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Knack (PS4) Announced

orioto said:
How is that a bad thing....
I like the art direction of the game but that's certainly not the good one to showcase first on PS4...

And the amusing thing is that it looks a little like Wonderful 101, that is pretty amazing for a WiiU game. of course the Kamiya game use a lot of tricks when this seems to be a frickin' light/model/shader porn. Now, will people see the difference ?

Also i think the IQ must be incredible on a game like that.
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I liked the main character, but the other ones seems a little bit generic...
The Wonderful 101 is so much beautiful, the characters are funny...

Btw, I'm a big fan of your art. You're amazing!
 
Reminds me a bit of Kameo in that it's a seems like a cartoony action platformer meant to show off certain next gen features.

Stylistically, I don't think it's nearly as bad as some people say it is. Yeah, the people are generic, but they are in most American cgi films. Just kind of "meh" artistically. The main character looks great though, imo.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of the gameplay. A character made up of all those parts could be interesting gameplay wise, and a couple of glimpses in that trailer makes it appear that it's not just cosmetic. They could do some cool "next gen" things as far as physics goes with that game, and I'm hoping to see them use the PS4's power in that way.

And it does give me some of that retro 3d platformer feel too, which I like. I hoping this will be a nice change of pace game to go along with the more conventional shooter and racer graphical showcases.
 
I was excited when the trailer started but when they were showing the gameplay during the interface demo etc., it looked linear, generic and bland as fuck.
 
Probably a great game but art design is Saturday morning cartoon. There was something about it I really didn't like. Sold on the gameplay tho
 
I feel like we're finally going to have "Toy Story graphics" in real time finally. After all these years, Sony has finally delivered on that promise. Love Knack.
 
Here are some screen shots.

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Nowgamer have some nice screen shots.

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1817949/knack_ps4_screenshots_released.html
 
Looks to exist in a weird flux of it trying to be an artistically driven game that is also trying to be a tech demo for various technologies that next gen can take advantage of.

The muted colors of the environments and the depth of field really hurt the artistic cohesion of what I've seen. Mix that with the highly stylized character models and it just looks all over the place.
 
Gonna say the game looks kinda charming, but as the 1st ever PS4 game to be shown it was super underwhelming. If they'd shown it after KZ4 then I'd maybe be a little more excited.
 
Does anyone else think the art direction looks very reminiscent of the PS1 era? There's something I like about this game, and I think that's it. It kinda reminds me of Ape Escape, for instance, and I think that's what is making me like the otherwise ugly (in my opinion) aesthetic.
 
Zaventem said:
Look like the typical rushed 6/10 launch game.
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I hate to single people out, but how could you possibly have come to that conclusion within hours of seeing it for the very first time? We already know it's months and months from release and we've seen a single trailer and about 30 seconds of who-knows-how-old gameplay.
 
I love love love that they came out with this game first. a few friend swho were watching along with me thought it was a bad call and that they should have shown off a visually *realistic* game like KZ first, but this brought so many fond memories back. Crash, Spyro, Ape Escape, I definitely got the astro boy art influence that a poster mentioned above, just yes. I love these kinds of games.
 
I really like this, Knack is an interesting character creation. Probably my favourite of the bunch but have no real idea of story though.
 
Looks like a Pixar movie you can play. If they market this thing correctly and really get behind it, this could be a big hit with the kids.
 
The game looks like it could be fun, need to see more yet though.

To be honest, I was disappointed with the tech behind the game. When he defeated enemies, there bodies, in this case bricks, disappeared after about two seconds. This probably sounds like nitpicking (it is) but for me, these things add to the world being more believable and things like disappearing enemy bodies just takes me right back out of the world.

I know it's standard for this gen, but with the PS4 having 8GB of fast RAM, I hope that this is something we see more common next gen.

Edit. I realise that the people this might be marketed towards might not give a poo about this. I'm just using this game as an example and it was something that stood out at me whilst watching the stage demo.
 
Not so much Pixar, but the character designs and animation style reminded me of Sony Picture's own CG movies. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the like. The character animation isn't quite up there, but it's clearly pretty early. I think it looks really cool though I'm not crazy about the name "Knack." Sounds kinda dumb.

Gameplay-wise it definitely evokes the old PS1 and PS2 action/platformer games. I want to see more soon.
 
You have to wonder how they let Ratchet and Clank get away from them and then green light a game like this. R&C has had lackluster sales of late but at least the gameplay is solid (in the mainline series anyway) and the characters have genuine charm. This game looks cringe worthy from a design and character perspective (maybe the writing will be good but that wasn't apparent from the trailer)
 
Gives me a seriously good PS1 vibe, the character models remind me of Ape Escape. Looks a bit early though so the game will certainly improve and hopefully become a launch title. I gotta say I was really happy this was shown as the first PS4 game, such a kick in the nut to realism whores lol.
 
No one posted the PSBlog post?

It was a great pleasure to be able to introduce the title at the PlayStation Meeting in New York. With our new project, Knack, we are really trying to take advantage of everything that PlayStation 4 supports, from the graphics capabilities of the platform to the physics simulation necessary to handle our very unique hero.

Over the years I’ve been involved in a number of character-based action titles – Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet & Clank – and with the gameplay of Knack, we’re trying to focus on the essential fun behind the action/platform gameplay.

I’m hoping that we can make something that excites those that played the classic games back in the day, as well as something that attracts new fans to the genre.

I’m sure you saw a lot of things in the trailer and might be wondering what exactly the game is all about.

The Doctor (a not-so-mad scientist) studied ancient relics from a long lost civilization for many years, and finally found a way to bind them together and give them consciousness. The result is Knack, a creature with mysterious powers – for one, he can incorporate more relics into his body as he finds them, which allows him to transform from a three-foot tall creature into a gigantic wrecking machine.

During the game, Knack also discovers that he has a skill (in other words, a knack!) that allows him to incorporate ice, metal and other substances into his body, giving him new abilities from level to level. The result is gameplay which is a little bit like Crash Bandicoot, and a little bit like Katamari Damacy, in that the Knack can get quite large indeed. There’s also a touch of God of War in there, in that there is an epic feel to the game in places.

As for the story, mankind is threatened by a resurgent goblin army and Knack steps forward to protect them – until it becomes clear that an even greater danger is posed by elements of the human community.

Right now we’re hard at work on the game and developing for PlayStation 4. It has been an incredible opportunity to contribute this early on to what’s shaping up to be a very interesting year for the industry. This is just a small taste of what’s in store and you’ll be hearing more about Knack and how it plays on PS4 very soon.
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http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/02/21/knack-a-brand-new-platformer-for-playstation-4/
 
Not liking the artstyle either. But I said the same about the new TMNT show, but I ended up really warming up to it and loving the cartoon overall. We'll see how this goes.

Nice to see that original mascot/platform characters haven't been written off.
 
that blog post sounds like just what i want. platforming + action gameplay, with all the different elements you incorporate into knack as the "gimmick", and a deliberate attempt to capture the feel of classic character games. i'm really looking forward to it.
 
IdreamofHIME said:
Gonna say the game looks kinda charming, but as the 1st ever PS4 game to be shown it was super underwhelming. If they'd shown it after KZ4 then I'd maybe be a little more excited.
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Yeah, I felt the same. It's not really a showcase visually for what the PS4 can do. I'm sure there are a few things technically that can't be done on PS3, but I do feel the overall look and feel of the game could translate well to PS3.
 
It looks promising, I like the style, but as others have said its not the game they should have opened with.

Still, the creator did such a great job describing the PS4 that I think he earned it.
 
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