There were plenty of games on display at EA’s showcase event all vying for the GameXplain crew’s attention. Lucky for indie developer, Klei Entertainment, that its upcoming title had so much positive buzz following its showings at both PAX East and E3 of this year. Naturally -- as this game had somehow passed most of us by -- Andre and I made it a point to play through the co-op demo on display several times so we could get a feel for the title.

It’s with all that in mind that I welcome you all to “My Dinner With Andre - Shank Edition.”

Andre
Exactly one thing stands out about Shank upon first sight: it’s a fantastic looking game. Running at a butter-smooth 60 frames-per-second, much of the animation features exquisitely hand drawn art that really brings the characters to life (the keyframes are all the real deal, with only some of the in betweens using Flash-style “cheats” to fill in the gaps).

However, while Shank is a great looking game, it’s not necessarily a great playing game. That’s not to say it’s bad by any means, but merely that it’s simply an adequate framework on which the fantastic visuals are hinged.

The controls, oddly, felt responsive, but imprecise. The close-quarters combat was fine, but the game felt a bit sloppy when it came to the gun play. For example, during one of the co-op campaign’s boss battles, he lifts an explosive barrel above his head, forcing us to aim upward in order to detonate it. The only problem was that there’s no clear indicator of the path your bullets are taking, make it difficult to discern whether they’re actually connecting with the desired object or not.

On the upside, the co-op in general works pretty well, providing plenty for both players to do at pretty much all times. The aforementioned boss battle, in particular, demands teamwork in order to fire enough bullets to detonate the explosive barrel to stun him, at which point both players must grapple him together in order to inflict massive damage, crab style.

All in all, Shank if a great looking, but otherwise average beat ‘em up, based on my time with it. The addition of shooting mechanics is a nice touch, but lack the precision I would have liked to see. I am happy that an entire campaign has been designed with co-op in mind, with a particular emphasis on teamwork during boss battles--and luckily for my teammate, team-shanking is not allowed.

We’ll see whether the mechanics are at all tightened when it releases on August 24th. Your thoughts Micah?

Micah
I honestly thought I would love this game. The art style is incredible. The animations are fantastic. The mixture of knives, guns, and chainsaws seemed to be right up my alley. It’s too bad that these disparate elements just don’t really seem to come together to make for all that compelling of a game.

Sure, there was only one co-op level on display, and the reps on hand were quick to note that the final levels might be considerably different than the one we were shown. Nevertheless, even with that in mind, there just doesn’t seem to be all that much to Shank that could make it worthy of a purchase over similar classic titles like Gunstar Heroes or any Contra game for that matter.

I agree with Andre that the game is never actively bad. I would never raise that complaint. Rather, there is something fairly dull about the title. I played through the demo a few times; and every time through I found myself wondering what the point was besides being able to write this preview.

The melee combat is ok, despite being pretty simple and straightforward. There is only one attack button, and players can string together combos by pressing it at varying frequencies. Players also have a grab move available, as well as a leaping attack. None of this felt all that important though, as most people I saw playing the game just mashed the attack button when they were up close.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t even the area of the game in which I was disappointed. Rather, I expected better implementation of the shooting elements, and that’s the main area where Shank fell short. It was often hard to aim your gun at specific enemies, and players had to instead opt for a rapid-fire approach to shooting. Spray an area with bullets and hope that some of them did their job.

Since shooting is such a core element of the game (despite what the game’s title would lead you to believe), it was a big letdown to me that the mechanic felt so unrefined. During the boss fight we saw, players were asked to target a barrel held above the enemy’s head. That was easier said than done though, as I basically found myself hoping that the game realized where I wanted to aim because there was no way I was going to be able to pull it off manually.

The co-operative elements of this mode seemed fairly downplayed. Players could throw enemies towards each other to help chain combos, jump off of each other’s heads, and revive a fallen ally. these seemed to be the only co-operative-centric elements in the game, and they really didn’t offer that much in the way of actual co-operation.

Now, I don’t mean to sound totally down on this game. It’s not like it is a bad title by any means. Still, it seems that the vast majority of the positive hype I had been hearing these past few months was based off the superb visuals and not the somewhat lacking gameplay. This is still a fine achievement from Klei Entertainment, and my hat goes off to them. Getting Electronic Arts to publish their downloadable, indie game must have felt like a huge accomplishment, and no amount of quibbling over the details of the game can take that away from them. I just hope their next title can find a way to marry their fantastic visual sense with some tighter, more robust gameplay.