BRB @ EGX: Preview – Knack

Sony is very proud of Knack, its poster child of the new IPs on their way for the PlayStation 4’s launch in November. It’s not hard to see why Sony’s got such high hopes for the game – Mark Cerny is its creator, the system architect of the PS4 and a programmer and designer whose illustrious career includes titles such as Marble Madness, Kid Chameleon, Crash Bandicoot and Ratchet & Clank.

The design pedigree behind Knack is undeniable – and is the likely reason that this title was the very first to be shown on the PS4 back in February – but will it be able walk the walk as well as talk the talk?

A smattering of levels from Knack were on show at Eurogamer Expo running on what appeared to be final PS4 hardware – although I noted that there was no evidence of the console encased in its shiny cabinet actually being powered on – and, I must admit, that I came away from my brief time with the game somewhat underwhelmed.

Mark Cerny has described Knack as “a little bit like Crash Bandicoot and Katamari Damacy, with a touch of God of War“; a description which is pretty much spot-on. At its core, Knack is a fixed perspective brawler-platformer (suitable portmanteaus of which include ‘brawlformer’ or ‘platler’) that pits you, as the titular Knack, against hordes of goblins who are merrily waging war against humanity. So far, so Bandicoot of War.

The Katamari Damacy element of the game comes through collecting the relics that are strewn across the levels; Knack is a being who is formed of ancient relics from a long-lost civilisation – so, unsurprisingly, the more of these you collect and incorporate into your body, the bigger you become. So whilst you might start a stage as a veritable pipsqueak, you may find yourself towering over buildings by the time you move onto the next level. A gameplay mechanic that sounds potentially interesting is how the elements of these relics – ice, fire, metal and other substances – alter Knack’s abilities and powers. Sadly, there wasn’t much evidence of this in the Eurogamer Expo demo.

KNACK ANGRY. KNACK SMASH.

Knack is, from a stylistic point of view, beautifully crafted, with character models and level design highly reminiscent of The Incredibles and the Shrek series. That being said, the fidelity of the on-screen action isn’t leaps and bounds ahead of a competently coded PS3 title – it’s by no means unpleasant to look at, but those expecting a quantum leap in visual quality from launch titles such as this may be a little disappointed. That being said, I have a feeling that such comments will be quite commonplace for the first run of titles for both next-generation platforms.

At the end of the day, I came away from my time with Knack feeling, visual stylings aside, that I had just played a competent but ultimately generic title which would be otherwise unremarkable if it wasn’t a showpiece for a next-generation console.

I’m willing to cede, however, that the busy floor of an Expo might not have been the ideal environment to experience the nuances of Knack – so I’ll be interested to see how this game which, on paper at least, has the potential to be an engaging launch title for the PS4. But, for me at least, the jury is still decidedly out.

Tags: Eurogamer Expo 2013, Knack, Mark Cerny, PlayStation, PS4