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GC:15 Minutes of Knack Gameplay

Never really understood the hatred towards Knack, looks like a lot of fun to me. Probably be one of my launch period pickups.
 
Not too appealing. It's not a platformer, more something like GoW like others have said. The main character looks really bland and ugly and it looks to be completely linear.

We need 90s mascottes again :(
 
I think this game looks really nice, but it's just so ridiculously unexciting. I can't stand the "epic" movie music/OST either. Those randomly generated treasure chests in the offbeat "paths/rooms" rub me the wrong way too. There's like little to no satisfaction in discovering a hidden wall only to find the samey-looking treasure chests with randomly generated items. There looks to be like no exploration in this game either. You could say the same about Crash Bandicoot, but those games (post Crash 2) were designed with a speed-run mentality. Going for Platinum Ankhs in Crash Bandicoot 2 & 3 brought out the best of those games and really showed off their competent level designs. The platforming in this game looks as extensive as it was in a God of War game. Clearly, this is a combat driven game. I mean, a good portion of that Catacombs area funnels the player into arena-like combat scenarios. Combat looks crunchy, at least. I'm sure on the highest difficulty setting the game will scratch that action-game itch to some degree, but for me, it's missing so much in other, more important areas...and what the fuck is up with his voice? Did not expect him to sound like that.

I really dig Sony's "mascot" games (been there since Crash and Spyro) and I've never not enjoyed a Japan Studio game, but there's just something not clicking with me whenever I see/hear about this game. I also feel like it's trying way too hard to appeal to that Disney/Pixar-crowd, even more so than Ratchet & Clank! I wish the game was more off the wall, more Japanese-looking, I guess you could say. I just really miss when Japan Studio produced stuff like this. I feel like there was so much more excitement back then, like developers had more fun with shit. I don't know, I guess I'm just an old man rambling at this point. =/
 
This looks good. Hoping the combat is more varied than what was shown there, but it is hard to know if they are keeping some combat stuff unrevealed to showcase later or to let the player discover. Obviously there are unlocks you find and there seem to be special attacks. I just wonder if the material that makes up Knack comes more into play with combat. Does being made of wood and on fire give you fire ability? Does being made of ice allow you to freeze enemies? Lots of stuff still unknown.
 
It certainly looks nice. If my nephew was a bit older I'd definitely pick it up to play with him.

As is...I'm not sure. If I could be reassured there was a decent mix of good platforming in there I would be interested. Running around to smash-and-collect on its own isn't a big pull for me, but then I am only looking at snippets.
 
@ 12:31, he ran out of cars to throw ...

Anyway, while it's not something that will push me over for PS4 at launch, it does look considerably better than what was shown on E3.
 
derExperte said:
I really like the style of the video they showed during the first PS4 presentation. Everything after that not so much. But if I get a 4 at launch I still might pick it up if it's not full-price. If they want 60€? No way.
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Yeah, I was more interested at the PS4 reveal. The animated movie cut-scenes had me hopeful. It was at E3 that I thought this looked its worse-- and it killed my interest.
This new footage has me back to saying maybe I'll end up getting it just because it's a launch game and I am curious if this thing has a decent little story to it.

But, yeah, I won't pay $60. I'll wait until it's cheaper (if that's what it launches at). Though, with Puppeteer, Sly and R&C getting budget releases maybe Sony is positioning this in the same way, that'd be nice.
 
derExperte said:
I
I would call his look messy. I get why he looks that way but it doesn't work if the camera is far away.
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Same, he just looks kinda weird to me. Actually to be honest, he's a bit uncomfortable looking, like if I was a kid he might unnerve me. He's not really relateable or adorable like the mascots in these games usually are (should be?).
 
Jinfash said:
This game is starting to look more GoW than Crash.
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This is exactly what I was thinking.

It's like taking the God of War formula and removing the brutal gore and violence and making it more kid-friendly.

The game looks really great. I'm not sure how it will all translate. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Edit: The combat does look a bit too imprecise, but I thought the power-ups were cool. The trailer looked really good they showed yesterday.
 
is it weird that im 22 and this is my most anticipated by a long shot? it looks so charming and relaxing, well designed, has whimsical feel and collectibles that have no value except 100 percenting the level .... i love it
 
sevanig said:
What's with all the disappearing body's, etc...
I hope they fix this, annoys me soo much!
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And for example the soldiers at minute 6 cast no shadows. I guess for performance reasons and as someone mentioned the framerate doesn't look stable yet (which is to be expected). I wouldn't worry too much about that yet.
 
I do not know why this game was greenlit for PS4. Gameplay looks like it's ps2 era and and graphically it looks like this could be done on PS3 right now.
 
Yuterald said:
I can't stand the "epic" movie music/OST either.
Click to expand...
Its like they can't write a single catchy tune anymore and they only use stock music for Hollywood movies. Even in games like this that don't look like epic movies and could use a nice Banjo-Kazooie type of music.

But the average joe doesn't care, he likes his stock epic music because it sounds epic.
 
Hmm, the moving platforms section, that's a bit more up my alley.

I can't help but think they could do something more creative with the restart transition after you die. Although maybe that would get in the way of fast retries.
 
Still a snooze for me. I jumped around a bit since hoping it got better, but I didn't see any puzzles at all. Growing didn't really give you more access to the level, it just meant that you fought bigger enemies.
 
watership said:
I do not know why this game was greenlit for PS4. Gameplay looks like it's ps2 era and and graphically it looks like this could be done on PS3 right now.
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See, I love that it looks like something out of the PS2-era. I haven't emotionally moved on from that era, lol! The problem I have with it is that it seems more God of War than Crash Bandicoot. This game has been pitched/talked up as a "return to the mascot-era", a game you would have seen along the lines of Crash and Spyro, but I'm not seeing it. It just appears to be a really, really nice looking action adventure game with shades/elements of other games (Ratchet, Crash, and most obviously, God of War). Not that there's anything wrong with that, but personally, it's not something I was really looking for.

nkarafo said:
looks boring and uninteresting. Not different than many games i have already seen.
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Seriously. I don't even want to hear that "it fits the game's atmosphere/vibe" either. Fuck that. There's just nothing fun about that kind of music. It's a one stop train to sleep-ville in my books. XD
 
Yuterald said:
See, I love that it looks like something out of the PS2-era. I haven't emotionally moved on from that era, lol! The problem I have with it is that it seems more God of War than Crash Bandicoot. This game has been pitched/talked up as a "return to the mascot-era", a game you would have seen along the lines of Crash and Spyro, but I'm not seeing it. It just appears to be a really, really nice looking action adventure game with shades/elements of other games (Ratchet, Crash, and most obviously, God of War). Not that there's anything wrong with that, but personally, it's not something I was really looking for.
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I agree. I love that era, and that's why Knack can't completely fall off my radar because I want more "old" games like that. The problem is what you said. This looks more like a simple action game, not an old action/platformer. It just seems like it's lacking gameplay-wise and I think the missing thing is challenging platforming segments.
 
It's a kids game. It's like Lego Star Wars or Ratchet and Clank. You bash bad guys and boxes, and occasionally jump over gaps and dodge moving platforms.
 
TriGen said:
I agree. I love that era, and that's why Knack can't completely fall off my radar because I want more "old" games like that. The problem is what you said. This looks more like a simple action game, not an old action/platformer. It just seems like it's lacking gameplay-wise and I think the missing thing is challenging platforming segments..
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Yeah, I hear you. I have the system pre-ordered with this game on Amazon, but I'm like moments away from just cancelling it and waiting until next year to pick this up. There's so much great stuff launching from now until the holidays for Wii U, 3DS, Vita, PS3, etc. that I don't see the point in investing in this yet. This was the only launch game I wanted and it's just not doing it for me. =/
 
This has me much more excited than the E3 showing! Still not enough platforming, but the game looks fun, difficult, and visually nice. Most importantly, the animations don't looks junky anymore, and it doesn't look like Knack is sliding on the ground while walking/running. YES!

This is now a day one purchase for me if reviews aren't horrible.
 
Knack looks better from when we last saw it. You can tell they made some changes to his body. Looks Much Clearer.
Excited to play this on Co-op with my 4yr old.
 
VanWinkle said:
This has me much more excited than the E3 showing! Still not enough platforming, but the game looks fun, difficult, and visually nice. Most importantly, the animations don't looks junky anymore, and it doesn't look like Knack is sliding on the ground while walking/running. YES!

This is now a day one purchase for me if reviews aren't horrible.
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Looks like the fort like area is more about platforming.
 
Though it looks better than the E3 demo, I'm still not feeling it. It just looks extremely mediocre to me.

Jinfash said:
This game is starting to look more GoW than Crash.
Click to expand...
I feel like anyone expecting this to be a platformer will be disappointed. Onus is on them to do the proper research though. Judging by a lot of comments in previous threads, few people seems to be doing that and are expecting a new Crash Bandicootish game.
 
Combat looks like it has a fun rhythm, very simple move set but enemies have timing based attack patterns that force you to dodge and wait for the right moment to counter.

I'll take it as a straightforward action game with nice visuals and hopefully a decent story/setting. I managed to get a pre-order for 40$ and I'm sticking with it. Will be interesting to see what kind of progression the game has in terms of environmental traps and hazards, saw some small hints of things heading in a more engaging direction in this build.

We're getting alot of platformers this year so I'm down for more of a combat driven game. They just need to make sure the pacing is right and the game keeps throwing new challenges at you otherwise it's going to get stale pretty quickly. I'm more optimistic then after that E3 showing though, looking forward to it!
 
No disrespect to Cerny...
But he needed to join forces with Insomniac
and have R&C into the Nexus be a ps4 launch

This Knack game has dead on arrival status on it, this needed to be a packed in free game
if anything.
 
BlazingDarkness said:
youtube pls
IGN player is god awful
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Yup. I'm getting to the point where I can hardly even watch these kinds of videos. You would think people in the industry would be good, or at least decent at video games. The funny thing to me is that these are the types of people who review games. And everyone gets all up in a tizzy about the scores given to the game by said people who suck at the games.

JABEE said:
This is exactly what I was thinking.

It's like taking the God of War formula and removing the brutal gore and violence and making it more kid-friendly.
Click to expand...

And removing the excellent level design and encounter design that GOW has.
 
The controls seem really responsive and the 3D-animation inspired art style looks great as ever. I've been sold on this game since E3. Bring it, Cerny!
 
That actually looked fun, showed several moves, powers and a new "suit"? :P It's an entry level brawler, and that's fine.
 
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