By Jennifer Tan AKA Mrs Fett
Knack, the story of a small creature made of relics, with the ability to grow to limitless sizes, put me to the test in both patience, compassion, and my ability to button mash. The game set in a world entirely fictitious, pairs you [Knack] with the Professor who created you, and his assistant, a teen boy on his own.
The story primarily revolves around the war between humans, and the goblins who were forced from their native lands so humans could build their own metropolis. (Sounds a little like the history of the U.S. don’t it?!) In the middle of the war, ancient relics that are harvested for their power are stolen by the goblins, who then sell them to humans for weapons, who then use the weapons on humans.
Knack, has two moves: Hit, and dodge. It really is the most basic control layout to date for a game. Your abilities revolve around the material you collect to make yourself bigger, which you can then project at enemies in the form of balls, or a tornado. Now here is the confusing part. WHEN you use your ability, you then reform into your original size by collecting the projected pieces. Yet when you get HIT, you cannot collect the pieces that are lost, and therefore shrink. You also do about ⅛ to ½ damage per hit to an enemy, but enemies do about ½ to ¾ damage to you right off the bat, no matter the difficulty level.
Checkpoints are also nonexistent in the game. Die ½ way though a chapter, and be prepared to start all over again. Same goes for exiting the game. You are not prompted to save where you are, and when you return to continue, you will find yourself sent back to the last checkpoint the game offered.
Even though the game offers hidden treasure you can use to unlock special equipment, unlockable modes including super hard, and coliseum (aka Horde Mode). The replay value is nearly nonexistent. I am finding it hard enough to finish the game the first time, I have absolutely no interest in playing it again, even if I am made of rubies the second time around.
I score Knack 6/10. What saved it? The graphics are amazing, the story is cohesive even if its comprehension level is that of a 5th grader, and the game is long. Like, really long. For those on trophy missions, you will get a good few hundred hours of gameplay searching for everything the game has to hide.
