Shank
Review
An artificial means to mass slaughter
by Chris Priestman
reviewed on X360
“Did He Fire Six Shots Or Only Five?”
If you ever played any brawlers around the time when they were popular in the arcades, you will know they brought on suffering due to stiff controls. This was certainly a frustrating issue but gave players the challenge of mastering a handicapped game. Since then technology has advanced, and it shows when comparing Shank to those classic titles. Shank is by far the smoothest brawler I have ever played due to its fast frame rate processor. The fighting looks absolutely amazing and better yet, the stiffness of Shank’s predecessors has vanished. The controls are superbly handled and allow for impressive combos. There are three buttons for combat: one for guns, one for your shanks and another for your heavier melee weapons such as the chainsaw. Fortunately, all of these are balanced well so you won’t just be hammering one button.
As a modern title, Shank has some tricks up its sleeve. While running up to an enemy Shank can leap into the air and pounce down onto them, finishing them off with a nasty combination of punches and blades. You can also throw grenades, which at times become essential when dealing with the larger groups of enemies. Furthermore, you can grapple an enemy and perform a variety of throws and holds, or you can shove a live grenade down their throat for an explosive finish. You will encounter heavier weapons such as the minigun and flamethrower that cause extreme mayhem for limited periods of time and prevent combat from becoming too stale. With all the choice of tools to serve a human roast with, the only real worry is whether the game is made too easy.
Is That All You Got?
It is fair to say that if you are a master of the brawler then this game will not be much of a challenge, at least not on normal difficulty. The game manages to operate between the fine lines of being somewhat challenging and enjoyable at the same time. As the fighting controls are so easy to use and pulling off combos that result in mass genocide is regular practice, the majority of enemies are simply fodder. For a large part of the game, you will not encounter a decent challenge until you step toe-to-toe with one of the assassins on your to-kill list.
The boss battles in the game are actually very well executed and do well to vary the game play. The bosses are spread throughout the game well and each environment they are located in is unique, providing each boss with their own atmosphere. Although, the battles are all quite different the bosses are actually quite similar in their patterns of attack. They flash before they attack you, giving you time to either block or dodge. Bosses also have a weakness you must find and exploit to defeat them. This is usually not that obvious and will be related to something in the environment or in their attack pattern. Holding back the frustration of repeating a battle over and over is a difficult but essential practice, and although it is sure to bring out complaints from some players, it is a core part of the genre. Utilizing patience and a levelheaded temper will allow you to analyze your opponent and the surroundings and the method will become obvious.
7.5
fun score
Pros
Smooth, sophisticated and very fun to play, retro and modern is finely balanced.
Cons
Monotonous in long sittings, if played for too long you may turn into a braindead zombie.
