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Ratchet and Clank: A Crank in Time Review

Posted on 07. Jan, 2010 by Freak_c in Games, News, Reviews

The final chapter in the ratchet and clank future series were Insomniac Games said that they would close the book and tie up all the loose ends of the story. Have Insomniac Games been able to improve on the previous game which already had the correct recipe? Or will this title simply not last in the future?

Story
The story kicks off directly were Quest for Booty finished. If you never got a chance to snag up a copy of Quest for Booty in stores or you did feel like downloading it from the PSN, have no fear because 1) the game was extremely short and didn’t really have much story to it and 2) When you first boot up the game while it installs some system data there is a nice video to get you up to speed with things. It details all the correct plot points in the form of a celebrity interview with Captain Qwark and is a great way to start things off and get you ready for the great yet quirky humour known from the series.

With this game you will get to play as each character separately as they were split up at the end of Tools of Destruction. Ratchet is on a quest to find Clank who was abducted by the mysterious Zoni creatures, and Clank is undertaking his own set of challenges in an extremely intriguing environment. I don’t want to give too much away as this is where a Crack in Time truly shines and one of the best play throws of the game that I had.

Gameplay
Once again Ratchet ventures through the galaxy with his trusty Omniwrench in hand. The wrench is used for his melee attacks and manipulating certain items in the environment, like turning gears or breaking crates. Ratchet can also use his wrench as a type of laser tether to grab onto things and pull them closer. He doesn’t only have the wrench as any Ratchet and Clank fan would know Ratchet comes with quite an arsenal, but a little bit on that later. Ratchet will also come across a number of terribly handy gadgets that are mapped to the D-pad. Once found, these gadgets can be used at any time and they make the game much more dynamic.

A note worthy one are the new hover boots, once you find these the fun really starts and it adds something new to the game. You can able to move around a lot quicker and there are some places where you can only get to with the boots. They are really fun to use and I found myself using them almost all the time.

As I mentioned before any fan of the series will know that these games are well known for the wacky yet cool and creative awesome weapons you have at your disposal. Insomniac Gamesc did hold back with a Crack in Time as there are some of the old classics and favourites and some really cool new weapons. One of the first that comes to mind is the Sonic Erupter, which is well a small alien creature attached to a gun. Pulling the trigger coaxes the creature into making its mating call (sounds like a burp), which equates to a massive, screen-clearing shockwave. You need to trigger it at the right time, as a meter on the top of the screen pulses with the breath of the alien. Pull the trigger when the meter is full and the resulting shockwave will be all the more deadly. Some other cool weapons to consider comes in the form of the Tesla Spikes, which are small rods that can be placed anywhere on the ground. The Dynamo of Doom, which sends a massive sphere of energy rolling towards the opposition, which you control with the sixaxis.

You can customize the weapons now, with mods found be exploring or earned during gameplay. You can customize your bombs and pistol with different colours, different types of firing mode, different types of bullets and more.

Ok Enough about Ratchet; let’s talk a little bit about Clank and his sections of the games, as this is where some of the really cool and innovative and brilliant stuff happens. These Clank sections are a lot less battle orientated but are more puzzle-oriented. Clank has the ability to control time and this can bring in some fun head scratches or puzzles. You will find doors that need to be opened, and they often have very inconvenient switches. In order to overcome this obstacle, Clank will need to record himself performing certain actions (like stepping on a switch, lowering a platform, etc.) and then carry out other actions while the recordings do their own. By the end of these puzzles, you’ll have four or five Clanks running around, it’s fantastic fun. I actually would have preferred more puzzles of this kind and a few more challenging ones at that.

Graphics and Sound
The Graphics are exactly the same as from tools of destruction. Not that that’s a bad thing, I’m just stating that no real improvements have be made. The game still looks great and the colours are bright and really bring the Ratchet and Clank universe to life. This on an HDTV is pure eye candy. The sound on the other hand isn’t top notch, even on 5.1 system, I found that during some of the cut-scenes the sound of the person would be lost when the camera moved, and I had to turn the subtitles on. As for the rest of the sounds they are great and sound just as you would expect. The voice acting is also decent with captain Qwark being really entertaining.

Conclusion
This is a truly great gaming experience, nothing too hardcore or simple. It has everything that you would look for in a game, a great story, great characters, puzzle and platforming and action, but most importantly FUN! This game is really fun and there are a lot of things to keep you playing even after you have finished it. Giving you roughly a decent nine hours of game time, if you have a PS3 then you must play this game. Another top notch PS3 exclusive game from Insomniac Games.

Story – 8 Ties up the franchise nicely
Gameplay – 8 Action, awesome types of multiple weapons and great platform and puzzle sections.
Graphics – 7 Still looks great with bright colours
Sound – 7 Not bad but does lose some of the voice

Overall – 8.5 /10

Written by Claudio Cecchi (Freak_c)

A HUGE thank you to Ster-Kinekor for supplying the game for review.

Tags: Insomniac, Ratchet and Clank, Review