Klei Entertainment’s Shank has ranked high on my “must-play-in-2010″ list ever since I got hands-on time with the game at PAX East 2010. The sentiment was bolstered upon sampling the 2D beat ‘em up at E3 2010. Shank, after months of waiting, is finally available for purchase on PSN and XBLA arcade (it’s also headed to PC later this year), and I can say without hesitation that the game was worth the wait.
At it’s core, Shank is a brawler that sees the titular hero moving down legions of armed goons–but that’s the most basic description. Shank isn’t just a throwback to 2D beat ‘em ups of yesteryear, but a throwback to the ’70s-era revenge grindhouse flicks, small budget movies with high violence–a fitting parallel to Klei Entertainment’s energetic title.
The story is a basic betrayal yarn involving Shank, a crime boss, and of course, a lovely lady. It’s played out in slick cutscenes, and even picture-in-picture windows that occur during gameplay. It serves to set the stage than to truly tell a compelling tale, but that’s more than fine as Shank, both the protagonist and game, are all about carnage.
And there’s plenty of mayhem to be had. Unlike the old school beat ‘em ups that it inspired it, Shank doesn’t use his fists to dispense sweet street justice, he uses a pair of blades, two pistols, and grenades, which are later joined by a sword, shotgun, chains, machetes, and a special weapon that you can’t carry, but will allow you to level everything in your path. Hardcore tools, for a hardcore guy.
And what wonderful toys they are! Few titles give gamers an immediate sense of satisfaction. Out of the box you feel like a bad ass; Klei Entertainment did a marvelous job of allowing attacks to flow together into death-dealing combos. The first time you ginsu a baddie, juggle him with your guns, and pounce on his fallen body to pierce him with the chainsaw, it’s heaven. There may be no harps or choirs, but you feel godly–until you reach the bosses.
Boss battles are my biggest gripe with Shank. The character designs and animations are superb, and the music has a gritty sleazy that perfectly accompanies the violence, but its the end-of-level face-offs that drop the ball. The problem lies in the fact that you transform from a weapon-toting bad ass that hacks and slashes through legions of bad guys, to a dude that has to flee and dodge boss attacks until you discover an opening to deliver a strong blow. It’s emasculating in a way.
Klei tosses in light platforming elements that involve leaping, shimmying down poles, climbing walls, and Mirror’s Edge-like free-running. These instances help break up the any potential repetitiveness (which has been the genre’s Achilles’ Heel), as do the 2P co-op mode. Still, I would’ve liked to have seen the inclusion of at least one vehicle-based mission–how about a Renegade-like motorbike battle as DLC, Klei?
Overall, Shank easily enters the beat ‘em up pantheon of which Double Dragon, Streets of Rage 2, and River City Ransom are members. It takes the best elements of 2D play, accessibility and wonderful sprite animation, and fuses it with modern design elements that keeps combat from becoming stale. The boss fights bring it down a notch, but Shank is a no-brainer download for brawler/action fans.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey L. Wilson’s love of all things shiny/digital has lead to jobs penning gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for E-Gear, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, PC Magazine, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. Besides overseeing the editorial content at 2D-X.com, the Brooklyn College grad hosts New York City’s monthly Bits and Bytes video game media and public relations meetup. You can find him at a bar sampling foreign beers, or on Twitter doing twittery things.
