 "Lacking a Certain Something . . ." | 2009-11-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: A80K4QY5P1WIN |
I won't go into too much detail, because it's all been mostly covered here already. I can't quite put my finger on it, but for some reason, about halfway through this game, I just became extremely annoyed and uninterested in it. I am as big a R&C fan as they come, and have played and loved all the games on the PS2 and PS3 (I guess that's one game on the PS3 before this one). My biggest gripes about this game are:
1. The weapons. As mentioned earlier, they just seemed really uninspired and even quite useless to me this time around.
2. I got bored with the story. I found myself pressing buttons to skip cut scenes altogether.
3. Flying. It could be just me, but I find flying games impossible to play when the controls make no sense as compared to actual aircraft. (This was my one major issue with previous games in this series as well). And the controls seem to change drastically from game to game, like moving the aiming reticle around while the ship can only dodge around within the screen in the last game, and the back flips in this game when you "pull back on the stick." Next thing you know, you're flying in the opposite direction when all you wanted to do was gain a little altitude!
4. Ratchet and Clank separated. This is a theme I disliked when it first started, and their time apart seems to grow as each new game is released.
The game is beautiful, but for some reason this game just does not click with me. I think all the other 2-3 star reviews are spot-on in the descriptions of the shortcomings like repetitious, unimaginative/unispired, etc. I know it is difficult to hit a home run every time a game comes out, but for some intangible reason, this sequel seems to fall short just a bit. |
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| "Not really a Ratchet and Clank Game" | 2009-11-10 |
| - Reviewed By epresley2 |
If you like Ratchet and Clank for it's straight forward platforming, multiple unique worlds, billions of monsters and a ton of cool weapons to splatter those monsters with, this may not be your game. I would not buy this game if that's the game I was hoping to play. It's beautiful and well done, but there are cinematics every other step you take, puzzles puzzles and more puzzles and mini games as whole levels and you just never really feel like you're sinking your teeth into a ratchet game of blowing things away. There is a ton of story that goes on and on, you're waiting forever it seems until you have control of the game. The first few hours of game play are tutorials for all the different mini games / puzzle games / Clank games you will be forced to endure. They changed the controls for no good reason. They changed how you buy stuff for no good reason. They changed how you ramp up your weapons for no good reason. I wanted to just sit down and roll into a horde of enemies with some cool weapons, but I didn't have anything really more than a pop gun and a burping gun for a long time. And no, I don't want to have to have timed hover-boot mini games that keep me from progressing. I don't want any of this. This is not the game I wanted to buy. If it was any other name on it, it would be a well crafted, well produced top of the line game, but it's not Ratchet and Clank. And open world?!?!?!?!!?!!? Good Lord!!! NOT EVERY GAME NEEDS TO BE A SANDBOX GAME!!!!! The defined platforming weirdness of R&C is all I need. I don't want to have to fly around through space in a weird incomplete mini space game finding zoni... just send me to the world and let me blow stuff up!!!!
So... the bottom line, if you like R&C for what it's core game is, you may find this frustrating and even boring. If you like puzzle games and a bit of platforming with good humor and great production value or even something to just show off the PS3, this is a good game for that. |
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 "Best in the Series" | 2009-11-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3H3M1RC6GB1N7 |
| The latest installment in the R&C series, A Crack in Time, is easily the best thus far. Hopefully, Insomniac will take a break from the series for a few years to give it some breathing room. |
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| "Best "platformer" ever" | 2009-11-09 |
| - Reviewed By jeremyrowland2 |
A reviewer for the New York Times called Tools of Destruction, the first in this PS3 Ratchet and Clank Future series, "the first game to truly deliver the long-sought 'You are playing a Pixar movie' experience", and I think I'd have to agree (and I'm a professional animator, so that's quite a compliment). A Crack in Time carries on the tradition with a truly satisfying gameplay experience. Everything about the game is best-in-class: the story is engaging, the animation is feature film quality, the voice acting is absolutely brilliant (best I've ever seen in any game), and the presentation is first-rate. Yes, there are cutscenes, but this avoids the "cutscene followed by an unrelated level of jumping around and killing stuff" and integrates much of the story line into the gameplay itself.
Some have complained about short gameplay but I feel the length is just about right for a game of this genre, and definitely longer than what I expected. What they may lack in quantity (again, I disagree on that point) they more than make up for in quality and replayability. The levels are lush, rich in content, and teeming with the feel of being "alive". And, when the game is complete, the player unlocks the ability to start a new save game in "challenge mode" with all weapons intact from the previous game, and it's just as much fun the second time through. The first play through, if you take time to complete all the optional content and collect all the rare items, will be about 10-15 hours, the second play-through will be about 5 hours. I'll take 15-20 hours of superb gameplay over 50-100 hours of mediocre tedium any day.
Even from the start, the fights and weapons feel big and bad and only get more intense over time. Never content to stop innovating, Insomniac has designed mostly new and very creative weapons rather than rehashing old content. Some weapons, such as the Tesla Spikes and Dynamo of Doom, are difficult to learn to use but become the most powerful of all when used at the right time. The chaos from the Ryno V is truly epic. The sector concept, in which the player literally flies to each level instead of just selecting it off the map, looked incredibly tedious at first but turned out quickly to be great fun and a very nice touch, and once you've visited a level you can always just select it off the map later to save time.
Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction was one of the few games I've ever purchased where I felt I got more than my money's worth. The downloadable sequel, Quest for Booty, was of course much shorter, but had a much lower price as well to match. I'll be keeping all three around for many, many years to revisit from time to time. While this is no longer available, the Amazon pre-order came with the "Bolt Package" which let you start with the Box Basher and Bolt Magnetizer, taking a lot of tedium out of the first few levels; it's possible this might be purchasable from the Playstation store by the time you buy the game so keep your eyes open.
If you played the others in the series, buy this now, you won't be disappointed. If you're new to the series, I don't see a reason to start with this one; you could pick it up and not feel too lost in the story, but why? Go back, pick up Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction and enjoy the story all the way through; you'll enjoy it more, and maybe by the time you get to this title the price will drop a little. I think "A Crack in Time" ends up being the best of the series, but it's a little like picking Peter Jackson's "The Return of the King" as the best in his Lord of the Rings trilogy; maybe it is, but only if you've experienced the first two. As a bonus: A Crack in Time gives a discount to players with a completed save game from Tools of Destruction and unlocks some concept art and a pirate skin for a save game from Quest for Booty. |
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| "Great game" | 2009-11-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2RII0V3IITEML |
| great game and a great follow-up to TOD, Sadly it appears its the end but i sure hope its not...Get this game, you wont regret it |
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 "A Forgettable Conclusion to Ratchet & Clank: Future Series" | 2009-11-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1AEAOZQYD3ZXZ |
First of all, I would like to point out the positives--as some others have done. I apologize if it is a bit of a re-hash.
Positive:
1) Gameplay is fun with some good gadgets--hoverboots being easily my favorite.
2) Some of the weapons keep with tradition--good old rocket launchers, pistols, shotgun, ect.
3) Animation is excellent, cutscenes are beautiful and brilliantly executed.
4) Layout of worlds was well balanced.
Negatives... there are many:
1) The gameplay is difficult to some degree, but I completed this game on medium difficulty in around 9-11 hours... This includes doing all the Clank side dealies.
2) Speaking of Clank--it feels so stupid without him the entire game. This game should be called "Ratchet Over Here and Clank Way the Heck Over There Somewhere with a Time Wand and a Robot That Got Badly Beaten with the Ugly Stick."
3) Some of the weapons are poor and copies from earlier games. We have two weapons in this game alone that shoot sharp discs. Not too original there.
4) The gear was lacking and was inexpensive. No real challenge to earn them.
5) The story was lacking and cliche. I expected so much more from all the hype. General Azimuth is so god-awful boring it almost causes fans to tear at his stupidity. The story amounts to nothing more than a soap opera. The fans don't even get to see a nostalgic flashback of Ratchet's parents or anything. So much could have been done... Incredibly disappointing plot.
6) As I said, the layout of the worlds was really nice, with some great grinding and hoverbooting here and there. Other than that, the placement of key things like the gold bolts and whatnot seemed like an afterthought.
7) The space parts were incredibly boring. The fact that the aircraft is limited to a single plane of flying, ((Meaning no flying up or down peoples!!)). The weapons you get from the Zoni are overpowered, meaning any 'challenge' is a complete breeze. I didn't die in outer space a single time--not even to those fat robot chicks they call the 'Valkyries'.
8) The moons you travel to in space... To get the Zoni and gold bolts and all that--> Once you've explored one... You've explored them all. Trust me. I would rather scrap all the moons in the entire game to get another entire planet to explore... Which leads to my next point.
9) Worlds to explore. What were there, like 5? Sure the layouts and graphics are amazing but C'MON! I remember reading an article that Tools of Destruction used only like 30 percent of the PS3's power while this game uses like 90-100 percent of it. Where did it all go? I'm completely serious.
10) Not enough Qwark. I know you might be wondering what I'm thinking saying this--but I was under the impression Qwark would hang around for some time, and give some great comic relief. "It's like time is all... not working."
11) Did I mention too easy? Can't hold a candle to colisseum rampages back in Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal.
12) Some controls were glitchy with slingshots and other things, leading to deaths down chasms that couldn't be avoided unless I made perfect landings.
13) Clank's side quests with the time clock. They serve no purpose to the actual story and the temporal recording sequences are lame. I would like to ask for a replica of Ratchet's wrench so that I might beat Sigmund over the head with it.
If you are a returning fan to this series, or someone coming upon this game as a newcomer, I would highly recommend that you wait until this game becomes a PS3 Greatest Hits title. I felt that this game deserved something more like two and a half stars in all honesty, but having to choose between 2 or 3 stars--> I would have to say definitely 2 stars.
If Insomniac chooses to do a sequel and continue the series, I hope that they will try to go back to their roots and rediscover what made Ratchet & Clank so enjoyable. Perhaps they can reverse the downward slide they've been on since Deadlocked. As the saying goes: Only time will tell. |
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![Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time [PS3]](product_images/4982000/ratchet-clank-future-a-crack-4982048.jpg)
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