Attack Of The Knack

I decided to take a step back from Destiny this week; not that it isn't the only thing I've been playing recently. I really had a hankering to play some co-op Knack, so I thought this would be my best opportunity to talk about this PS4 launch title.

When the PS4 launched, I had saved up quite a bit of cash and ended up with 4-5 launch titles; easily the most I've ever had at launch. Surprisingly enough, Knack was actually the game I put the most time into—that's right, not Killzone or Battlefield 4, but Knack. It was a cute little action-platformer from the brain child that brought us the original Crash Bandicoot, so why wouldn't it be fun? And let me tell you, fun it was!

Knack, unfortunately, got horribly unfavorable reviews when it was released—The Metacritic is currently sitting at 54, which considering this isn't school means the game is rather mediocre—and because of this, I feel as though many people over looked it, when in reality it was an entertaining experience. Many of the complaints stemmed from a lack of variety in the combat, something which I wholeheartedly disagree with. In terms of Knacks abilities, yes, he has his basic combo and not too much else...But what do you expect? This isn’t Ninja Gaiden or God of War. This is something in line with Crash Bandicoot. The reason I disagree with other peoples' “lack of variety” comment is because the enemies are what bring the variety. There was a large cast of enemies, and even when they started repeating, they always threw different combinations of enemies at you forcing you to approach each situation differently.

My ranting aside, I also played this game to 100% completion: That is to say I did not just beat the game, but also got a platinum trophy for it. At the time I was streaming games and Knack brought in the views so I kept playing it. On the road to the platinum, I beat Knack about 4 times, give or take (can't really remember) and considering this was a platformer, the game had some length to it. Normally you would expect something like 6-10 hours on a first go, but the fact that it clocked in around 12-15 was rather surprising. Of course around my 3rd and 4th time beating the game, I was able to complete it in about 6-7 hours since I was so familiar with it.

Graphically, the game might not have pushed the PS4 to its limits—no launch title ever does—but the models were crisp and clean. Personally I thought they were fantastic. They were highly stylized and it reminded me of a Pixar movie. What did push the system, and the reason they claimed Knack could not have been made on the PS3, were the visual effects. The main character was essentially one gigantic physics simulation, and when he used special moves, all the little pieces he was made out of went ballistic. It was a wonder to see.

Boosting this game even further is the fact that you can play it with 2 players. Originally I touched upon this briefly with a few friends just to test it out. It was fun and it makes Knack a lot more manageable on the harder difficulties (not that it was overly difficult for me, but some people online complained about the difficulty). If you have someone that doesn't normally play video games, 2-player Knack is definitely something to help them get started.

At the time when I was streaming this, everyone would come into the stream and ask me if Knack was worth a purchase. My reply was and still is: Yes! but not at the price it was at launch. Fortunately when I bought it, I had a coupon for EB games that saved me 20 bucks. So instead of paying $60 for it, I only had to dish out $40—math! At$40 Knack is very much worth it. The game is fun, challenging and has a lengthy campaign with great visuals that you can enjoy with a friend. Personally I think anyone that owns a PS4 should at least try it out. Borrow it from a friend, I don't care. It's worth the time!