• Summary: Shank 2 returns with a story of redemption as Shank, a former mob hitman with a dark and vengeful past, is thrust back into action when the lives of those close to him are endangered. Expanding on the original game’s rich and intuitive combat and control system, Shank 2 continues Klei's tradition of making fluid brawling controls and stunningly beautiful visuals that leapfrogs the competition in the 2D side-scrolling genre. The game also introduces an intense new, arcade-style survival co-op mode that has gamers working together to take down their foes, relying on the environment and weapon pick-ups for survival. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 11
  2. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Feb 6, 2012
    85
    It's a more responsive, faster action title that does away with the damning side of its dazzling animation. This is a smooth brawler with gorgeous spectacle, and its dedication to nailing its second chance makes it one of the best action games in recent memory.
  2. Feb 19, 2012
    71
    Quotation forthcoming.
  3. Mar 21, 2012
    71
    At $10, Shank 2's hardly a regrettable purchase. Just a largely forgettable one. [May 2012, p.71]

See all 11 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. I didn't played the first Shank game, so I don't know in which ways the sequel differs. A trailer shows us a bloodbath action gameplay and everything seems so awesome, but after you play a few chapters it becomes a very boring, repetitive game. There is small variety of weapons, only three in each category, but the good thing is that every weapon has it's unique combination of hits and finishing moves, so you can choose what you like the most. As for enemies, there are few kinds, they use melee and ranged weapons, also there are "gorillas" - that's how I call these big guys, which are harder to kill. In some point you will have to use a minigun turret to kill incoming enemy and some other things to do, which I don't want to spoil. And the gameplay is based on the story, so it's not just a hit'n'smash game. Graphics are really nice, especially when you slice enemy with chainsaw or do counter-attack. But there is one problem with mouse cursor, somehow it won't disappear to some players and is visible in game, so I think there will be a patch to fix this. Despite that, it's not that bad game, which have a big potential, but in current time it lacks variety of gameplay and length of it. But worth the time to play it. Expand
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  2. Hmm....well, the animation IS worth a glimpse, if only to witness the variations in the characters at the outset. Honestly, if you play the first 20 minutes of the game, you're pretty much done on the mechanics at large. The rest of the game is an amalgamation of all the concepts and challenges developed in the first level or two. The combat is flashy...but not substantial. I would love to see a 2-d arkham asylum/city combat system translated, and i felt as if the developers wanted shank to be that kind of engaging action. As it stands, its a decent, if underwhelming experience. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. Shank 1 was a visually stunning 2D beat'em up (not really platformer), with average controls (on PC), bearable difficulty, but a lot of fun, over-the-top (violent) action, and a scenario that was pretty much the one of Kill Bill. Shank 2 is still visually stunning, still offers great over-the-top action, and still has a pointless scenario (but that's not important). What it changes are the controls & difficulty, but only to make them worse. Shank 1 required too many keys (half of them being unnecessary), and it's even more broken in Shank 2. But it's in the difficulty that it gets very bad. While the game is slightly more difficult & more frustrating during the "normal" parts, the bosses are unnecessarily hard, very hard, and unlike in Shank 1, require no specific strategy, they're just hard, like in a japanese schmup. If you easily throw your monitor through the window, skip this game, you probably won't see more than 1 or 2 levels of it, and it will be better for your health. If however you enjoy dying a hundred times in a row & replaying the same thing the whole day, then go ahead. It has an online survival mode but to be honnest I haven't been able to find anyone playing it. Expand
    • 0 of 3 users said yes

See all 8 User Reviews