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Knack |OT| Playin' Knack in my Tub!

Nice title, nice concise OP. :)

Indeed, this is how OPs should be, not like that sprawling mess of a Killzone SF OT :D

As for the game, what I played at EG Expo was abysmal, and ran at a constant sub-30fps framerate. But it looks like it has made some leaps and strides forward since that build. I'm not expecting Mario, but I'm hoping this will still be a fun way to pass some time and a break from all the FPS/sports/racing etc. I'm also hoping that if this is a success we'll see more games of this type in future. Variety is everything.
 

Number45

Member
The footage in that video was intended for editing into video reviews/previews/trailers etc, so they've disabled the music deliberately. The actual game does have music, yes.
Thanks. Assumed that was the case, but wanted to check. Games sounds so lifeless without music, even if they have good ambient audio.
 
I really hope it's true when people say the final game will look much better than the demo units. I bought the game on Sunday, but played it on a demo unit yesterday and was incredibly disappointed in the way it looks. It is one of my most anticipated games, but I walked away feeling a little down on it. Even things like the text looked bad. As far as the gameplay, people are way off with this game. This game is hard. I didn't try it on the easier settings so I'm sure it's easy if you want it to be, but like I said what I played was definitely challenging.
 
37GB? Geez, I'm definitely going disc-only next gen...

Also, sort of want this? It looks pretty charming. For some reason it reminds me of a Rare game. Like Blast Corps meets Grabbed by the Ghoulies.
 

Ouroboros

Member
2 more days. I cannot wait. While those other ps4 losers are playing COD and BF4 and Killzone whatever....I'll be playing the REAL launch gem.....KNACK.
 
I got a chance to play this today at a demo kiosk and was incredibly disappointed by just about everything. The gameplay felt a lot more stiff than I had imagined it, with Knack not moving as fast as I'd hoped. The graphics weren't nearly as smooth as I thought they would be either (although that might've been the fault of the television), and it just didn't leave me with a great impression.

I'm super disappointed because Knack was my most anticipated launch title. The silver lining is that I've heard a number of people complain about the demo version, but also a lot of people praising other (newer?) demos, so perhaps it was just a one-off.

Either way, when I arrived back home, the copy I ordered from Amazon was waiting for me, so there's no turning back now.

Don't open it. Unless it's the only game you bought. Wait until reviews
 

Ron Mexico

Member
Nearing the end I think. Got the system at 11:30 this morning and have been powering through co-op.

Quick thoughts as of level 9-2:

There's nothing groundbreaking at all here. It's not bad per se, just don't go into it looking for a brand new experience. Seems like it's also very much designed for multiple playthroughs. Just unlocked first "upgrade" almost 7 hours into the game. The secrets are about as obvious as can reasonably be and you can tell it's going for the carrot on a stick reward system.

Anyway,we'll have it finished shortly so I'll be more than happy to answer any questions.
 

PaulloDEC

Member

Plenty of ouch in there, though not entirely unexpected I guess. I'm still pretty excited to play it.

Nearing the end I think. Got the system at 11:30 this morning and have been powering through co-op.

Quick thoughts as of level 9-2:

There's nothing groundbreaking at all here. It's not bad per se, just don't go into it looking for a brand new experience. Seems like it's also very much designed for multiple playthroughs. Just unlocked first "upgrade" almost 7 hours into the game. The secrets are about as obvious as can reasonably be and you can tell it's going for the carrot on a stick reward system.

Anyway,we'll have it finished shortly so I'll be more than happy to answer any questions.

I don't have any specific questions, but would you say you've enjoyed the experience? I'm not expecting innovation, just a fun brawler with some platforming here and there - am I going to have a good time?
 

Ron Mexico

Member
I'll put it this way. Is it $60 good? No. Have there been many many launch titles in previous generations that were worse? Absolutely.

Definitely recommend co-op if you can. Takes a lot of the frustration out of it
 

PaulloDEC

Member
I'll put it this way. Is it $60 good? No. Have there been many many launch titles in previous generations that were worse? Absolutely.

Definitely recommend co-op if you can. Takes a lot of the frustration out of it

That sounds fair.

Hopefully there's enough potential (and enough sales) to result in a sequel. I'd love for this to be the Crash 1 of the PS4, i.e. the rocky first entry in what eventually becomes a stellar series.
 

Ron Mexico

Member
So when I was at 9-2 it felt like the game was close to ending. 4 hours later, it did. The game wayyyyyy overstays its welcome.

when you finish though, stay for the credits-- might be the highlight of the whole game
 

Amir0x

Banned
since we can stream from PS4 we need to have a NeoGAF contest to see who can beat the game in the fastest time on hard
 

PaulloDEC

Member
So when I was at 9-2 it felt like the game was close to ending. 4 hours later, it did. The game wayyyyyy overstays its welcome.

when you finish though, stay for the credits-- might be the highlight of the whole game

Speaking of which, does the ending imply that Knack may become a franchise? Any spoiler-free info would be great.
 
That sounds fair.

Hopefully there's enough potential (and enough sales) to result in a sequel. I'd love for this to be the Crash 1 of the PS4, i.e. the rocky first entry in what eventually becomes a stellar series.

lol WUT? Crash 1 got rave reviews and many people regard it as the best entry in the series. you can't compare knack to it! lol . Crash 1 went toe to toe with Super Mario 64 for crying out loud.
 
lol WUT? Crash 1 got rave reviews and many people regard it as the best entry in the series. you can't compare knack to it! lol . Crash 1 went toe to toe with Super Mario 64 for crying out loud.

Yeah, the first Crash Bandicoot was a really fun 3D platformer. Great animation, flow, characters, sound design. Very tight level design. After seeing Shu streaming Knack, I have a higher opinion of it now, but it doesn't look anywhere near the quality of Crash.
 

SRTtoZ

Member
Going to pick it up after watching the Shu stream. Yea it would be better if it was $40, but ill gladly pay an extra $20 for a launch title. It seems pretty decent, has a nice story to go along with it, looks pretty hard and has a lengthy campaign. I'm down.
 
Nearing the end I think. Got the system at 11:30 this morning and have been powering through co-op.

Quick thoughts as of level 9-2:

There's nothing groundbreaking at all here. It's not bad per se, just don't go into it looking for a brand new experience. Seems like it's also very much designed for multiple playthroughs. Just unlocked first "upgrade" almost 7 hours into the game. The secrets are about as obvious as can reasonably be and you can tell it's going for the carrot on a stick reward system.

Anyway,we'll have it finished shortly so I'll be more than happy to answer any questions.

Which difficulty level did you play at?
 
lol WUT? Crash 1 got rave reviews and many people regard it as the best entry in the series. you can't compare knack to it! lol . Crash 1 went toe to toe with Super Mario 64 for crying out loud.

Yeah, personally I think Crash was a lot more intense and memorable than this game looks. I still remember the soundtrack today as well, having not played the game for 15 years or more!
 

PaulloDEC

Member
lol WUT? Crash 1 got rave reviews and many people regard it as the best entry in the series. you can't compare knack to it! lol . Crash 1 went toe to toe with Super Mario 64 for crying out loud.

I kinda knew it was a dicey example when I posted it, but there you go.

I love the original Crash (if my avatar didn't give it away), but most fans I've encountered agree that the series really hit it's stride when Crash 2 came along. That was all I was getting at; the hope that Knack might result in some truly excellent sequels in the same way the original Crash did.
 

HeelPower

Member
I was SO looking forward to this game ,but the way it got panned and the reasons they gave in reviews are saddening.

I am going to wait for your impressions guys, I somehow think this game may have been misunderstood.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
I watched a bunch of the live streams and this game just looks too repetitive and limited for me to spend 60 bucks on it. It pains me because I had high hopes for it but I hope those of you who take the plunge totally love it.
 

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
I've been on the fence about this one, but after finally finding someplace with the PS4 demo kiosk last night, I think I might just get the game.

This just seems to be one of those games that's not particularly exciting to watch someone else play but playing it for myself was a different story. Controls are precise, it keeps you moving and it breaks up level traversal with a good mix of running, jumping, dodging and fighting. The sparseness of the environments still isn't quite an asset, but it does help to focus your attention on the enemies ahead and on strategizing the best approach to each group encounter. Enemy encounters are almost platformer-esque in the way you can approach them because straight up brawling doesn't always work as well as a run-jump-attack in many cases. So the enemies almost become the platform elements, not unlike the way other platformers exploit enemy encounters for more platforming.

(Played on normal difficulty, btw)

Visuals were clean. I appreciated them most for being 1080p, not for doing anything else that would have been particularly stressful on current-gen hardware. But even managing mostly current gen visuals at FullHD spec and the native resolution of the display is nice enough by itself.

I wouldn't mind playing more after this demo, it improved my general impressions of the game so far.
 

Ashes

Banned
since we can stream from PS4 we need to have a NeoGAF contest to see who can beat the game in the fastest time on hard

If it's like a lot of the big releases, some people are going to go on crazy speed runs on their first go. Might be fun to watch.
 

TriGen

Member
You know, the GB guys weren't digging it, but their Quick Look actually made me glad this was one of my Amazon games. It's weird, I feel better about Knack now than I did earlier in the year, even though it's been getting hammered online. We all have different tastes I suppose.
 

ElRenoRaven

Member
Grimløck;89615246 said:
Anyone know when the Knack app is coming out for Android?

Soon last they said. I can't wait. I loved the game on IOS but it crashes all the time on my iphone. I know my android tablet should run it nicely.
 

Jay Sosa

Member
lol WUT? Crash 1 got rave reviews and many people regard it as the best entry in the series. you can't compare knack to it! lol . Crash 1 went toe to toe with Super Mario 64 for crying out loud.

Yup. Sometimes I'm absolutely amazed at the stuff I read here.

I love the original Crash (if my avatar didn't give it away), but most fans I've encountered agree that the series really hit it's stride when Crash 2 came along. That was all I was getting at; the hope that Knack might result in some truly excellent sequels in the same way the original Crash did.

Really? To me it was the other way around. Franchise got worse with every game (not that the second or third were bad but nowhere near as great as the first).

EDIT: But be that as it may, judging from the reviews and what I've seen so far Knack looks worse than even the weakest Crash game.
 

jaypah

Member
since we can stream from PS4 we need to have a NeoGAF contest to see who can beat the game in the fastest time on hard

Considering you can stream video of yourself with the game your post took on a whole different meaning :/

Also I forgot to tell you how much I liked the PS4 OT. Good shit.
 

bankster

Banned
I'm watching Giantbomb's Quicklook of this and ...

It seems OK! I might even buy this, if it has any variety in the gameplay.
 

Loudninja

Member
Nearing the end I think. Got the system at 11:30 this morning and have been powering through co-op.

Quick thoughts as of level 9-2:

There's nothing groundbreaking at all here. It's not bad per se, just don't go into it looking for a brand new experience. Seems like it's also very much designed for multiple playthroughs. Just unlocked first "upgrade" almost 7 hours into the game. The secrets are about as obvious as can reasonably be and you can tell it's going for the carrot on a stick reward system.

Anyway,we'll have it finished shortly so I'll be more than happy to answer any questions.
Yeah sounds good I just want simple fun.

So how long it took you to beat?
 

SkylineRKR

Member
I kinda knew it was a dicey example when I posted it, but there you go.

I love the original Crash (if my avatar didn't give it away), but most fans I've encountered agree that the series really hit it's stride when Crash 2 came along. That was all I was getting at; the hope that Knack might result in some truly excellent sequels in the same way the original Crash did.

Yeah Crash 2 was an excellent game. And Warped was perhaps even better.

But Knack just doesn't look nearly as interesting as Crash did back in the day. Also from a character design and art direction perspective.
 
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