User:DiosXMachina/sandbox

Article Evaluation
While perusing the various articles on Wikipedia, an article that had interested me was the 1982 film The Thing, directed by John Carpenter and written by Bill Lancaster. This is noted as a featured article and is associated with five WikiProjects, ranging from high importance to low importance. The language used in the to convey the information that surrounds the inception, creation, and legacy of the film is primarily informational, but is occasionally found using biased words. These biased words do not impede the information, but assists in furthering the information's strife during the 1980's. The viewpoints of the article are separated into different segments, such as Production, Design, Release, and Legacy in order to focus on those particular topics. Each segment also has minor topics such as writing and casting in production so that the segment as a whole is further explored. The sources are reliable enough, but vary between articles from journalism websites and magazines as well as archived reviews and statistics. These sources also range between decades worth of publications, allowing an authentic understanding of the circumstances around the film as the years go by. The Talk page discusses expanding on particular topics, references that should be used, and articles that could be utilized. These discussions base themselves in expanding the overall knowledge of the article. There is also a discussion based on the speculation of the ending by a user named HAL333 and whether the ambiguity of the ending should be entered or not. Overall, it is a solid article. Though I hoped for it to be viewed in a more objective manner with sources from other articles and publications, but the information that is used conveys itself to the audience well.

Finalized Topic
After deliberating between the various stubs that interested me, I have chosen Knack 2 to focus my efforts on and research this particular video game. Currently, there is little information on the page, only including gameplay, development, and reception. Since these sections present little information, I feel that I may be able contribute with various other sources to add in the sections. I also hope to add new segments along the way for others to edit as well, such sections would include the plot, multiplayer, and cultural references.

= Knack 2 =

Plot
After an unspecified number of years since the events of Knack, New Haven is under attack by four Titans. Lucas indicates that this was his undoing and Knack fights to help correct their unknown wrong-doings. Six months earlier, Lucas is flying with his Uncle Ryder and Knack to an island, through a Goblin infested forest, and uncover a monument dedicated to Marius during the Crystal Wars. They briefly mention the High Goblins during the war and the lack of education to the general public that reference this era. As they continue, they find a battlefield from the Crystal War, desecrated with the bodies of the vanguards of the Goblin Army. As they linger around, the army rises from the dead and attack the group. Knack protects them and they escape back the plane, making their way back to Doctor Vargas and Charlotte at a monastery in Norcliff to recount their experience. They all gather at the monastery and meet with two monks, Xander, their overseer, and Ava, their youth leader, and decide to seek a mountain pass in the morning to uncover Ancient Weapons in the area.

Morning arrives when the group part ways at the mountain pass and find a burned downed ruins of a village, unable to uncover the mystery. The group then returns to Doctor Vargas, Charlotte, and Xander while they attempt to reach a conclusion, Lucas and Ava decide to ask Uncle Ryder to help them reach Targun, the High Goblin City, where Urich originally created these robots. They arrive at Targun Ruins and traverse within the walls of the city to find Urich's laboratory. Once broken in, they discover part of a map to the High Goblin empire, a remote for controlling the robots, and decide to travel to a museum in Atheneum to better understand Targun's control center for their Ancient Weapons.

The group reach Antheum’s museum, finding that the city has been invaded by robots and Goblins. Knack brings an artifact to the group, taken from a commander. They suspect that that the control center may be on a map that Uncle Ryder acquired and manage to pinpoint where it may be. Xander and Doctor Vargas urge Lucas about the importance of the artifact and debate about what should be done with it.

The group reaches the area on the map and uncover the control center's whereabouts, finding a High-Goblin city. Knack then faces the commander, but Gundahar speaks through a communicator to Knack about his anger towards him and to find the control room for their confrontation. They all return to the monastery to discuss their next course of action.

Lucas deduces that the control center is across the ocean based on their encounters with the High-Goblins. They manage to find a lone island and encounter the control center, disabling the power supply. They battle their way to Gundahar and he is tossed off a cliff. Xander then makes his way to meet with Lucas and reveals his plan of using the artifact in the control center, using the Ancient Weapons for his own purposes. Lucas and Knack remain marooned on the island for five months and two weeks after losing to Xander, devising a plan to get off the island by recovering robots parts to create an aircraft. They arrive at the Doctor's Mansion and rescue Doctor Vargas, Uncle Ryder, and Charlotte. Doctor Vargas informs Lucas and Knack that Xander has been attacking the city and Ava has been leading these attacks. They invaded to Katrina's Fortress, Uncle Ryder's ex-girlfriend, who owns a security firm and a private army, to recruit her assistance in combating Xander's forces. Knack convinces Katrina to use her robot army to battle Xander's army.

Lucas and Knack sneak Beneath Norcliff to begin their infilitration against Xander with Katrina's army outside the gates. Ava then assists Knack in gaining further entrance in Xander's facility when she finds out that Xander has been using the Ancient Weapons. Knack and gang follow Xander to the Nexus, an ancient High-Goblin island. Xander uses the artifact to energize the machine on the island to make the robots and Titans stronger.

Lucas and Knack then follow Xander to New Haven to fight his army. Knack destroys the Titans that Xander commandeered, only for Xander to use the artifact, rendering Knack weak and captured. Three months later, Knack is in Xander's Prison, below the monastery, and is rescued by Lucas; who recounts that Ava and Lucas had split up to find Knack and that everyone had slowly started disappearing. Xander has created The Armageddon Machine to revert humanity to a more primitive time through destruction with the use of the artifact. Lucas and Knack enter the Armageddon Machine with the help of Ava and other monks, then she goes to evacuate New Haven. Lucas upgraded his plane to withstand the Armageddon Machine's ray and to fire back stronger. Knack then takes the artifact and Xander before the Machine collapses. Xander then activates the artifact to create a massive Knack-like monster before he perishes. They fight and Knack destroys the artifact, restoring peace. The chairwomen of New Haven signs a treaty with the monks and throw a celebration in everyone's victory. Ava and Lucas reconcile, Uncle Ryder takes Lucas aside to help in rekindling his relationship with Katrina, and Knack and Lucas then leave to venture towards new adventures.

Lore
Two centuries prior to the events of Knack II, The Crystal Wars when the civilization of Goblins, known once as an advanced race of High Goblins, feuded with humans and sought after energy-potent crystals, which were found only on human territory. Uric, a High Goblin leader and master engineer, created the Ancient Weapons, to eradicate the humans. The High Goblin empire expanded as they continued their onslaught. But Marius and his troops defeated the Ancient Weapons in a single day with the use of rocks and vines, propelling their continuous victories over the course of the war.

Once defeated, Urich returned to his laboratory to create more powerful weapons, most notably the Titans, for their final battle against Marius and the humans. While Marius and Urichs fought with their armies, Marius had a strike team attack the city while they were preoccupied, disabling the Ancient Weapon's control center and defeating the High Goblins.

Marius and his men's lament destroying the High-Goblins, becoming the very thing they wished to stop. He then found the order of the monks and led people to peace and wisdom.

Gameplay
Knack II utilizes Quick-Time Events during cutscenes. There are also puzzles that require the player to manipulate the world and Knack's abilities to progress. There are treasure chests throughout the game that dispense a Relic or a Crystal Part to further upgrade Knack. Knack II also introduces the teleporter, allowing players to teleport between pads within their respective levels. As the player progresses in the game, Knack acquires special abilities for Knack that also alter his appearance. These in-story abilities are Iron, Ice, and Stealth. The other special abilities that Knack can use are unlocked through the use of upgrading Knack with Knack parts, Relics, and Crystal Parts.

Reception
As the better received game of the franchise, the game was boasted due to its art direction, cooperative intergration, and focus on platforming during Sony's pre-release showcase.

Multiplayer
Knack II introduces offline multiplayer, allowing an extra player to join and leave the main story at their leisure. This accessibility of Knack II allows people of varying ages to play and has been praised due to the couch cooperative play dynamic.

Cultural References
After the release of Knack, Youtuber Videogamedunkey created a cult following around the Playstation 4 exclusive game. In 2017, Videogamedunkey then released a satirical video reviewing Knack II and its predecessor.