Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time Review
by Brian Buckley
Before i get started, it’s a little strange that the latest Ratchet & Clank has been released with so little fanfare, what i consider to be still one of the premier brands of Sony’s PS3, pretty much was released without as much as a whimper. Now admittedly the series has been around a long time, and Sony have had a stellar year with their newer exclusive titles, Uncharted, Killzone and inFamous. So what was Sony to do, hold it off to next year like the majority of other publishers did with their AAA games? Well, Sony couldn’t do this either, with the upcoming releases of Heavy Rain, MAG, God of War 3 and Gran Turismo 5 next year, they probably couldn’t find a release slot to house Ratchet & Clank’s latest adventure. So we are left with a game that may go unnoticed for the most part, and this is a crying shame.
So, enough about how great Sony is, and how many great games they have on the horizon, (is the console war balance of power shifting a little?) What’s “Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time” all about?
A Crack in Time is a direct follow up to Quest for Booty, the DLC pack that was released last year. And while it’s odd for a full retail game to follow up on a DLC pack that some see as optional these days, there’s no need to worry about getting lost in the story, as there is a helpful roundup refresher course at the start to bring you up to speed. What you find is that our dynamic duo has been separated, and while Ratchet is on the hunt to find he’s good pal Clank. Clank finds himself in the centre of the universe, in the very clock that keeps time in check.
As you progress through the game, you tackle the usual staples of any Ratchet & Clank series, shooting, platforming and puzzles, all of which integrate seamlessly with each other. To stop these sections from getting old, you are constantly unlocking new weapons, or acquiring new abilities to aid you on your journey, the coolest of which for Ratchet (we’ll get onto Clank in a while) in my opinion being the hover boots. Use these bad boys to zip around the environment like a pinball, bouncing off walls and over ramps at incredible speeds, letting Ratchet reach areas otherwise unattainable.
Now in Clanks arsenal, you have two awesome abilities, the time bomb, which effectively puts everything in the blast site into slow motion for a small period of time. You can use this to slow an enemy, or to slow down a spinning platform so you can traverse it. Also, new with Clank is the ability to make duplicates of himself, so you can record your movements to trigger events. This is quiet tough to get your head around, so think of it this way. You have a door and one button, if you stand on the button, the door opens. When you walk off the button the door closes before you have time to reach it. So to get around this issue, you record one version of Clank, standing on a button that triggers a door to open. Then play this recording, while controlling the original Clank, wait for your doppelganger to walk on the button, the door will open and you can walk though. Simple. However, rest assured, the puzzles aren’t always this easy by any stretch of the imagination, but you are helpfully guided through the learning process when you first gain this ability.
That’s another great thing about this game, since there is so much to do, learn and unlock you are constantly learning. But the game generously helps you along the way. Before each weapon becomes available you get to view a cartoon of the weapon in full flow, giving you an idea how to best use it. And when you acquire new abilities, like the aforementioned Hover Boots, there will be some sort of trail to help you find your feet before you set out into the big bad world.
As with the other Ratchet & Clank games on the PS3, a Crack in Time looks and sounds amazing. The animations for both the gameplay and cut scenes are stunning, and the voice acting is well delivered to make the best of the hilarious script.
You know, its hard to find fault with Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, and while its not a game of the year contender like Uncharted 2, the game delivers a compelling and fun filled experience that i can’t recommend highly enough.
