Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time Offers New Gameplay Mechanic

Ars Technica has a great look at the latest installment in the Ratchet and Clank series, "A Crack in Time." Along with the great looking graphics and same great gameplay, A Crack in Time offers a brand new game mechanic: "time pads." Time pads allow you to make a copy of yourself and move through a series of action, then shift back to "real time" and interact with your past self. "It's a game mechanic that's hard to describe in words, and wrapping your head around it inside the game isn't much easier when it's first described with an example or two. You have to play with it and bend time to your will before you see just how ingenious the whole thing is. The puzzles begin simply and grow harder as the game moves on. The use of time is done very well and elevates what we've played of the game from another platforming experience to something truly special."

Comments

Braid & quick-save/quick-load

[sopssa]

I think the indie game Braid was the first game to make this approach of time in games great. And if you develop the game good around that, it's great.

I loved Braid for the fact that even if I made a mistake, I would push the go back in time button instead of repeating quick-save/quick-load all the time when I fail. The levels could be made harder and more unforgiving too because you could always go back in time. And on its philosophy side it made me want to do the same thing for my past relationships, which is part of the story. Great game.

Actually I would like to see this in more games. Just go back in time instead of the quick-save/load bashing. It's a lot more fun too.

Re:Braid & quick-save/quick-load

[Evil Shabazz]

That's weak. I play every game in Rogue-mode. Die once, start over from the beginning. This tempers a truly superior video-game warrior, one who laughs in the face of adversity and spits in the face of death.

Everyone is entitled to their own way to enjoy games. You may find his style weak, but I find this concept of a "truly superior video-game warior" pretty weak. Let the guy have fun the way he wants, and we won't laugh at the way you want to have fun either. ;)

Braid

[sqrt(2)]

I'm pretty sure this has already been done. It's the entire point of the game Braid, and was probably done even before that.

Chronotron.

[pushing-robot]

It's a game mechanic that's hard to describe in words, and wrapping your head around it inside the game isn't much easier when it's first described with an example or two.

Well, here's a handy tutorial then.

Re:Chronotron.

[H0NGK0NGPH00EY]

Thanks for posting. When I saw the headline my first thought was "Yes, if by 'new gameplay mechanic' you mean one that an entire game was built around in last year's PAX 10."

A brand new mechanic?

[JustinRLynn]

Does anyone remember Blinx: the timesweeper for XBox that was released at the beginning of the decade? If you're familiar with that game then this game mechanic seems not so new and maybe even a bit more limited (because of the pad requirement, if it is one). I hope it's well implemented because then it has the potential to make for some really awesome puzzles. I'm glad to see they're experimenting with higher dimensional puzzles again.

WOW

[JMZero]

Will this be as big a hit as Blinx: The Time Sweeper, which had pretty much the same mechanic in a high profile 3d platformer 7 years ago?