While many games may borrow from others in terms of content, physics and even gameplay in certain cases, as we’ve seen with many of Ubisoft’s titles, mainly Far Cry 3, Assassin’s Creed IV and Watch Dogs, I’ve never quite seen a game such as Knack borrow so heavily from something so entirely different.
The game in question is God of War, Sony’s hack-and-slash eighteen-rated adventure; filled with gore, nudity and pretty much everything you wouldn’t want your kids getting their hands on. But Knack emulates it with aplomb, from the combat to the camera and plenty in between.
It actually took me a while to notice this comparison – I had watched three other people play the game before a quick zoom in on a bow-wielding enemy reminded me of Kratos’ adventures. And from there on out, I couldn’t ignore the heavy inspiration.
It feels like Japan Studio may have cut some corners with Sony Santa Monica’s help, as it could even be that a heavy portion of the engine is taken straight from them alongside game mechanics. The game has chests for you to open, sees you fight enemies with a slick combat system all while dodging with the right stick, and progress through the level with the predetermined camera angles and chases. In some of these ways it also calls back to some of Cerny’s work on Crash Bandicoot, too.
But this isn’t really a problem – it’s hard to think of a more suitable basis for a combat-focused platforming game, at least internally within Sony – and Knack has plenty of its own tricks up its sleeves to avoid becoming a re-skinned re-hash of previously released games. The particles that Knack is made up of are perhaps the biggest sign of this, and a real indication of how powerful Sony’s new machine is.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of these are thrown across the screen as Knack uses his super attacks and it’s extremely impressive to look at. With a tap of circle followed by another face button, Knack can explode, create a giant tornado or even implode, sending a beautiful catastrophe of minerals across the screen with little hint of slowdown.
So, by collecting more as you progress through the game, the titular character is also able to grow into a hulking monster, capable of sizing up against – and then destroying – larger aircraft and robotic enemies, becoming something akin to The Wonderful 101 in its nature. And that’s just great; while I couldn’t judge the progression in my time with the game, it will be amazing seeing Knack grow from a tiny fighter into a colossal destroyer throughout the game.
Across the course of the game, Knack will be come into contact and be forced to use different materials and elements, which supplement Knack’s health and size. At one point we played through a section in which wood was quite common, with Knack then adding it to his relic-based body as a kind of low-tech armour plating. The downside being that he’s then susceptible to catching fire, and this will gradually eat away at Knack until all of the wood has gone. Similarly, ice found later in the game will melt in the sun so you would want to stick to the shadows as much as possible. It will certainly help to differentiate and mix up the gameplay throughout.
Thankfully, whether Knack is big or small, the combat flows wonderfully, even though the attacks are largely mapped to the square button. There will perhaps be some room for combination moves in the final game, but it’s very basic in this preview build, though an upgrade system involving collecting randomised items from chests brings some unique ideas to the table, including what looked like a collectible Mark Cerny (it probably wasn’t).
While Knack and his particle effects are marvellous to look at, and the environments when Knack is a smaller creature show off the rather impressive lighting system, the later sections I played, in which Knack traversed through a town, looked extremely wooden. Of course, it’s understandable that these may not be optimised yet, and they just really wanted to show how big the protagonist could grow for this preview.
One further niggle could be that the checkpoint system was quite unforgiving. Each of these is hidden behind a little cutscene, maybe showing Knack walking into an area and being spotted by enemies, but these can be quite few and far between. Stef played on Hard difficulty, and it took quite a bit of persistence for him to work through two or three battles at a time, where one or two hits would take him out.
The platforming should also get a little trickier and provide more challenge for seasoned veterans, with world elements moving at a faster rate in comparison to the lower difficulties, which will naturally scale down quite nicely to allow for young kids to be able to play.
Nevertheless, Knack is surprisingly fun and ultimately something for the kids releasing at the launch of the PS4. The big kids can have fun too, with hidden collectibles and a harder difficulty level that is truly unforgiving. While I’m not sure it’ll be the next Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank or LittleBigPlanet, there’s definitely the basis – along with the strong ties to God of War – to make the title the successful endeavour.
Stefan L
Not my highest priority, I must admit, but I definitely plan on playing this at some point. It’s an intriguing new franchise with some clever ideas amidst the liberal borrowing.
bunimomike
Really looking forward to this and the co-op element furthered that even more.
tactical20
Not on my priority list either, but sometimes those games turn out to be some of the best!
blackredyellow
Oddly, I’m looking forward to this quite a bit!
R1MJAW
Me too mate, this and Watch Dogs are the two games I have pre-ordered for launch day.
Dom El
Me three! Though it’s behind Killzone and Drive Club for day one…
Erroneus
I’ve played it for 30 mins and it was a blast and surprisingly hard in some areas, as this preview also mentioned. It wasn’t on my priority list either, but it is now :)
sparkyscrum
I’m still a little unsure of it even after playing. Might pick up at some point after launch.
LiquescentShadow
This article has great particle effects
gaffers101
I wasn’t that fussed until I played it at Eurogamer and really enjoyed it. I was quite surprised!!