Knack Review - Both tiny and big
Knack has been received so far by fairly negative critic reviews, and to be honest, after completing the game I have to disagree with most of them. Shortly I’ll explain why, but in the meantime I’ll add that a possible cause for this could be pinpointed in the additional hype provided by the mere presence of Mark Cerny in the staff. The charismatic (albeit in his own way) developer and game designer became very popular during 2013, when his role of Lead Architect of PlayStation 4 was revealed. Memes were born, praises were sung, and overall Cerny was lauded everywhere he went.
It’s only natural, then, that people were very interested in his personal title - Knack, developed at SCE Japan Studio. However, I feel that this is no excuse for how harshly the game (which didn’t even have a high budget, per Cerny’s words) has been judged.
Knack is first and foremost a family oriented title. This is clear by the tone of the story and the overall world built by the writers. The game’s plot is certainly predictable, but should satisfy those looking to spend some time with their little ones, who can join in with a second controller (or even PlayStation Vita, if you have one) without harming the fun for the primary user: the second player uses Robo-Knack, an alternate version of the main character which also has infinite lives. It’s a nifty and intelligent implementation that should be taken as an example for all those games that are trying to pull in a casual gamer, but too often end up diminishing the enjoyment of the “hardcore” gamer.
Which would be a shame, because there is fun to be had in Knack for hardcore gamers too, mainly thanks to the challenging combat which may even surprise you for its brutality, especially if you choose “Hard” as difficulty setting. It’s quite easy to die if you just rush into enemies instead of learning their attack patterns, and there are many different enemies throughout the game, which is certainly a strength for a brawler title such as Knack.
The basic is similar to God of War, with the right stick used (very often) to dodge. The twist with Knack is that the little helper starts very small in size, but eventually grows up by gathering more artifacts. It’s a sound concept on all accounts and it makes sense even conceptually, since most games try desperately to add a sense of progression to each level anyway; with Knack it’s all quite natural, and I can’t deny that becoming huge as King Kong has a certain appeal, with the sudden ability to pick up cars or destroyed enemy tanks and throw them at the enemies.
Unfortunately, this destruction is quite limited in the game and only happens a few times. I feel that Knack is the perfect fit for a physics-oriented type of game, with Knack being able to interact with every part of the environment and use it as a weapon; it shouldn’t even be a technical issue with the power provided by PlayStation 4, but likely the constraints of being a launch title conspired against this delicious opportunity. Also, there are occasionally a few variations on the SMALL->BIG formula, as it is discovered during the game that Knack can actually absorb most materials into itself, such as crystal, metal, wood, ice. In each case, Knack needs to do something different to continue going forward: with crystals it becomes invisible (but is severely weakened in this state), with wood, metal and ice it becomes subject to certain weaknesses such as heat and magnets taking away the absorbed material, and forcing the player to hurry.
These sections are nice, but it would have been more interesting if SCEJ provided the player with the ability to choose, for example, between a stealthy approach by using crystals or a brute force approach by using metal. Maybe they can gauge this opportunity with a sequel, if it ever happens.
Graphically, the game isn’t as much of a showcase as Killzone: Shadow Fall, but it still manages to impress at times. Environments, while not large, are generally quite detailed; the most eye-popping ones are those who take place inside caverns and dungeons of sorts. Character models are very detailed as well, with the goblin/orc ones resembling something out of Shrek while humans aren’t that far from what we’ve seen in Toy Story.
The art style of Knack is unique and may not appeal to everyone, but it grew on me during the game. Again, this is something that might be fleshed out even more with another entry in the franchise.
