Shank

Shank is a beat 'em up scroller with a graphic comic style. The player controls a character named Shank. The game provides three main types of weapons: two homemade knives (the so-called sharpeners ), heavy hand weapons (chainsaws, machetes, chains and a katana) and firearms (a pair of pistols, a shotgun, mini-uzi ). Each type of weapon is tied to a controller button and can be used in special combinations. The player can collect grenades from dead opponents and pick up heavy firearms for a while.

Schenk can capture and throw enemies, he can also make a jump, followed by capture and finishing the enemy. Schenk also has acrobatic abilities: such as climbing walls, swinging on beams, running along billboards or other straight surfaces ^[5] . Enemies displayed on the screen have a health indicator shown in the upper right corner of the screen ^[6] .

Shank provides a cooperative campaign, which is a prequel to a single player campaign ^[4] . The cooperative allows you to play Schenk and his partner Falcon (Falcone) ^[7] . In this mode, players have to perform various tasks to achieve the goal, for example, killing bosses. Players can use special actions to jointly finish off opponents. It is also possible to resurrect a partner killed during the battle. You can only play co-op on one device (computer or set-top box).

The plot of Shank is told in two parts: cooperative and single player. Schenk goes from a regular mercenary to an avenger for the death of his girlfriend ^[8] .

Co-op

The cooperative begins with Schenk and Falcon leading the Kassandra strip club, which was captured by a gang of bikers. By their arrival, Cassandra was captured by the biker leaders. Schenk and Falcon chase and kill the first biker, the second was killed by Kassandra herself, the falsified mafia boss Caesar. The butcher was supposed to lose the battle, but his opponent did not dare to finish him off. Schenk and Falcon were ordered to teach the Butcher a lesson. ^[8]

Later, Caesar calls Schenk and Falcon and asks them to go against the priest and members of his community. After killing several SWAT members, they manage to capture the priest and deliver him to Caesar and Father Angelo. After the conversation, Angelo shoots the priest in the face, to Schenk's displeasure. Then Falcon calls Schenk and gives him a new task: to kill the deputy mayor ^[8] . Schenk and Falcon kill the last bodyguard and are about to kill the mayor and take Eve hostage. Schenk suddenly began to doubt and did not pull the trigger. When Caesar's assistant Rudi, kills the assistant mayor and threatens to kill Eve. Schenk kills him, and then leaves with Eve. Then the voice of Caesar orders the mercenaries to find and kill him ^[8] .

Solo Campaign

The single player campaign starts with Shank entering the bar and seeing a poster announcing the Butcher’s battle. The flashback shows that the Butcher is involved in the death of Eve, Shank's girlfriend. The bartender recognizes Shank, and stabbing begins in the bar. After the bar, Shank makes his way to the arena of the fighters, where the Butcher should be, while the bartender informs Caesar (the former boss of Shank) that Shank is back ^[8] . Shank reaches the arena and kills the Butcher, but it turns out that a copycat was playing in the arena, as the dead fighter does not have the same tattoo as the real Butcher. He learns that the Butcher is in another city and goes there by train ^[8] .

After a train ride, Shank arrives at the meat factory, the Butcher's hideout. Shank's recollection reveals that the butcher killed Eve. He taunts Shank, claiming that he enjoyed every second of her death. Shank defeats the Butcher by hanging it on a chain. Then he makes his way to the star dust strip club owned by Kassandra. Shank meets her, and Shank’s memory is revealed, in which Cassandra was going to kill Eve with her katana, but Shank stopped her by hitting her in the face with a machete and leaving a monstrous scar on his right side ^[8] . Cassandra attacks Shank with a katana. Shank kills Cassandra with a headshot and leaves the club. In a nearby bar, he encounters a man from the Van Brigade, Mellow, who has information. The player learns through another memory that Shank used to be part of a gang run by a man named Caesar. Shank was Caesar's best hit man. He ordered Shank to kill Eve as a test of devotion, but when he refused, Caesar ordered his leaders to track down and kill both of them ^[8] . His former friend takes him to the club "69" and calls by phone to "call the elder." After that, the door opens sharply and a boss appears in it in a latex suit of a sado-masochist. Shank's former colleague runs away at the open door. Shank defeats the boss and finishes him with chains, which he pulled from his nipples, thereby opening a new weapon.

Shank later chases his former colleague to track down the evil Father Angelo. Soon he catches up with Mello, cuts off his left hand and orders him to tell Angelo that he will come. Shank follows the trail of blood left by the bandit, which leads to the church. At this time, his former friend had already managed to run to Angelo and inform him of the arrival, thereby making it possible to prepare for the battle. Another recollection is shown in the church, which shows that Angelo set fire to Shank’s house, ensuring that Eva’s inability to save ^[8] . Shank enters a confessional booth in which Angelo with a pistol is already in another cell. Shank asks the priest for forgiveness for his sins, breaks through the confessional booth and rushes to Angelo. Angelo manages to escape. While Shank makes his way through the church, Angelo shells him from the belfry of a rocket launcher. Shank reaches the bell tower and in hand-to-hand combat, having knocked out the installation from Angelo, defeats him, but Angelo reaches out to the installation through force and launches a rocket causing the church bell to fall on Shank, depriving him of consciousness. Shank wakes up tied to an electric chair, face to face with Angelo in an unknown place. Caesar emerges from the shadows telling Shank that he was his worst mistake. After Caesar leaves, Shank is freed, then binds Angelo and electrocuted him ^[8] .

Shank follows Caesar into his villa, where the decisive battle begins. During their battle, more of Shank’s past is revealed. Shank says he would obey the order to kill Eve if she had not been pregnant from him. Shank says family is more important to him than a loyalty test ^[8] . Caesar replies that the criminal cartel is his family and that, even if he knew this, things would not go differently anyway. Caesar stabs Shank and shoots him in the chest repeatedly. Despite this, Schenk finds the strength to kill Caesar. At the end of the game, Schenk goes into the sunset, realizing that he has carried out his revenge ^[8] .

Shank was announced at the Penny Arcade Expo 2009. ^[9] On March 4, 2010, Klei Entertainment signed a contract with Electronic Arts and decided on which platforms the game will be released. ^[10] The game was featured in 2010 at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco , where features such as interaction with the environment and new types of enemies, such as fighting dogs, were introduced. The ability to throw enemies into natural traps was also shown. ^{[5] [11]} The game was also presented at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles . ^[12] The game was released on August 24, 2010 on the PlayStation 3 , August 25 on the Xbox 360, and October 26 on Microsoft Windows . ^[13] Game CEO Cheng said the game was “an ode to Double Dragon with a“ Tarantine film experience. ” ^[14]

The characters were first drawn on paper and later transferred to a computer. Creative Director Jeff Agala was responsible for the initial character design. ^[15] Artist Megan Shaw was responsible for the level design concept. ^[6]

Shank development began in January 2009, shortly after the closure of Klei's previous publisher. ^[6] The original idea of ​​the game belongs to CEO Jamie Cheng and creative director Jeff Agale. ^[6] Most of the character animation was done by artist Aaron Bouthillier. ^[6]

The light in the game is also dynamic, the characters get darker when they move away from light sources or appear like shadows against the setting sun. ^[6] The graphic style was influenced by golden age comics, cartoons, and graphic novels. ^[6]

On August 5, 2010, Klei Entertainment announced that they would provide an opportunity to download the original game soundtrack from the official website if 1,500 people join their Facebook community. They reached their goal in three hours. Then the full soundtrack was provided for free download. ^{[16] [17]} Co-author of the God of War series wrote the end of a revenge story. Shank. ^[18] Schenk skin is available for the main character of DeathSpank . ^[nineteen]

Shank received mixed reviews from critics, but the overall impression was positive. The PlayStation 3 version scored 76.94% on Game Rankings , while the PC version scored 68.11%, and the Xbox 360 version 75.50%. ^{[49] [50] [51]} Metacritic has similar ratings: the PlayStation 3 version has an average of 75/100, the PC version 74/100, and the Xbox 360 version have an average of 71/100. ^{[53] [54] [55]}

In August 2010, 41,000 copies were sold for the Xbox 360. ^{[57] [58]} The game also remains in the TOP 20 games on the Xbox Live Arcade for September 2010. ^[59]

All critics are united in praising the graphic style. ^{[20] [40] [29] [20]}

While some critics praised the control and feedback scheme, others experienced problems. Scott Sharkey from 1UP.com praised the management, saying that there was “a quick response even when an absurd amount of rendered actions took place with love.” ^[20] The GameSpot reviewer, on the contrary, criticized the management, noting that it was somewhat inconsistent and sometimes did not respond. ^[29] The same opinion was at GamesRadar . ^[27] Arthur Gies of IGN criticized a short three-hour campaign. ^[33] The GameTrailer review likened the game to a series of the cartoon, calling it “a short season, [...] which can be completed in one sitting.” ^[30]

The sequel, Shank 2 , was announced on September 27, 2011 and released on February 7, 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows , and February 8, 2012 for the Xbox 360 . Shank 2 includes a multiplayer survival mode, updated battle mechanics and new weapons. In particular, you can pick up various weapons from defeated enemies like a frying pan or baseball bat, which the character holds until damage is received. “All we did was destroy the game and do it again to get more responsive controls and better graphics,” said Klei Entertainment spokesman Jamie Cheng. “We broke the battle system and re-created it ... and added controls to use opponents and their weapons against themselves” ^[60] .

Comments

Sources

• shankgame.com - Shank official site