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Some games just seem to set themselves up to fail. Take Knack, a game created for the Playstation 4 by one of the heroes of the original Playstation, Mark Cerney; creator of Marble Madness and producer of Crash Bandicoot. How could that possibly go wrong?
Knack feels a lot like Crash, it’s a platformer with no pretence of being anything else and it’s all about jumping, hitting enemies, avoiding things and collecting power ups. The gameplay is pretty much as old school as you can get. So why was it a flagship launch title for PS4?
The main focus here is on the titular character himself and his ability to grow big or small using ‘relics’ found throughout the game. In the initial previews this looked like a cool idea, controlling the size of your playable character and using some neat particle effects to show off the power of the console. In practice, Knack grows bigger and smaller only when scripted to do so and usually without any help from the player.
So that leaves us with the platforming element, which is pretty much old school platforming by numbers; path from A to B with a few creatures to kill, then a locked area that needs to be cleared before being opened. It’s not bad by any means and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s certainly not anything new or exciting.
Throughout each level there are yellow crystals to collect that give you a sort of solar power. This allows you to fire pieces of your relic-based body at enemies or turn into a whirlwind. These powers are essential for clearing some of the more pesky enemies, but use it too early and you’ll run out of power to use it again when you most needed.
Being defeated at this stage will then lead you back to some rather harsh restore points, forcing you to go through all those sections again, but at least it lets you keep the power you've already harvested. This leads to repeating levels a few times until you have enough of the sunspark power to get through (and know where to use it), which does get tiring at times.
Knack is a good looking game, too, but hardly a poster boy for the next generation. The bright, colourful levels and the main character himself are used to good effect and some of the enemies are huge. The issue is that, as with the gameplay, the graphics are nothing new and easily ignored as you play through another level set in ice/rocks/tunnels.
While all of the above makes it sound as if Knack isn't worth picking up, this isn't entirely true. The game is a fun little platformer that will appeal to younger players and those looking for a simple old-fashioned game for their next gen console, but with no complicated next gen setups or over-blown multiplayer modes.
6/10
Knack feels a lot like Crash, it’s a platformer with no pretence of being anything else and it’s all about jumping, hitting enemies, avoiding things and collecting power ups. The gameplay is pretty much as old school as you can get. So why was it a flagship launch title for PS4?
The main focus here is on the titular character himself and his ability to grow big or small using ‘relics’ found throughout the game. In the initial previews this looked like a cool idea, controlling the size of your playable character and using some neat particle effects to show off the power of the console. In practice, Knack grows bigger and smaller only when scripted to do so and usually without any help from the player.
So that leaves us with the platforming element, which is pretty much old school platforming by numbers; path from A to B with a few creatures to kill, then a locked area that needs to be cleared before being opened. It’s not bad by any means and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s certainly not anything new or exciting.
Throughout each level there are yellow crystals to collect that give you a sort of solar power. This allows you to fire pieces of your relic-based body at enemies or turn into a whirlwind. These powers are essential for clearing some of the more pesky enemies, but use it too early and you’ll run out of power to use it again when you most needed.
Being defeated at this stage will then lead you back to some rather harsh restore points, forcing you to go through all those sections again, but at least it lets you keep the power you've already harvested. This leads to repeating levels a few times until you have enough of the sunspark power to get through (and know where to use it), which does get tiring at times.
Knack is a good looking game, too, but hardly a poster boy for the next generation. The bright, colourful levels and the main character himself are used to good effect and some of the enemies are huge. The issue is that, as with the gameplay, the graphics are nothing new and easily ignored as you play through another level set in ice/rocks/tunnels.
While all of the above makes it sound as if Knack isn't worth picking up, this isn't entirely true. The game is a fun little platformer that will appeal to younger players and those looking for a simple old-fashioned game for their next gen console, but with no complicated next gen setups or over-blown multiplayer modes.
6/10
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Some games just seem to set themselves up to fail. Take Knack, a game created for the Playstation 4 by one of the heroes of the original Playstation, Mark Cerney; creator of Marble Madness and producer of Crash Bandicoot. How could that possibly go wrong?
Knack feels a lot like Crash, it’s a platformer with no pretence of being anything else and it’s all about jumping, hitting enemies, avoiding things and collecting power ups. The gameplay is pretty much as old school as you can get. So why was it a flagship launch title for PS4?
The main focus here is on the titular character himself and his ability to grow big or small using ‘relics’ found throughout the game. In the initial previews this looked like a cool idea, controlling the size of your playable character and using some neat particle effects to show off the power of the console. In practice, Knack grows bigger and smaller only when scripted to do so and usually without any help from the player.
So that leaves us with the platforming element, which is pretty much old school platforming by numbers; path from A to B with a few creatures to kill, then a locked area that needs to be cleared before being opened. It’s not bad by any means and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s certainly not anything new or exciting.
Throughout each level there are yellow crystals to collect that give you a sort of solar power. This allows you to fire pieces of your relic-based body at enemies or turn into a whirlwind. These powers are essential for clearing some of the more pesky enemies, but use it too early and you’ll run out of power to use it again when you most needed.
Being defeated at this stage will then lead you back to some rather harsh restore points, forcing you to go through all those sections again, but at least it lets you keep the power you've already harvested. This leads to repeating levels a few times until you have enough of the sunspark power to get through (and know where to use it), which does get tiring at times.
Knack is a good looking game, too, but hardly a poster boy for the next generation. The bright, colourful levels and the main character himself are used to good effect and some of the enemies are huge. The issue is that, as with the gameplay, the graphics are nothing new and easily ignored as you play through another level set in ice/rocks/tunnels.
While all of the above makes it sound as if Knack isn't worth picking up, this isn't entirely true. The game is a fun little platformer that will appeal to younger players and those looking for a simple old-fashioned game for their next gen console, but with no complicated next gen setups or over-blown multiplayer modes.
6/10
Knack feels a lot like Crash, it’s a platformer with no pretence of being anything else and it’s all about jumping, hitting enemies, avoiding things and collecting power ups. The gameplay is pretty much as old school as you can get. So why was it a flagship launch title for PS4?
The main focus here is on the titular character himself and his ability to grow big or small using ‘relics’ found throughout the game. In the initial previews this looked like a cool idea, controlling the size of your playable character and using some neat particle effects to show off the power of the console. In practice, Knack grows bigger and smaller only when scripted to do so and usually without any help from the player.
So that leaves us with the platforming element, which is pretty much old school platforming by numbers; path from A to B with a few creatures to kill, then a locked area that needs to be cleared before being opened. It’s not bad by any means and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s certainly not anything new or exciting.
Throughout each level there are yellow crystals to collect that give you a sort of solar power. This allows you to fire pieces of your relic-based body at enemies or turn into a whirlwind. These powers are essential for clearing some of the more pesky enemies, but use it too early and you’ll run out of power to use it again when you most needed.
Being defeated at this stage will then lead you back to some rather harsh restore points, forcing you to go through all those sections again, but at least it lets you keep the power you've already harvested. This leads to repeating levels a few times until you have enough of the sunspark power to get through (and know where to use it), which does get tiring at times.
Knack is a good looking game, too, but hardly a poster boy for the next generation. The bright, colourful levels and the main character himself are used to good effect and some of the enemies are huge. The issue is that, as with the gameplay, the graphics are nothing new and easily ignored as you play through another level set in ice/rocks/tunnels.
While all of the above makes it sound as if Knack isn't worth picking up, this isn't entirely true. The game is a fun little platformer that will appeal to younger players and those looking for a simple old-fashioned game for their next gen console, but with no complicated next gen setups or over-blown multiplayer modes.
6/10