I've been wanting to put my thoughts on this in a review for a while now, but only recently got around to finishing the platinum for it. You know what they say: Better late than never right? Anyways, here's my review of the PS4 exclusive, Knack, for anyone who cares. ;)
Knack is a platformer title that was released exclusively with the launch of the PS4 back in November 2013. It is an extremely linear beat 'em up style game that spans about 10 - 12 hours.
Story: You take control of a character by the name of Knack, a sort of golem like creature made of small stones, containing energy, called Relics. He is the creation of a scientist who spent years studying relics to eventually create Knack. Humans have been at war with their adversary, known as Goblins. These Goblins recently became far more advanced out nowhere to the point where humans are now having difficulty fighting them. Knack becomes the answer to this problem. The game takes you to many different places where you fight goblins, as well as other creatures and creations, as you learn more about Knack and his origins. You meet other characters along the way, but they're all so dull and boring, you never really care about them. The story overall is pretty
Gameplay: As stated, Knack is a linear beat 'em up title. Everything he does is mapped only on the four action facenbuttons and the dual analogue sticks. It is in the gameplay where Knack suffers the worst. The game is extremely simple. Move from one area to the next, taking out a handful of enemies each time. Knack punches, jumps, dodges, uses one of three super attacks, and that's it. He collects objects called sunstones, which power these super attacks. He also collects relics which allow him to grow in size and make him stronger, but environments and enemies remain static to his size preventing you from ever really feeling the scale. Had Knack been an open world title, or at least allowed to revisit previous sections as a different size, this whole mechanic might have been better put to use. Enemies are predictable and perform everthing in a pattern. You simply learn each enemy's pattern, and then move on. Few enemies have unique patterns, and all are pretty easy to figure out. Sure, you can be tactical with how you use your dodge or super attacks, but both are extremely limited. The dodge mechanic is similar to that of God of War, only it is very poorly implemented. You dodge, but Knack barely even moves, and even pauses at the end of it, giving enemies a constant window of oppurtunity to zero on him and land a hit. If you don't time it perfectly, you're screwed. Super attacks help in moments where there are many enemies (many being 3 - 5 in one area), but the sunstones you find rarely give back enough energy to justify using beyond desperate situations. You'll pretty find that just jumping and punching and running and hoping you get lucky as hell, are the best ways to handke each situation. You'll find many moments where Knack just can't help but get hit due to his sluggish movement, or the poorly done AI just auto hits because the game feels like it. There is of course a diffulty setting, but all that really changes is knacks health and where you'll start up again if you die. On the harder difficulties, you will die a lot, but only because the game design is so lazy. It comes off feeling like the mentally handicapped little brother of Demon's Souls in how it tries to punish you for dying while giving the impression that you just need to rethink your strategy when you come back. At this, it fails merably because of the linearity. There are boss battles here and there that break the monotony, but the formula stays mostly the same throughout the game up until what is actually a pretty well made, albeit easy, final boss fight.
Graphics: Graphics is one of the few things where Knack shines. The game is actually quite pretty. The environments are colorful, and it just looks awesome to watch as Knack grows and you see each individual relic that makes up his structure. The game runs smooth at a stable 30 - 60 FPS (very rarely hitting 60 though), and contains lots of eye candy.
Other Extras: Knack has hidden collectibles throughout the game, and by hidden I mean you occassionally might notice a different pattern on a rock face or a wall segment that is either slightly broken or different lokking which you can destroy revealing a chest. The chests give you randomly generated items that can either give a piece to a gadget that, if completed, can aid in gameplay or a gen type that, if completed, can unlock one of several new Knack types that give moderate changes to Knacks appearance as well as a different ability/ gameplay effect. These become pretty tedious to unlock, due their random generation, and you'll only really unlock them if you can stomach playing through Knack multiple times. There is also chapter select, time attack, and colliseum modes, which unlock after completing the game, but are so limited and add very little that the only real reason to play them is to earn the game's trophies.
Trophies: Knack is not a difficult title to platinum, but one that requires an attention span and patience that few people will have for a title like this.
Summary: Knack is the kindof the kindof game you'll purchase for a small child to enjoy on the easier difficulties. Despite the harder difficulties, these will fail to really attract any hardcore gamers as the game feels less challenging and more just frustrating due to poor gameplay mechanics and AI. Anyone who is looking for a decent platformer on PS4 is better off looking at Rayman, or another console all together. Sure, Knack wasn't ever really meant to be the game that tells the answer to the universe, but many people, like myself, spent $60 on it, hoping for something at least worth that price and we really didn't get it. The game feels like a title that should've come out during the PS1 era. By no means does it cry 8th gen outside of some graphically impressive moments. I would not recommend this title.
Score: 3/10
0331 Happiness is a belt-fed weapon
