[PS3] Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

Betanumerical said:
Whats the framerate like?, is it stable?.
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it's a consistant 60fps game. I was surprised while playing the game because there are so many things going on.
The textures are like 5 times sharper than Resistance's.
It's just a beautiful game.
If Sony wants to market their system, they can just say Ratchet can only be done on the PS3.
In my opinion, even the most powerful PC cant handle this game.
 
Well... the cutscenes stuttered a little here and there (May be this is a XMB framerate issue), but in-game is good even with many things happening on-screen at the same time.

I am on the 6th planet now (I didn't go to sleep :devilish:). I can say that GameSpot's criticism about R&C:ToD missing an identity is a non-issue. He's probably a purist/idealist ;-)

The gameplay weaved minor platforming, with third party view ground shooter, on-rail space shooters, free-form flight (You can really fly like Lair using SIXAXIS, but simpler), simple puzzle solving, Metroid's ball, Zelda elements (grappling hook and boots), etc. into a coherent third person view adventure/action game. It shows that R&C has kept up with time. The story and the characters is pretty consistent (so far). Although R&C absorbed these foreign elements, it assimilated and evolved them in its own context and form very well (e.g. The Metroid's ball is a lava-surfing gyro-cycle in R&C). It doesn't feel awkward at all.

The game also features its own unique designs and components. e.g., There is a SIXAXIS laser device to cut through rocks ;-). The environments, NPCs and enemies are also varied (just like Resistance).

It is easily a > 9.0 title (9.5 probably) and I can understand why some give it a 10. Again for difficulty level, it's just right for first play-through. I can see some paths are blocked now, so I'll probably need to revisit these planets later.


If you have a PS3, you need to play this game.

My only complain ? Same as Resistance: Is there a R&C theme song at all ? I haven't heard it yet.

Okay, going back to take my family for breakfast now :p


EDIT: Why do people keep asking questions about the graphics only ? The game is an all-rounder. Whichever way you look at it (gameplay or graphics), it is a gem. And it's not for kids only (I'm 30+ and still enjoy the game very much).
 
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pre-ordered it through amazon.ca (they won't sell it until the 30th).
i only played the first R&C game and it was great, but i never really got into the series. the reviews and the stunning visuals made me bite though.
 
Betanumerical said:
Whats the framerate like?, is it stable?.
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If you have or own a Sony PS3, I would highly advise you to rent this game and play it for several levels and hours so that you can experience the game.

I myself rented it and have put into it over 3 1/2 hours of first day playing and 8 to 9 hours straight of playing on Saturday and once I am done with internet stuff I am going back, the game is definetly a must play and a must own in my book and I personally never played any of the previous Ratchet and Clank games.

As far as platformers or action platformer this game is right up there with the Sonics of old, the Super Marios and others, its really up there, Insomniac Games has become a favorite developer to me and I have yet to actually play their Resistance FoM game since I just bought my PS3 last friday and I only have Heavenly Sword.

BTW I did not expect to rent R&C ToD, I went to the rental store and there it was, just put out by the clerk, I had gone there to rent Lair and some others but they were out and I could not resist being the first.
 
Amazing game, I was surprised at how difficult the last boss was compared to Going Commando and especially Up Your Arsenal. It wasn't a super hard boss, but it felt like a good amount of challenge. The boss in Up Your Arsenal was one of the easiest I have ever played and it really disappointed me, but not so with this game. Currently, more than half way through on challenge mode and working on getting all the holoplans this time around. And maybe this time I will level the tornado gun since I only used it once or twice my first time through.
 
SonComet said:
And maybe this time I will level the tornado gun since I only used it once or twice my first time through.
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I've found that the Tornado gun can come in real handy in certain situations. Especially after its been leveled and upgraded a little bit (to make it last longer). Can wipe whole waves of enemies out.

I haven't beat the game yet, nor am I sure how far into it I am (gotten pretty far though, and have most of the weapons). I've made a deliberate effort to level up my weapons the first time around (and get the hologram parts), and in doing so I've found myself using weapons I wouldn't normally use and learning some useful info about what types of enemies to effectively use them against. While there's quite a few weapons and gadgets, so far, I feel they're unique enough to stand apart and have there own useful situations (which seems to occur quite regularly, even if I don't realize it sometimes).
 
All this talk of the shadowing, and I goto insominac's R&D page and there staring me in the eye is a document labeled 'Shadows in Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction'

With some text below it, which comprised of.

A couple of months ago Mark Lee presented a good breakdown of our dynamic shadow system for one of our internal Tech Presentations. Shadows are sometimes frustrating, often a pain, and always have more edge-cases than you anticipate.

So does this game have dynamic shadows or not?. :oops:

http://www.insomniacgames.com/tech/articles/1007/files/shadows_in_rcf.pdf
 
Only a few ones mainly in cut-scenes and for main character(s) (perhaps some enemies to but few).
 
If you want to know more about the shadows from the source, this is a good place to start ;)

http://www.insomniacgames.com/tech/techpage.php

Shadows in Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
10/28/07 - 18:00 PST - Posted by Mike Acton, Engine Director
A couple of months ago Mark Lee presented a good breakdown of our dynamic shadow system for one of our internal Tech Presentations. Shadows are sometimes frustrating, often a pain, and always have more edge-cases than you anticipate. Mark spoke in detail about the tradeoffs we made and why those were best for our situation, and what kinds of improvements we could make. Don’t expect the attached slides to give all the implementation details, but they should give you a nice, if not rough, idea of what we’re doing and why.
Download PDF File
Comment on this presentation and see screenshots
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There's 5 new articles there since yesterday, by the way, the one on sound reminded me of how good the sound in the demo was, and especially how well coded in surround (even on my humble Pro Logic I system).
 
Nebula said:
Only a few ones mainly in cut-scenes and for main character(s) (perhaps some enemies to but few).
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I assumed that cutscenes were not real-time as the shadows don't have any of the pixel travel issues typically attributed to real-time shadows on PS3?
 
Butta said:
I assumed that cutscenes were not real-time as the shadows don't have any of the pixel travel issues typically attributed to real-time shadows on PS3?
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If you look at the presentation I linked to above you'll see how they solved this issue for real-time shadows, I think (clever). I don't think you'll often get a more detailed answer on how a developer handled their shadows than here. ;) They also used plenty pre-baked stuff mind you.
 
Arwin said:
If you look at the presentation I linked to above you'll see how they solved this issue for real-time shadows, I think (clever). I don't think you'll often get a more detailed answer on how a developer handled their shadows than here. ;) They also used plenty pre-baked stuff mind you.
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Are the cut-scenes real-time though? If so... holy shit!!!
 
SonComet said:
Amazing game, I was surprised at how difficult the last boss was compared to Going Commando and especially Up Your Arsenal. It wasn't a super hard boss, but it felt like a good amount of challenge. The boss in Up Your Arsenal was one of the easiest I have ever played and it really disappointed me, but not so with this game. Currently, more than half way through on challenge mode and working on getting all the holoplans this time around. And maybe this time I will level the tornado gun since I only used it once or twice my first time through.
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I finished the game this early morning, but am missing half the holo-plans, golden bolts, and Tachyon statues. So I chose to time-warp back to the game (instead of proceeding to Challenge mode).

I want to try out 3 weapons I didn't acquire:
* The flamethrower
* The "Wolverine" razor
* The "Omega" weapon

The weapons I used most often are:
* Doom Blades
* Nitro Reaper
* Predator Launcher
* Fusion Bomb
* Mr. Zurkon
* Nano-Swarmers
* Groovitron
* Lightning Ravager
* Confuzzler Gas
* Magnet Launcher
* Tornado Launcher
* Alpha Cannon

My favorite level is Sargasso. I fought my way back (instead of flying all the way)

The last boss was a little scary when it unveiled its killer moves, like
the cloud of rockets. But it proved no match for my upgraded weapons :devilish:. I felt relieved the moment I saw it fell.
.
 
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IMO, Insomniac has delivered another great game.

The cut scenes look soft, and there are some bad stutters here and there, but in gameplay the framerate is mostly solid. This is my first R&C game, and I'm not sure what I'd classify it as, but it is not really a platformer. I do wish some of the platforming sections were a bit longer and harder. I really enjoy the variety in the game, levels so far are fairly unique, with a bunch of different enemies.
 
Butta said:
Are the cut-scenes real-time though? If so... holy shit!!!
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The cut-scenes are real time indeed, you gotta watch them over and over again, best way to do that is start a new game, watch the cut scene, then when you have to play, load it again in the load menu.

Then later at the start screen let it sit and watch the attract videos, if your eyes get used to it, you might notice the differences.
 
rbushner said:
IMO, Insomniac has delivered another great game.

The cut scenes look soft, and there are some bad stutters here and there, but in gameplay the framerate is mostly solid. This is my first R&C game, and I'm not sure what I'd classify it as, but it is not really a platformer. I do wish some of the platforming sections were a bit longer and harder. I really enjoy the variety in the game, levels so far are fairly unique, with a bunch of different enemies.
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Same here, my first R&C game and I am loving it, the visuals are stunning and I've actually died a couple times so far :oops:

Akumajou said:
The cut-scenes are real time indeed, you gotta watch them over and over again, best way to do that is start a new game, watch the cut scene, then when you have to play, load it again in the load menu.

Then later at the start screen let it sit and watch the attract videos, if your eyes get used to it, you might notice the differences.
Click to expand...

The cut scenes are obviously real time for me, they show some aliasing, but like the game it is very minimal.

How the hell did Insomniac manage to pull all this off at 60FPS with AA.
 
Is it 60?

Anyway, from what I've seen while playing the demo, it looks great (Art!) but it's no sandbox. That helps them a lot.

I stand corrected if that isn't the case in other levels. It's not yet out here.

The cutscenes are very good indeed. Script and Tech-wise.
 
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