss of skills, although I never saw any skill won by finishing an area.
Ratchet on the other hand is more action based. With his trusty Omniwrench by his side and the aforementioned Quark early on, Ratchet sets out to find Clank. He eventually comes across another Lombax making him not as unique as once thought. I don’t feel there is much of a spoiler there because there has been plenty of stuff showing the new Lombax. Ratchet’s gameplay is much like the previous games. He can use the wrench or use weapons that he buys along the way from Grummelnet, some of which you’ve seen before and some new ones as well. I love when a new weapon becomes available because you can show a short cartoon of it in action. These little things are just done so well. Ratchet starts the game with some of the gear he had in Tools of Destruction like the gravity boots and the grappling hook that you can swing with or pull items when presented with the R2+square items. Along the way he gets the use of hoverboots, which are quite useful and readily available whenever you want them with a push of the right d-pad.. This allows you to traverse areas faster because you can hit the R2 button to get turbo. It’s an excellent way to get away from overwhelming odds for a while.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/ratchetcrack/shot2.jpg
The other section of Ratchet’s gameplay has to do with his ship. He travels around different sectors with his ship. In some cases he has to shoot a number of enemies or he has to go to the different planets and land on them. From there the gameplay is much like those Clank ones from Tools of Destruction where you are moving around a circular planet. This time around Ratchet is trying to collect Zoni in order to upgrade his ship. The one problem here is that it is sometimes a necessity to upgrade the ship in order to progress in the game. This means you find yourself jumping to planets and getting Zoni. Some of the planets are short, some are long. It just gets a bit tiring and keeps the game from being absolutely top notch.
The story of course has to do with time and you will find the characters going forward and backward in time with Clank having time powers. I won’t divulge the story here, but let’s just say the old status quo is eventually met and it will be just like old times. The story and the way Insomniac tells it is truly a thing of beauty. The only problem I had is that even with subtitles on they didn’t subtitle every line in the game and sometimes the voices are overpowered by the sound and music. You can drop each of those down under the voice volume, but it would be cool to have them all at the same level and be able to hear everything.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/ratchetcrack/shot3.jpg
As usual, the loading screens are few and far between. It happens whenever you hit a planet and when a cutscene starts up. Outside of that the stages themselves stream all off the disc like previous games in the series. Draw distance is far and the framerate of 60fps only takes a dip when there are a lot of enemies around and you’re trying to turn the camera around with the right analog stick. The camera for the most part treats you well and you have lots of control over it and it is a very smooth movement with the aforementioned 60fps.
Insomniac has possibly created the best game in the Ratchet & Clank series with A Crack in Time. There’s enough Clank stages and the fact they are actually important to the overall story already makes it better and it means the developer listened to a bunch of our criticisms. The story is very well told, the graphics are phenomenal and the gameplay is varied enough between the two main characters that the overall game flows together perfectly. Much like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, this game belongs in your PS3 library just like the early Tools of Destruction did. If you like a top notch platform game with action and puzzles that woudl even be exciting for the children in your life, you can't go wrong with this game and hopefully you will pick up some of the previous games as well and see how far this series has come. Highly recommended and a must buy for anyone that loves platformers and has a PS3.
Score: 4.5 out of 5 CoGs
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4_5.png
Loren says, ”Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time is quite possibly the best game in this fantastic series so far. Finally we have valid Clank stages where he isn’t Ratchet’s sidekick and he is just as important as Ratchet in the game. The flowing of the story and the gameplay itself over this 10 hour plus game is just fantastic. An excellent game that even children and families can play.”
Please note that this game along with Little Big Planet are offered in a Black Friday deal at Best Buy (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=13604) (towards bottom of post) with a 120GB PS3 Slim system for the regular system price of $299.99. You really can't go wrong if you don't have a PS3 since you get two of the best family style games on the system for basically free.
Title: Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Platform: PS3
Developer: Insomniac Games (http://www.insomniacgames.com/)
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America (http://www.playstation.sony.com)
ESRB: E10+
MSRP: $59.99 (http://www.amazon.com/Ratchet-Clank-Future-Crack-Playstation-3/dp/B00275A7LI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1258318134&sr=8-1)
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek
What's Hot: Graphics; well written story; humor in spades; voiceovers are well done; a return to form for the series; controls are tight; nice and smooth camera; actual exciting boss battles; worlds are huge and designed beautifully
What's Not: The need to land on a bunch of small planets and capture Zoni in order to upgrade the ship to get beyond an invisible wall gets tiring; why aren’t subtitles used all the time?
Truth be told, Sony has had an excellent year when talking about first-party game releases. We may disagree with them taking so long to drop the price of the system to a reasonable level, but there is no doubt games like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and this game, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, have solidified Sony as a strong first-party company right alongside Nintendo. This game is really a return to form for the series, even more than the other two games in this next generation trilogy: Tools of Destruction and the downloadable only Quest for Booty.
Insomniac has obviously listened to us after years of asking for close to or equal gameplay for Clank as there is for Ratchet. At the beginning the two are still separated from what happened back in Tools of Destruction. Each of our protagonists has a story. Ratchet is still trying to find his friend and Captain Qwark has decided to help him after a television reporter points out how much Ratchet has done to save the universe versus how much he has. Yes, we actually get to see Qwark in action this time around and it is just as hilarious as everything else about him is.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/ratchetcrack/shot1.jpg
Clank on the other hand is being held prisoner by Dr. Nefarious and his loyal servant Lawrence at the center of the universe (or within 50 feet of it) at the Great Clock. He of course escapes and finds a robotic Junior Custodian that helps him get past locked areas in the base. Clank’s missions are based around the manipulation of time and are often more about thinking than action. Early on he gets a time bomb that allows him to slow down time in an area by throwing it with the R1 button. He will also come upon parts where there are multiple colored squares and he has to record actions on each square in order to get past the section. You do one action and then pop back to the squares, go onto another one and record another action. When you start recording you see the old you do what you just did. The key is to use the multi-colored Clanks to open up the door and allow the real Clank to continue onto the next area. If the puzzle is too difficult and you can’t pass it, and trust me there are some doozies, eventually the game gives you the option to skip it. Only problem is you don’t get the payoff with lots of bolts for finishing the area. The game also talks about the loss of skills, although I never saw any skill won by finishing an area.
Ratchet on the other hand is more action based. With his trusty Omniwrench by his side and the aforementioned Quark early on, Ratchet sets out to find Clank. He eventually comes across another Lombax making him not as unique as once thought. I don’t feel there is much of a spoiler there because there has been plenty of stuff showing the new Lombax. Ratchet’s gameplay is much like the previous games. He can use the wrench or use weapons that he buys along the way from Grummelnet, some of which you’ve seen before and some new ones as well. I love when a new weapon becomes available because you can show a short cartoon of it in action. These little things are just done so well. Ratchet starts the game with some of the gear he had in Tools of Destruction like the gravity boots and the grappling hook that you can swing with or pull items when presented with the R2+square items. Along the way he gets the use of hoverboots, which are quite useful and readily available whenever you want them with a push of the right d-pad.. This allows you to traverse areas faster because you can hit the R2 button to get turbo. It’s an excellent way to get away from overwhelming odds for a while.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/ratchetcrack/shot2.jpg
The other section of Ratchet’s gameplay has to do with his ship. He travels around different sectors with his ship. In some cases he has to shoot a number of enemies or he has to go to the different planets and land on them. From there the gameplay is much like those Clank ones from Tools of Destruction where you are moving around a circular planet. This time around Ratchet is trying to collect Zoni in order to upgrade his ship. The one problem here is that it is sometimes a necessity to upgrade the ship in order to progress in the game. This means you find yourself jumping to planets and getting Zoni. Some of the planets are short, some are long. It just gets a bit tiring and keeps the game from being absolutely top notch.
The story of course has to do with time and you will find the characters going forward and backward in time with Clank having time powers. I won’t divulge the story here, but let’s just say the old status quo is eventually met and it will be just like old times. The story and the way Insomniac tells it is truly a thing of beauty. The only problem I had is that even with subtitles on they didn’t subtitle every line in the game and sometimes the voices are overpowered by the sound and music. You can drop each of those down under the voice volume, but it would be cool to have them all at the same level and be able to hear everything.
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/features/ratchetcrack/shot3.jpg
As usual, the loading screens are few and far between. It happens whenever you hit a planet and when a cutscene starts up. Outside of that the stages themselves stream all off the disc like previous games in the series. Draw distance is far and the framerate of 60fps only takes a dip when there are a lot of enemies around and you’re trying to turn the camera around with the right analog stick. The camera for the most part treats you well and you have lots of control over it and it is a very smooth movement with the aforementioned 60fps.
Insomniac has possibly created the best game in the Ratchet & Clank series with A Crack in Time. There’s enough Clank stages and the fact they are actually important to the overall story already makes it better and it means the developer listened to a bunch of our criticisms. The story is very well told, the graphics are phenomenal and the gameplay is varied enough between the two main characters that the overall game flows together perfectly. Much like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, this game belongs in your PS3 library just like the early Tools of Destruction did. If you like a top notch platform game with action and puzzles that woudl even be exciting for the children in your life, you can't go wrong with this game and hopefully you will pick up some of the previous games as well and see how far this series has come. Highly recommended and a must buy for anyone that loves platformers and has a PS3.
Score: 4.5 out of 5 CoGs
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4_5.png
Loren says, ”Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time is quite possibly the best game in this fantastic series so far. Finally we have valid Clank stages where he isn’t Ratchet’s sidekick and he is just as important as Ratchet in the game. The flowing of the story and the gameplay itself over this 10 hour plus game is just fantastic. An excellent game that even children and families can play.”
Please note that this game along with Little Big Planet are offered in a Black Friday deal at Best Buy (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=13604) (towards bottom of post) with a 120GB PS3 Slim system for the regular system price of $299.99. You really can't go wrong if you don't have a PS3 since you get two of the best family style games on the system for basically free.