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Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
PlayStation 3
Kicking Butt and Resolving Cliffhangers
4.5/5 stars
"Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time" ("CiT") is the latest in the line of brilliant story-based shooter/platformers developed by Insomniac Games. While the older games in the series are self-contained, Insomniac has produced a closely-connected trilogy for the PlayStation 3. "CiT" delivers the resolution for the cliffhanger that was created at the end of "Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction" ("ToD") and foreshadowed in "Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty" ("QfB"). As such, Insomniac has placed a heavy burden on "CiT": it must appeal to both long-time fans of the series (e.g., those who played "ToD") as well as new players who are completely unfamiliar with the world of Ratchet & Clank and its established characters, story, and gameplay conventions.
Presentation
"CiT" continues to have the same high-quality presentation that the series has been known for since the beginning. The graphics are impressively-rendered 3D with detailed textures and little-to-no clipping. Everything in the game is colorful and cartoony, but woven together with such skill that is allows the player to suspend their disbelief with ease: it feels like a living universe. The only real negative to the graphics is the fact that sometimes shadows seem a little too thick and look a bit funny during non-pre-rendered cutscenes.
The audio, like the visuals, meets the bar set by the previous entries. All of the original voice actors reprise their roles, lending continuity to the series. "CiT" even has a bit of star power, with Arman Shimmerman (the illustrious Quark from "Star Trek: Deep Space 9") and Charles Martinet (the voice of Nintendo's Mario) lending their talents. Considering that many games have voicework that is worse than a C-rate movie, the fact that the Ratchet & Clank series is able to continually recruit such talent is a feather in Insomniac's cap. The voicework is presented both in cutscenes and as ambient chatter while playing levels, which adds greatly to the sense of immersion provided by the game. Alert players will catch a variety of joke and funny skits in the ambient chatter, including during the end credits.
The music, like the voicework, is excellent. The tracks are all fitting for their environments and are all pleasant to listen to. While none of them are particularly catchy and iconic (like, say, the "Super Mario Bros." theme), they blend into the background and provide a nice atmosphere for the player to traverse the game.
"CiT" has one minor technical flaw that I noticed while playing as Clank. Frequently, the Clank-centric stages stuttered or paused for a split-second. This wouldn't be a big deal, except for the fact that, as a platforming game, the characters are frequently in mid-air above a bottomless pit. These stutters caused Clank to plummet to his death at least three times, which isn't a lot, but is still enough to be annoying. The fact that, like all previous Ratchet & Clank games, the player is given infinite lives softens the blow from this technical problem further still.
Story
As previously mentioned, "CiT" continues and resolves the story begun in "ToD." Interestingly, the game detects whether or not there is a "ToD" save file on the PS3. If none is found, the game plays a recap video, narrated by the ubiquitous blundering `super' hero, Captain Qwark. If a previous save is found, the game skips the recap video, but makes it available in the "Extras" menu.
In "ToD," Ratchet, the heroic furry Lombax-creature, and Clank, the small robotic sidekick, fought off an invading force of banished aliens called Cragmites. Throughout that game, Clank was secretly contacted by a mysterious race of little, flying robot-things called Zoni, who proceeded to abduct him right after the final confrontation with the Cragmite emperor. In the intermediary, downloadable game, "QfB," Ratchet and a supporting character introduced in "ToD" attempted to track down Clank and the Zoni , only to discover that the Zoni were working with the deranged robot, Dr. Nefarious, whom Ratchet & Clank had defeated in a previous adventure.
The major plot points in "CiT" all revolve around the origins of the two titular characters. The story thread about the missing Lombaxes that was begun in "ToD" gets more development in "CiT" but is not fully resolved. Clank's origins, however, are completely resolved by the events in "CiT," and are done so very satisfactorily. Usually origin stories for existing characters include some retconning, and "CiT" is no different. But the retcons are so minor and so well-implemented into the existing fabric of the game's story continuum that it feels like the ideas were there from the beginning.
The story ends with a complete resolution (no cliffhanger this time!), but still leaves plenty of untied threads that could be used as jumping-off points for future installments of the series. I can only hope that Insomniac continues to develop games in this series and keeps the quality of writing as high as it has traditionally been.
The sense of humor of the Ratchet & Clank series is one of its trademarks and, thankfully, still there. New characters are a bit of a mixed bag. The developers have stated that they wanted to create a galaxy that "felt like high school" for "CiT," thus the alien races are divided into the nerdy Terachnids and the jocky Agorians. There are two other alien races that don't really fit into the high school analogy, though: the Vullards and the Fongoids. The Vullards are the garbagemen of the galaxy, dealing exclusively in the realm of salvage. The Fongoids are a once-technologically-advanced race which has been stripped of all but the most rudimentary technology, partially of their own free will, due to their abuse of time travel in the distant past. There is also a surrogate-Clank robot weapon that Ratchet can buy early in the game called Mr. Zurkon, who continually spouts insults and makes derogatory comments about everything except himself. I found Mr. Zurkon annoying, as he NEVER SHUTS UP! Of course, Mr. Zurkon is a minor annoyance when one looks at the big picture, including Captain Qwark's hilarious stupidity and inability to cross six inches of water, Dr. Nefarious freezing up and channeling soap operas, and the amusingly-animated weapon demonstrations provided for each new purchase. Regardless of whether they are new or recurring, the alien designs in the Ratchet & Clank universe are incredibly. alien. Whereas most science fiction is fond of representing aliens as humans with facial deformities, there are numerous non-humanoid races that nevertheless look feasible, as the designs were all based on real-world creatures.
Despite the overall high quality of the writing and humor, "CiT" has a few issues. Perhaps the biggest problem with the story in "CiT" is that Ratchet and Clank are separated for 90% of it. Instead of "Ratchet AND Clank" the game should be called "Ratchet OR Clank," as the focus shifts from one to the other at specific points in the story. Another issue with the story is the fact that all of the recurring supporting characters except Captain Qwark are missing in action with no explanation of where they went or why they would suddenly stop helping Ratchet.
Finally, I thought "CiT" was a little on the short side compared to "ToD." The length gives me the impression that "QfB" was actually the original beginning of "CiT," but was excised and turned into a stand-alone game in order to serve as a tide-me-over for fans and as an experiment to test the viability of digital distribution.
Gameplay
The gameplay is almost entirely cut-and-paste from previous entries in the series. and that's a good thing. Ratchet & Clank games have always had an excellent combination of shooting and platform jumping that works really well and allows the games to appeal to shooter fans, platformer fans, and people who aren't necessarily huge fans of either genre by itself. Throughout the various planets that make up the game's levels, Ratchet must traverse difficult terrain while annihilating hostile alien lifeforms with a steadily-expanding arsenal of quirky weapons purchased from GrummelNet vendor pods. Weapons and ammo are paid for in Bolts, the game world's currency, which can be obtained by killing enemies, breaking open supply crates, or destroying bits of breakable scenery. Both Ratchet and his weapons gain experience and upgrade over time, which adds a nice RPG-like element to the game.
The controls are as tight and simple as they have always been. The left stick moves Ratchet, the right stick moves the (surprisingly well-behaved) camera, X makes Ratchet jump, O or R1 fires his chosen weapon, Square makes Ratchet swing his wrench-turned-melee weapon, and Start opens the game menu. Holding R2 and pressing Square turns Ratchet's melee attack into a ranged boomerang attack, which is useful for grabbing items and interacting with object in the game environment as well as killing things. The L2 button, when held, allows Ratchet to strafe, which is vital for hectic combat situations. The Triangle button opens the Weapon Quickselect menu, which pauses the game and allows the player to rotate the left stick to equip a different weapon. One major improvement to the Quickselect menu is that it no longer includes non-weapon gadgets. These gadgets now have their own Quickselect menu that is operated by the four d-buttons. In a completely unsurprising move, the PS3's SIXAXIS controller is barely even acknowledged by "CiT." Whereas "ToD" featured several skydiving levels that were controlled by tilting motions, the only motion-controlled feature in "CiT" is a very lame weapon that shoots out a ball of electricity that can be vaguely steered into targets by tilting the SIXAXIS.
The most impressive new addition to the core gameplay of the series for "CiT" is the ability for Ratchet to fly his starship around each star system he visits, fighting enemy ships, running errands for various aliens, and exploring moons. In previous games, space travel was just used for loading screens or the occasional mini-game shooter level. Now it is a core mechanic for fully fleshed-out exploration. I really enjoyed this addition to the game, despite the fact that moving most of the hidden McGuffins in the game to self-contained moons made the main planet-based levels less complex and more linear. And there are certainly a lot of McGuffins to collect, ranging from stray Zoni to schematics for the most powerful weapon in the game.
The other new gameplay addition is limited to Clank's stages and involves time manipulation. Clank now has the ability to record copies of himself in certain locations that will all act at the same time. The puzzles at the heart of this new gameplay mechanic can involve anywhere from two to four phantom Clanks running around simultaneously, activating switches and moving platforms for each other. While these puzzles are interesting, the simple fact that temporal recording is limited to specific areas makes this gameplay mechanic seem underwhelming.
Lastly, I wanted to comment on the pre-order downloadable content that was made available in three separate packages for this game's release. The DLC is an incredibly disappointing bit of nothing, as all of the pre-order "bonuses" are available in the normal course of gameplay! Sure, it's better to have some of these goodies, like the Bolt Magnet, from the beginning of the game instead of the middle, but it doesn't really take that long to acquire these things normally. While it does make me happy that I'm not missing out on anything for not pre-ordering three copies of the game, it also makes me feel like a chump for pre-ordering at all.
Overall
"Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time" is a must-play for fans of the series. It also tidily wraps up the trilogy of PS3 games, leaving the future of the series up in the air. Players who are new to or unfamiliar with the series should either pass on "CiT" or pickup a copy of "ToD" to play first. Despite its quality, "CiT" feels more like an expansion disc for "ToD" and "QfB." While still enjoyable, the short length and intimate ties to the games that immediately precede it make "CiT" smack of episodic gaming.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
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