Another way to put it is parallelism. You need to perform, say, two actions at the same time but time and physical limitations allow to do only one. You then use the time pads to perform one of the actions and record it. You then replay it while performing the second action, thereby doing both things at the same time. My explanation may make it sound pretty simple, but you can be rest assured that they are pretty complex the deeper you go into the game. In fact, Insomniac has put in an option of bypassing the puzzles at the press of a button. While I am not in favour of such moves, I can understand that some of the younger gamers would find the puzzles pretty difficult, so they have included the option to bypass them completely.
The R&C series has always been known for its humour and ACIT is no different in this aspect. One-liners, pop-culture references and now even internet humour are included in the game, and they will surely get at least a chuckle out of you from time to time, be it Captain Qwark’s histrionics, Dr. Nefarious’s outrageously clichéd and villainous dialogue, or his butler, Lawrence’s subtle and sarcastic quips.
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You would remember that when Tools of Destruction came out, it was compared (visually) to the Pixar movies. While in reality it did not quite match up to a fully pre-rendered CG movie, ToD had the look and feel of one. ACIT, too, maintains the tradition. It looks fantastic and maintains that visual fidelity throughout the game. Bright colours, fluid animations, massive explosions and swarms of enemies on-screen make ACIT seem like a technical wonder at times considering that it manages to run at 60 fps at most times.
The only areas where I found it a wee bit lacking visually were the lighting, and the frame rate, which can drop on a few occasions when there is too much action on screen. But fun gameplay quite makes you gloss over these minor details. On the audio front, R&C feels quite like the sci-fi action game it is meant to be. But the part that I love the most is the voice acting, which in my eyes (or ears), ranks amongst the best in industry. The delivery and style is impeccable for all characters.
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While there are so many reasons to praise ACIT, the game is after all a culmination of all things great about previous R&C games. It almost feels like a highly polished and refined R&C game crammed with content that will take you some time to be done with. Some might feel that ACIT is ‘more of the same’, but when you are having so much fun, there is hardly a reason to complain and think along those lines. It is however different in some ways; it has a more cohesive story, tighter gameplay, more side missions, challenging mini-games, more things to collect and of course, it is the closure of the Future trilogy. It took me nearly fourteen hours to complete the game and I I haven’t done everything that could have been done.
Conclusion
This game is, above all, about Ratchet and Clank, their friendship, and the bond that they share as friends. If this is indeed the final chapter of the R&C series, for the foreseeable future anyway, then Insomniac could not have chosen a better end. My final words on this – “Go, buy”.
(+) Great platforming segments
(+) Fantastic puzzles
(+) Visually impressive
(+) Great story and closure
(-) May feel a bit similar to the other games in the series
Title: Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
Developer/Publisher: Insomniac Games/Sony
Genre: Platforming
Rating: 7+
Platforms: PS3 (Rs 2,499)
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