Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time
Ratchet and Clank is a staple now on the Playstation. There are so many platformers out there that you would imagine this would just fall in with the rest and be forgotten. But no! In this reviewers eyes this platform owns the genre. I dont usually go for platformers (I’m even getting a tad tired of Mario) but this sucked me in from the beginning. I could do this review from the point of view of the R&C fanatic, but for the sake of everyone else I will review this game as a standalone.
Well here is some info about the build up to this game (taken from Wiki). Continuing from the end of Quest for Booty, Clank has been abducted by the Zoni on behalf of the robot Dr. Nefarious, who is trying to discover the secret of “The Great Clock” from him. However, before he can, Clank is taken away by the Zoni, betraying Nefarious, and Nefarious’ operating is disrupted by Ratchet and Captain Qwark. Nefarious escapes, but sets his troopers to seek out Ratchet while ordering his robotic butler Lawrence to find Clank. No need to worry if you don’t follow, Qwark does a nice little introduction at the opening cut scene to bring you all up to speed.
The game alters between playing as Ratchet and playing as Clank. As Clank you have the ability to fly and hover and of course attack your enemies. As Ratchet you have use of an array of weapons (some new and allow you to slow down time), the ratchet and the grav boots. The grav boots allow you to run on ionised surfaces (i.e. run up walls and traverse puzzle style levels).
The enemies differ throughout the game, some are aliens and some are robots. There are some new lifeforms that only appear when something is wrong. It is up to Ratchet and Qwark to find out what while on the search for Clank. The Zoni float about these levels too, you can use a little capsule to capture them. They have the ability to fix and upgrade your ship. Oh yeah! The ship is now playable in R&C. While flying from world to world you play a little mini game. You have a set number of ships to destory while you fly around. The ship floats about on a 2D plane so all you need to worry about is going left and right. It works well and offers some entertainment.
Ok so thats the buildup to the game. Now lets get down to the nitty gritty.
Graphically the game is stunning. It offers a lot of cut scenes throughout. But, unlike most games, you actually want to stick around to watch them. They are graphically brilliant but also very funny. The voice actors do an amazing job bringing the characters to life and the script is written to perfection. Very clever play on words and comical scenarios really keep you involved in the game, and thats even before you start playing.
The music is beautiful and adds an amazing atmosphere to the game. Like I said before, the voices are done brilliantly and really keep the game interesting.
The actual gameplay is similar to the other games. In typical platform style there is a lot of running and jumping. The addition of the time disruptions are nice. You will see levels break apart, then freeze, then time will reverse and they will return to normal. Others will be completely frozen in time. While indoors, you can walk up and around on the walls. This leads to some very clever puzzle style levels, trying to work your way around the lasers. The weapons upgrades are very interesting as you get the option to either buy new weapons or customise the old ones. Both offer a lot of fun. Each time you buy a new weapon you get a little tutorial in a kind of advertising style. Again one of the clever little comedy moments found throughout the game. The weapons themselves are sometimes completely off the wall and can be a tad difficult to use. A good example of this is the Sonic Erupter. It took so much time just to wait and attack with it the enemy had already moved. Usually the trusty bomb launcher or laser gun was enough to disperse the badies. However, I have never EVER seen a weapon as cool and merciless as Mr Zurkon. He is your little buddy that uses the phrase “Mr. Zurkon is here to kill you!” before smashing enemies to pieces. Fantastic! Great fun with him.
It adds a nice addition to the R&C collection but you don’t need to be a fanatic to play it. I don’t have a huge amount of experience with R&C but I was immediately engrossed in the storyline. It does the cinematic well and the gameplay is challenging but not impossible. It really managed to keep my attention, which if you have read my previous reviews, is a difficult thing to do. Light hearted and fun are the best words I can use to describe this game and that’s why it deserves a 4.5/5! Very Well Done! I can see this being on a lot of Christmas lists!
I wondered do you need to play Quest for Booty before playing this?
No its all explained to a good enough degree at the beginning by one of the characters.