WARINING: It’s impossible to talk about this game without spoiling the ending to the previous one, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, just know the game is great and seems to move at a faster pace, but is still a familiar experience. Otherwise, don’t complain if some tidbits are spoiled for you.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction left a lot of questions unanswered for gamers who made it to the end. With Clank seemingly abducted, how is a new game going to play being that many of Ratchet’s platforming abilities relied on Clank? The PSN download, Quest for Booty, gave a glimpse of what a Clank-less Ratchet would play like, and while it added a few compensating moves for the veteran hero, it felt like a stripped down version of the game we’ve played for so many years. Last time we had a full game with Ratchet minus Clank, we ended up with Ratchet Deadlocked, (AKA The How-To Guide to Piss Off your Fanbase.) With two years of development time, the (mostly,) always solid Ratchet and Clank series premiered the newest installment with A Crack in Time. Rest assured, the Lombax has plenty of new and exciting gadgets to pick up the slack, much to our collective relief.

The brief stage I got to run through showed off quite a bit of the weapons and tools that the series is known for. The ones most prominent are Ratchet’s new jet boots. Not only can he skate across the stage with them, (which makes getting around from one point to the next much faster,) but they serve as a substitute for Clank’s actions. The boots allowed for hovering, high jumping and long jumping after gaining some skate momentum. Although they serve an almost identical purpose to Clank, the boots give a fresh look and style to the game without compromising the elements that have made the series a favorite.

Not to be outdone, the demo featured some of the trademark weapons that the series is known for. The default firearm was the Sonic Disruptor, which wasn’t as much of a futuristic weapon, but was actually a living frog like creature that lets loose giant burp waves. If you’re above such juvenile tomfoolery, some traditional weapons like twin pistols and bombs, as well as the signature wrench were also usable. If you’re like me, there are hundreds of other games with these types of weapons. Give me the more creative ones like the freeze gun that holds enemies in place or the glove that lobs acidic slime! These weapons are the most fun, but sadly the demo also had a few recycled weapons from the last game. The series has always incorporated an arsenal of new weapons every time so hopefully this will continue when the game is finally released.

The level that I played through had your typical Ratchet feel. Breakable boxes filled with nuts and bolts were all around, and there were plenty of enemies to serve as test dummies for the weapons. Most of the enemies seemed larger than before, and gave the game a much grander scale. After gliding around and eliminating all of the riders who were plaguing the landscape with a new, mysterious Lombax ally, I had a good handle on what the galaxy has in store.

Time after time, the Ratchet and Clank series manages to remain fun with just the right amount of innovation and familiarity, and A Crack in Time is no exception. With enough new moves and weapons mixed with old favorites, and the near CG film quality of the graphics, platforming fans would have a crack in sanity to not consider adding this to their PS3 library. The new adventure is scheduled for a fall release, so we’ll all be able to blow more crap up the in only the way a Ratchet and Clank game has in the near future.