Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time had quite a lengthy offering for E3 this year. Three distinctly separate missions were available and, because I have a particular affinity for the Insomniac’s beloved Lombax, I made sure to play through each one.
Reacquainting myself with Ratchet’s world, I noticed a few changes from Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty. The new guns were an obvious difference; the Sonic Erupter was a living, breathing pig thing which, if you were patient enough to let the reticule sync, distributed a robust sonic blast at an enemy. Another was the Cryo Glove, which threw a bomb that froze an enemy not unlike the T-1000 and liquid nitrogen. Once frozen, the enemy could be further annihilated by shattering it with a rifle. As always, the weapons took style and finesse over absolute function.
Of particular interest were Ratchet’s new hover boots. Not unlike Jak’s wakeboard, the hover boots could be activated at any time, and, with the assistance of a boost, used to increase Ratchet’s land speed. Ramps, eager to fling Ratchet through the air, were also in place for both fun and function. One would have to conclude that, with Clank’s absence for a majority if the game, Ratchet is going to be receiving a couple new Gadgetron items to help him on his way.
The level structure was also a bit different. Having always offered multiple, often intersecting paths to reach your goals, Ratchet was never as closed off as something like Crash Bandicoot or the original Sly Cooper. Still, the way to achieve a goal was typically a linear path from which deviation was not recommended. It’s not clear on whether or not the full game will mirror the levels from the demo, but two of the three missions featured sprawling, more open landscapes. There was still a significant amount of direction and your goals were always clear, but the order in which you chose to complete them was up to you. For example, in one mission I had to take down four considerably large creatures that were spread throughout the map and it in another I had to follow track boss enemy around the same map. It wasn’t the pinnacle of nonlinearity, but the horizontal space in which I had to operate seemed larger than ever before.
Another level featured more traditional Ratchet gameplay. Ratchet had to get through a series of caves, but was often impeded by flesh eating mites. The mites also happened to be afraid of water, so I had to use suction to device to suck up some water, and then eject it away from my path to distract the mites. Basic stuff, but a welcomed change of paced from the increasingly combat heavy series.
It should probably be understood at this point, but Ratchet is still sporting some of best looking visuals on PS3. The Insomniac rep taking us through the demo was quick to point out the revisions to Ratchet’s fur, but I always noticed increased attention to shadows and (subjectively) better looking textures than in Tools of Destruction. In either case, the visuals are still quite a spectacle.
A Crack in Time will presumably obey it’s title and feature some sort of time travel mechanics, but nothing was clear in that area from our demo. Insomniac was also being tight lipped about the inclusion of multiplayer this time around but, given how awesome it was in Up Your Arsenal and how unfortunate it’s absence was in Tools of Destruction, I’d be shocked to see it missing again.
