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Insomniac Games is an aptly-named company. With eleven games released in the past decade, they have not only shown their ability to get their products out the door at an alarming rate, but setting a high quality bar for themselves as well. 2009 marks the release of their seventh Ratchet & Clank game, subtitled A Crack in Time, and now looks set to add to its formula once again.
The plot picks up where Quest for Booty left off, with Ratchet flying to another galaxy to find his mechanical comrade Clank, who seems to be held captive by past-game villain Dr. Nefarious and the mysterious Zoni. Ratchet, accompanied by Captain Qwark, seeks to defeat Dr. Nefarious and free Clank, but it seems he isn't as helpless as Ratchet seems to think. A new Lombax character named Azimuth has been introduced, but it's unclear what impact he will have on the story.
As before, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time follows the same design: use increasingly overblown weapons to destroy as many enemies as you can while trying to avoid everything they throw at you - something that'll become much more important with the addition of extra difficulty modes. These weapons are complemented with gadgets that'll assist in unlocking doors, swinging across precipices and so on, as well as general platforming sections. Of course, we're certain to see some new gorge-hopping items, but an upgraded set of hoverboots have been revealed. Like before, these hoverboots can accelerate you forwards, but now have the ability to jump off ledges that are marked with an arrow symbol. Some of the new areas, we're told, are much larger than areas we've seen in past games, and these new boots are designed to assist in traversing them.
The greatest addition that has been announced is that space will now be explorable, rather than a thinly-veiled loading screen. Radio stations will be available to listen to whilst exploring the cosmos, with multiple genres available as well as Pirate Radio, run by the returning Captain Slag and Rusty Pete. Ratchet can commandeer the Ophelia onto small moons in an attempt to find Zoni that are hidden behind platforming and combat challenges. They are reminiscent of the small, spherical worlds that were in past games, which scroll in the direction the player is walking in. At the touch of a button, the camera can pull out of the moon and be controlled to give the lay of the land. We are told that these moons are entirely optional, but if the player finds all of the Zoni and other items, a battle with a currently unknown "replay boss" is unlocked. Apparently, it'll take a beating - we're told it'll be a challenge even if all of your weapons are completely upgraded. Regardless, over his corpse is entry to the Insomniac Museum, a haven of behind-the-scenes and scrapped content that returns from the series' PS2 iterations. There is no word as to what the Museum will contain yet, but if it's similar to the prior entries, we should expect to see plenty of unfamiliar enemies, strange vehicles and devious puzzles.
Several new weapons have been announced, such as the Sonic Eruptor, a biological creature that burps with enemy-destroying might. An interesting addition to this weapon is a meter at the top of the screen that shows the animal's breathing. Firing at the peak of its inhale will give the maximum effect, possibly adding a more tactical approach to its use. The latest form-changing weapon is the Chimp-o-Matic, which transforms your enemies into little simians or, in the case of your robotic foes, into clockwork chimps that bang their cymbals together like an old-fashioned toy. Yet the latest Rip You a New One (R.Y.N.O.) weapon has also reared its head. Four different R.Y.N.O. weapons have been in past games, and each have either cost an inordinate amount of in-game cash or required an amount of exploring to attain. It always became instantly apparent how anything you spent on it was entirely worth it, as each R.Y.N.O. is the most powerful weapon in the game. This new version, called the R.Y.N.O. V, certainly makes a positive first impression. With a revolving rocket launcher, as well as a central missile launcher, it's an explosive sight to behold. Brian Allgeier, Creative Director at Insomniac Games, said that he wanted to capture a "4th of July feel" for the weapon, so he added the orchestral piece that is played at the end of every 4th of July celebration: Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. This composition will play every time the weapon is used.
Of course, like with every game this generation, Insomniac has continued to make great strides in improving their tech. Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction discarded Resistance: Fall of Man's drab environments and replaced them with kodachrome splendour. This visual impact has returned in force, with beautifully crafted character models and impressive weapon effects. Despite the large number of enemies on screen and explosive weapons throwing particles all over, the game promises to retain a locked 60 frames per second presentation.
Stay tuned for our full review of Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, which releases on the 27th of October in North America, and a European release to follow shortly after.
