VIDEO GAMES REVIEW

Ratchet & Crank: Time twists addictive for daring duo

October 31, 2009

Darren Zenko

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

"Must be nice!"

I get that a lot at parties, when I tell people what I do for money. And you know what? It is nice. It's especially nice when you're going over your gameplay notes and see a phrase like "whimsical deathtraps" and know you're being not only completely serious, but downright conservative.

The whimsical deathtrap is a cornerstone of the young medium – a solid foundation ... even though it might dissolve two seconds after you step on it. It's this kind of love and respect for the traditions video games were built on, that makes a game like Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time such a pleasure.

The Ratchet & Clank series is one of the last games standing in the action-platformer subgenre that used to dominate consoles – cartoony mascot characters running and jumping around and over lasers, lava and spikes, collecting objects and beating/blasting bad guys. A Crack In Time is, in fact, a nearly pure expression of its once ubiquitous type, blending straightforward action with puzzle-solving, and a few new gimmicks to spice the mix, tied together with a nicely animated and voiced cinematic storyline delivered with cheerful good humour and as much edge as the "E" rating can handle.

The main new gimmick in this instalment is time control, with main man Ratchet's robot pal Clank coming into his birthright as some kind of universal time caretaker. He gets a magic staff and everything! His puzzle segments generally involve making temporal recordings of his actions and then playing them back, using these recorded time-duplicates in increasingly complex ways to help him reach his goals. It can get pretty mind-bending, and the satisfaction one gets from a good brain-stretch is welcome in a genre that usually pays off only in battle-endorphins.

The time gimmick also carries with it a fun little twist: Whereas R&C's experience points are usually dispensed when Ratchet smashes stuff with his giant wrench, Clank draws his pay in the opposite direction, whacking broken things with his Time Scepter so they "rewind" to their unsmashed state. It's clever little nods like this that have always elevated the Ratchet & Clank series above mass of B-grade platformers.

On the Ratchet side of the equation – the two buddies don't spend too much time together – things are a bit more basic: Ratchet runs around jumping chasms, smashing crates and having high-intensity battles with wave after wave of comical-but-deadly alien weirdos and robots, constantly upgrading his arsenal of comical-but-deadly weapons.

Good-looking, great-sounding, tight and tuned, tried and true, warm and funny ... A Crack in Time is compelling in that hours-devouring "just one more level" way – not because it does anything novel or revolutionary, but because it does a specific set of familiar and conservative things with supreme confidence and high style.

Toronto Star

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