r/RatchetAndClank • u/Mundane-Turnover-913 • 17h ago
A Crack in Time I just played a Crack in Time for the first time ever
This is part 3 of my PS3 Ratchet and Clank journey. For a quick recap, as a kid I got into the series though the PS2 games but dropped off after Deadlocked/Gladiator due to getting an Xbox 360 instead of a PS3, a decision I thoroughly regret since Xbox has no good exclusives besides Halo which isn't good anymore and Fable which hasn't had a new game in a really long time.
However, I've FINALLY gotten around to beginning the post-Deadlocked RaC games. In previous posts, I've praised both Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty, but it was a Crack in Time I was most excited to play. Not because I'd heard about for years, but because of everyone on my posts telling me they were excited to hear my thoughts. So I want to thank the RaC forum for hyping me up to play this game.
All I can say after having finished it, is HOLY SHIT. This game is easily my favorite in the series now. I never thought a RaC game would ever be better than Up Your Arsenal, but a Crack in Time has done the impossible. I mean where can I start? The graphics are insanely good in this game. I thought Tools had impressive visuals but this game blew them out of the water. I was shook when I heard this game had a rushed development. It doesn't show at all.
The story is the best the series has ever had. Ratchet and Alister had such a fascinating dynamic and I hadn't heard of the Alister character at all going in (thank you for not spoiling the game everyone, genuinely thank you). I saw Alister's betrayal at the end coming, but it still hurt, which shows how effective he was as a character. I also love that they still found a way to redeem him in the end. Because he was never a traditional villain, and I'm happy they didn't try to make him one.
Speaking of villains, Nefarious is back and just as great as he's ever been. I did think the comedy with Emperor Tachyon in Tools was a little out of place at times, but with Nefarious the comedy works a lot better IMO. Probably because of his PS2 era origins. I kinda admire that they didn't give some complex motivation either. He wanted to change the past so that he won. Plain and simple. Gotta love it.
Captain Qwark was also much better in this game for me than he was in Tools. I felt he didn't really need to be in Tools and was just there to be there. But in this game, he felt more necessary to the story, and his comedy fit better this time around as well. From the parody of Christian Bale's Terminator set meltdown to the nurse disguise, Qwark was great here.
The Clank sections for the first time, were actually fun in this series. I never HATED them as much as other people seem to hate them, but they were never my favorite. In this game though, they were properly really fun. The puzzles were hard but I'm happy to say I was able to figure them out without looking anything up lol. I got the same satisfaction out of his sections that I did the first time I ever played the Portal games. The ability to boost his jumps also made flying a lot easier thank god.
The ship combat is the most fun it's ever been in the series too. In Going Commando it was the least restrictive compared to Size Matters and Tools where it was on-rails, but I never had true fun with it in any of those games. Here though, flying was a lot of fun, and it was a great way to rack up bolts. Exploring the moons was also a ton of fun, and the spherical nature of them was a great callback to Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal. I also had so much fun in the arena here, maybe the best the arena has ever been in the series for me as well.
The hoverboots added a whole new layer to the gameplay that I absolutely adored. It gave me a freedom I'd never felt in any of the other games. The Charge Boots in prior games were cool but I always felt I wasn't in control when using them and was always overshooting and falling to my death. The hoverboots gave me that freedom I was looking for with the Charge Boots. HUGE improvement for me and the traversal mechanics were fantastic as well.
Even the music was great here. I was expecting the music to be bad considering the great David Bergeaud had departed after Quest for Booty, but surprisingly the music is still really good here, even on the radio. The variety the radio music gives us is especially surprisingly, way to go to the composers.
So yeah overall, this game was amazing! Best story I've seen in the games so far, great music, great new mechanics with the traversals and puzzle solving, a great regular villain and a great non-traditional villain in Alister, Qwark is hilarious in this one, the arena is great, exploration is better than ever, ship combat is the best it's ever been, the new weapon upgrade system is implemented well too. This game is my new favorite in the series, and as someone who grew up as a PS2 Ratchet fan, I never expected to like any of the post-PS2 games anywhere near as much as them.
I don't know if I should be playing All 4 One next or if I should skip to Into the Nexus. I've heard Nexus is a slight disappointment unfortunately, but not a bad game or anything. I'm going in with an open mind though, especially after Tools and Crack both surprised me so much. I'm excited to see what the Future holds :)