Shank is, and I mean this in just a cool a way as it sounds, Danny Trejo: The Game. Like the recently released Limbo, Shank is a perfect example of how downloadable games can be gorgeous looking and fun alternatives to their more expensive store released brothers.

Story
The story is something like The Crow crossed with Kill Bill on the set of Dusk Till Dawn. You play as Shank, the titular hero, who has been wronged by his previous employers and left for dead after they slaughtered and (it is implied) raped the shit out of his lady. The game starts you out seven years after the betrayal/rape/beating, with Shank kicking the living snot out of a bar full of scumbags, trying to track down the group who fucked him over. You then spend the rest of the game shooting, stabbing, and chainsawing your way to justice.
The story is nothing revolutionary, and some moments will have you laughing outright at the silliness of it all, but it makes for an amusing yarn. Any doubts as to whether the tongue is placed firmly enough in the cheek will leave you when you fight a certain boss who is decked out in S n’M gear and sends henchmen furries after you. It’s pulpy, trash, funny entertainment – and it works a treat.
Design

Shank shows Barney the "Finglas Cuddle"
One of the best things about Shank is the co-operative multiplayer option. Normally when predominantly single player games throw in a co-op mode it doesn’t actually bring anything new to the table, but newer releases like Splinter Cell: Conviction and now Shank are offering new storylines and narratives to the multiplayer element. Co-op mode takes the form of a prequel to Shank’s tale of vengeange. You team up with a dude named Falcone and bash, stab and bludgeon your way through waves of enemies. It’s slightly different to the single player mode in that you can do double takedowns, and you occasionally have to make tactical decisions about how to dole out weapons and health. A new storyline and bosses make this a very worthwhile addition, but players should be warned that co-op can only be played locally. This is great news for me, a firm believer that couch co-op is infinitely more fun and satisfying than the social black void of headset multiplayer, but it may irk some.
At certain points Shank reaches a near-biblical level of difficulty. Yep, the old-school difficulty curve can be hard to get used to for us modern day molly-coddled gamers, but you can rest assured that it never gets too difficult for too long – apart from one fiendishly hard boss on the co-op campaign, which took me and a buddy nearly 40 minutes to beat. Like its ancestors, Shank features some frustrations that will drive you completely round the bend – such as one level where it rains missiles at random for the entire duration. Thankfully, these wont mar your experience too much, and most are thankfully brief. While it has some hiccups, the game is well balanced enough so that Shank will always feel like the biggest bad ass in the world when you’re in control of him.
Gameplay

Shank is nothing if not ballsy
Shank is strictly 2-D, meaning you wont have to worry about much except moving forward and fighting dudes, with the odd platforming section thrown in. The combat works very well, for the most part. All of Shank’s hand drawn animations look beautiful and feel great to pull off. There has been some hubbub on message boards across the net about the animations taking a while to complete and leaving Shank vulnerable. Yes, this happens, but it’s not gamebreaking in the least, and the exact same thing features in a whole slew of games from Street Fighter to God of War with the intention of forcing the player to think outside the button mashing box and plan their attacks.
You collect a bunch of different weapons to compliment your namesake knives as you progress through the story, and you’ll definitely find a favourite amongst them. Certain weapons are needed for the odd occasion but for the most part they merely serve as more options to dispense with the waves of baddies coming towards you.

The second playable character, Falcone, looks the head off Danny Trejo. Awesome.
And murder them you will. Fuck their day up entirely you will. Annihalate the shit out of them YOU WILL! And by god is it fun. You have basic melee attacks, a heavy attack, and guns and grenades – but the best part is mixing all these together to create that ultimate bad-ass death combo. You can get by at the start fairly easily by mashing buttons, but soon you’ll have to mix up your ranged and close-up attacks carefully. This is great fun thanks to the interesting grapple and pounce mechanics, which feature more prominently than in other beat em ups. The pounce button enables you to pin smaller enemies, you can then stick them a couple of times to keep them compliant as you use your guns to keep more dangerous enemies at bay. Jesus how psychotic did that sound?
The enemies are varied enough and good craic to fight. There are definitely some that will drive you batty but this makes it all the more satisfying when you jack them up proper. Boss battles are well designed and fun, tasking you with staying alive until you figure out the right combination of moves or which weakness to exploit to win.
There is one very odd design choice in that the same button that is used for picking up health replenishing items and weapons also happens to be the main attack button. Oftentimes you’ll accidentally drink all your nourishing cervezas by accident in the heat of a boss battle, or steal some grenades or health that your second player desperately needs in co-op. This is a baffling and frustrating problem in an otherwise tight and responsive game.
Presentation

Only Shank can draw cocks with the blood spatter from his chainsaw.
Shank is absolutely stunning to look at, featuring a slick hand-drawn look that echoes Samurai Jack and the short lived Clerks: The Animated Series cartoon shows. The whole vibe is a wonderful super-polished old school. You get the names of the baddies you’re fighting á la Streets of Rage, which is a nice touch. Environments are nicely varied, making the game feel a lot bigger and deeper than it actually is, with Shank travelling everywhere from a speeding train to a seedy strip club to an old castle on his quest for vengeance.
The Music is great, once you get over the fact that it is heavily informed by the spanish guitar-led Mexicorchestral pieces that Robert Rodriguez has been featuring in his movies as far back as El Mariachi and Desperado. Voice works also fares well, falling just the right side of 80′s ridiculousness, with Shank himself being voiced by someone doing a pretty good Danny Trejo impression
I may have mentioned a lot of elements Shank has borrowed from, but it is one of the examples of video games taking from movies (that at least this time wasn’t fucking Aliens) where it really works and for this it should be applauded. It has enough of it’s own style and approach that it lands a good deal inside the lovely land of homage, instead of the festering clungepit of rip-off valley.
Overall
The single player campaign lasts about 4-5 hours, with about 3 hours to get through the co-op campaign. When you consider that this game might last you longer than a lot of action titles, then the asking price seems quite fair. As I said in my Limbo review, you’d also be supporting a new studio who have made something genuinely fresh instead of another Gears of War, Resident Evil or Call of Duty clone.
Klei Entertainment have created a fun and addictive old-school brawl em up, with visual flair in spades. Sure there are flaws, but if games like Prototype, The Force Unleashed and The Punisher taught us anything, it’s that a few minor flaws are easy to overlook when you give a player so many different ways to destroy someone – in style!
Danny Trejo for Taoiseach!!
Shank is available on XBLA for 1200 MS Points (14.40) or PSN for €12.99.