PS3 Review – Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
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As you go from planet to planet, you’ll want to stop at the local moons, where you’ll locate Gold Bolts, Constructo Weapon Mods, and Zoni. When you land on each moon, you’ll be greeted with orbital platforming gameplay akin to that of Super Mario Galaxy. This sphere-based orbital gameplay fits the Ratchet and Clank series much better due to the fact the series has always been about space, and hopping from planet to planet to complete the task at hand. Throughout the game you’ll locate Zoni, which upgrade Ratchet’s ship. Although you certainly can play through the game without upgrading your ship very much, you’ll have a much less frustrating time if you spend the time to find all the Zoni on the moons of each sector and within each planet.
Also throughout the game you’ll locate Constructo Mods for your weapons. If your arsenal wasn’t varied enough you can use these mods to customize your weapons. The modifications can alter the rate of fire, type of explosion, and more. It lets you take a simple blaster and turn it into a laser. Your weapons can certainly hold their own without any tweaking but the added customization lets you put add a personal twist to each weapon, and in some cases, modifications can help you along your quest.
A staple in the Ratchet and Clank series are the outrageous weapons. Your weapons are extremely varied, and each weapon is helpful in different situations. One thing is for sure, each weapon is as funny as it is devastating. My personal favorite is the always supportive Mr. Zurkon, as he follows you by your side, telling your enemies the various ways he’s going to kill them. As you use each weapon, it will gain levels allowing for greater firepower, range, etc.
The characters themselves are expertly designed, extremely detailed, and each have distinct personalities. You’ll see the same humorous witty banter between characters that you’ve come to love from the Ratchet and Clank series. Even the eccentric villains are enjoyable to watch. Enemies are designed well, and fit the whimsical universe perfectly. The combat is straight forward; use your massive arsenal of weapons to take out all enemies. But this time around, the battles are more epic than ever. Dozens of enemies will fill the screen as bullets and laser beams fly by. Even fighting along side the overzealous and arrogant General Azimuth you’ll find yourself stretching your ammunition to the last bullet.
Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time features some of the prettiest visuals available on the PlayStation 3. Though the series isn’t known for its striking realism, it is however known for its smoothly-animated, superb graphics which compare to some of the best Disney Pixar has to offer. The graphics aren’t leaps and bounds over its predecessor, but that is mainly due to how gorgeous Tools of Destruction was. The environments and landscapes you’ll discover on each planet varies greatly from barren wasteland, to snowy mountain tops. Each area is filled with plenty of secret items to be discovered, enough to give you plenty of reasons to keep going back for more.
A Crack in Time offers a fantastically fun yet challenging experience for all ages. Long time fans of the series will love the new gameplay features, while newcomers to the series will enjoy the series staples, such as the whimsical weapons, which are back in full force. The story is engaging and unfolds over the course of 10-12 hours of greatly varied gameplay. The overall polish and small details make the game really shine. There is tons of replay value packed into the game including a massive universe to explore, and plenty of secrets to be discovered. Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time is game you shouldn’t miss, even with the onslaught of other major titles releasing this holiday season.
PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score
Varied and fun gameplay Tons of replay value and over 10 hours of core gameplay |
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28 Responses to “PS3 Review – Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time”
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October 26th, 2009 at 8:12 PM
Great Review, although this sentence didn’t make sense,,,
“Although Ratchet is certainly the focus, you’ll spend the majority of your time with the Lombax. “
10/26/2009 at 8:17 PM
Fixed, ’twas a typo.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:42 PM
was there ever any doubt??? I like the addition of the space travel gameplay when traveling between planets. Can’t wait to play the game and save the universe with my favorite Lombax and cool little Robot
October 26th, 2009 at 8:46 PM
What a great series. The demo sure was a blast to play in itself.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:58 PM
you guys should be harder with your reviews. It would make your high numbers more important, like a 5 should never really go out. Since no game can be perfect, you should just work on giving high numbers out to only the best of the best. This game is going to be amazing but not the best of the best
10/26/2009 at 9:39 PM
The game is so good that it a 4 was doing it a disservice. However you are right it’s not perfect.
We give out Editor’s Choice Awards to games that reach near perfection. One such example is our Uncharted 2 review. http://playstationlifestyle.net/2009/10/12/ps3-review-uncharted-2-among-thieves/
As you can see there is a different 5 out of 5 image, we give it a Editor’s Choice Award and a Platinum trophy instead of a Gold.
Hope this clears things up.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:01 PM
Nothing getting this game until Thursday and will not be able to play until Saturday
Dam you school
10/26/2009 at 10:03 PM
Curse thy education!
October 26th, 2009 at 9:15 PM
@ bond
In a 5 point scale especially, a perfect score does not mean a perfect game. It just means it’s a great game. Stepping down to a 4 out of 5 is a pretty big step down, so you can’t expect exactness on a 5 point scale
October 26th, 2009 at 9:50 PM
Great Review, can’t wait to pick this up tonight.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:57 PM
@bond
The main point is you shouldn’t be complaining about what other peoples opinions are. Thats what a review is, somebody’s opinion.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:35 PM
you guys should add a score system based on people who are subscribed into the PSL as well as your score.. 1-5 doesnt cover alot. 1-100 tends to give a better idea.. Fat princess was a 5 with platnuim and that game is very repetive and no one mentioned that in the review. While you have options to play varied, it always ends up being the same even with diffrent characters your still limited to basic attacks.. No one played fat princess after its first 2 weeks or less and everyone i run into says the same.. its repetive. The fact it has 2 songs total makes it feel like your zoning out while playing the same 2 songs in a loop. I fell for the hype when you guys reviewed it and didnt point out any flaws and made it seams like it was an addictive game with tons of replay value..
@JasperLoons
i understand what your saying but still a 5 is a 5. Demons Soul was scored a 4 because of difficulty… regardless of not being accessable to everyone has little to do with the fact they flat out said the game was difficult and should have not reflected the overal score. Its like me reviewing a sports game and dropping the score because i find it hard to play. Theres a diffrence with a game being hard and a game being cheap. I understand its just 1 guys opinion but flaws should be pointed out more or some system involved with reviewing games.
@JohnnyTruant5
there are people who do care about the PSL reviews.. its not a bad thing. It just shows that they care if they suggest rectifing something or giving a suggestion.
10/26/2009 at 10:45 PM
We’re actually working on a site re-design that could possibly feature user blogs, user reviews, etc. Maybe we can do a reader average score as well to help balance things out if others have a dramatically different opinion that we do.
Thanks for the feedback.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:42 PM
scratch the fat princess platnium remark.. its a gold. i never noticed the image.. its still a strange score system
October 26th, 2009 at 10:45 PM
i forgot about the Editor’s Choice Awards that you guys give, lol my bad. keep up the great work guys
10/26/2009 at 10:49 PM
No worries, in fact we appreciate the feedback. We are always open to suggestions or comments.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
The fact is, it was a great game. Better than I expected. It was long, fun, had gorgeous graphics and had tons of gameplay variety. There really wasn’t much wrong with it. I didn’t quite love the game as it’s not really my type of a game, but it’s excellent nonetheless.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:52 AM
Quick question Anthony if you’re still around….
I hate Clank only levels….it’s one of those things that shows up in a game and I roll my eyes and force myself through it. I have decided to skip this game because it seems like a half/half split of gameplay….so finally my question….how much of the Clank gameplay is there?
Is it 50/50? 60/40? Because I am not interested in too much focus on Clank.
Thanks.
oh and as for the scoring comments…..I have no problem with games earning a 5 (or max score). I am tired of websites that take pride in having a “perfect” score which no game can achieve because there is no “perfect” game. So you see games that deserve that score yet they never attain it.
10/27/2009 at 10:39 AM
Hi Robotron,
To answer you question, it’s about 75/25 and I would normally agree with you. But the new time manipulation gameplay makes playing as Clank extremely fun and challenging. I actually looked forward to time with Clank.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:08 AM
@ Anthony.
I love you. It’s great to hear you taking our feedback with an open mind. I/we really appreciate it. Shadowjin beat me to the user score idea, and honestly I’m really diggjng the idea of the new site upgrade. I just think a higher score number would allow a greater degree of variation instead of each game being a 4 or 5.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:14 PM
dude great review, cannot wait to pick up my copy.. which reminds me, are you done with yours?
October 27th, 2009 at 12:16 PM
I get the feeling it’s more of the same R&C, which isn’t a bad thing vibe.
I’ll wait for price drop because I rreally want to play something new, not more
of the old games. which I liked btw.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:40 PM
I love these games. My favorite character is, without hesitation, Quark. I would like to know how much of him (or the handyman/plumber) is in the game.
This and Uncharted 2 are definately about to be aprt of the Best Buy 3 for 2. I really on’t know what else to get though. Anyone what to hep me out?
October 27th, 2009 at 2:20 PM
@shadow
What? It’s a review, its what he thinks about the game. You don’t see someone next to roger ebert telling him he’s wrong every time he reviews a movie, theres someone sharing their own opinion.
And a scoring system out of 100 is far more confusing than out of 5. Out of 5, mediocre games can go 3 or 2 depending on tastes, and great games can go 5 or 4 depending on tastes, and adding the editors choice for games that go the extra step is a bonus. A 5/5(in this case editors choice even) doesn’t mean absoultely 100% perfect game, it means amazing game with few minor problems. When you step it up to 100 scores can go all over the map, on metacritic games go from 90’s to 60, if you’re looking to reviews to see if a game is good, those scores won’t help very much. If you limit the scoring you will get a higher concentration and better idea.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:28 PM
Think about if review scores were out of ten thousand. There would be such a difference in scores they would be useless, a bigger number doesn’t really help here.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Good score and a great review there Sev.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:28 PM
@JohnnyTruant5
I agree, but could you imagine the greatness of a game that was … OVER 9000!!!!!
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