Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

released on Oct 27, 2009

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (known as Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time in most PAL countries) is a platform game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 video game console. It is the sequel to Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 in North America on October 27, 2009, in Australia on November 5, 2009, and in Europe on November 6, 2009. A fourth installment, titled Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus, was released in November 2013 for the PlayStation 3.


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another goat. idc what the video essays have to say about this masterpiece

Same shit as Jak and daxter man this shit is fucking timeless and my childhood

This game was my childhood. Wonderful fun

And so comes to a close my latest journey through a Ratchet & Clank game, and it's also the last of the pre-reboot games (well, at least the big budget, physically released ones by Insomniac). I got most of the collectibles, but not quite all. This game was just so fun to play, I didn't mind hunting around for the large majority of them, and I even checked out the whole of the in-game museum~. It took me around 15 hours to beat the Japanese (mostly) version of the game.

This game picks up sorta where Tools of Destruction leaves off, but more technically where the digital exclusive Quest for Booty leaves off, with Clank kidnapped by the Zoni and Ratchet off looking for him. Clank wakes up to find the recently returned Dr. Nefarious (from the third game) attacking the Great Clock, a giant complex that keeps time and space from ripping themselves apart. Ratchet still hasn't quite found Clank, but he knows where to look, and the story hops between both of their narratives before their final reunification. The story of this game is something I would call a step down from the previous game (and if you want 2700+ words on why I think that, you can read about it here), but it's still fine on the whole, save for how this is easily the R&C with some of the most poorly aged humor (a lot of really exhaustingly unfunny "oh look at what nerds they are" non-jokes as well as easily the most casual transphobia the series has ever had XP).

Gameplay-wise, this is easily the strongest the series had ever been up to this point. The platforming action that returned in ToD is back again here, and its bolstered even more with some semi-open world spaceship flying. Actually fun spaceship flying is back once more! You can fly around a 2D plane in each system you're in, going between the major planets as well as small moons that are either platforming or combat challenges that you can do for extra goodies. You can collect lost Zonis to upgrade your ship (and you'll also need to to progress the story), and there are also a good deal of little side quests to do. These spaceship segments are good fun, and a good way to break up Ratchet's platforming and action, which are as fun as ever. There are also a bunch more very fun guns in this game too, including one which I think is my new favorite. It's basically a burp gun, and you need to time when you fire it to get the biggest possible burp (and therefore the most AOE and damage out of it).

While Ratchet does his platforming and shooty-bang-gun stuff better than ever, Clank is off exploring the Great Clock, and he actually gets a bunch of unique mechanics to do it. Clank solo segments have been in just about every R&C game that Insomniac has done, but this is easily the best they've ever been and they've never felt nearly so mechanically or narratively justified. Clank is the keeper of the Great Clock, and therefore a keeper of time, so his segments are made up of some relatively simple action segments, but also a bunch of time-based platforming puzzles. You play through two to four "recordings" of Clank to simultaneously operate parts of puzzle rooms to open the door at the opposite end. They have a really good difficulty curve to them, and never quite out stay their welcome. More straightforward action segments and platforming parts also intersperse between them to give his segments a good sense of pacing. They're not nearly as long as Ratchet's segments, but they're a great and very clever spin on what has usually been a pretty underwhelming series staple up to this point.

The presentation is a pretty mixed bag, and honestly the biggest black mark on the game. Visually and musically, the game is great. It looks really clean and pretty, and the art style is good. This is also another R&C game with a pretty solid musical score, and is much closer to the previous Future game than the original series in how good it is. The audio balancing, however, is borderline unacceptable in just how poor it is. I said at the start that I played through the "mostly" Japanese version of the game, and that's because I switched over to English audio about a third of the way through the game because I was sick of just not understanding anything. Not only is this yet ANOTHER R&C game with no subtitles for the large majority of the dialogue, but the directional audio is completely broken. Voices are often far far too quiet to hear unless the camera's perspective is directly on top of them, so Ratchet facing a character is actually one of the worst ways to hear them, paradoxically enough. Even in English, I had a consistently difficult time actually understanding what characters were saying, and it's frankly shocking how it was able to launch in this state. It's far from a deal breaker, but it makes what story is there so much more frustratingly difficult to enjoy.

Verdict: Recommended. This is a bit of a weird one to recommend because while it is VERY fun to play, the writing also falls so consistently flat. I wanna say that the writing isn't THAT bad, but I also wrote over 2700 words about how poorly done it is (and that's not even mentioning just how poorly so much of the comedy has aged), so clearly I have a pretty meaningful problem with it XD. If you're someone who can safely ignore story in games, I think this is an easy suggestion to grab as a PS3 exclusive action platformer, and even then, it's fun enough to play that I think most people who enjoy action platformers will be able to look past its faults and have a good time with it regardless.

Actual peak Ratchet and Clank. The storytelling is at its best here as well as the art direction and gameplay. The space travel is great and overall everything combat wise is much more balanced and fun versus the past Future titles. The space radios are great and full of amazing music. I also love the simplification of gadgets and the new ones presented here with the Hover Boots.

Really my only complaints is that the arsenal doesn't feel as developed as previous titles and that the turret sections are as usual the weakest point. Also a severe lack of Talwyn but I think it was on purpose to have the partner character Azimuth have a deeper connection to both Ratchet and the player.