Review: Knack 2

During the passage of Knack 2 does not leave the feeling that this is the game developers wanted to do four years ago. Here is more solid history, Nek has enough useful techniques, platform component is much better thought out. And the complexity does not make you tear the hair on your head - you can immediately start "hard" and never encounter impassable sites, although some fights can still seem difficult. But to get rid of all the shortcomings, of course, did not happen. Some of them are related to Neck's design - it's easy to get used to his appearance, but you expect much less seriousness from playing with such a protagonist than in the sequel. In the dialogs sometimes jumping good jokes, but more often the characters go too deep into the history of goblins and robots, pronounce cliché phrases and simply get bored with their problems. Yes, and they look boring - the images are too trivial to cause the player at least some interest. But they are perfectly animated, as if in a full-length three-dimensional cartoon. There are almost no claims to the statement. Especially cool are the episodes with QTE, when Nek breaks the chain, jumps from one roof to the other and flings shells on the fly. Here such moments are not enough during the plot videos - not excursions into the history of the higher goblins, from which you sometimes want to sleep, but self-irony and entertainment. The game process itself turned out better than in the last part, and this applies to several of its elements. In particular, Nek is able to instantly turn from a huge creature into his smaller version. This allows him to climb on the walls, if they have protrusions, as well as climb into narrow passages and again become large by pressing one button. Developers used this feature of the hero to the fullest - a small Nek to manage a little less than a large one. Especially if you look at the linear levels of secret branches with hidden chests.(edited)

Changed and the combat system, which is not so boring and monotonous, as in the original. Interest is supported by the fact that after studying each new technique on the way Nek begin to meet the demanding use of his opponents. Once the hero has the opportunity to make a strong attack, he comes across goblins with shields. As soon as he learns how to extend his hand and grab enemies, as they stand not only on the ground, but also on the roofs of neighboring buildings. If the robot is constantly electrified, you need to throw a lasso into it, and Nek learns it at the right time. All this - the ability, without which you can not go through the game, so they are issued as the story progresses. But there are other skills, including passive, acquired for experience points in a special menu. It all starts quite trite - you can double the damage from Nek's blows, no matter what combo he performs. Later, the hero learns to deafen the enemies after attracting the hand, and also turn the energy of the amber crystals into experience. The crystals are placed in large numbers in all locations and serve as a kind of armor that saves the character from several blows. If the energy scale is full, all new crystals go into the account of experience and allow you to quickly unlock more points. Therefore, the game encourages the user for the active use of all skills of Nek. You should not run headlong to the very center of the location and hope for victory - it's better to keep opponents away from their partners, use a shield, shoot off shells and dodge attacks in time.

On the other hand, if you are much more interested in fighting at once with the whole crowd, you will not be punished strongly for this. Nek is able to regenerate health right during the battle, which greatly simplifies the bout with a horde of ten robots or goblins. At a high level of complexity, you can even come up with some special tactics, using the arsenal of the hero. One of the gadgets, for example, allows you to stun enemies when destroying crystals - useful to temporarily disable at least a couple of opponents and focus on the rest.

These devices do not acquire a hero at once - to get access to them, you have to search at almost every level hidden chests. Small passages to them can be everywhere, including behind crumbling wooden boxes or somewhere in a dark place. Approximately at the end of the campaign, Nack begins to find details of the scanner, which simplifies the search for trophies, and this will come in handy during the transitions of levels to collect special, crystal versions of the protagonist. Starting a mission again and looking for secrets is at least one reason - after the completion of the plot, which takes about twelve hours, special modes are unlocked. There are races for a time where the killing of opponents and the activation of rings freeze the timer, and arenas, on which it is necessary to fight off from all as soon as possible, without receiving any damage. I would like, of course, more such additional content, but thanks to that. Pass it all is desirable after the collection of chests - the crystal versions of Nek are stronger, safer and more reliable. In addition, each story level has several tests for which medals are awarded. There is no sense from them, except that for the trophy in PSN it will be necessary to collect about half of them, but for someone for sure it will be an extra reason to run some episodes again. Some of the awards require a level without deaths, others are awarded for the highest number of points earned, which is possible only with a rapid passage at the maximum level of difficulty. It is a pity that medals are not allowed to buy any bonus items or even concept art; We are waiting for this opportunity in the potential third part.

So the time in Knack 2you spend not without pleasure. The campaign is not boring, as the hero constantly acquires new opportunities and can then use them effectively. The puzzles will not make you think about the solutions for a few minutes, but they still fit perfectly into what is happening. And due to the instant transformation from a small Nek to a big one (and vice versa), excessive linearity of the levels does not seem such a big drawback: here you constantly climb up to the walls, then you will climb from the platform to the platform, then climb along some narrow corridors or ventilations.

Separate praise deserves a cooperative regime, in which the duo of the Nek acquires unique abilities and can jointly deal with opponents. One player can knock out another relic, covering up their enemies, or blow up the area around the comrade, falling on his head. It looks very fun, but, unfortunately, a joint game is possible only for one screen. I would very much like to see in the continuation of the online cooperative and the correction of the remaining shortcomings - I hope the second part will not be the last.

Rate 8/10