Shank 2 Review - Pie Reviews

[Elliot]

The moment where I fell in love with Shank 2 was surprisingly far into the campaign. The campaign, this is, that I didn't touch until after I had thoroughly destroyed the co-operative Survival mode of the game with my good friend BeautifulTorment, so when it happened, it surprised me immensely. There I was, playing through the penultimate level of the game on Hard mode (which I masochistically put myself through before playing Normal, but more on that later), and suddenly, in the middle of the level, it hits me.

I'm running about with two knives, a shotgun and a fucking chainsaw hacking the crap out of shirtless fat men that are trying to end me by belly flopping on me, all in this beautiful beach resort. A big, stupid grin covers my face and for the next ten minutes I'm smiling like some sinister lunatic whilst I brutally lay waste to swathes of enemies that dare to get in my way.

Then I die and the game sends me right back to the beginning of the level, after maybe 20 minutes of gameplay. This is a rather beautiful summary of Shank 2, particularly on Hard mode - moments of zen happiness and outrageous fun that are all-too-frequently interrupted by horrible, horrible checkpointing. You will be pleased to hear that the game gives you checkpoints on Normal mode, the only other difficulty level available in the game, but it seems like such an arbitrary and false way of increasing the difficulty. I've proved that I can get past the set-pieces alive up until the point that I die, so by all means send me back to the end of the last one with the same health I had after finishing it, but don't, after I've survived four instant death traps and about fifty enemies (all of which are surprisingly deadly), send me right back to the beginning of the damn level.

This is even worse in the final level, which got my blood boiling almost to the point of when I was attempting Gladiate on Fat Princess or Nimble Knight on Rocket Knight. I resorted to spamming shotgun attacks and the grab-chainsaw combo on the larger enemies, which got me through the level up to the point where the game thought it would be funny for an enemy to throw me once more into the insta-death trap. But I can safely say that, whilst I was angry to the point of shouting some very creative obscenities at the screen, I was still having fun.

The squishy blood-splatter when the enemy's bodies explode after that final shotgun blast to the face, their screams when being chainsawed in the gut, they were still entertaining. Perhaps even more so given quite how personally invested I was in seeing those bastards die. The game was still undeniably satisfying to sit there and fail at. That is why I love the game.

On Normal mode (which, if you aren't one for hunting 100%s on PSN titles, I recommend you stick to) the game transcends this frustration and becomes one of the best ways to pass two or three hours I have ever come across in my life. The core gameplay mechanics are unbelievably satisfying. There's no point dressing it up - it is fun. Rampaging through the game's eight levels slaughtering everybody and leaving a trail of corpses in your wake is fantastic. When I was playing through on Normal after Hard, the stupid grin was back, and this time it didn't go away until the conclusion.

Survival mode is also a welcome addition and a way to extend the life of the game beyond its admittedly brief campaign. It's a lot of fun with a friend, and the unlockable characters with different stats, the loadout choices and shop items add an element of strategy that helps it be more than just mindless slaughter. If you want to get to the end of Survival, you will have to be co-ordinated, skilled and efficient, and succeeding is immensely satisfying.

Artistically, the game is gorgeous. There has clearly been a lot of love poured into the 2D art and there are wonderful touches of detail scattered throughout the game. All the animation is smooth, and the entire experience is a visual treat. I am a sucker for good 2D art (see Rayman Origins for the shining beacon of "good 2D art") so this is right up my street. The only place it falls down is the cut-scenes, which bizarrely look worse than the game does in action - unfortunately, to keep the file size down, it seems that Klei Entertainment chose to pretty heavily compress the cut-scenes, and you can tell - there's pretty heavy artifacting on the video which is made more painfully obvious by the large, flat areas of colour, and everything looks very aliased. Also, as there doesn't seem to be a good place to mention this, I shall shoehorn it in here - the whole game must be pretty damn compressed because the loading times are pretty bad. Expect to sit for maybe 30 seconds whilst waiting for a level to load.

The sound design is adequate. The sound effects are all excellent, but I don't remember much about the music at all only a few days after last playing. It fits the mood of the game but it's not going to go down as a classic video game soundtrack any time soon. Besides, the sound design is not the reason you will play this game.

But, when it comes to it, I still love the game. Do I think it's good value for money at its £8 price point? Mostly. It's not a long game, and I guess that most people are unlikely to spend more than ten hours on Survival, though you've probably spent more on shorter games. Do I think that you should buy it regardless of its price point (or bother downloading it given it's free with PS+ right now)? Yes, I really, really do. You should play this game. You should get all your friends to play this game. It's flawed, clearly, but the reason I so passionately criticise the flaws it has is that it's so close to being perfect for what it is - a short, incredibly tight, polished, delightfully fun, ultraviolent animation showcase of a game. As an experience, it is one of the best I have had with any downloadable game.

It's content like this that makes me keep on gaming.

[BeautifulTorment]

Great review, and I agree with almost all of it. I took a little more notice of the soundtrack (aside from the sounds of chainsawing the baddies), probably because I like screeching guitars. Its kinda like a hard rock/blues rock mix. Anyway, you had me in hysterics. Do more of these!

[Elliot]

Great review, and I agree with almost all of it. I took a little more notice of the soundtrack (aside from the sounds of chainsawing the baddies), probably because I like screeching guitars. Its kinda like a hard rock/blues rock mix. Anyway, you had me in hysterics. Do more of these!

Well, thanks.

I shall try and do more reviews, I do enjoy writing them a lot. I'm genuinely surprised that I've only done 4, I thought it'd be a few more than that.

[Wade_VC]

Exceptional review of the game. It is nice to see such a well-written and informative review of a game that also imparts the feeling of enjoyment one had/has with this game.

[Jarred_450]

sweet review. I got it with ps+ but haven't started it yet

[Elliot]

Exceptional review of the game. It is nice to see such a well-written and informative review of a game that also imparts the feeling of enjoyment one had/has with this game.

Thanks very much! I'm definitely intending for these to become more regular - earlier this week, I did a review of Mercs 2, which you can find through my sig's link, if you're interested. I enjoy writing them so much, I might as well.

sweet review. I got it with ps+ but haven't started it yet

The number of things I have from PS+ that I haven't started... O_O

I'd recommend this over most PS+ content though.

[Lady Lilith]

Great review.

Most of the time, I don't play the free stuff I get from Plus, cause usually it isn't that great. However, I have deviated from this when the Simpsons Arcade game was released for free (along with Golden Axe, Altered Beast, PvZ, Streets of Rage 2, and the Sonic games), and was quite happy I did. I absolutely love beat 'em ups, and I immediately grabbed this when I heard it was a beat 'em up. Currently, I am saving this game for when I'm feeling down or out of it, because I know it will cheer me up, as it's my favorite genre. I only wish Shank 1 was released for free on Plus (or maybe it was back when I wasn't subscribed, in that case )

[DanielVT]

The moment where I fell in love with Shank 2 was surprisingly far into the campaign. The campaign, this is, that I didn't touch until after I had thoroughly destroyed the co-operative Survival mode of the game with my good friend BeautifulTorment, so when it happened, it surprised me immensely. There I was, playing through the penultimate level of the game on Hard mode (which I masochistically put myself through before playing Normal, but more on that later), and suddenly, in the middle of the level, it hits me.

I'm running about with two knives, a shotgun and a fucking chainsaw hacking the crap out of shirtless fat men that are trying to end me by belly flopping on me, all in this beautiful beach resort. A big, stupid grin covers my face and for the next ten minutes I'm smiling like some sinister lunatic whilst I brutally lay waste to swathes of enemies that dare to get in my way.

Then I die and the game sends me right back to the beginning of the level, after maybe 20 minutes of gameplay. This is a rather beautiful summary of Shank 2, particularly on Hard mode - moments of zen happiness and outrageous fun that are all-too-frequently interrupted by horrible, horrible checkpointing. You will be pleased to hear that the game gives you checkpoints on Normal mode, the only other difficulty level available in the game, but it seems like such an arbitrary and false way of increasing the difficulty. I've proved that I can get past the set-pieces alive up until the point that I die, so by all means send me back to the end of the last one with the same health I had after finishing it, but don't, after I've survived four instant death traps and about fifty enemies (all of which are surprisingly deadly), send me right back to the beginning of the damn level.

This is even worse in the final level, which got my blood boiling almost to the point of when I was attempting Gladiate on Fat Princess or Nimble Knight on Rocket Knight. I resorted to spamming shotgun attacks and the grab-chainsaw combo on the larger enemies, which got me through the level up to the point where the game thought it would be funny for an enemy to throw me once more into the insta-death trap. But I can safely say that, whilst I was angry to the point of shouting some very creative obscenities at the screen, I was still having fun.

The squishy blood-splatter when the enemy's bodies explode after that final shotgun blast to the face, their screams when being chainsawed in the gut, they were still entertaining. Perhaps even more so given quite how personally invested I was in seeing those bastards die. The game was still undeniably satisfying to sit there and fail at. That is why I love the game.

On Normal mode (which, if you aren't one for hunting 100%s on PSN titles, I recommend you stick to) the game transcends this frustration and becomes one of the best ways to pass two or three hours I have ever come across in my life. The core gameplay mechanics are unbelievably satisfying. There's no point dressing it up - it is fun. Rampaging through the game's eight levels slaughtering everybody and leaving a trail of corpses in your wake is fantastic. When I was playing through on Normal after Hard, the stupid grin was back, and this time it didn't go away until the conclusion.

Survival mode is also a welcome addition and a way to extend the life of the game beyond its admittedly brief campaign. It's a lot of fun with a friend, and the unlockable characters with different stats, the loadout choices and shop items add an element of strategy that helps it be more than just mindless slaughter. If you want to get to the end of Survival, you will have to be co-ordinated, skilled and efficient, and succeeding is immensely satisfying.

Artistically, the game is gorgeous. There has clearly been a lot of love poured into the 2D art and there are wonderful touches of detail scattered throughout the game. All the animation is smooth, and the entire experience is a visual treat. I am a sucker for good 2D art (see Rayman Origins for the shining beacon of "good 2D art") so this is right up my street. The only place it falls down is the cut-scenes, which bizarrely look worse than the game does in action - unfortunately, to keep the file size down, it seems that Klei Entertainment chose to pretty heavily compress the cut-scenes, and you can tell - there's pretty heavy artifacting on the video which is made more painfully obvious by the large, flat areas of colour, and everything looks very aliased. Also, as there doesn't seem to be a good place to mention this, I shall shoehorn it in here - the whole game must be pretty damn compressed because the loading times are pretty bad. Expect to sit for maybe 30 seconds whilst waiting for a level to load.

The sound design is adequate. The sound effects are all excellent, but I don't remember much about the music at all only a few days after last playing. It fits the mood of the game but it's not going to go down as a classic video game soundtrack any time soon. Besides, the sound design is not the reason you will play this game.

But, when it comes to it, I still love the game. Do I think it's good value for money at its £8 price point? Mostly. It's not a long game, and I guess that most people are unlikely to spend more than ten hours on Survival, though you've probably spent more on shorter games. Do I think that you should buy it regardless of its price point (or bother downloading it given it's free with PS+ right now)? Yes, I really, really do. You should play this game. You should get all your friends to play this game. It's flawed, clearly, but the reason I so passionately criticise the flaws it has is that it's so close to being perfect for what it is - a short, incredibly tight, polished, delightfully fun, ultraviolent animation showcase of a game. As an experience, it is one of the best I have had with any downloadable game.

It's content like this that makes me keep on gaming.

This sounds like a good game, but I absolutely HATE games with an awful checkpoint system .

[delfierro006]

This game has become one of my favorites and this is better than prequel.

[Elliot]

This game has become one of my favorites and this is better than prequel.

Goodness me, a post in one of my review threads! Marvellous, I'm glad you enjoyed the game. It's been I while now since I played the thing but I picked it up on Steam in one of the endless Indie game bundle things so I may well revisit it if I find the time.

 

Ah, if only any of us had the time to revisit things we've finished playing...