Eat Chainsaw Mother – Oops | Shank 2 Review

I’ve been having a bad day. The weather, as standard in England, is a medley of rain, wind and snow (?). There is little to no work left in the market and to make matters worse my unborn child is already taking a financial toll on my weary soul. Screw it, I say, let’s go stuff a chainsaw down someone’s throat until I we better. And it just so happens that cavity hunting with a chainsaw all the rage in Klei Entertainment’s Shank 2. Oh, and as it happens Shank 2 is available free to all PSN+ subscribers. Digital catharsis and easy on the coin purse, me like!

So now that we’re done with let’s dive into the meat of Shank 2, damn I’m hungry right now. It’s a 2D side scrolling murder spree where players take control of Shank; an Hispanic hit man built like a refrigerator with a head transplant that walks around skinning people alive with a pair of shivs all in the name of redemption. He’s also got a body count on his conscious the likes of which you would not believe. Making Shank nothing alike your average drinking buddy. In the first game Shank killed a lot of people in revenge for the rape and brutal murder of his pregnant girlfriend. He hasn’t gotten over it, so now he’s back to kill a lot more people and rescue the shattered fragments of his past. Cue eight levels of unrelenting massacre sequences only broken by comic art cut scenes and a lot of ‘try again’ screens.

Yes, this game gets difficult. Even frustrating at times, particularly with latter bosses who each represent a particular lesson learnt through subtext, it’s never directly laid out for you, during the level. Fail to pick up on it and you’ll spend the better part of twenty minutes pulling your hair out. For those of us who remember, Shank suffered from a chronic habit of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time and getting neutered as a result. The same face button assigned to healing was the standard attack button, dodging required the reflexes of a typhoon fighter pilot and combat often became a straight up cluster — you see where I’m going. It was good, but it was very frustrating. Skip forward to today and, mercifully, much of the issues have been rectified.

Now whether your re-sculpting the facial angles of your enemies or just stuffing a chainsaw through their taste buds you will not have to worry about getting done in by a dodgy set of controls. Each face button represents a different action such as weak, heavy and ranged attack that allows Shank to create long and devastating combos without much effort. Now lunging through the air and re-sculpting an enemies chest with your shanks is more invigorating than ever before. Then when you’ve had your fun you can finish the fray by taking a little bit off the top with your chainsaw.

Every weapon in the game is tailored to be more effective in slicing and dicing a particular foe, and since the days of switching weapons on the fly are behind us players will have to choose the most appropriate tools of dismemberment before the level begins. Should they get it wrong, they’ll learn soon enough. Along with the return of the trusty shotgun and chainsaw, which you’ll hate to leave behind, Shank will have a limited, but not necessarily small, arsenal of weapons to choose from. So if shoving a shotgun down a bloke/chick’s throat is still your chosen M.O then don’t fear, we’ve got you covered and then some. Which is handy considering the amount of murder you’ll be going for.

Every level consists of a series of ‘arenas’ which are broken up with some minor platform periods where collectibles lurk for those keener gamers out there. It’s a very simple and, if I am honest, repetitive recipe which serves up only minor thrills towards the end of it’ two to three hour life span. Sure the combat is eccentric, bordering on outright psychotic, and the combat boasts more combos than an early Tekken instalment but that in itself was nearly its undoing. This game was going to sink or swim on it’s combat, and with so many enemies on screen at once while having such a variety of combat options to choose from you’ll find yourself frantically switching from one fight style to the next in the desperate search for that one combo you should be using. After failing to find it you’ll realise two things, one; this game is in desperate need of a move list and two; you were stupid to waste that grenade earlier.

The action borders on the line of unfair but never quite goes there. The final two levels in particular are brutal and would require the skills of a finely tuned keyboard warrior to navigate with any semblance of grace but are by no means unbeatable to the average player, providing they’re willing to suffer checkpoint after checkpoint of failure. The good news is when you do finally get to the boss at the end of the level, and kill them, Shank always seems to know exactly what you’re thinking and ensures to deliver the most gruesome of demise possible.

Then when it all gets too much for one psycho to manage there is the new addition of online co-op. The name of the game, survive by any means necessary and protect your shit. Players can pick between a selection of character and a variety of weapon load outs, but the aim of the game is to slaughter enough fools to earn currency for power ups. These god sends can come in many standard and peculiar forms, like a mini gun or a rampaging pet boar — I call her Suey. While having online co-op is no doubt an improvement over its predecessor I can’t help but miss the enjoyment I felt when slashing through the prequel campaign with my buddy in the first game. Maybe I’m being greedy, but should Klei ever return to this mad house I hope they opt for both rather than just one.

Shank 2 doesn’t bring much fresh air to the formulae, but what was already there is a refined homage to the classic 2D masters of ages gone by. Think of it as Metal Slug with a lot more aggression and tequila. There’s plenty of quality in it, sure, but with the annoying set pieces — stupid boat — and the sheer number of people to kill will deliver a few hours of thrills before it eventually loses its charm. Would I have paid for it? Probably, but since it’s currently going for nil for all PSN plus members I didn’t have to worry about a price tag.

If you’d like to read more, why not read about what happened when my girlfriend and I fell in love … with Journey on PSN.