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"...the first game to truly deliver the long-sought 'You are playing a Pixar movie' experience."
—The New York Times, regarding this game.
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The first game of the Ratchet & Clank series on the Play Station 3.
The duo faces off against Percival Tachyon, self appointed Emperor of the Polaris Galaxy, who is set upon the extermination of all Lombaxes. Being a Lombax himself, Ratchet naturally doesn't take kindly to that. The game goes a lot into how the rest of the Lombaxes died disappeared.
This includes a downloadable game Quest for Booty on the Play Station 3 network. "QfB" takes place directly after the end of "ToD", and centers around Ratchet's search for a missing Clank.
- Action Girl: Talwyn Apogee.
- Beam Spam: The RYNO IV
- Book Ends: The game begins and ends on the same musical riff. It makes for one heck of a Tear Jerker ending.
- Comically Missing the Point:
Qwark: "This isn't the time for vanity, it's time to show the galaxy how utterly AWESOME I am!" |
- Continuity Nod:
- Several in Zordoom Prison. Listening carefully to the announcer reveals that Slim Cognito and Ace Hardlight are inmates.
- And then there's the absolutely massive list of questions you can ask the IRIS supercomputer, many of which are obscure trivia from earlier games only the most devoted fans will know.
- Crate Expectations: Lampshaded.
Cronk: "Hey, I just finished stacking those, you vandal!" |
- Crapsack World: Not that Solana was a perfect galaxy but Polaris is under the rule of dictator with Space Pirates lurking behind every nebula.
- Development Gag: "In the unlikely event the Dimensionator creates a time-space singularity and tears the fabric of the Universe asunder, please log an "A" bug and notify a programmer immediately." — Even yellow furry aliens follow Sony's QA procedures.
- Difficult but Awesome: Two weapons fit firmly into this category, the Tornado Launcher and the Razor Claws. The former is controlled using Sixaxis, but is very powerful and has a wide variety of uses, some of which aren't immediately obvious. (like keeping it stationary to act as a makeshift shield, controlling it while using a different weapon, or simply bringing bolts and raretanium closer to you.) The latter gains power the more enemies you kill in a row without taking damage, and as it is a melee weapon, this is easier said than done. It also boosts both Bolt AND Raretanium drop rates, and since it runs off the same principle as the Challenge Mode multiplier, you can rack up HUGE amounts of cash with it provided you're good at No Damage Runs.
- Disappeared Dad: Max Apogee, Talwyn's father. While Tools of Destruction is mute on where he ended up, A Crack in Time and the comic reveal that he fled to the Lombax dimension with Angela Cross.
- The Dragon: A strange case. IRIS reveals that the Pirates were built by Tachyon when he was a child, to help scavange materials for his army. After they had outlived their usefulness, he abandoned them on a remote planet, after which they kind of acted on their own from then on. So technically speaking Captain Slag is a fomer Dragon gone rogue. It's clear Tachyon never trusted him from the start though, as he built the Holo-Pirate Disguise so he could spy on Slag and make sure he wasn't pulling a Starscream on him. He would later offer the disguise as an arena prize in hopes of luring Slag to his death.
- Embarrassing First Name: Tachyon's first name is "Percival".
- The Emperor: Emperor Tachyon.
- Enemy Civil War: Kerchu City is an entire level centered on this. Of course, both sides will attack you mercilessly, but until they see you they'll focus in beating the crap out of each other.
- Exclusively Evil: The Cragmites with the Lombaxes being heralded as the "saviors of the Universe" due to having triumphed over the Cragmites.
- According to several NPCs, the Drophyds are almost as bad, though it is mentioned that Tachyon bought their loyalty with Raritanium. And then there's the Kerchu, whose position is ambiguous. (They mercilessly attack anyone who enters their territory, and there isn't a single species in the universe that isn't violently allergic to them.)
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: The following transmission from Captain Slag:
Attention lads! Usage of IRIS supercomputer is restricted to educational purposes only. Do not download games, music or... alternative cinema without me approval! |
- Good All Along: The Kerchu guardian. He was protecting the Dimensionator.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Thinking that Tachyon only wanted revenge on them, the Lombaxes fled to Another Dimension thinking that he wouldn't hurt anyone else if they were gone. With the biggest threat to his rule gone, Tachyon just began conquering other planets.
- Haiku: Courtesy of Tachyon:
The Lombax should die |
- Heel Face Mole: Rusty Pete joins Ratchet after Slag's defeat, mostly so he can quickly double-cross him in Quest For Booty. He lampshades the shameless insincerity of his Heel Face Turn when asked about his motives.
Rusty Pete: What? Can't a pirate who's never told an honest truth in his life go blatantly out of his way to help the guy who killed his best friend and captain? |
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Mr. Zurkon takes great delight in destroying his enemies, and will grumble and complain if there is no one on screen to kill. In Crack, he even wants to take shots at NPCs:
Mr. Zurkon: "Why can't Mr. Zurkon shoot puny Fongoids?" |
- Hypocritical Humor: Ratchet pokes fun at the fact that the Lombaxes' greatest, most dangerous creation is a hat, claiming that there's no way a Lombax would create something so ridiculous. Clank then goes on to list all of Ratchet's boneheaded inventions, including electro-shock undergarments (Ratchet tries to justify that last one as "Stunderwear", claiming it to be a huge seller on Umbris).
- A bit of Fridge Brilliance here: from what we have seen of Umbris, the inhabitants there may have... uses for "Stunderwear".
- Inexplicably Identical Individuals: The Grummels. Explained by stating that they are clones of the last Grummel.
- Interdimensional Travel Device: The Dimensionator.
- Join The Army, They Said: Emperor Tachyon's recruitment video.
- Kick the Dog: After Emperor Tachyon reveals that the Lombaxes fled their own dimension to escape his wrath, with the hope he would spare Fastoon if they did so, he continues with this; "Only two stayed behind... The keeper of the Dimensionator... and his infant son. " *waits a moment to let to the realization sink in for Ratchet* "I took great pleasure in destroying your father, Lombax- pity he sent you to Solana before we could meet."
- Last of His Kind: Ratchet is frequently said to be the last of the Lombaxes in this universe, the rest of them having fled to Another Dimension. Later materials revealed that Angela Cross, from Going Commando might have already fled to the Lombax dimension to escape Tachyon.
- Zordoom Prison also mentions having several prisoners of Lombax descent in its walls.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Delivered by the Plumber; "Almost didn't recognize you boys in high def."
- And then there's the description for the RYNO 4-Ever, which states that it is "too gameplay-destabilizing to ever be used. Ever."
- Logical Weakness: Electricity-based weapons (the Shock Ravager, Razor Claws and Mag-Net Launcher, but strangely NOT the lightning bolts fired from the upgraded Tempest Launcher) have no effect on electrified enemies. A similar situation exists with Shielded enemies and (almost) all non-explosive weapons, but electrical attacks penetrate them.
- Man Hug: Ratchet and Clank almost have one on Reepor before they realize that Talwyn is watching. They settle for a brofist instead.
- Noodle Incident: What Ratchet was thinking when he invented the Anti Matter Bathroom Buddy or electroshock undergarments, the world will never know. All Ratchet has to say for himself is that "Stunderwear" was a huge seller in Umbris.
- Recurring Riff: There's at least one that can be tracked through the game-- in the opening cutscene all the way through the ending..[1] If you're listening, you can even hear it in Quest For Booty after being shot to Hoolifar, while Ratchet's still waking up.
- Repurposed Pop Song: The Groovitron tracks (1 and 11) have been heard being used by Rite Aid and even The Daily Show.
- Rewatch Bonus: Many background allusions and references take on very different meanings after A Crack in Time.
- Roboteching: The RYNO IV's Beam Spam kind of does this, only it looks a lot more uncontrolled. It's difficult to explain.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Cragmites. Tachyon's whole motive is to open the can. The Lombaxes are Sealed Good in a Can.
- Sequel Hook: The end of both Tools of Destruction and (especially) Quest for Booty.
- Shout-Out: The music for the pirate levels contains a very Pirates of the Caribbean-esque riff.
- Space Pirate: Captain Slag and his crew.
- The Starscream: Quest for Booty reveals Captain Slag was one to Captain Darkwater. And he succeeded. And then the two end up sharing a body...
- Take That: In Tools of Destruction, Talwyn's two robot pals have the following conversation poking fun at the Xbox 360. Roughly paraphrased:
Zephyr: "Ah, a chance to show off my superior online capabilities!" |
- Teleport Spam: The Cragmites. A variation, they're phasing in and out of the dimension. You can see them moving, you just can't damage them until they fully re-emerge.
- Tempting Fate: "Qwark may be a lot of things, but I'm sure he wouldn't surrender the Dimensionator just to spare his own life."
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: If you destroy a robotic suit with a Drophyd in it, the Drophyd will fall out and kind of lay there... until it sees Ratchet, at which point it will freak and quiver with fear. You can then either hit it again or step on it to finish it off... for bolts.
- Visual Pun: Toss a Groovitron at the centipede-like enemies on Cobalia, and they do The Worm.
- What Could Have Been: According to developer commentary, in an early draft of the script, Talwyn would betray Ratchet and give the Dimensionator to Tachyon, in order to bring back her father.
- ↑ It's very obvious right before the credits