Review by: Dave VanDyk

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time is the latest example of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” method of game design. Between games like this and its other franchises (like Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper), Insomniac Games has kept itself well-established in the action / platformer genre simply because the stuff the company churns out is consistently good. Things are no different with the latest addition to the Ratchet & Clank series, which keeps the same focus on exploration, finding upgrades, and raking in a ridiculous number of "bolts" (the game's currency) while overlaying the experience with a storyline that is as heartwarming as it is hilarious.

Fans of the series will find themselves right at home with A Crack In Time. Not much has changed gameplay-wise; you still play a fuzzy space rabbit thing with a big wrench and an arsenal large enough to take out a small moon, but without Clank at your back you'll need to find some new methods of getting around the game's treacherous environments.

Naturally, the game offers its share of new gadgets to help out with this including some stylish new hoverboots that let you zip around and launch yourself incredible distances by making use of appropriately-placed acceleration pads. As a first, the game also provides an "Overworld"-type system (once you have a working space fighter) where you can freely fly around, land at the major planets and small moons occupying the game's various systems, and of course participate in glorious space combat. To this end there's a new currency mechanic in the form of the Zoni, who provide upgrades for your fighter if you collect enough of them and are worth the effort of hunting down.

As for the expected arsenal of new weapons, the game provides your usual assortment of blasters, grenades, rocket launchers, and other exotic toys - but most interesting is the range of "Constructo weapons" that have been added. A pistol, shotgun, and grenade thrower can be found and customized in a multitude of ways for added versatility, based on mod pickups you find throughout the game.

This functionality adds a cool layer of personalization to the game due in no small part to the ability to pimp out these weapons with your own custom colors, as well as change up to four different parts of a weapon to affect how it operates (such as tweaking the grenade thrower to lob timed explosives that expel shrapnel). Aside from that, the game features your usual assortment of other exotic toys including a weapon to turn your opponents into monkeys, and the "Rift Inducer 5000" which summons an extra-dimensional tentacle beast named Fred to suck your enemies into a black hole. The lovable trash-talking Mr. Zurkon also makes a return to insult and blast any enemy who gets too close, and hilariously enough even gets interviewed during one of the in-game radio broadcast segments. True to form, players who have save data from Tools of Destruction will also be able to get certain weapons at an earlier (and discounted) point in the game while playing A Crack In Time.