Positives:
+ Pressing the “Start” button during gameplay pauses the game and brings up the Pause menu.
+ The usual controller buttons are mapped to the various menu options making it very easy for someone familiar with PlayStation controls to navigate the game’s menu.
+ Either the left stick or directional buttons can be used to navigate through the menu choices.
+ The choices of the Pause menu are located on the bottom left of the screen while the details of the selected choice are located to the upper right of the screen. The separation makes it easy to see which choice is selected and what its details are.
+ The text is written with a yellowish font that stands out against the dark background and is easy to read.
+ The active Pause menu choice is shown in a brighter yellow color and a slightly larger font than the inactive choices. Those are shown in a muted yellow with a smaller font. The contrast makes it easy to see which choice is active.
Negatives:
- The Quick Select menu is difficult to navigate and use to switch out weapons, gadgets, and items. It requires that you choose the spot on your Quick Select menu that you want to change and then cycle through all the available options. If you accidentally pass the item you wanted to select you have to scroll through all the choices again to get back to the one you wanted.
- The Inventory menu is one of the less intuitive in the game. The “X” gives you weapon details and the Right Stick will rotate whatever you’re viewing. Pressing L1 or R1 will move you to the next inventory item when looking at item details or, if you’re not looking at item details, they will switch you to the next inventory category. So, you can easily find yourself somewhere in the menu you don’t want to be simply because you forgot if you were looking at item details or not.
- If you need to equip an item that is not on your Quick Select menu then it is necessary to scroll through all of the items in the Inventory until you find the one you need. This can be tedious if you have quite a few items in your Inventory.
- If you want to customize a Constructo weapon you must first find it in your Inventory menu, hover over it so the details show up, and then press the square to bring up a customization menu. There are too many menu layers here. There has to be a way to simplify this instead of just adding more menu layers.
Thoughts:
~ The Community menu option isn’t shown on the Pause menu. It is listed on the Main menu instead. So, if you want to view the leaderboards to see where you stand you have to Pause and then select the Main Menu option from the Pause menu. (This will quit your current game.) When the Main menu appears the Community menu option shows up. Once you’re finished you have to reload your game. This wastes time for those who wanted to make a quick check of the Leaderboards before continuing gameplay.
~ The Map menu allows you to zoom in and out of a map but there is no fine control. With a small twitch you’re suddenly zoomed way out of the map. It takes an extended twitch to get the camera to zoom back in and you usually end up zoomed in too closely.
~ I like how the background of the menu changes for each area you’re in. For example, it changes to purple if you’re at the Nefarious Space Station.
~ While in the Pause menu you can enter a certain code and unlock the “Bancho Ratchet” skin. The skin dresses Ratchet in a Japanese high school outfit with a pompadour hair cut.
Would Like:
* A Community menu option on the Pause menu. There is an Extras menu option where you can view your earned skill points and watch cinematics. The Community menu option could be placed here. This would allow for a much quicker peek at the Leaderboards without having to completely exit from the game.
* A way to search through the Inventory menu so I don’t have to cycle through all of the categories and items to find a single thing.
* Finer tuned zoom control on the map. I don’t want to be so close I can see the pixilation but I also don’t want to be zoomed out so far that I can’t even tell it’s a map.
* More options for the Pause menu background. It does change to reflect which area you are currently in but it would be nice to have it set to one specific background if you have a favorite. It would also be nice if there was variety in each area's offering instead of just one background for each area.
Credit where credit is due:
Various. (2008). Ratchet & clank future: a crack in time wiki. Retrieved from http://ratchet.wikia.com/wiki/Ratchet_%26_Clank_Future:_A_Crack_In_Time
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