Shank 2 Review

Shank returns in this bloody display of redemption. If you have played the first game then you will know what type of game this really is. It’s just a down & out gore-fest 2D platformer, which gets you frustrated everytime when fighting against a difficulty spike of enemies, mini bosses and finally the last boss to top it all off.

Shank 1 & 2 inveitably, is going to be a pissing outrage like the first one, as it’s the only game as of late to actually get me raging than the good old days of NFS Underground.

So, what is Shank 2 about and why all this commotion? Shank is about taking the right path and un-doing the wrongs he has done in his past. He returns to see someone, which this game fails to even mention prior to the events of the bloodshed you will cause in a matter of seconds after the first scene. Story telling on Shank 2 is bad compared to the first, but then again, it is a cheesy action flick with Stallone & Schwarzenegger morphed into one giving you, Shank. A sleezeball dictator who goes by the name of ‘Magnus’, is in need of a new heart, and you guessed it, the woman that Shank is looking for, so happens to be the right person for Magnus’s replacement heart – typical.

The action is the main point of Shank’s existance. The dual shanks, the pistols, and the other arsenal Shank will obtain is mighty explosive into demolishing your foes. The use of enivronment weapons is brilliant and will save your life many times. You can even find a Kitchen Sink and thrash it around some poor soldier’s head, who doesn’t know what he has got himself in for, and bag yourself a 5G achievement/trophy in the process. I like how Shank 2 gets rid of the annoying vehicle level in the first game, as I expected some sort of level to return in the sequel, but alas I was proven wrong. The mini bosses are repetitive like Alan Hansen’s views on the Match Of The Day (don’t ask me why how Alan Hansen got linked into this…), as it is a rinse & repeat scenario over & over again.

So, the singleplayer stinks, yet amusing at the same time. It still has it’s challenge, and approaching a Super Meat Boy style of level layout of progressing through the game – Hard and need of well timed executed jumps to reach the other side. Collectibles are up for offer and saving citizens as well, which in turn equals into medals. Earning medals from achieveing counter x amount with weapons, kill x amount of enemies with a certain weapon will unlock you new character skins for singleplayer and survival mode.

Survival mode is the horde mode, which is now the common as dog shit feature to have in all games as of late. It’s only up to 2 player co-op, as it could of blossomed into something much more if it was 4 player co-op. Fight through waves of Magnus’s goon’s and eventually fight off against a Zombie wave, yes Zombies… When in fact they are cannibals in the singleplayer, but they are classified as Zombies in the survival mode, yet they remotely do not look, act like a Zombie in no such way – I feel lied to god damnit!

Overall, Shank 2 is a ok game and worth a punt this month for the downloadable side of things. Yes, you may of saw our feature of the games to get this month, and Shank 2 falls into that bracket, and it does. It’s a game that simply does not take itself seriously, and that is what games need to have, sadly NeverDead couldn’t achieve that to the internet. You will end up throwing you’re controller across all corners, and punching anything in sight due to the horrendous unforgiving obstacles you have to conquer. Shank 2 is bloody and will make your mothers weep to you’re verbal onslaught of pure rage.

(7/10)