Knytt Underground
1.5hours
Free for PlayStation Plus Subscribers
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| http://insideplaystation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Knytt-Underground.jpg |
Knitt Underground was free for PlayStation Plus subscribers in a recent week. I had no interest in buying it before and knew little about it but since I was able to get it for free I decided to try it out on my PlayStation 3.
Knitt is a 2D side scrolling game that is visually interesting. The design focuses on light to show path areas. Black is areas of the "underground" that are typically not traverse-able. The very vibrant backgrounds are nice but do not disguise the level design to me, it is much nicer than a simple 2D or simplistic 3D plane in the background though. It gives a strange sense of space and scale to the underground world that is the magic circle for Knitt Underground.
The very beginning of the game starts with no menu screen or instructions, you have to traverse a small area to get to the screen pictured at the top of this blog post. The next screen to the right lets the player chose a chapter (I believe there are 4) and a couple other areas of game exploration.
I entered the first chapter and the core mechanics became very apparent quickly. Since this game is a 2D sidescroller, Movement is a key mechanic. Timing jumps, landing jumps, exploring the land, and climbing walls deliberately are all key movement related actions in the game that the player needs to succeed.
There are some glowing orbs in the world that when picked up can be used within a short time limit to use a magic ability. These abilities are often movement based, such as "move linearly in this direction until the character hits a wall/surface in a section of the map".
Enemies are simple enough and have very readable patterns. They feel like part of the puzzles, much like in Zelda games.
The character moves relatively fast and most surfaces are climbable, this combination lead to a lot of accidental wall climbing, which got frustrating. This could in part be related to my use of a new 3rd party controller I purchased for my system.
There is nice ambient music in the game, it is relaxing and changes with the environments. My problem was that the music made my mind wander and I began to get tired relatively early on in gameplay. There is no voice acting or noise-voice substitutes, it is all text. The text is relatively short and digestible.
The game seems to be great for people who enjoy platformers/2D side-scrolling games. Explorer type players will enjoy how free the world feels despite its constraints.
In order to unlock doors (they look like totem poles) the player collect parts from temples and/or complete tasks for people in the game world. The puzzles, treasure seeking, and map exploration all reminded me of older Zelda games. Other elements reminded me of Megaman. This mix is popular among a decently sized target audience, but personally it is not my forte.
Some Minor Pitfalls:
-Some solid black areas can be walked behind, making it hard to guess where to go, even with the map open. but this adds to the explorer aspect of the game and feels somewhat old-school.
-dramatic elements/back-story are not always clear and coherent.
-decent amount of backtracking with little else to find the second time through with such a simple world design.
-can be overly mind-numbing/repititious.
Nice Elements:
-beautifully simple world.
-nostalgic.
-geeky/nerdy.
-freedom to chose open paths.
-puzzles/movement puzzles.
-hints to secondary things and pathways that can't be easily seen (water dripping for example).
-Will N.
Knitt is a 2D side scrolling game that is visually interesting. The design focuses on light to show path areas. Black is areas of the "underground" that are typically not traverse-able. The very vibrant backgrounds are nice but do not disguise the level design to me, it is much nicer than a simple 2D or simplistic 3D plane in the background though. It gives a strange sense of space and scale to the underground world that is the magic circle for Knitt Underground.
The very beginning of the game starts with no menu screen or instructions, you have to traverse a small area to get to the screen pictured at the top of this blog post. The next screen to the right lets the player chose a chapter (I believe there are 4) and a couple other areas of game exploration.
I entered the first chapter and the core mechanics became very apparent quickly. Since this game is a 2D sidescroller, Movement is a key mechanic. Timing jumps, landing jumps, exploring the land, and climbing walls deliberately are all key movement related actions in the game that the player needs to succeed.
There are some glowing orbs in the world that when picked up can be used within a short time limit to use a magic ability. These abilities are often movement based, such as "move linearly in this direction until the character hits a wall/surface in a section of the map".
Enemies are simple enough and have very readable patterns. They feel like part of the puzzles, much like in Zelda games.
The character moves relatively fast and most surfaces are climbable, this combination lead to a lot of accidental wall climbing, which got frustrating. This could in part be related to my use of a new 3rd party controller I purchased for my system.
There is nice ambient music in the game, it is relaxing and changes with the environments. My problem was that the music made my mind wander and I began to get tired relatively early on in gameplay. There is no voice acting or noise-voice substitutes, it is all text. The text is relatively short and digestible.
The game seems to be great for people who enjoy platformers/2D side-scrolling games. Explorer type players will enjoy how free the world feels despite its constraints.
In order to unlock doors (they look like totem poles) the player collect parts from temples and/or complete tasks for people in the game world. The puzzles, treasure seeking, and map exploration all reminded me of older Zelda games. Other elements reminded me of Megaman. This mix is popular among a decently sized target audience, but personally it is not my forte.
Some Minor Pitfalls:
-Some solid black areas can be walked behind, making it hard to guess where to go, even with the map open. but this adds to the explorer aspect of the game and feels somewhat old-school.
-dramatic elements/back-story are not always clear and coherent.
-decent amount of backtracking with little else to find the second time through with such a simple world design.
-can be overly mind-numbing/repititious.
Nice Elements:
-beautifully simple world.
-nostalgic.
-geeky/nerdy.
-freedom to chose open paths.
-puzzles/movement puzzles.
-hints to secondary things and pathways that can't be easily seen (water dripping for example).
-Will N.
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