Reviews// Knack

Attacks are simple. the square button is your main attack turning Knack into Mike Tyson as he lands a perfect right hook. There are jump attacks and three special attacks and that’s basically it, however it’s the enemies that force you to mix things up and when you manage to clear a room while bringing everything into play, it’s very satisfying.

The special attacks are great. Despite the frame dropping at times, they look fantastic. You can either pound the floor to create a shockwave, fire a range attack at multiple enemies or turn Knack into a tornado of relics and move from enemy to enemy smack nine-shades out of them with your blocks.

Special attacks are built up on a power bar by collecting yellow crystals and although they’re pretty common on all stages, they don’t fill your bar enough meaning you wont get to use these moves anywhere near as much as you’d like.

As you would imagine Knack's 13 stages are about as linear as you can get. There are moments where it tries to open up slightly but you can see that the developers wanted to go for a more retro feel to game design. What you see is what you get. Even the ‘secrets’ are signposted and are never off the main path.

The platforming between combat is pretty basic and I wish there was a little more of it. None of it is too challenging and although that eliminates the frustration of constantly dying, it simply grates on you that they didn’t try and challenge you enough.

It’s a completely different story for the combat areas. Knack can be hard. Very hard. Even on easy you’ll struggle to get past areas without multiple retries. The checkpointing is fair if a little too far apart in places and thankfully there’s no loading between restarts meaning that you can jump straight back into the action before you pull your hair out.

I also found the combat immensely satisfying. When Passing an area that I had previously found tricky it always felt as though I had done so by concentrating more and stepping up my game. My eyes would dart around the screen more to be extra aware of the attacks heading my way.

However, there’s no denying that the game slips into lazy repeated gaming at around the five-hour mark. The formula continues and rarely does the game mix things up to keep you interested. Bosses are a grind and hardly a test of anything you have learnt in the build up to them

Knack’s fun, but it just doesn’t have enough for you to fall in love with it. There are moments where you think it’s going on the right track but unfortunately it always slips back into its formulaic, by the numbers gameplay that will slowly grind you down way before it finishes.

When you buy a new console you want to show off what it can do, or experience new things the hardware has to offer. Knack does neither of these things and you’d expect better from the company that is producing the machine itself.

It’s hard to really recommend at its current price point, especial when the likes of Super Mario 3D Land are on the market, but if you’re not concerned about the money in your bank, or wont get bogged down in little niggles that can dampen an experience then there is enough fun to be had with Knack to keep you happy.

Pros
+ Fun gameplay
+ Huge Knack is fantastic

Cons
- Uninspired in pretty much every way
- Frame dropping issues
- Takes itself slightly too seriously

SPOnG Score: 2.5/5