So when the PS4 launched in 2013 one of the little looked over gems was Knack. In true new console form, there is always one or two games that are a new IP, and seem to show off the new tech, all the while being thoroughly mediocre.
Knack however bucked that norm and turned out to be a bit of a cult classic. Looking like a Pixar movie certainly helped.
And while the game never sold stellar, it did however sell enough to warrant a sequel.
Enter Knack 2, a bigger, bolder and better title all around.
Now to jump in to Knack 2 you really should check out the first one, as the game assumes you know all about Knack and his merry band of human companions. So the story may seem a little jarring to a newcomer as there is no introductions to characters or origins to Knack.
At the core of Knack 2 it a brawler meets platformed, but with a twist.
Knack can take on little pieces of ancient rocks and such and grow bigger and bigger, from the size of a small dog, to a 30ft tall behemoth.
This allows for some really robust game-play changes throughout.
The levels do not all start small and end big as it is directly tied to the pickups you are given, so some levels they may push for a titan like battle with a massive Knack, and others keeping him tiny and having to stealthily sneak through levels.
In addition to this, you have various types of “coating” cor Knack, from metal which will make you super strong, to prismatic glass which makes you die in a single hit, but able to pass through laser grids.
You can really tell this is a passion project for the creators, as there is a lot of little detail and a whole lot of love in how Knack is presented.
The platforming side of things is sadly where the game can fall a little flat.
Level traversal can be a little less than stellar, especially the larger Knack gets, ge can slip off of platforms, miss entirely sometimes, just a few minor annoyances that should have been smoothed out.
Some of these can me mitigated a bit by the skills you unlock, one being the ability to not die when you miss a jump, instead it just pops you back up to the last platform you jumped from.
It seems like this was the devs way of acknowledging the issue, without fixing it.
A decent 7/10 and all in all Knack is a great family game that you can play with the kids via couch co-op if you like.
The Compulsive Canadian Gamer 