* 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, it's 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. It's also PlayedForLaughs, as the final phase simply involves Ratchet [[ZeroEffortBoss stepping on Vorselon's disembodied head.]]
* BestBossEver: [[Series/{{Jeopardy}} Answer: Daily Double!]]
** 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. It's 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.]] It's 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. It's basically the [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith "Anakin Vs. Obi Wan"]] moment of the entire franchise, and it's a truly challenging yet extremely fun fight.
* BestLevelEver:
** Axiom City, the home of the Terachnoids and where Ratchet & Alister first team up to defeat the VX-99 Hoverdrone. Along with having a similar high-tech aesthetic to Metropolis, the area is full of hoverboot ramps including a giant jump into Pollyx Industries and a fast paced series of battles inside the building.
** Gimlick Valley is essentially one giant battle level, with the exception of the platforming elements at the start and planting the seeds to reach Argos’ location. While [[ThatOneLevel difficult]], the level is a textbook example of what the franchise is all about - insane battles using ridiculously cool weapons.
* BreatherBoss:
** The fight against Cassiopeia at the Valkyrie Citadel. Her attacks are easy to dodge and she has mediocre stamina. Even on hard mode, she won't give you too much trouble.
** The fight against Lornock Argos in Gimlick Valley, especially relieving considering [[ThatOneLevel how hard the level is.]] He commands a slow moving star cruiser that has a ridiculously simple and predictable attack pattern and is a huge target for your weapons. If you have the Judicator and Doom Blades, he goes down faster than a bill to save a rainforest. Even on Hard Mode, this guy is a complete joke of a fight.
* ClicheStorm: One of the biggest criticisms of the game by its detractors is its by the numbers [[TheChosenOne Chosen One plot]], which is played completely straight in contrast to the previous entries’ comedy-focused plots.
* DisappointingLastLevel:
** The return to Dr. Nefarious' base [[{{Railroading}} cuts you off from playing the bulk of the level]] and only consists of a floating platform trip and a brief walk (with some enemies sandwiched in) before you fight Nefarious himself.
** The final visit to Lord Vorselon's ship consists of a turret showdown with a few waves of enemies and an easy Omnisoaker/bolt crank puzzle before you face Vorselon one last time.
* 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 its 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.
* FranchiseOriginalSin: While Tools of Destruction planted the seeds, A Crack in Time marked the start of the series 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.
* FridgeLogic: In the Recap cinematic, Captain Qwark stated his reason for not being present in ''Quest For Booty'', and that was for shooting for a new holo-film. However, Captain Slag and Rusty Pete both had parts in the film as well, and they both had significant roles in ''Quest For Booty''. How could they manage the time to film alongside Qwark as well?
* GameBreaker: The R.Y.N.O. V continues the series tradition of ridiculously overpowered bonus weapons by being an oversized machine gun and missile launcher mashed together, capable of eviscerating any enemy and any boss outside of Nefarious and [[spoiler:Azimuth.]] in seconds. It even turns the extremely hard "Overkill" challenge of the Raritanium Tournament into a cakewalk. And best of all, it upgrades as you fire it on bosses, meaning you can max it out just minutes after acquiring it! The only downside is that it chews up ammo insanely fast, and you can't acquire all the holo plans for it until just before you fight Dr. Nefarious. On the other hand, you can start [[NewGamePlus Challenge Mode]] right afterward...
* GoddamnedBoss:
** The VX-99 Hoverdrone that you fight in Axiom City. It's 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.
** 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 have to 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 can only damage it with your wrench. The fight where it tag teams between it and a Hydra Tank can be frustrating, too.
* GoodBadBugs: The Chimp-O-Matic and its 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).
* 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.
** 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.
* HilariousInHindsight: The Valkyries are SpacePirates in this adaptation, and one of the leaders is named Carina. ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales'' introduces a character named Carina, who becomes a pirate towards the end [[spoiler:and is the daughter of Captain Barbossa]].
* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Alister Azimuth ''kills Ratchet'' at the end of the game. Shortly afterward, he becomes the final boss and nearly destroys the entire universe. However, since Ratchet's death is undone by Clank and Alister finally sees the error of his ways, sacrificing himself to prevent the destruction of the universe he almost brought upon it, fans generally don't consider him too far-gone to be denied [[RedemptionEqualsDeath posthumous redemption]].]]
** "Unnecessarily Evil 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.
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound:
** The [[StockSoundEffect old school laser sound effect]] that plays when you have the Constructo Pistol set to shoot laser beams.
** The ambient electronic notes that play upon finding a collectible item.
** The R.Y.N.O. V plays the finale of [[Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky Tchaikovsky's]] [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic 1812 Overture]] every time you fire it. A fitting theme for the most powerful weapon in the game!
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: The Buzz Blades, which were [[ScrappyWeapon one of the worst weapons]] in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction Tools of Destruction]]'' due to its abysmal damage rate, pop 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. It’s 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 this gets mitigated with upgrades.
* ScrappyWeapon:
** Mr. Zurkon, lovable as he is for his [[BloodKnight gleefully bloodthirsty personality]], simply isn't a very good weapon on its own. 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.
*** However, Zurkon is mostly designed to ''help'' you kill enemies, rather than killing them by himself, since you don't actually have to equip him separately to use him. Most players use him as extra damage against tough foes rather than for defeating them outright.
** 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, it's crippled by two major flaws: first, it's 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--there's an extreme delay between when you can fire another rift. And its extremely small ammo basically means it's only practical for taking down the odd large enemy. Like Mr. Zurkon, it is mainly useful for the Battleplex.
* ThatOneAchievement:
** 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.]] Adding insult to injury is the fact that the "My Blaster Runs Really, Really Hot" trophy is a bronze trophy. Bronze.
** The "Master Blaster" skill point, requiring you to keep the blaster in red without overheating for a full minute in the "My Blaster Runs Hot" mini game.
** The "Flawless" skill point, which requires you to complete the final Battleplex challenge, "Overkill", without getting hit once. That's 18 waves of enemies followed by 2 (albeit easier than the waves) bosses. Even with a max level RYNO V there's still the possibility of certain enemies messing up your movements, such as Thrasher robots who can pull you towards them, or others sneaking in hits, like Clusterbomb Argorians who wield weapons that can be either flung far as explosive projectiles or quickly swung into the floor as a melee weapon.
* ThatOneBoss: The final Vorselon fight can be 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.
* ThatOneLevel:
** Krell Canyon has a section in the first cave 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 for him to reach water before his HP reaches zero.
** Gimlick Valley is a tough and nearly overwhelming level due to the sheer number of resilient enemies present. And it’s topped with a fight against two Hydra Tanks at once! 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! It's 18 waves of dozens of tough enemies that do not let up on you, health drops are very scarce, and it's 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, there's 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.