Quick Look: Knack

Incredibly dull looking. It's like they had absolutely no ambition when they were designing it.

Looks pretty dull, yo.

So far these games have had very impressive graphics for a console. But I can't help but feel like these consoles should have launched a year or two ago. I wonder how long Sony and MS have been sitting on all this tech just waiting for the other guy to make a move.

This is actually the most I've liked the look of the game. I'll probably pick it up when I eventually get a PS4. It looks fine. As for graphics, they're not flashy but if you told me that was running on a PS3 or 360 I'd be blown away, I think the game looks really nice for the most part.

Don't eat the hotdog, it's Patrick. Don't eat the food, it's poisoned. All the food is poisoned. Don't eat the food.

I keep hearing that this is a throwback, just like they said it would be. And dammit, that's exactly what I was hoping for.

I disagree about it not looking too impressive... the textures are pretty crisp and nice, framerate looks rock solid and in the open areas you can see a very far distance without any loss of detail. Also the characters are very smooth (high poly). Also all the particle effects and the fact that all the individual pieces of Knack seem to be rendered separately and cast shadows etc. It's maybe not in your face amazing.. but it's a technically impressive game I think.

This game screams "Dreamworks." Meaning bland and boring.

This looks okay, like a solid launch game. If I were getting a PS4, I don't think I'd get it over Killzone, but it's alright. I think it looks fantastic, though. Show me a forest/cliffside in a game that looks better than that. There ain't one!

It seems to me that the size change mechanic and linking that to player health might have been a mistake.

In a Mario game you have question blocks with power ups that might be easy or hard to get to. They will also have different types of power ups. As you play you might be desperate for the next one, or you might skip it if you are doing well, or don't want to change powers. Or maybe trying to get it isn't worth the risk. Differently people will get through in different ways.

In Dark Souls you are almost always in danger of being insta-killed, but the player has a pretty wide degree of freedom in when and how they approach any encounter. Differently people will get through in different ways.

In Knack it seems like you grow / shrink no matter what depending on the next level section. So basically a stretch between checkpoints will have a flat difficulty of 'dangerous' or 'steamroll' with little player agency in how to handle them. That is disappointing, since the "Knack can grow!" mechanic makes it initially sound like big-Knack would be a reward for skillful play.

How didn't anyone notice that Knack's buddy is being voiced by the same guy who did Dojima's voice in Persona 4? ;_;

I can't hear the doctor speak with out thinking of Dojima, Persona 4 has ruined so many voice actors for me.

Truly, Knackst-Gen is upon us!

I'll definitely give this a play when it comes to PS+. Seems like the kind of game that might benefit from jumping in straight away at a high difficulty.

I feel knackered.

This is the most disappointing version of Katamari Damacy I have seen yet :(

See, that's what I'm thinking. It's a cute lil' action platformer, the sort of thing that's mandatory for a console launch.

That it's got a simplistic battle system works in its favor, really. You can tell they're not shooting for the same age demographic. It's a game ass game. You know, for the kidz.

They missed a secret right at the beginning and now it will bother me for years. What was in it?

Keeping "My Sharona" on loop is never a bad idea. Especially if you have a good subwoofer handy.

Well, considering scuttlebutt that Microsoft wasn't actually all that ready to even do it this year, and considering how hot the consoles came in to developer's hands...they've been sitting on it for not very long. Yes, they started design on them way back (The number I heard for Sony was it's been 5 years), but these things are super fluid and down to the wire.

Looks like fun. I love fun!

I agree with the thinking that this game could and maybe should be free for PS+ subscribers in the next couple months. Charging $60 for this seems extreme.

I hadn't seen this game since it was announced, it doesn't look horrible, but doesn't look good either. The enemy encounters seem very repetitive and the fighting doesn't seem interesting either. Not a lot to it indeed.

God, that fist diving move that didn't have any range or power and that kills your momentum while leaving you vunerable looked like the worst.

Quick Review: What a pile of shite

Weirdly challenging and incredibly repetitive.

Everything about this game is bland.

Would have liked seeing the Co-op.

seems like a 5/10 game which is - according to Mathematics - average. Nothing to get excited about but nothing to get upset about either. Some people will get some enjoyment out of it and some won't - again Maths - average. People do get in a tizzy about Launch Games though huh.

Huh, this looks weirdly unforgiving. One and two-shot deaths with bad checkpointing? I definitely think there's still a place for platformers in gaming but gameplay wise this looks more like something that I would expect to see two generations ago. Dissapointing.

This game seems oddly similar to a lot of CGI movie tie-in games, but with higher production values. I actually quite like the way the Knack character looks. He seems sorta Muppetish.

With my boddddyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

Looks very cookie cutter and boring

it looks ok.. maybe not at that price but at least graphics are fantastic. it looks like pixar movie during cutscenes

Despite this game being crapped on pretty regularly, I think it looks fun. Not my first choice of the launch games, but I do want to play it.

I also think a lot of the textures in the game look really good, while others just look like current gen games.

Very little about this game looks particularly "next-gen" to me.

More importantly, when did Dojima give up being a cop to become an archaeologist?

Pat Warburton voice actor confirmed.

@jasonr86: It's not a platformer, as you can see from the video. It's a really basic beat'em'up.

This seems underwhelming.

It looks like it is made to work very well on the Vita also, not just the PS4. A "tech demo game" that uses as many of the new features as possible. In the end it looks like a cool little game that should vae been priced around $40.

the game was even billed as a throwback and targeted at kids.

yea its not MINDBLOWING NEXT GEN GAME,

but yea for what it is, it seems like a fun little game, and they just dont make these types of games anymore for me to be real mad at it.

Yup doesn't seem bad, but totally looks like a forgettable launch game.

Seems weird to make such a kiddy/cartoony looking game that seems aimed at kids on the surface be so punishing. 1 shot deaths all the time doesn't really seem to add anything good to this game and seems like a poor attempt to add "challenge" to the overly simple and boring combat mechanics. A game like this needs to have a lot of charm, humor and a great world and this just doesn't seem to have it at all, the really out of place voice acting certainly doesn't help in that regard (why the hell does this "cute" little mystical creature sound like a Call of Duty soldier or something?).

O well, another meh launch game, guess you can't really blame developers for not wanting to invest heavily into launch games when their potential customer base will only be a few million at most for quite a while, instead of like 70 million or whatever for the last gen systems, plus having to hit a certain launch date no matter what doesn't help. I'm sure the games over the next year or two will be far better than this.

I picture this.... on March 11, 2014

Kid goes into gamestop.... "I'd like to trade Knack for Titanfall"

Gamestop... "Trade value is $4.00"

Gamestop... "also Titanfall is only available for Xbox ONE and PC"

Kid angrily walks out of gamestop muttering "I hate XBONE"

Kid gets home "MOM!!! I WANT AN XBOX ONE!!!!!"

Mom yells "You're not getting one!!!!!!"

Kid... "I hate XBONE"

I can't figure out why this game is so goddamn simple. That combat's gotta get more interesting than punch punch slap, right?

I've been saying since I first saw gameplay of this game that it looks dull as shit. And I agree with Brad, Knack's character design sucks.

Knack: Destined for the "bargain bin"

@deaddorf:

Semantics semantics...