History YMMV / RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime

* AnticlimaxBoss: After the exhilarating final fights against Dr. Nefarious and [[spoiler:Azimuth]], you're treated to an optional bonus rematch against Lord Vorselon. While its a fun fight, its also a lot easier and less thrilling than the previous battles, and if you have the fully upgraded R.Y.N.O. V (which you likely will by that point, considering it constantly levels up when used in boss fights), you can cheese the whole fight in less than a couple minutes. Its also PlayedForLaughs, as the final phase simply involves Ratchet [[ZeroEffortBoss stepping on Vorselon's disembodied head.]]

** The [[ClimaxBoss penultimate fight against Dr. Nefarious]] is on par with your previous confrontation with him in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal Up Your Arsenal]]'', and ranks as one of the best boss fights in the entire series. Its a truly thrilling, breakneck paced three phase fight where Nefarious throws everything he's got at you and more, with combat (and some hoverboot segments) that ''will'' keep you on your toes, even with the [[GameBreaker R.Y.N.O. V]] on hand.
** And immediately following that is the climactic final boss fight against [[spoiler:Azimuth.]] Its a tense one on one battle where you have to fight tooth and claw and use everything in your arsenal to bring him down, all while the Great Clock is falling apart around you. No gimmicks, no other enemies summoned, just pure teeth clenched combat as you fight to determine the fate of all existence. Its basically the [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith "Anakin Vs. Obi Wan"]] moment of the entire franchise, and its a truly challenging yet extremely fun fight.

* ClicheStorm: One of the biggest criticisms of the game by its detractors is it’s by the numbers [[TheChosenOne Chosen One plot]], which is played completely straight in contrast to the previous entries’ comedy-focused plots.

* EvenBetterSequel: When compared to the previous game, and for that matter, any of the games between ''Up Your Arsenal'' and this one. Not only does it improve on the gameplay of it's predecessor ''Tools of Destruction'', but it introduces several new features like the ability to travel around space properly as opposed to a PointAndClickMap like in the previous games, as well as having two fleshed-out gameplay styles between Ratchet and Clank, great level design, even more creative weapons, more boss fights, and the return of [[BreakoutVillain Dr. Nefarious]] as the BigBad. All this adds up to a game that is widely seen as the best of the ''Future'' sub-series, if not the entire franchise.

** The VX-99 Hoverdrone that you fight in Axiom City. Its not a hard fight, but it can be annoying due to it constantly spamming lasers and pulling some cheap and hard to dodge manuevers on you.

* GoodBadBugs: The Chimp-O-Matic and it's upgrade works on Dr. Nefarious for some reason. While it requires several minutes of [[NoDamageRun uninterrupted beam]] and the game doesn't acknowledge it in the following cutscene, you can actually turn him into an ape and beat his boss fight in the first phase if you can pull it off (and if the game doesn't crash afterwards).

** The Rift Inducer 5000. Fans of [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal the original Rift Inducer]] will be sorely dissapointed that this incarnation is a heavily flawed follow up. While it can swallow up huge enemies and deals good damage, its crippled by two major flaws: first, its an ''extremely'' situational weapon. The rift only stays in one spot, which makes it extremely impractical as a crowd control weapon in a game where enemies are often spread out wide and numerous in numbers, meaning it can only focus on a tiny area of enemy territory at any one time, and you can't launch multiple rifts to make up for this--theres an extreme delay between when you can fire another rift. And its extremely small ammo basically means its only practical for taking down the odd large enemy. Like Mr. Zurkon, it is mainly useful for the Battleplex.

* ThatOneSidequest: Beating the Raritanium tournament in the Agorian Battleplex, with the climatic "Overkill" challenge being the hardest part of the entire game, even more than either of the final boss fights! Its 18 waves of dozens of tough enemies that do not let up on you, health drops are very scarce, and its topped with two more waves consisting of a back to back fight between the War Grok and a Hydra Tank. Unless you acquire the [[GameBreaker R.Y.N.O. V]] (which lets you cheese the whole event as long as you stay on your toes and constantly refill its ammo on the run), do ''not'' attempt this challenge without at least 100 Nanotech, the Hyperflux armor, and a heavily upgraded arsenal.
* UnderusedGameMechanic: The Constructo Weapons are a great idea and fun to use, but the problem is simply that they didn't go far enough with it. With only three Constructo Weapons and 21 upgrades to find total for all of them, theres not all that much variety to them or their functions, and the upgrades aren't particularly balanced either, meaning you'll clearly favor some upgrades over others. Compared to the well-liked weapon modding in ''VideoGame/RatchetDeadlocked'', it comes off as somewhat shallow and gimmicky.

** Qwark was also filming ''Unicop'' in-between the two games. It might have been filmed first, while ''My Blaster Runs Hot'' was filmed after the events of ''Quest for Booty''. This would make sense, considering the amount of time and costs it would take to finish ''Unicop'' because Qwark plays a unicorn in the film, while he's just playing himself in ''My Blaster Runs Hot'', so there's a good reason who the latter was released, first.

* AnticlimaxBoss: After the exhilarating final fights against Dr. Nefarious and [[spoiler:Azimuth]], you're treated to an optional [[BonusBoss bonus rematch]] against Lord Vorselon. While its a fun fight, its also a lot easier and less thrilling than the previous battles, and if you have the fully upgraded R.Y.N.O. V (which you likely will by that point, considering it constantly levels up when used in boss fights), you can cheese the whole fight in less than a couple minutes. Its also PlayedForLaughs, as the final phase simply involves Ratchet [[ZeroEffortBoss stepping on Vorselon's disembodied head.]]

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Late in the game, one of the radio shows has Dr. Nefarious as a call-in guest who complains about the cliffhanger ending of the latest "Lance and Janice" season, bemoaning that the series should've ended and that the writers are to blame (possibly as a [[SelfDeprecation potshot]] towards the cliffhanger from ''Tools of Destruction''). This fate would befall Ratchet's sister series ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' five years later when ''[[VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime Thieves in Time]]'' ended up with a cliffhanger ending that [[FanonDiscontinuity everyone hated]], which remains unresolved to this day.

* HarsherInHindsight: After you've seen [[spoiler:Azimuth go nuts and kill Ratchet in his quest to rewind time]], his unceasing ranting throughout the game starts to sound much more unhinged than it did on your first playthrough.

** The "My Blaster Runs Really, Really Hot" trophy, which requires you to get 10,000 points in the game, which is easier said than done due to its [[NintendoHard tough difficulty.]]

** And immediately following that is the climatic final boss fight against [[spoiler:Azimuth.]] Its a tense one on one battle where you have to fight tooth and claw and use everything in your arsenal to bring him down, all while the Great Clock is falling apart around you. No gimmicks, no other enemies summoned, just pure teeth clenched combat as you fight to determine the fate of all existence. Its basically the [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith "Anakin Vs. Obi Wan"]] moment of the entire franchise, and its a truly challenging yet extremely fun fight.

* ClicheStorm: One of the biggest criticisms of the game by its detractors is for its totally by the numbers [[TheChosenOne Chosen One plot]], a tone that is so overly serious as to come off as pretentious, uninspired dialogue and characterization and for using blatant [[{{Retcon}} retcons]] and [[PlotHole contrived logic gaps]] to take what was originally a satirical and fun action-platform video game series and turn it into an epic faux-Pixar style experience.
%% Designated Hero removed. Azimuth was designed to become more unsympathetic as the game advances, and the game outright has him as a villain in the climax.

** The return to Dr. Nefarious' base [[{{Railroading}} cuts you off from playing the bulk if the level]] and only consists of a floating platform trip and a brief walk (with some enemies sandwiched in) before you fight Nefarious himself.

* EvenBetterSequel: When compared to the previous game, and for that matter, any of the games between ''Up Your Arsenal'' and this one. Not only it improves on the gameplay of it's predecessor ''Tools of Destruction'', but it introduces several new features like the ability to travel around the space with the spaceship as opposed to a PointAndClickMap like other games, as well as having two kinds of gameplay between Ratchet and Clank, great level design, more creative weapons, more boss fights, and the return of [[BreakoutVillain Dr. Nefarious]] as the BigBad, the result is a game that is widely seen as the best of the ''Future'' sub-series. It's been so acclaimed that, if there's one game that easily reaches (if not ''surpasses'') the quality of ''Up Your Arsenal'' as the best game in the entire franchise, it would be this one.
* FranchiseOriginalSin: While Tools of Destruction planted the seeds, A Crack In Time was really the point where the series began shedding its satirical roots in favor of a serious, almost Disney like whimsical style of plot and writing. While the game was and still is well recieved today, further attempts to apply this to the series have been met with increasing scorn from fans at best, reaching its apex with the controversial 2016 reimagining of the first game. Even this games approach to the series is now greeted with much more scrutiny than it was in its heydey, with many fans accusing it of being a sloppily written and pretentious ClicheStorm that takes itself far too seriously at the expense of the series comedic identity, basically becoming the kind of over the top parody that the original games satirized in the first place.

** Solution: Qwark was also filming ''Unicop'' in-between the two games. It might have been filmed first, while ''My Blaster Runs Hot'' was filmed after the events of ''Quest for Booty''. This would make sense, considering the amount of time and costs it would take to finish ''Unicop'' because Qwark plays a unicorn in the film, while he's just playing himself in ''My Blaster Runs Hot'', so there's a good reason who the latter was released, first.

** Any fight with a Hydra Tank. While you can mow down their health quickly with the right weapon, they have a large variety of fast and hard hitting attacks. And during the battle of Gimlick Valley, you fight two of them in the same small area!
** The War Grok arena fights aren't particularly difficult, but they require fast reflexes and a lot of patience due to its [[DamageSpongeBoss high stamina]], especially during the fight where you fight it with only your wrench. The fight where it tag teams between it and a Hydra Tank can be frustrating, too.

* HarsherInHindsight: After you've seen [[spoiler:Azimuth go nuts and kill Ratchet in his quest to rewind time]], his unceasing ranting throughout the game suddenly sounds much more unhinged than it did on your first playthrough.

** "Unnecessary Initiative Omega 91" is this for Cassiopeia, given she spends the entire time trying to kill Ratchet and orders the other Valkyries [[spoiler:to execute Clank]]. And like Courtney Gears before her, Cassiopeia is quite sadistic over this.

** The [[StockSoundEffect old school laser sound effect]] that plays when you have the Constructo-Pistol set to shoot laser beams.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: The Buzz Blades, which were [[ScrappyWeapon one of the worst weapons]] in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction Tools of Destruction]]'' due to its abysmal damage rate, pops up again as a much more useful weapon here since its damage properties are much higher off the bat, and upgrading it makes it one of the most powerful weapons in the game, and its a real lifesaver in Hard Mode. Its even an effective weapon in boss fights, including the final two. The only downside is its low ammo combined with its fast firing rate, but that gets mitigated with upgrades.

** Mr. Zurkon, lovable as he is for his gleefully bloodthirsty personality, simply isn't a very good weapon. While he gets the job done fine on anklebiters, he immediately runs into trouble with larger foes. His very poor damage ratio means it takes forever for him to kill even one mook, much less several, and he's about as useful as the [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando Clank Zapper]] in boss fights. [[ArtificialStupidity His A.I. is very spotty]], and he'll often miss or ignore a target thats clearly in his line of sight or ignore anklebiters in favor of harder to kill larger foes, and his range of fire is very short, meaning he's flat out useless against flying or long range enemies. And he has a tiny ammo capacity on top of that. He becomes all but useless when you reach the later levels, and is mainly useful for the Battleplex arena challenges.

* ThatOneBoss: The final Vorselon fight is surprisingly tough on the higher difficulty levels. He attacks fast, is extremely tough, and if you don't have the RYNO V (or want to fight fair without it), the fight will take ''a lot'' of ammo to get through. Fortunately, this only makes beating him extremely satisfying.

** Krell Canyon has a part during the first stage where Ratchet must move two platforms over a bottomless pit to bypass a tetromite nest. Unfortunately, it is very possible for the tetromites to reach the other side and wait for Ratchet to leap over to them, making it almost impossible to reach water before his HP reaches zero.
** Gimlick Valley is a tough and near overwhelming level due to the sheer number of resilient enemies present. And its topped with a fight against two Hydra Tanks fighting in tandem! On the other hand, [[PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling it is the best place to max out weapons]].
* ThatOneSidequest: Beating the Raritanium tournament in the Agorian Battleplex, with the climatic "Overkill" challenge being the hardest part of the entire game, even more than either of the final boss fights! Its 18 waves of dozens of tough enemies that do not let up on you, health drops are very scarce, and its topped with two more waves consisting of a back to back fight between the War Grok and a Hydra Tank. Unless you acquire the [[GameBreaker R.Y.N.O. V]] (which lets you cheese the whole event as long as you stay on your toes and constantly refill its ammo on the run), do ''not'' attempt this challenge without at least 100 nanotech, the Hyperflux armor, and a heavily upgraded arsenal.
* UnderusedGameMechanic: The Constructo Weapons are a great idea and fun to use, but the problem is simply that they didn't go far enough with it. With only three Constructo Weapons and 21 upgrades to find total for all of them, theres not all that much variety to them or their functions, and the upgrades aren't particularly balanced either, meaning you'll clearly favor some upgrades over others. Compared to the well-liked weapon modding in ''VideoGame/RatchetDeadlocked'', it comes off as somewhat shallow and gimmicky.
%% UnintentionallyUnsympathetic removed. Azimuth was intentionally written to be more unsympathetic as you advance.

* ClicheStorm: One of the biggest criticisms of the game by its detractors is for its totally by the numbers [[TheChosenOne Chosen One plot]], a tone that is so overly serious as to come off as pretentious, uninspired dialogue and characterization and for using blatant [[{{Retcon}} retcons]] and [[PlotHole contrived logic gaps]] to take what was a satirical combat series and turn it into an epic faux-Pixar style experience.

* EvenBetterSequel: When compared to the previous game, and for that matter, any of the games between ''Up Your Arsenal'' and this one. Not only it improves on the gameplay of it's predecessor ''Tools of Destruction'', but it introduces several new features like the ability to travel around the space with the spaceship as opposed to a PointAndClickMap like other games, as well as having two kinds of gameplay between Ratchet and Clank, great level design, more creative weapons, more boss fights, and the return of [[BreakoutVillain Dr. Nefarious]] as the BigBad, the result is a game that is widely seen as the best of the ''Future'' sub-series. It's been so acclaimed that, if there's one game that easily reaches (if not ''surpass'') the quality of ''Up Your Arsenal'' as the best game in the franchise, it would be this one.