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ENTERTAINMENT

Kelly Clarkson’s Album “Wrapped in Red”- A Review

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wrapped

 

Wrap Yourself In Kelly’s Red 

 

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can finally talk about Christmas stuff. Aren’t you glad I bothered to wait?! So, one thing that happens, just about every year, is a bevy of pop Christmas albums. From Destiny’s Child, to Nat King Kole, to Aaron Neville, we get bombarded with pop renditions of Christmas carols and newly written stuff that either makes a place in our traditions, or quickly falls by the wayside. So, of course, that’s exactly what this review is about!

Why did *I* wait so long? Well, I try to avoid Christmas music till Thanksgiving, so I kind of forgot that this thing came out, but we’re doing it now, and you still have enough time to download it and gift it!! [Read more…] about Kelly Clarkson’s Album “Wrapped in Red”- A Review

Best Funeral Ever Defies Expectations (For The Better)

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Source: TLC
Source: TLC

Best Funeral Ever: Mondays at 10 Eastern on TLC

For many people, the death of a loved one is a difficult and trying time. The survivor is often overcome with both grief and the pain of knowing that they will never see a person whom they spent a large portion of their life with again. Many times, however, during the funeral itself, the phrase “ a celebration of [the deceased’s] life” is often used with the promise of better times to come in the afterlife. TLC is focusing on that phrase with the intensity of a laser in it’s newest offering, which premiered Monday night.

Best Funeral Ever follows Texas funeral director John Beckwith Jr., whom has a reputation for putting together some of the most outlandish “life celebrations” the world has ever seen. Instead of the typical funeral, where the deceased initially goes through a wake before the funeral mass and burial in a traditionally somber mood, the “going home” ceremonies are full blown parties with contemporary music, custom caskets, a less formal dress code, and all sorts of interesting activities. Beckwith puts on about 125 of these ceremonies a year, and TLC is there to take you along for the ride.

When I first heard about this show, I had some serious concerns that the show was going to get in the way of the grieving process by putting too harsh of a spotlight on the mourning family (by forcing their constant input). However, thankfully, the producers instead opted to take the surprisingly more tasteful track of taking elements of an office comedy through the process of planning the most off-beat funerals most people have seen.

The show tends to shine it’s brightest when it operates in that office comedy mode. In our pilot, the best parts often involved Treanare and E awkwardly trying to explain to various people in the wedding profession that they are trying to have a wedding for two dead people while the wedding professionals look on with a mix of puzzlement and disdain. The second episode furthers this dynamic, as Beckwith’s bumbling son B3 bites off more than he can chew trying to get a casket to move 100 meters at track star speed.

Best Funeral Ever‘s cold opens concern me most, as that is where it seems like the show starts to drift into self-parody a little bit. This is particularly notable in the second episode, where we got a four minute musical production about Breakfast. While I understand these moments allow for the show to crystallize its’ premise of putting the fun in “funeral”, when it starts to veer towards ridiculous, it doesn’t reflect well on anyone. Similarly, boss Beckwith’s commentary feels lacking, often spouting out the same statements repeatedly, which is extra unfortunate because he’s our de facto narrator.

The Final Verdict: I went into this show thinking that I was going to end up exploding, LA Shrinks style. Instead, I stumbled into what’s mostly an office comedy about people who happened to work making unconventional funerals, as opposed to a show that exploited funerals for the televised eye. This is probably worth checking out once-or-twice for the spectacle and to watch funeral workers get over their heads during the course of their unconventional event planning.

Album Review: Nils Frahm – Spaces

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Nils Frahm: Spaces
Similar Artists: Max Richter, Steve Reich, Erik Satie
Genre: Minimalism, Modern-Classical
Label: Erased Tapes

The weather’s getting colder, and NYC’s striving artists have retreated to the subways to gift us with their musical talents in the hope that we will provide them with petty cash so they can sustain themselves through the tough months that lie ahead. During this past holiday weekend alone, I heard countless performers from such backgrounds as jazz, soul, percussion, and even opera. That’s not to mention the hordes of freestyle dancers flipping around subway carts to hip-hop. As much as I love these omnipresent musical flourishes throughout my day-to-day travels, they will often distract me from my personal headphone space, and I will have to put my isolated world on hold until I reach a quieter destination. However, with Nils Frahm’s latest solo offering, Spaces, the gifted young pianist has crafted a 70 minute modern-classical epic that as far as my travels have taken me, has remained incapable of being tarnished by any outside factor; all the saxophonists, soul singers, percussionists and dancers seem to arrive at the perfect time, blending inconspicuously into the vast open arena that is this music

That may seem a bit fantastical, as this isn’t quite as empty as ambient music, but it has to do with the spacious, occasionally barren, and most of all wintery, piano music that Nils Frahm is composing. I’m not 100% sure if Spaces is intended to be a live document, or a career compilation, or possibly an entirely new full length (only a few of these pieces have yet to be released in one form or another) but it is clear that it’s intended to feel intimate and personal; like Nils himself is sitting in front of us with his grand piano, fighting back the coldness of the air to play us one more composition. And grand compositions these are, as never before has the young pianist reproduced his sprawling talent within a statement as commendable as this one.

My introduction to Nils Frahm was through his brief 3 song EP Wintermusic, which was recommended to me at the time due to my obsession with minimalist piano music such as Erik Satie, as well as more modern classical composers such as Max Richter. As pleasant as Wintermusic was though, despite being an album I enjoyed to listen to during 2011 snowstorms (if I had already listened to Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow that day), it offered little to hold on to, and I never ended up chasing after any of the artist’s other work. Spaces, however, is massive, elemental, and more experimental/avant-garde in nature. As far as modern-classical works go, this is the most notable I’ve heard since Richter’s pivotal The Blue Notebooks.

It starts off on the noisier side with the uncharacteristically brief “An Aborted Beginning”, which clings to the listener with percussion (also uncharacteristic) and a slight dub infusion. “Says”, at 8:18, is the first real piece, and it sees Nils at his most hypnotic and momentous, ever so slightly picking up the pace every measure until exploding into a cathartic climax. From there he moves to “Said and Done”, which along with brand new track “Hammers” feels minimalist in the Steve Reich/Philip Glass kind of way. Compared to intense moments such as these, I first felt the three song middle section of “Went Missing”, “Familiar”, and “Improvisation for Coughs and a Cell Phone” — which are all slowly moving solo piano pieces — to be a bit on the boring side, especially when pitted against the more epic, synth driven pieces, but they also allow us to get a better grasp on Frahm’s improvisational supremacy, and how he feels comfortable no matter how abstract his music becomes. Still, there are no words to describe how great it feels when the huge, pulsating chords open up “For-Peter-Toilet Brushes-More”. As the four part title suggests, the nearly 20 minute track represents everything that is great about Nils Frahm and wraps it into one continuously flowing monologue.

I’m usually all about moving while listening to music, like I’m in fear that if I stay cemented for too long the music will stop affecting me. Spaces though, is an album I feel completely comfortable doing just about anything with (reading, studying, browsing the web, resting) without the music’s flow ever departing from my consciousness. In other words, it’s an album you could live with; each playthrough ever so slightly drawing you into the cold winter ahead.

Track Listing
1.) An Aborted Beginning
2.) Says*
3.) Said and Done*
4.) Went Missing
5.) Familiar
6.) Improvisation For Coughs and a Cell Phone
7.) Hammers*
8.) For-Peter-Toilet Brushes-More*
9.) Over There, It’s Raining
10.) Unter-Tristana-Ambre*
11.) Ross’s Harmonium

Album Highlight – *

Paul Walker of “Fast & Furious” Fame Dies at 40

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Paul Walker
Credit:askmen.com

Paul’s other credits include “She’s All That” and Varsity Blues”

It’s with the heaviest heart I’m reporting that Paul Walker, 40, star of the Fast and the Furious, has tragically died in a car accident.  The car he was in crashed and exploded in Santa Clarita, California at around 3:30 p.m.

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials on Sunday sought to sort out the circumstances of a fiery crash in Santa Clarita that left “Fast and Furious” actor Paul Walker and another man dead. Walker was apparently the passenger in a red Porsche that crashed Saturday afternoon, soon after the actor attended a charity event.  Sheriff’s officials said speed may have been a factor in the crash, which took place on a normally quiet street with a 45 mph speed limit. The Porsche was badly burned and mangled.

Witnesses said the car was fully engulfed in fire.  “When I went out there, it was just smoke. Just black smoke. I thought it was a brush fire,” Alyssa Yorton told the Los Angeles Daily News.  “It was engulfed in flames. There was nothing. They were trapped,” Antonio Holmes, who said he was a friend of Walker’s, told the Santa Clarita Valley Signal. He added the actor had been at a charity event earlier in the day. Holmes said the Porsche appeared to hit a tree and then slam into a light standard.  KTLA News reported that debris from the crash shattered a window in a nearby building.  The single-vehicle crash occurred about 3:30 p.m. in the 28300 block of Rye Canyon Loop.

Credit to: Buzznet
Credit to: Buzznet

 

Paul Walker truly shot to fame in the late 90’s with scene stealing roles in the teen flicks “She’s All That”, “Varsity Blues” and “Pleasantville”, but actually got his start in Soap Operas back in the early 90’s on the popular CBS soap “The Young And The Restless”.  Known for his dashing good looks and bad boy persona, he took both of those qualities and amplified them by turning the “Fast & The Furious” movies into a multi-billion dollar franchise along long time costars Vin Diesel and Tyrese Gibson to name a few.

Let’s just keep everything positive while his family & friends attempt to deal with this devastating loss.

Album Review: Omar Souleyman – Wenu Wenu

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Omar Souleyman: Wenu Wenu
Similar Artists: None that I know of
Genre: Dabke, Syrian Wedding Music, Line Dancing
Label: Ribbon Music

I’ve been getting some pretty strange looks from people who overhear Omar Souleyman’s Wenu Wenu blasting from my headphones. This is probably because I’m white, and with my black leather jacket and torn jeans I probably resemble someone who would listen to punk or hard-rock rather than anything as foreign as Syrian wedding music. The thing is, despite the initial ethnic hurdle (you’ll have to look up a translation if you’re interested in what these songs are about), Souleyman’s high octane version of Dabke — a traditional style of music intended for the purpose of line dancing — translates quite efficiently to the now popularized brand of melodic techno/house.

So yes, this is party music in the truest sense of the word. While Souleyman himself is a dynamic force on the album — with his soaring and spiritual voice — the main appeal (at least to us Americans) comes from longtime partner Rizan Sa’id’s virtuosic keyboard playing. His adventurous synthesizer rhythms are a non-stop presence through the 40 minute album, and since they are often backed by bouncy 4/4 beats and hypnotic bass loops, if you let it, this is music that can truly make you move.

Omar Souleyman has apparently recorded upwards of 500 albums — of which he only made one copy of, to give to the bride and groom — but only recently has he been working within an actual studio in an attempt to capture the essence of his highly talked about live performances. Wenu Wenu is being seen as his first “proper” studio full length, as it was put out on Ribbon Music instead of Sublime Frequencies, who put out versions of his more low-fidelity recordings. Production duties have been handled by Keiran Hebden(AKA Four Tet), and although his influence on the music itself is only modest, he treats the sounds with a clarity and buoyancy relatable to his own work. This is a good thing, because Souleyman and Sa’id don’t need to change their formula; not now, not ever.

Wenu Wenu is about channeling the best of this duo’s output (many of these tracks are rerecorded versions of previously released career highlights) and making it work in a home listening setting. While some people may prefer the more chaotic and unintentionally noisy characteristics of Souleyman’s previous work, this is an album that took a whole lot of time to get here (around 20 years), and every non-Syrian should brave any slight uncomfortableness they may have and listen to it at least once.

Track Listing:
1.) Wenu Wenu*
2.) Ya Yumma
3.) Nahy*
4.) Khattaba
5.) Warni Warni*
6.) Mawal Jamar
7.) Yagbuni*

Album Highlight – *

Album Review: Le1f – Tree House

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Le1f: Tree House
Similar Artists: Falty DL, The Internet, Das Racist
Genre: Electronic, Rap
Label: Self-Released

Rap music isn’t my area of expertise (I’ve let my brother cover many of the major hip-hop releases from this year), but there’s something about NYC rapper/producer Le1f that has drawn me in and affected me enough to where I’m willing to venture outside my musical comfort zone. With his two previous mixtapes, 2012’s Dark York and the even better Fly Zone, released earlier this year, Khalif Diouf has emerged as one of the more forward thinking and downright talented acts in the game. One of the reasons I have been so drawn to him — and I’m not completely sure why this is — is that when I listen to Le1f, I don’t feel like I’m listening to rap music. I mean, of course it is, but Diouf has approached his music with a keen experimental edge, and his morphing trap-flavored beats are beyond what any common rapper would be capable of working with. His voice too, which is penetratingly deep and gut melting even without being pitch shifted or autotuned, is another component to Le1f’s deliriously addictive makeup. Even when I don’t think a particular song of his is all that well written, my ears choose to view his music from an experimental perspective, and in terms of impressing up with his unique style, Le1f has yet to fall anywhere but on target.

While much of the music he has previously released is what one would call “club-ready”, here he has mostly strayed from twerk friendly hits and given us a relaxed, chill out record that focuses on a wider electronic palette. It’s Diouf showing us another playing field his music can exist on, and he succeeds, as Tree House is a breath of fresh air from the tense, fastidious beats of Fly Zone; a release that more than adequately showed off his rapping ability.

Tree House revolves around a talented array of producers, such as The Drum, FaltyDL, Boody, and Shy Guy. Their are a ton of guest spots too, and the roster feels more a part of the mixtape’s overall flow than anything Le1f has put out before. The tracks produced by Chicagoan electronic duo The-Drum are particularly lush sounding, like the bubbly, nearly balearic “Swerve”. Boody brings the mixtape their lustrous production to two of the standout cuts, “Hush BB” and “Hibiscus”, the former of which is the most sensually moving piece Le1f has ever released. While these tracks are more moderately paced than highlights from previous mixtapes, Le1f still manages to show off his immaculate flow with lightning fast verses on “Damn Son” and “Jack”, two quick ventures into the nightlife before the mixtape’s more downtrodden second half.

The highlights on the second half are more subtle; the icy and hypnotic “Free Kiki”, the hazy stream of consciousness of closer “Cry BB”. Overall though, this is a release intended to be listened to in unison, preferably with headphones. These signs all point to one thing: with Tree House, Diouf is prepping for his official full length, due sometime next year. The last two years have seen Le1f going through an incredibly exciting pre-debut stage, and he has pretty much been firing on all cylinders. While he may have originally grabbed our attention with his flamboyant persona and openly “gay” (in quotes, as he would put it) status, he has rightfully proven he’s worthy of that attention. If Dark York, Fly Zone and Tree House were just the tip of what Le1f is capable of (and I’m judging it is, seeing how inspiration seems to be in no short supply for him) than we should get ready for a true game changer come 2014.

Track Listing:
1.) Plush
2.) Cane Sugar*
3.) Hush BB*
4.) Damn Son*
5.) Swerve*
6.) Blood Oranges
7.) Hibiscus
8.) Jack*
9.) Free Kiki
10.) Oils
11.) Kadabra/Anubish
12.) Shake BB
13.) Star Me
14.) Cry BB*

Album Highlight – *

Kim Kardashian’s Charitable Spirit To Be Applauded

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Credit: justjared.com
Credit: justjared.com

 

Don’t get me wrong, I am not Kim Kardashian’s biggest fan. I don’t agree with her over the top affairs (72-day wedding anyone?), her multitude of daily wardrobe changes, or her obsession with all things vain. So I have to say I was most surprised when I found myself coming to her defense.

Let me be the first one to say that the amount of money that the Kardashian family makes per year is staggering to say the least. While many agree that the famous clan is famous for nothing, it cannot be denied that the Kardashian family members have successfully marketed themselves all the way to the bank. And while I will never begrudge anyone of their wealth (after all we live in a country that prides itself in the American dream), it is understandable that when another has such a large amount of money we expect them to be generous. But I found it hugely shameful that many jumped on Kim for an act of charity.

This past week Kardashian announced that she would auction off some of her designer wardrobe on eBay to benefit victims of Typhoon Haiyan, a storm, which devastated the Philippines.

On her website Kardashian explained her altruistic plan:

“Hi guys, this is a very special auction because a portion of the proceeds of my eBay auction are going to International Medical Corps., a nonprofit organization that provides critical health services on remote islands where families are struggling to access medical care and basic resources like food, clean drinking water and vital medications,” she wrote. “The proceeds will go directly to the communities they’re serving in the Philippines and will help typhoon survivors get access to medical care and ultimately save lives. My prayers and thoughts are with those affected by the typhoon.”

It would seem that because Kardashian was thinking of others aside from herself, we would all applaud such a positive action from such a seemingly materialistic person. However this proved not to be the case. The masses were quick to attack Kardashian for only donating 10% of the auction’s proceeds to charity, calling her vile, and mocking her for lacking generosity.

A rep for Kardashian found the backlash to be disappointing and expressed frustration that she had become an “easy target” for criticism. What many may not realize is that this act of charity is not a first for Kardashian. Inspired by her late father, Robert Kardashian, she has consistently given away 10% of proceeds from auctions she holds on eBay throughout the year. Although the proceeds of her auctions generally benefit her church, she decided to donate the money for this particular auction to a charity benefitting a current global disaster.

That’s why as far as I’m concerned we should be ashamed of ourselves. When did we begin to judge one another for giving in the first place? Sure Kardashian could afford to donate more from a financial prospective, but how many of us have sat silently while others, less fortunate than ourselves, could have used anything that we could have afforded to give? How many of us who continually point fingers and judge have kept that 10% for ourselves? Wake up guys! Sure wealth is relative, but generosity and a giving heart is not. You either give or you don’t. And Kim Kardashian has given when she had every opportunity (and every right as far as I’m concerned) not to. As long as we continue to judge or criticize another person for their kindness, we remain the problem.

During this holiday season (and always,) I urge each and every one of you to put your proverbial money where your mouth is. Rather than pass judgment on someone for giving, get off your asses and give of yourself. You don’t need millions, or even thousands; all you need is your time. Let’s spread positivity and encouragement towards one another; anything helps. As I said, I may not be her biggest fan, but I’ll be the first to applaud Kardashian’s recent actions, and I suggest you be the second.

Getting On Adeptly Mixes Drama, Comedy

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Source: HBOwatch.com
Source: HBOwatch.com

Getting On: Sundays at 10 Eastern On HBO

2013 has been a pretty strong year for HBO. Game of Thrones, The Newsroom, Boardwalk Empire, and True Blood each keep churning along, holding the drama side of the ledger together. However, if there’s an area that HBO seems to have made a leap it’s in its comedies. Veep broke out in it’s sophomore year, receiving even some surprise Emmy love. Eastbound and Down made a triumphant return for it’s fourth (and second farewell) season. Even low-rated newcomers Family Tree and Hello, Ladies had managed to score some critical acclaim. HBO is looking to keep that streak going over the course of the winter with it’s newest show: Getting On.

Getting On follows the staff of the fictional Mount Palms hospital in California, where they must take care of those who are aging less than gracefully while fighting through red tape. Amongst the staff members who must deal with these circumstances are the ambitious Dr. Jenna James (Laurie Metcalf) as well as nurses Dawn and Didi (Alex Borstein and Niecy Nash).

The writing on the show is fairly nimble due often juxtaposing the grim nature of death (and end of life care) with a neurotic obsession towards fecal research and the guys who work in the hospital. However, where Getting On truly succeeds is not where these topics merge together, but rather in it’s ability to quickly change tone over the course of three quick scenes, as shown in the last five minutes as it flips from funny, to heartwarming, to tragic all over the course of about two or so minutes while hitting all of the correct notes.

What really stands out, however, is the sheer amount of talent on the principal cast. Laura Metcalf shines as the wild-eyed Dr. James who clearly puts her research ahead of her patients, leading to a glorious breakdown that closes out the show’s second act. Niecy Nash and Alex Borstein both do an excellent job as nurses who are essentially polar opposites of not only each other, but previous roles they’ve played (after 14 years of playing Lois Griffin, hearing Borstein not deliver in a the nasal, shrill Lois Griffin tone felt like a clear departure).

Visually, the show operates in a very cinema verite feel, often mixing in unorthodox camera angles, that one can only assume mimics the look of the geriatric patients from their beds. Similarly, the lighting tends to give off the same sterile, unnatural tinge as one would expect from the geriatric ward of the hospital, though it often comes off dullish, closer to a horror movie in visual tone.

The Final Verdict: Getting On is incredibly dark, but can also be incredibly funny and incredibly sweet as the staff of our fictional hospital seem as brittle as the patients they watch over. The writing is inventive and the cast takes quickly to angles that run counter to their prior television roles. The end result is the sort of show worth watching if you’re into more morbid dramedies and an excellently crafted show, but I can also see this not being for everyone.

Knack – Full Review

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Copyright Sony Computer Entertainment Source: VGU
Copyright Sony Computer Entertainment
Source: VGU

Its beauty is only skin-deep.

Now that I’ve had the opportunity to complete my playthrough of Knack, I think it’s high time that I give it a proper review. Knack was developed in-house by Sony as an answer to those wanting new entries in the Ratchet & Clank series or similar titles. It serves as the Playstation 4’s kid-friendly foray into the blend of action and platforming at launch, and also is a nice break from all the shooters that have come out alongside the platform. Is it a good game, though? Yes and no.

Story – Knack begins with a meeting of the minds, of sorts. It follows the stories of Doctor Vargas, who was responsible for the creation of the eponymous protagonist, Knack; Lucas, the Doctor’s assistant; and Ryder, the poor man’s Indiana Jones who is also Lucas’s uncle. Other pertinent characters include Viktor, a shady executive whose love of robotics and high-tech weaponry has powered his empire; Katrina, Viktor’s head of security and femme fatale; and Charlotte, the Doctor’s former lover, presumed dead after falling into an abyss twenty years prior to the game’s occurrence. At the outset of the game, you’re told that the goblins are a prime threat to human cities and settlements and that they must be stopped, which is where we meet the cast and see them discuss the best course of action. The story then shifts to Viktor being an evil son of a gun, and then it kind of gets disjointed from there. There are thirteen “chapters” to the game’s story, yet by the middle of chapter five it felt like endgame. After that, it was a series of buildups to potentially major encounters with little to no payoff. You do eventually get to battle one of the main villains, but the final boss of the game is almost completely unexplained. If you were fighting Viktor’s minions, you’d reach a point where a fight against Viktor and/or Katrina would be teased heavily, only to have them run away with their tails between their legs before a cut to the next chapter. There is a rather significant plot twist in the second half of the game that was fairly well-executed, but the overall body of work with the story is marred by a number of unexplained events and plot holes. Since I’d like to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, I won’t mention specifically what happens, but you can find a video with all the cutscenes edited together here.
Story Grade: D+

Gameplay – Knack plays like your typical action platformer, except on a more linear scale than most. Nearly every level in the game is set on a clearly defined path from start to finish, so you’ll never get lost or forget where you need to go. As far as level design goes, those are really the only positives about linearity. With so little room for exploration aside from a few breakable walls and secret rooms, I felt at times that Knack was more about working my way through the mobs to the end of the level than exploring and taking in the beautiful visuals that were created for this title. That’s one of the biggest issues this game has; playing a video game should never feel like work. Another gripe I have with the game is the controller mapping. Knack has three basic maneuvers: he can jump (X button), punch (square button, can be pressed repeatedly to string together hits), and evade (moving the right stick). As a veteran of shooting games, I find it aggravating when I can’t jump and aim, which are typically on the bottom face button and right stick, respectively, in a fluid motion. Evading is awkward enough in its own right, especially because the timing is tough to nail down and you aren’t granted any additional invincibility frames while you’re stuck recovering, which means that other enemies on the field can still hit you. Potentially the largest issue with the controller setup is the fixed camera. With nothing else mapped to the shoulder buttons, it’s inexcusable that there is no way to rotate the camera. This is 2013, people. Having moments in the heat of battle when enemies drop in the foreground, obscuring my character, with no way to remedy that except to jump over them and possibly take a hit in the process is highly unforgiving.

Knack can collect sunstone to unleash one of three special abilities by pressing the O button followed by O again, square, or Δ. These serve to quickly clear the area of enemies if you’re in a tight spot, but for me they were used more for breaking the monotony of the “punch everything” system when I didn’t feel like fighting a mob. Tying into the sunstone feature is the checkpoint system. If you die, and trust me, you’re going to die a lot in this game, sunstone does not revert to what it was at when you hit the last checkpoint. This works two ways: the positive is that you can sort of grind sunstone through dying a bunch, eventually giving you enough to use a super move and clear the fight that you were having trouble with; however, the opposite side of the coin is that should you use some of your meter on a super move and then die anyway, you’re stuck grinding it out again unless you can prevail without it. This brings me to another issue I take with the gameplay, which is that due to how quickly Knack dies no matter how big he gets, the name of the game is memorizing attack patterns and defensive play, as opposed to instincts and skill. This type of “know your enemy” system doesn’t sit well with me, especially in a game that’s allegedly geared towards children. I don’t know what types of kids they’re targeting with this game, but the “Normal” difficulty of Knack is plenty frustrating enough.
Gameplay Grade: D

Aesthetics – The saving grace of Knack is the graphics. With cutscenes and landscapes that could pass for a DreamWorks film, this is an impressive piece of visual artwork. The game runs smoothly, with very few slowdowns occurring from start to finish. Landscapes range from mines to mountains to forests to cities and everything in-between. Goblin enemies look like dumber and evil versions of Shrek, which actually works pretty well. The true winner in the graphical department is Knack, of course, because he has so many moving parts and his size changes rather frequently. Though it sadly has no effect on the gameplay itself aside from certain sections, the extra materials that Knack can utilize over the course of the game, whether ice, wood, metal, or crystal, are all rendered nicely and add a bit of visual flair to the game. Sunstone pickups glow and cause Knack to illuminate as well when they are broken and consumed. I keep coming back to the FMVs in the game though. They’re very well-animated, with solid voice acting and crisp sound effects. It’s a shame that they’re wasted on an inner core of a game with such little depth to it, but perhaps someday there will be a sequel that has combat equal to its animation.
Aesthetics Grade: A-

Fun Factor/Replay Value – Hardcore trophy hunters will be glad to know that there is a lot to do postgame. Subsequent playthroughs will allow players to re-open chests in secret rooms, in order to complete the many gadgets that Knack can use and also gain crystals that allow Knack to become better versions of himself. Whether or not you choose to pursue those upgrades and accolades depends on how much you enjoy the overall package here. I probably won’t be going back to Knack, not for a long while at least. This is not to say that the game is completely devoid of enjoyment, however; the game really shines when Knack grows to enormous proportions and you can run through areas while killing almost everything in one hit and flinging tanks at the opposition. I took these sections of the game as sick, twisted revenge against it for the profanity and near controller throwing it caused me, but how you enjoy these sequences is completely up to you. To summarize this section, if you don’t mind farming or grinding to obtain some power-ups and have a superhuman resistance to the mind-numbing gameplay of Knack, go nuts.
Fun Factor/Replay Value Grade: C-

Final Thoughts – I want to like Knack. I really, really do. I want it to be the Crash Bandicoot or Spyro of its generation, that seminal action platforming game that redefines a genre and gets the masses playing something other than a first-person shooter for a change. However, there simply isn’t enough here to be that game. It doesn’t do much that we haven’t already seen, and the unforgiving difficulty means that Knack isn’t the most accessible launch title in the PS4’s library. This title is yet another example of how graphics are not the most important factor in a video game’s quality. If the development team had spent even half as much time on everything else in Knack as they did on the visuals, it might have been one of the better launch titles for the Playstation 4. As it stands, it’s a beacon of mediocrity that left me very disappointed.
Final Grade: C

Platform: Playstation 4
Genre: Action/Adventure, Platforming
Players: 1-2 (co-op)
Price: $59.99