Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time: Difference between revisions

The third and final entry in the ''[[Ratchet and Clank]] Future'' trilogy on the [[Play Station 3]], after ''[[Ratchet and Clank Future Tools of Destruction|Tools of Destruction]]'' and ''Quest for Booty''.

 

* [[Apocalypse How]]: {{spoiler|The initially harmless-seeming Fongoids}} caused a Class X-3 in the backstory, destroying 83 star systems. Dr. Nefarious' plan to misuse the Great Clock for his own benefit would instead have caused a Class X-4. {{spoiler|General Azimuth very nearly DID cause one.}}

** Arguably, the entire game's art style is one. Compared to ToD, it looks a lot more cell-shaded and cartoony.

* [[Bag of Sharing]]: {{spoiler|While wandering the Great Clock, Clank can destroy boxes and repair things to earn bolts. That Ratchet can use to buy things.}}

* [[Bring My Brown Pants]]: "So much for clean underwear."

* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Orvus. Guy saved the universe and created Clank. Loves [[Incredibly Lame Pun|puns]]. Also perhaps the most quotable character in the entire series.

* [[Cosmic Keystone]]: The Great Clock.

* [[Crosshair Aware]]

* [[Cutscene Incompetence]]: Near the end, {{spoiler|Ratchet and Clank and Qwark are surrounded by guards and Dr. Nefarious and naturally surrender because, well, it's a cutscene. Never mind that there are only like eight guards, and they later fight Nefarious with basically the exact same level of preparation.}}

* [[Disney Villain Death]]: Cassiopeia. Though [[Servile Snarker|Lawrence]] has another theory on why she disappeared...

* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]: Orvus is prone to this.

* [[Dumb Muscle]]: The Agorians. Though they're actually [[Genre Savvy]] enough to recognise this and hire another race (see [[My Brain Is Big]] below) to do the thinking for them.

* [[Dying Moment of Awesome|Dying Moment]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|of Funny]]: {{spoiler|Nefarious.}} {{color|white|Even if he isn't really dead.}}

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The Rift Ripper 5000 summons one of these. It's called [[Fluffy the Terrible|Fred]]...

* [[Empty Room Until the Trap]]: Lampshaded. After going through two of these in the Valkyrie Citadel, Ratchet is not surprised by the third.

'''Ratchet:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|Yeah, I know, another death trap.]] }}

* [[Eternal Engine]]: The Great Clock.

* [[Face Heel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Azimuth.}}

* [[Fantastic Rank System]]: Alister Azimuth is a "Four Bolt Magistrate".

* [[Fluffy the Terrible]]: The monster summoned by the Rift Inducer 5000 is named "Fred".

** Also, Snowball, Qwark's Agorian War Grok.

* [[Fluffy Tamer]]: Qwark somehow tames a War Grok.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Vorselon's message to Ratchet: {{spoiler|"Only one lombax need perish tonight. If you'd be willing to take his place..."}}

* [[Funny Background Event]]: In the Agorian Battleplex - while Qwark is trying to woo the audience, in the background Ratchet is being mauled by the War Grok.

* [[Gainax Ending]]: Parodied. According to a radio broadcast, the season finale of [[Soap Within a Show|Lance and Janice]] was one of these. [[Ruined FOREVER|Doctor Nefarious is not happy.]]

* [[Game Within a Game]]: "My Blaster Runs Hot - The Game". It's a twin-stick shooter that has Qwark facing down hordes of robots.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: When first asked why he didn't leave with the Lombaxes, Azimuth wistfully answers: "''Sometimes the universe has a cruel sense of humour''". At the end of the game, Orvus concludes his final message to Clank by saying: "''The universe has a wonderful sense of humour. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|The trick is learning how to take a joke.]]''"

** Arguably, {{spoiler|Ratchet falling at the Great Clock}} could be considered an echo of the same thing happening on Planet Reepor in ''Tools of Destruction'', OR {{spoiler|the aforementioned "mid-air rescue" of Clank at the Valkyries' base}}.

* [[Just Between You and Me]]: Hilariously played with in the trailer:

'''Ratchet''': Well... now we know what he went with... }}

* [[Killed Off for Real]]: This game features an impressive deathcount of important characters: {{spoiler|Clank's father Orvus, Alister Azimuth, Lord Vorselon, Cassiopeia, Carina and Libra, Pollyx, and even Ratchet.}}

'''Qwark:''' You're welcome. }}

* [[Lying Creator]]: Dr. Nefarious used to be in the [[Killed Off for Real]] entry, even had [[Word of God]] backing it up. But that was until the first preview pages of the Canon sequel comic came out... and now he's a playable character in the next game, too.

** Since this would mean {{spoiler|allowing every evil plan ever foiled by the heroes to succeed, from Chairman Drek onward}}, logically, {{spoiler|General Azimuth's plan}} would have caused this too, since it would have {{spoiler|prevented Ratchet from ever meeting Clank}}.

* [[Memento MacGuffin]]: {{spoiler|Azimuth's pocket watch becomes one after his [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}. The hoverboots Azimuth gives Ratchet were originally Kaden's.

* [[My Brain Is Big]]: Terachnoids. Loading screen trivia implies that they actually house ''multiple'' brains in their massive skulls, as the smartest was born with seven and a half.

* [[My Greatest Failure]]: {{spoiler|A big plot point in ''Tools of Destruction'' was that Tachyon was able to defeat the Lombaxes and conquer the galaxy due to having improved Lombax technology. ''Crack in Time'' reveals that Azimuth was the one who gave Tachyon access to the tech. (Ironically, he did so because he believed that Tachyon's improvements would help defend the galaxy.) This mistake weighs on Azimuth so much it drives him a bit insane, which comes to a head in the climax of ''Crack''.}}

* [[Mysterious Waif]]: {{spoiler|Clank, more or less. Not a very standard one, but his backstory certainly fits.}}

* [[Proud Warrior Race]]: Agorians.

* [[Recurring Boss]]: Lord Vorselon.

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Alister Azimuth}}. Kind of crossed-over with [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: Ratchet and Azimuth's motivation. {{spoiler|Later subverted when it turns out it wouldn't really work and Ratchet and Clank must stop Azimuth.}}

** Before Ratchet enters the Zoni Temple alone, Qwark says "Operation [[Star Trek|Red]] [[Red Shirt|Shirt]] is a go".

* [[Smoke Out]]: Unfortunately, Quark didn't realize the smoke bomb doesn't actually ''cause'' [[Offscreen Teleportation]]

* [[Strong Family Resemblance]]: Azimuth figures out that Ratchet's a real Lombax instead of a holo-guised assassin due to his striking resemblance to his father, Kaden.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]].

* [[Too Many Halves]]: In one of his many boasts, Qwark explains to Ratchet that "being a hero is 45% strength, 60% bravery and 10% raw intelligence". Ratchet doesn't fail to lampshade that something doesn't add up.

** More generally the space sections play like this - in comparison to the free-flying in ''Going Commando'' and the on-rails sections in ''Tools of Destruction'', ''Size Matters'' and ''Secret Agent Clank'', you can only fly on a flat, 2D plane.

* [[Verbal Tic]]: All Fongoid males have one. The loading screen trivia mentions that scientists have no idea why it's the case, but also that the leading theory of time travel as the cause was dismissed as "both laughable and impossible" by the scientist who came up with it.

* [[Vocal Dissonance]]: Libra, one of the three leaders of the [[Amazon Brigade]], sounds suspiciously like [[Venture Brothers|Dr. Girlfriend]].

** At the end of ''Tools of Destruction'', Tachyon yells at Ratchet that he is the only one who knows Ratchet's true purpose in Polaris and his true name. This is brought up in the final cutscene where Clank confirms that he detected no lie in Tachyon's voice. Despite this, this ends up never being referenced again, and Azimuth's account makes it sound like Ratchet being left behind was just a mistake.

*** [[Unreliable Narrator|That]] ''[[Unreliable Narrator|is]]'' [[Through the Eyes of Madness|Azimuth, though...]]

 

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[[Category:Science Fiction Video Games]]

[[Category:Platform Game]]