Not exactly a masterpiece
(This
review contains minor spoilers!)
Sit down, children, and let me tell
you a story. A story about a console known as the PlayStation 4, and the games
it launched with.
Most of the games the PS4 launched
with were ports of the latest releases of franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Call of
Duty, and others. But amidst the big names, a new IP stood. Sony’s latest
attempt to break into the platforming genre since poor Crash Bandicoot died a
horrible death (he’s gotten better now, don’t worry), the game would come to be
known as simply Knack.
It…uh…didn’t do so hot.
Yet despite the dismal review scores,
numerous spots on various Worst Games of 2013 lists and plenty and plenty of
jokes lobbed at it, Sony announced last year that Knack 2 was on the way. Is it better than the first game at all?
Well, as someone who was turned off by
the bad reviews for the original game I never touched it, so I don’t feel that
I can give much of a comparison between the two. I will say that if it’s true
that this game is superior to its predecessor, I can only imagine how dreadful
the original was.
While it’s far from the worst game
I’ve played this year, Knack 2 is
still not good by any means.
The graphics are astonishingly
grotesque. You know how Overwatch is
designed to look like a modern Disney or Pixar movie? Knack 2 employs a similar tactic, but instead it more closely
resembles those weird knockoff animated movies you find in Wal-Mart bargain
bins. I would say that the graphics would look more at home on the Nintendo
Gamecube than the PS4, but that’d be an insult to the poor Gamecube. Instead
the characters look like they belong in some sort of no man’s console set
between the PS1 and the PS2. Models and textures look blocky and ugly, almost
like they never quite finished rendering. All the human characters also have
this weird and unnerving dead look in their eyes, making you feel like they’re
mannequins brought to life through dark magic.
The gameplay isn’t much better. Knack 2 is a sort of hybrid
platformer/beat-em up game, but does neither concept well. Fighting enemies is
a chore thanks to a lack of variety in Knack’s arsenal. He’s got a punch and a
kick to defend himself. That’s it. Fights become little more than mashing the
square button until somebody falls down, and it’s exceedingly tedious. Other
abilities become available via a skill tree and story progression, but none
dispatch enemies as quickly as the good ol’ smash square attack, so there’s
really no point in using them.
Platforming is slightly better, in
that they throw in a few fun tricks to use to get yourself around the map. The
main gimmick of Knack 2 is the
ability to change Knack’s size. Over the course of the levels Knack can grow to
enormous height by defeating enemies and breaking boxes, but at the same time
he can shrink down to his smallest size to access tunnels and use platforms
that full-size Knack is too big for. It’s a fun little trick that adds a bit of
variety to the gameplay, but ultimately isn’t used enough to reach its full
potential. Most of the time you’ll just be small Knack until you find an area
where you can reach the pieces to turn yourself big again.
I eventually came to the conclusion
that this is one of those games that’s targeted squarely at kids and no one
else, but even then I’d find it hard to recommend this to them either. The game
is way too easy for one thing, even for the younger crowd. I played on Normal
difficulty, but the game was more than happy to offer me an invincibility
power-up whenever I entered a room that had more than five enemies in it at
once. While taking them is optional, they appear with such a frequency that I
feel players used to stuff like Dark
Souls might feel that Knack 2 is
insulting their gaming ability.
Ultimately, Knack 2 is way too easy for older players and way too boring for
players of any generation, including the target demographic. If you want to
play a good platformer on the PS4, the Crash
Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy is still the way to go. Alternatively, if you’re
looking for a game for a kid and Crash is
a bit above their skillset, Lego Star
Wars: The Force Awakens is more exciting, more entertaining, and has
leagues more replayability than this game could ever hope for. Save your money.
FINAL SCORE
3/10
Bad
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