This is just as much fun as it's always been. Just like the previous game, ACIT is almost as pretty as a Pixar. These are largely redundant as whatever needs to happen almost invariably involves Ratchet visiting a strange alien planet, running and jumping around a lot and blamming a load of enemies to bits. There's some nonsense about long-lost fathers, a bit of bobbins about a machine which can turn back time and a lot of conversations about what needs to happen next. So huge in fact that if you lost your car keys in it, they would be almost impossible to find.') Captain Qwark returns to provide comic relief, and there are plenty of good, occasionally Hitchhikers-esque jokes right from the start (opening voiceover: 'Space. Along the way he bumps into a grizzled old fellow Lombax, General Azimuth, and they join forces.

Clank has been kidnapped by the Zoni at the behest of the evil Dr Nefarious, and Ratchet is on a mission to rescue him. Despite the global economic meltdown, business at the crate factory must be booming as there are endless piles of boxes to smash open - wooden ones, metal ones, exploding ones, more wooden ones. There are puzzles to solve, doors to open, rails to grind on and jump pads to bounce off. There are hordes of enemies to batter and bolts to collect. It's pretty, polished, funny, expansive, satisfying and rewarding, just like all the previous instalments in the series. Ratchet & Clank fans who just want more of the same won't be disappointed with A Crack in Time. Except with the pepperoni, ham and smingy brown stuff arranged in a slightly different order. Having ordered a meat feast pizza, do you complain because what turns up is just like the last one you had? Maybe you just wanted another meat feast pizza. Is it fair to criticise a sequel because it offers nothing new? After all, there would be no sequels if there wasn't demand for more of the same.

A crack in time review