Sujet : Anticlimax?

I personally thought that A Crack In Time was overdone.

They added so much extra stuff that it ceased to feel like a Ratchet title.

There were so many collectables (Zoni, RYNO plans, and gold bolts) that they were easy to find as they crammed them all in so that the game was splitting at the seams with them.

Space exploration was a nice idea, and was fun to begin with but became a bit boring. You can fly around on a flat surface and land on some moons for some more easily obtained collectables.

Clank's time puzzles were really fun, but they were quite easy and there weren't enough of them.

The hoverboots were fun and a fast way to get around, but on playing the previous games again, you can tell that the hoverboots just don't feel right.

The difficulty setting was strange, I've only played it on "Hard" and "hardcore".
Hard mode I found easier than UYA and GC, it wasn't very hard as such, Insomniac Games say they had the difficulty setting so that begginers didn't have too much of a challenge, but if hard mode was as easy as I found it then easy mode must be ridiculously easy.
Hardcore mode however is a massive jump from hard mode and is actually a challenge!

the graphics were odd, while they improved the characters; Ratchet was more furry, Clank more shiny etc. they didn't seem to put as much detail into the environments, for instance, I'm always amazed at planet Cobalia on Tools of Destruction, but I never felt that awe in ACIT, also, all of the explosions, flames and smoke are a horrible 2D!


So what I'm saying is that I found ACIT quite an anticlimax, and I know a few other people who think the same.
Does anyone on this site have their thoughts

I'm sort of in the middle range when I play and look through at A Crack in Time. There's something about the game that wants to draw you into the gameplay experience, while there are other elements in the title that makes you feel very exciting at first, but then later on becomes a little boring afterward.

I actually didn't mind playing this game at all. It had some things that made it like the PS2 Ratchet games (like the dialogue for example) with some new elements to the title. There were a variety of things that I had a fun time with, so therefore, I did enjoy the item collectibles, the hoverbooting and even Clank's Time Puzzles (which there are even really difficult challenges in the Mnemonic Stations).

The experience is fun, but I do have to admit that it isn't the best Ratchet game ever. Sure there were things that didn't felt like Ratchet and Clank to me, but those elements weren't something to get disappointed with right away, because Insomniac is the type of company that WANTS to have something different in every Ratchet title, with the same game formula in it (like buying weapons, traveling to worlds, earning more bolts, etc.)

I think the most disappointing moment in A Crack in Time was how the story plot was set up. Most of the storytelling was great especially from the beginning and around the end, but there were certain plot points that made me scratch my head for a while such as why Nefarious and his crew put Clank in the Unnecessary Omega 91 device or the most famous one, the disappearance of Orvus.

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, it was still enjoyable, but I found that they built it up so much pre-release, that when it was finally released, it didn't seem worth all that praise.

Although it was still brilliant to have a conclusion to the "Future" story arc!

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, it was still enjoyable, but I found that they built it up so much pre-release, that when it was finally released, it didn't seem worth all that praise.

Although it was still brilliant to have a conclusion to the "Future" story arc!

That's understandable for I sort of had the same feeling too.

I think if Insomniac had more time to tweak this game before their release date such as some of the graphics in certain cutscenes, more gameplay variety and difficulty and fixing the plot holes in the story (unless if IG have a reason to not fully answer those right away), it probably would have been the best Ratchet game ever. Not sure how the gaming industry works, but I think they could of at least pushed the release date a bit little later to fix these problems.

I both agree and disagree with some of your points. My main gripe is that I thought the story had a few too many holes in it. Why did Nefarious try to hack Clank's brain in the beginning instead of letting him find the Orvus Chamber like he ended up doing? What made Clank freak at the end of Quest for Booty, and why was he simply offline at the beginning? How did the Zoni NOT know Nefarious was involved with the disappearance of their leader, Orvus? And just HOW IS IT POSSIBLE that going back extended periods of time using the Clock causes the entire universe to collapse, yet Sigmund can open TIME PORTALS that Ratchet can use to TRAVEL BACK IN and ALTER TIME during the game…!? (Granted, I've read a fan-made theory for how this is possible, but it's something Insomniac really should have noticed… )

I also noticed that Nefarious seemed slightly out of character. Yes, he is a goofy and over-the-top character, but he isn't THAT goofy or over-the-top! His "big plan" in ACIT is laughable (go back in time and alter history to where it's a villian-ruled world…? C'mon Nefarious, you're more creative than that!(And you do realize that if you reverse EVERY hero's triumph, that means you reverse the one where Qwark turns you into a robot, right…?)), and he's WAY more over-the-top than he was presented in UYA, especially in naming things. "Hyper-Sonic Brainwave Scrambler"? "Gratuitous Orb of Immobilization"? "Super-Wavy Flashback Effect"? "Unnecessarily Evil Initiative OMEGA 91"? Granted, he created the dreaded "Rainbow Afrolizer", but you have to admit it sounds tame compared to the goofiness of his other named creations/schemes/etc. In short, they made him more cartoony than his earlier incarnation.

My secondary gripe is once you complete the game, the combat becomes…dull. In past games, the number of enemies that spawn on planets have always dropped after you play through once, but this time it seems to have been carried to an extreme. About the only places with decent re-playable combat are the Battleplex and the Valkyrie's world (whose name escapes me… ) The harder levels (such as Nefarious' Space Station, both inside and out) become un-accessible, and a lot of planets become "bare" of enemies completely.

Now, I have to disagree about the graphics. I personally thought they looked pretty darn sweet. The cell-shading looked pretty cool, and fits the cartoony-designs of the series' characters. Everything was all nice, shiny, and glowing-looking. I didn't notice any "lack of detail" in the environments that lombaxdude noticed. But I will agree that the space-gameplay could have been spiced up. Why only a 2D plane? Why not full 3D direction like in previous games? And the moon-levels could have been spruced up a bit. A lot of them repeat in style and theme, and only the last few in the latter segments of the game provide any kind of challenging platforming. I also agree the difficulty could have been carried out better. The only difference I've truly noticed between the difficulty levels is that it takes more ammo to kill enemies. There's a small difference in AI action, but other than that, just press the fire button more…

So ya…there's my (overly long) two-cents on the game.

Well the smoke effects suckeed.. really.
Half of them were pixelated like nothing in the ratchet and clank universe before
and in the cutscenes (five bolts wasted) the smoke effect of the bomb looked soooo stupid.
Just in the second cutscene, the crash of ratchets ship, the smoke effect was better, but as soon as they were in the atmosophere of Quantos the smoke sucked again… aaaw..

But the Characters looked really great acctually