Ratchet&Clank: A Crack in Time Review (PS3)

Aside from me thinking ’oh look another Ratchet & Clank!’ the first thing I thought when I saw the game was, ’Gee, Ratchet sure is quiet.’ Perhaps my memory is failing me but I seem to remember a more lively, spirited and wisecracking Ratchet in the past. It seems that the passage of time has certainly taken its toll on his personality.

Alright, enough about the main character’s personality. Let’s get into the game. It’s available on the PS3 so really it should be no surprise that the game’s graphics are good. They’re sufficiently cartoon-like to remain within the R&C universe but still well developed and visually appealing. We’re not talking about stuffing as many polygons on the screen or thousands of enemies at one time. No we’re talking about nice, lush environments that are interesting enough to make you stop from time to time and look around. The cut-scenes are indeed extremely well done and definitely are shining examples.

The sound is on par with the quality of the graphics and what we have come to expect from Insomniac Games over the years. When you’re cruising in the Aphelion, your space cruiser, you can even switch between radio stations. Everything has its own sound as you would expect, weapons, machines, creatures, characters. When combined with the visuals it makes for an engrossing experience.

But that can’t hide the few flaws in the gameplay. For one thing, the camera, as has pretty much always been the case, is out to kill you. At times your character will fall out of your visibility and you won’t be able to properly aim his fall or gliding. It also makes it difficult when you’re in a tight corner and it has no where to swivel which gives you extremely limited visibility. I’ve died several times because of the camera. But of course this is Ratchet & Clank and dying generally just means going back to a recent checkpoint or save point.  A minor annoyance, but a flaw nonetheless.