Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time AU Review

Australia, October 30, 2009 - As you can see above, the subheading for this review is: "You got moxie, kid. I like that." That, however, wasn't the first entry. The original text – before being stricken from the record – was: "A crate love story." Why? Because few modern series' have a love affair with the crate quite like Ratchet & Clank (R&C). The humble crate is – in most contexts – nothing but a cliche these days. That most archetypal, processor-friendly environmental object just isn't necessary anymore. Nowadays, unless a crate serves a functional purpose, it's an artistically bankrupt inclusion in a game. Unless you're Ratchet & Clank that is. In Ratchet & Clank, the piles and piles of bolt-filled crates that populate the levels don't make any sense, but they don't have to – they're a fantastic inclusion regardless.

Why? Because it speaks to the core of the gameplay. Strip away the platforming, the inventive mini-games and the gadgets, and Ratchet & Clank is about two things – destroying stuff and collecting stuff, and smashing up crates gives you both those things in one. They explode in a joyous shower of bolts, the currency of the series, which you can then spend on bigger guns to create even bigger explosions. It's the cycle of life. Sunrise, sunset.

Erm, yeah.



"I am the mighty Ratchet! Behold my Hoverboots!"
Anyway, R&C may be all about having your way with crates and loving every minute of it, but that's common knowledge. What a lot of people may not realise is just how important story and characters are to this series as well. And that's where having moxie ('the ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage' – thanks Free Dictionary) comes in. A Crack in Time doesn't piss-fart around – this is Ratchet's biggest challenge yet. His last two adventures have led to this, and the future of his family and the Lombaxes, not to mention that of the Universe, hangs in the balance. As usual, the story is told with charm and humour through some fantastically animated cutscenes and amusing in-game conversations, and really provides a great framework for the action.

Speaking of which, while A Crack in Time builds on what has come before, it also – as you'd expect - has quite a few new tricks up its sleeve. Ratchet's gameplay is a great blend of fully fledged levels and smaller bite-size challenges. Regions of explorable space are unlocked sector by sector, and in addition to story locations – generally planets or space stations – the inky black is also littered with other challenges you can choose to do while tooling about in Ratchet's ship. You'll encounter hostile fleets to dogfight with, stranded vehicles that need towing and countless planetoids with combat and platform challenges. One may charge you with killing 60 enemies as you run (literally) around its surface, while another may take you through a gauntlet of familiar platforming tricks and traps. You'll be rewarded, not just with bolts, but other collectables, such as mods for your weapons or Zonis, which help upgrade your ship.

"Eeeew. Some kind of alien! RUN AWAY!"
Then there are Ratchet's Gadgets, such as the Hoverboots, which let him zip along a few centimetres off the ground and slow his descent in the air. These are capitalised on by levels with speed boost ramps and large open areas where he can use them for quickly getting around. They can be a little unwieldy to control at times, but are a good addition. Another new inclusion is the OmniSoaker, which lets Ratchet suck up water, nectar and oil, each of which has its own puzzle solving relevance. We use the word 'puzzle' pretty lightly by the way, as you'll never be puzzling over anything for more than a second or two. Partly because the difficulty is pitched a little low, and partly because the game insists on telling you what to do a lot of the time.

Even so, they're good inclusions and fit in nicely with Ratchet's normal running, jumping, grappling and shooting gameplay. Clank also gets kitted out in some new gameplay duds. Not only does he find himself in the home of the Zonis – the Great Clock, which is located at exactly the centre of the Universe (give or take a few metres), but it turns out he has a pretty significant role to play in this place. We won't say any more obviously, but what this means in gameplay terms is that Clank gains some nifty time-related powers. He can throw out a large bubble of slow time, for instance, and he has a Chrono Sceptre, with which he can bonk enemies on the head, as well as use it to rewind time to repair any damage done to the Great Clock by Dr Nefarious – the villain of the piece.

Dr "ridiculous overactor" Nefarious, and Clank "laughs like Scooby Doo" Clankenstein.
Cooler still, however, is his ability to use Time Pads to create multiple versions of himself. This allows the player to record Clank doing things – stepping on switches to open doors or raise/lower platforms, and use those recordings to complete sequences to get through to the next area. These start out simple – make a recording of Clank moving to and standing on a switch so you can go through the now-open door, but become a bit more complex when you have three Time Pads to work with. They never quite get hard enough – a separate mode of challenges would have been awesome – but are satisfying nonetheless.