Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time


 * Narrator: "...if that ever happens, the universe will need a true hero to stop it."
 * Alister Azimuth: "Are you ready?"
 * &mdash;Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time teaser trailer narrator and General Alister Azimuth commenting on evil beings trying to control time for their benefit. [src]

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (titled as Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time in Europe and Ratchet & Clank Future 2 in Japan) is the final installment of the Future series. It was released in 2009 on October 27 in North America, and was released on November 4 in Europe (excluding the United Kingdom), November 5 in Australia and November 6 in the United Kingdom. The game concluded the story that started in Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. It would be finishing Future sub-series. After discovering that Clank's disappearance was engineered by Dr. Nefarious, Ratchet set out to save him. Along the way both Ratchet and Clank uncovered the truth behind their origins and discovered what to do in the future. As the two came closer to be reunited, they had to decide whether their destinies still lay together. Why Clank was taken by the Zoni was explained in A Crack in Time.

Plot
thumb|left|280px|Comic-Con 2009 storyline trailer. The story focused on Ratchet, still searching for Clank whilst Clank himself came to terms with his own origins in the Great Clock.

The game began with Clank who had been in suspension inside the Great Clock for over a year in the custody of Dr. Nefarious and his butler, Lawrence. Nefarious suddenly discontinued his "partnership" with the Zoni after being denied access to a part of Clank's brain, which was the key to something called the Orvus Chamber. Nefarious then unleashed the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler and sent it to kill them. Dr. Nefarious proceeded to create chaos throughout the Great Clock with his Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler, which the Zoni and Clock's equipment were vulnerable to. This event caused Clank to awaken and escape from Nefarious' clutches. After briefly escaping, Lawrence immobilised Clank with an orb of gratuitous immobilization. Nefarious and his troops then left the Great Clock which had later suffered heavy damage.

Meanwhile, Ratchet traveled into the Breegus System with Qwark in tow. Talwyn had warned that the sector was 'crawling' with mercenaries. Aphelion was suddenly hit with a strange wave of energy and promptly crashed into Zolar Forest on planet Quantos. Ratchet and Qwark were both saved from death by a strange anomaly that froze Aphelion ' s wreckage in mid-air. As Ratchet and Qwark explored the jungle, they soon encountered a Fongoid mother, looking for her missing children. After saving her children, they both met the Fongoid Chief who knew of a way to fix Aphelion. He lead the two of them to the Temple of Zahn. Inside the temple, Ratchet found an item named the Zoni Vessel - a container used to capture lost Zoni. Ratchet collected three Zoni on the planet and the resulting energy created fixes and upgrades on the Aphelion for him.

Ratchet, Qwark and the Fongoid Chief then came back to the village to witness a mass kidnapping of their race by someone known as Lord Vorselon. Vorselon mistook Ratchet for someone called "Azimuth" and captured Qwark along with the Fongoids. Ratchet followed Vorselon's ship and released the captured Fongoids along with Qwark. After helping them escape by shuttle, Qwark directed Ratchet to Torren IV to locate the mysterious General Alister Azimuth that Vorselon had mistaken Ratchet for.

He finally met Azimuth who was in fact another Lombax on Torren IV in the Molonoth Fields. Azimuth initially thought Ratchet was an assassin in a Holo-Guise and attempted to flee, but after a brief chase, Alister recognised Ratchet's face and compared it to his father, Kaden. Alister later explained how Kaden was one of the first Lombaxes to theorize the Great Clock's existence and taught Ratchet how to use his father's Hoverboots. Azimuth told Ratchet to meet him in Axiom City on planet Terachnos in order to find a way to talk to Clank. The two of them infiltrated a Pollyx Industries building once on Terachnos and managed to locate another Obsidian Eye (which was abundant throughout the galaxy, built by the Zoni) on Lumos in the Korthos Sector, allowing them to communicate with Clank. They were forced to escape and destroy a VX-99 before leaving the planet.

Meanwhile, Clank was reactivated by the Junior Caretaker of the Clock, Sigmund. After following Sigmund through the Clock to a mnemonic chamber, Clank discovered his father, Orvus. The Zoni leader then left the Great Clock to Clank as a sort of inheritance after giving Clank a Chronoscepter to help with his caretaking duties. Clank continued through the Clock, destroying the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler in the process and entered the Orientation Room with Sigmund. Inside, Clank learny that Orvus and the Zoni built the Great Clock to keep the balance of time in working order after a small rip in the time-space continuum, caused by the improper use of time travel by the Fongoids that destroyed over eighty-three celestial entities. Clank was also warned by Orvus that the Clock should not be used as a time machine under any circumstances as it was built to keep time, not alter it. He was then informed of how to fix temporal distortions located on various planets and proceeded to do so. Shortly afterwards, Clank secretly watched Sigmund viewing a message from Orvus, who apparently travelled to planet Zanifar to meet another scientist and would not be back until morning. As Orvus was nowhere to be seen and through observation of Sigmund's mournful warning to the recording, Clank knew something bad has happened to his father.

On his space station, Nefarious was furious with Vorselon for letting Ratchet, Qwark and the Fongoids escape. Claiming to be bringing in specialists, he opened his office door and bid the Valkyries to enter.

Ratchet and Azimuth arrived on Lumos and began to search for the Obsidian Eye. Part-way through their journey, Ratchet asked the General to stop and give him some straight answers about the Lombaxes, his father and why the General wasn't with them. Azimuth angrily replied that Ratchet asked too many questions and that his father wouldn't be like this. Ratchet argued that he was not his father and asked Azimuth again. The General then finally answered Ratchet and said it was because he had failed his race.

Azimuth told the tale of an "inventor" who approached the Lombaxes with ideas for technology that was light years ahead of their own, years after the conclusion of the Great War. Kaden warned Azimuth not to trust the inventor, but Azimuth thought otherwise and allowed the inventor access to all of the Lombax's technology and secrets. The inventor, revealed to actually be Emperor Tachyon, then used this to form his own army (proving Aphelions' claim of Tachyon using stolen Lombax technology in Tools of Destruction).

The Lombaxes took refuge in the Court of Azimuth, but Kaden refused and went back home to save Ratchet's mother from the soldiers. By the time he arrived, Tachyon's forces had already murdered her. Azimuth says he was unsure of how long Kaden survived before being killed but claimed responsibility for his friend's death. Azimuth then told Ratchet that both of them could fix it together, using the Great Clock. The General said he could undo what was already done by using the Clock's abilities and promised Ratchet that if he stuck with the General, he would get his family back.

Ratchet and Azimuth found the Obsidian Eye on Lumos after fending off an Agorean invasion and Ratchet finally got to talk to Clank. Clank was surprised that Ratchet had found him and asked about who Azimuth was. Ratchet was unable to explain fully as the signal started to decrease in strength. Before the message cut out, Clank pleaded Ratchet to travel to Zanifar to help his father and told him to look for a time portal. Before Ratchet could ask about who Clank's father was, the signal stopped. Clank asked Sigmund to synthesize a time portal on Zanifar for Ratchet and Alister to use.

On the flight out of Lumos, Alister told Ratchet something about the Clock. If they succeeded in changing the past, the present as they knew it would no longer exist meaning that Ratchet would never meet Clank at all. Despite this, Ratchet knew this is his only chance to save his parents. Azimuth then split off from Ratchet to distract Nefarious' forces while Ratchet headed for Zanifar. After taking a side trip to rescue Qwark from the Agoreans (who had been paid by the Fongoids to take the superhero off their hands) and defeating a War Grok who Qwark called 'Snowball', Ratchet used the time portal on Zanifar to travel two years into the planet's past. He learnt that Nefarious and Lawrence crashed their asteroid there and somehow appeared to brainwash the Fongoids inhabiting the planet to build an outpost. He sneaked into the base and saw Nefarious with a captured Orvus, who still refused to tell the Doctor how to get into the Orvus Chamber despite running out of strength to resist. Nefarious ordered the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler to attack Orvus who suddenly disappeared after saying that the one who would enter his Chamber was safe from the Doctor. A residual image left behind was tracked back to Clank. Ratchet exclaimed his confusion, alerting Nefarious to his position. The Lombax then tossed a bomb at Nefarious creating a large scar on his right eye before diving out of the window. When Ratchet returned to the present, this change to the past causes the scar to appear on the current Nefarious who then screamed in anger. Before leaving Zanifar, Ratchet received a message from Vorselon, who had managed to capture Azimuth. Ratchet then took off towards Vorselon's ship.

Ratchet arrived on Vorselon's ship and fought his way through the ship's forces, eventually coming into confrontation with Vorselon. The Terraklon assassin claimed he would tell Ratchet where Azimuth was if he was defeated. Ratchet did defeat him, but Vorselon retreated before he told of Azimuth's location. Ratchet searched the ship some more and eventually found Azimuth in a containment field. Azimuth ordered Ratchet to leave and forget about him, but Ratchet refused and lowered the containment field. After releasing the General, Azimuth was angry at Ratchet for not listening to him, until Ratchet mentioned that he traveled back in time. Azimuth became hopeful and inquired as to how far Ratchet traveled. Ratchet replied it wasn't far enough. Despite this, the pair managed to escape Vorselon's ship.

Back on the Great Clock, Clank took another trip into his subconscious and puzzlingly met The Plumber, who claimed he took a wrong turn into Clank's memory banks and was originally intending to head into Qwark's brain (which he thought he was in because of all the emptiness he saw). The Plumber then said that Clank must accept his new responsibilities, even though the first steps were the hardest. The Plumber then said "I wouldn't risk any more than six minutes", before Clank abruptly awoke. Sigmund noted that he had some strange neural activity during Clank's brief trip, but dismissed it. Clank then traveled to the Orvus Chamber with Sigmund and proceeded inside. The two of them viewed a message left from Orvus for Clank, but it cut off before it finished. Lawrence had cut the power and immobilised both Clank and Sigmund with another orb of gratuitous immobilization. He informed Nefarious that Clank had lead them directly into the Orvus Chamber. Nefarious ordered Lawrence to initiate "Unnecessarily Evil Initiative Omega 91" just as Qwark arrived at the base in a nurse outfit.

Ratchet received a message from Azimuth who picked up a repeating distress call from planet Vapedia. Ratchet immediately recognised it as Clank's unique signature. After defeating one of the Valkyries in a space fight, Ratchet headed towards Vapedia to help Clank, unaware that the distress call had been faked by Nefarious. The leader of the Valkyries, Cassiopeia, was waiting for Ratchet and Azimuth, promising to kill both of them as well as Clank. Ratchet and Azimuth split up; the General going after Cassiopeia and Ratchet heading into the citadel. After surviving various death traps, Ratchet confronted Cassiopeia who taunted him by saying Clank wanted to leave him. Clank was revealed to be suspended in a container, unconscious. Cassiopeia fought with Ratchet and was ultimately defeated. Cassiopeia was sent tumbling downwards to her doom and ended up breaking Clank's container, sending him falling as well. Ratchet dived off the platform to grab him using his Hoverboots and narrowly avoided sending both of them falling to their deaths. The two of them finally re-united and headed back to Aphelion.

Clank forgave Ratchet for him not being able to help Orvus and swore to make Nefarious pay. Even though Azimuth said he would have the support of the Lombax Praetorian Guard once the past was changed, Clank explained that using the Clock improperly was too great a risk for the universe, despite Azimuth's solid reasoning that they had to save the Lombaxes. After realising that the risks involved were not worth taking, Ratchet agreed with Clank much to Azimuth's disappointment. The General then left them as Ratchet and Clank left together to stop Nefarious.

The duo traveled to Nefarious's base to stop his plans. However, their attempt to sneak aboard using Qwark's disguise as "Nurse Shannon" failed and the three of them were captured by Nefarious and his guards. Nefarious explained his plan to use the Clock so that he could undo his defeat at the hands of the duo and create winning streak in the present time where every villain won and every hero lost. He then sent Ratchet and Clank flying to the swamp ruins of Gimlick Valley on planet Morklon attached to an asteroid (which Nefarious created if he ever needed an "super-ironic death scenario").

The Zoni Ratchet captured protected the two of them from the impact and they began to search for a way back to Nefarious' Space Station. After hearing about the Battle of Gimlick Valley from a local, the pair managed to alter the past of the planet using a time portal from Sigmund so that the inhabiting Fongoids gave them an Agorean ship to get back to Nefarious. They eventually traveled to the station and engaged the Doctor in combat. After a long confrontation ending on the top of one of Nefarious's ships, Nefarious suddenly overloaded and collapsed. Before the duo had a chance to escape, Lawrence took the escape pod, leaving Ratchet and Clank on a collision course with the base. Ratchet was ready to say his goodbyes, but Azimuth appeared in his ship and shouted for Ratchet to jump on. The duo did so as Nefarious' base exploded.

Ratchet, Clank and Alister arrived back on the Great Clock. Clank told Ratchet that the Clock needed him as it was what he was built for and extended a hand for him to shake. Ratchet took Clank's hand and hugged him close to him to say goodbye. Azimuth was confused as to why they haven't used the Clock to save the Lombaxes, to which Ratchet replied that the past should stay how it was. Ratchet walked with Clank inside the facility despite Azimuth's angry shouting at Ratchet to stop. Azimuth finally snapped, outraged that Ratchet no longer wanted what he did and was consumed by his desire to fix his error in the past. He fired a blast of energy from his wrench which hit Ratchet directly on his chest. The impact killed Ratchet, causing him to fall off the platform whilst Clank vainly tried to grab him. Azimuth then attacked Clank and started to head towards the Orvus Chamber. Clank gave chase to the General and managed to seal the chamber before Azimuth could get inside.

Clank approached the center of the Orvus Chamber, where the switch for the flow of time stood. He began to remember the words of Ratchet, Orvus and Sigmund before he suddenly remembered what the Plumber told him during his trip into his subconscious: "I wouldn't risk any more than six minutes".

Clank realized that what the Plumber meant was the Great Clock's ability to control the time flow. Breaking Orvus' one rule of the Clock, Clank reversed the flow of time for six minutes to just before Ratchet's death. When the shift backwards stopped, the time remained frozen where Clank saw Azimuth in the process of firing the blast at his friend. Clank pushed Ratchet out of the way of the energy blast just after time resumed itself, saving his friend's life.

Ratchet and Clank then gave chase to Azimuth who tried to get into the Chamber again. The General managed to get inside and initiated a massive time shift to save the Lombaxes. The Clock could not take the strain and began to break apart. Ratchet and Clank managed to defeat Azimuth in a fight and attempted to stop the shift. Azimuth screamed at Ratchet to stop, but Ratchet argued the point of the Clock was only to keep time, not change it. Alister then realised the error of his ways and sacrificed himself to stop the shift, preventing the Clock destroying itself and the universe. Clank told Ratchet that he should be proud of Azimuth as he picked up the General's pocket watch as a memento.

Later, Ratchet helped the Zoni fix the Great Clock and told Clank to take care of himself before leaving sadly. Clank began to play Orvus' message again, but then stopped it. He realized that finding out about his own family meant that he could not leave Ratchet until the Lombax found his own. He promoted Sigmund to Senior Caretaker of the Clock and left the chamber as Orvus' message started playing again. Clank jumped into Aphelion just as Ratchet was about to take off, much to the Lombax's delight. The duo took off into the stars as Orvus's message narrated over the scene.

Meanwhile, Qwark and Snowball remained trapped on an asteroid where Nefarious' station once was, with Qwark calling out for help to no avail. Snowball acted excited, with Qwark understanding he was hungry for blood. While panicking, Qwark ran around in circles to avoid getting eaten by Snowball. The screen turned black, with Qwark yelling at Snowball to go "easy on the goods".

Gameplay



 * "A Crack in Time should feature a good balance of both platforming, puzzle gameplay, and shooting without leaning toward any one type too heavily."
 * &mdash;Bryan Bernal[src ]



The new levels allow the player to explore more, and have hidden areas. Boss battles in the game are larger than in previous games.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time was revealed to be a full-length game, a bit longer than Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction but not downloadable from the PlayStation Network. An image of the game's Pause Menu was also released.

The secret locations seen in previous Ratchet & Clank games will be expanded with many secret areas appearing in the game; the Hoverboots have to be used to reach many of these areas.

Minigames similar to those seen in the previous games return in A Crack in Time.

A new quick-select menu was released that allowed Ratchet to equip a gadget or an item by simply pressing one of the directional buttons. It acts as a faster version of the existing quick-select menu.

Space gameplay
The game offers space action gameplay, allowing the player to take part in space combat and exploring star systems, including 3 in order to gain items. There is also Space Radio with music and 'Pirate Radio'. There are five sectors in the Breegus System, with there being approximately 10 Zoni in each sector, excluding the Corvus Sector.

Aphelion
Ratchet's ship, Aphelion, is customizable in A Crack in Time, in a similar way to Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal. To customize it, Ratchet has to collect Zoni that are in some side-mission moons and other planets. By collecting Zoni, Aphelion can also be upgraded with features such as thrusters and a space tether. Also, different paint jobs could be unlocked after earning enough skill points.

Clank gameplay
Clank has a larger role; Clank gameplay allows the player to manipulate time in new ways. One way he is able to manipulate time is by duplicating himself through time travel instead of using robots such as Gadgebots to help him. thumb|300px|left|[[Clank gameplay at Comic-Con.]]

Weaponry
The new weaponry in A Crack in Time is brand new to the series and allowed the player to customize and modify their weapons. The new weaponry apparently offers a "much more engaging player experience".

Weapons with a lava effect are used. Some "classic" weapons from previous games also returned. . Confirmed weapons included the CryoMine Glove, a glove which deposited homing mines which froze enemies, the Sonic Eruptor, which was described as being 'a bloated creature held by a harness' which emits a powerful sound wave when fired, and the Plasma Striker which zooms in on enemies and shows their weak point which if hit does a lot more damage. Also shown in the demo were the Negotiator and the Buzz Blades from Tools of Destruction. If a previous game save from Tools of Destruction contains these weapons, they are be obtainable earlier in A Crack in Time than they would be otherwise. Also in the game is the Rift Inducer 5000, a modified version of the Rift Inducer from Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. There was also weapon contest, the winner of it was the Spiral of Death which was described as a "deadly yo-yo" because the blade always came back. A new type of weapon was first introduced at Comic-Con 2009 - Constructo weapons. They are highly customizable to allow the player to change how they look and functioned. There are three types of Constructo weapons; a pistol, a bomb glove, and a shotgun. The Constructo Pistol allows the player to change the barrel, the stock of ammo, and the shots it fired. The Constructo Bomb allows the player to change the type of explosions. The paint color of the weapons could also be changed and the weapon mods for the Constructo weapons could be found scattered throughout the game.

Different uses for the Wrench are seen in the game, expanding on what was seen in Quest for Booty. The OmniWrench Millennium 12 returns in the game, along with the kinetic tether which can now be used to pull out parts of enemies, for example the Hydra can have its rechargeable ability destroyed by pulling out VersaGear. Ratchet can also pick Zoni that are scattered across the galaxy, which will lead him to Clank. He can also pick up Battery Bots with the wrench to open secret doors.

A new way of using weaponry was confirmed to be in testing by Insomniac Games before the release of the game. It is possible that this was the Constructo Weapons.

In an interview with Brian Allgeier, a few GrummelNet vendors could be seen in the background, showing that GrummelNet would be the main weapons supplier in the game. This was later confirmed as there is a trophy in the game that requires the player to buy all GrummelNet weapons to unlock it. Additionally, a commercial could be viewed for every purchasable weapon, which comically used Ratchet as the subject for the commercial (stating that Ratchet was already a universal hero).

Weapon contest finalists
Five finalists were chosen for the My Blaster Runs Hot weapons contest and announced on April 17 2009, they were held up for voting. The finalists were:
 * Bubble Shot
 * Plasma Sprinkler Glove
 * Qwark Machine
 * Spiral of Death
 * Super-Sized Sticky Hand Toy

The winner was announced at the Comic-Con 2009 event, between on the 23 of July. The winning weapon was the Spiral of Death. This weapon upgrades to the Spiral of Carnage, which releases three multiple blades at once.

PlayStation Network
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time has a few connections with PlayStation Network. Prior to the game's release it was confirmed by James Stevenson on the PlayStation Blog there would be a downloadable demo for Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time on the PlayStation Store.

At comic-con 2009 Brian Allgeier said that "the team was focused on closing the story arc that had started in Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty while creating an epic single-player experience", essentially confirming that multiplayer would not be featured in A Crack in Time. This was later confirmed by Gamespot. PlayStation world (PSW) said that no online options will be available in their game summary, and this was later confirmed by Insomniac during one of their Full Moon Show podcasts. The podcast ended speculation of a online multiplayer mode.

PlayStation Home
A Crack in Time is involved with PlayStation Home. There is a Ratchet costume, Nefarious helmet and Slag gloves available for purchase. There is also a Ratchet & Clank PlayStation Home space. The Ratchet & Clank space was built with several casual mini-games, with background music similarly featured in the Ratchet & Clank series. There is also a firing range game that changes what kind of enemies you're shooting at, depending if you're playing the past, present, or future range. It has three levels. There is also a Ratchet & Clank personal space available for purchase.

Trophies
James Stevenson from Insomniac Games confirmed that there would be PSN trophies inA Crack in Time, however this was to be expected with Sony making an announcement stating that all game releases for the PS3 in 2009 onwards will contain trophies. This could explain the appearances of the PlayStation Network logo at the end of trailers for the game. A Crack in Time also has a platinum trophy for gaining all trophies.

Characters

 * Azimuth, Alister
 * Carina
 * Cassiopeia
 * Clank
 * Enessa
 * Lawrence
 * Libra
 * Nefarious
 * Orvus
 * The Plumber
 * Ratchet
 * Sigmund
 * Smuggler
 * Qwark, Copernicus Leslie
 * Slag, Romulus
 * Snowball
 * Vorselon, Flint

Species

 * Agorian
 * Fongoid
 * Lombax
 * Robot
 * Terachnoid
 * Terratrope
 * Valkyrie
 * Vullard
 * War Grok
 * Zoni
 * Zyphoid

Planets and locations
thumb|300px|right|Planets in A Crack in Time
 * Agorian Battleplex
 * Great Clock
 * Insomniac Museum
 * Lumos - Krell Canyon
 * Morklon - Gimlick Valley
 * Nefarious Space Station
 * Quantos - Zolar Forest
 * Torren IV - Molonoth Fields
 * Terachnos - Axiom City
 * Vapedia - Valkyrie Citadel
 * Vorselon's Ship
 * Zanifar - Tombli Outpost



Playable Weapons
thumb|300px|right|Weapons in A Crack in Time
 * Buzz Blades
 * Chimp-O-Matic
 * Constructo Bomb
 * Constructo Pistol *Constructo Shotgun
 * CryoMine Glove
 * Double-ended wrench
 * Dynamo of Doom
 * Groovitron Glove
 * Mag-Net Launcher
 * Mr. Zurkon
 * Negotiator
 * OmniWrench Millenium 12
 * Plasma Striker
 * Rift Inducer 5000
 * RYNO V
 * Sonic Eruptor
 * Spiral of Death
 * Tesla Spikes

Gadgets

 * Armor Magnetizer
 * Box Basher 2000
 * Chronoscepter
 * Gravity Boots
 * Grindboots
 * Hoverboots
 * Heli-Pack
 * OmniSoaker
 * O2 Mask
 * Swingshot
 * Time Bomb
 * Treasure Mapper

Armor

 * Ectoflux Armor
 * Holoflux Armor
 * Hyperflux Armor
 * Thermaflux Armor

Items

 * Armor Magnetizer
 * Box Basher 2000
 * Constructo mods
 * Chronoscepter
 * Gold bolts
 * Raritanium
 * RYNO V Holo-plan schematics
 * Zoni

Skins

 * Agorean
 * Alister Azimuth
 * Bancho Ratchet
 * Captain Ratchet (unlocked with Quest for Booty save file)
 * Dan Johnson
 * Mustachio Furioso
 * Nefarious
 * Ratchet

Bosses

 * Alister Azimuth (Great Clock - Orvus Chamber)
 * Carina (Bernilius Sector)
 * Cassiopeia (Vapedia - Valkyrie Citadel)
 * Lornock Argos (Morklon - Gimlick Valley)
 * Dr. Nefarious (Nefarious Space Station)
 * Elite Hydra Tank (Agorian Battleplex)
 * Hydra tank (Lumos - Krell Canyon)
 * The Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler (Great Clock: Sector Two)
 * Libra (Korthos Sector)
 * Lord Vorselon (Vorselon's Ship)
 * VX-99 (Terachnos - Axiom City)
 * War Grok (Agorian Battleplex)

Space Sectors

 * Phylax Sector
 * Vela Sector
 * Korthos Sector
 * Bernilius Sector
 * Corvus Sector

Series 1


Action figures for the game have been announced. The first set of action figures (Series 1) went on sale on January 6, 2010. The Series 1 set includes:
 * Armored Ratchet & Mr. Zurkon
 * Captain Qwark & Skrunch
 * Dr. Nefarious & Zoni
 * Ratchet & Clank

Series 2
A second set of action figures (Series 2) have been revealed by DC. They are set to go on sale sometime during Fall 2010. The Series 2 set includes:
 * Azimuth with Orvus
 * Ratchet in Holo Armor with Clank
 * Rusty Pete with Slag's Head
 * Smuggler with RYNO V

Skins
It was confirmed in a replayability feature video that there were to be skins in A Crack in Time. One skin is an Agorian and another is Dan Johnson in a red shirt. There is also a Bancho Ratchet skin, a black outfit covering most of Ratchet; the skin was designed in a skin contest in Japan and it was confirmed by Insomniac Games that it has to be unlocked by a code. If the player collected all forty gold bolts, a Nefarious skin could be bought, along with an Alister Azimuth skin for 32 gold bolts.

Critical reception

 * "It's like Insomniac took everything that you thought made up the Ratchet franchise, refined it, and put it into this game – a game that looks like a Pixar movie at times. Brilliant."
 * &mdash;Greg Miller, IGN[src ]

Reviews of A Crack in Time have been generally positive. The platforming elements, balance between general gameplay and puzzles and the storyline in particular have been praised. Space battles have been criticized by several websites for being too repetitive. Destructoid gave the game a "Superb" score of 9 and a "Buy it!" rating. IGN gave the game an overall 9 out of 10, and while they did not criticize the game's graphics they did rate it 0.5 lower than the scores given in the other categories. G4 gave the game a 5 out of 5, specifically praising the storyline, platforming experience and controls. They criticised the repetitiveness of space battles, lack of enough top challenge platforming and the favourable bolt economy.

IGN included A Crack in Time in it's countdown of the "Top 25 PlayStation 3 games". It ranked the game at number twenty.

Awards

 * 6th Best Game of the Year, in ABC News' Top 10
 * 6th Best Game of the Year, in Associated Press's Top 10
 * Best Platformer Award, given by GameSpot
 * Best Writing & Dialogue Award, given by GameSpot

Title



 * "I don't know if I should really explain the "Crack" part though it does have something to do with the story..."
 * &mdash;Brian Allgeier[src ]

The title for the game was chosen through a poll of Insomniac employees after narrowing down a list of titles. As time is a part of the storyline A Crack in Time was seen as appropriate for the title.

The original name for the game was 'Clock Blockers', although Sony scrapped the idea.

Pre-order content
Special pre-order packages allow buyers to buy A Crack in Time with different in-game bonus content. Specific packages could only be bought from specific retailers. The four packages are the power package, space package, discovery package and bolt package. Each bonus could be unlocked without the pre-order package later on in the game.

Audio
The same voice cast from Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction returned for A Crack in Time, along with Armin Shimerman who provided the voice of Dr. Nefarious in previous games. Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, provided the voice of Orvus in A Crack in Time, as was announced in an episode of the Full Moon Show.

The game score was composed by Boris Salchow, who also made the music of Resistance 2. The music in the teaser trailer was also composed by Boris Salchow. The soundtrack is more film-like and orchestral then in previous games to add more emotion to the game, but it is still similar to previous soundtracks.

The music featured in the official trailers (Comic-Con, GamesCom and TGS) was not composed by Boris Salchow, but was provided by a group called Brand X Music, which is specialized in trailer scores. The name of the song is Pericles.

Special edition
Insomniac Games confirmed on Twitter that there was to be a special edition for Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time in Europe. The special edition included an art book and the discovery package.

Trivia

 * "Just returned from RCF: A Crack in Time studio show-n-tell. Cutscenes = hilarity. If legal doesn't make cuts it will be a miracle."
 * &mdash;Insomniac Games[src ]

The title for the game was released in late March 2009. A trailer was released a few days after the title was announced. The game will feature new weapons and gadgets, including one weapon designed by a fan.
 * Captain Qwark had more screen time than in previous games.
 * Swimming was not a gameplay element in this game. Ratchet could still walk in water up to his knees, however any deeper and he would drown.

Audio

 * Listen to a sample of the music in A Crack in Time.
 * Listen to another sample of the music in A Crack in Time.

Videos

 * A Crack in Time GamesCom 2009 trailer.
 * Axiom City gameplay video
 * PAX 09 - Space Gameplay Interview
 * Space gameplay preview.