Shank is a 2-D side-scrolling beat-'em-up with minor platforming elements. The protagonist, simply known as Shank, fights his way through hundreds of enemies on his quest for revenge. There's three weapon types assigned to three buttons; knives for a light mêlée attack, heavy weapon, and gun. As you progress through the game, you unlock new heavy weapons and guns and these can be switched out using the D-pad. You are also able to carry up to five grenades. Shank can also grab or pounce on weaker enemies (the stronger ones will shrug him off though).
The animation in the game is absolutely superb, so chaining between the different types of attacks and weapons is fast, smooth, and incredibly gory. The pounce move was particularly impressive. Whilst you have an enemy pinned down, you can choose to shoot a different enemy before finishing your current one. There's also some particularly brutal moves you can perform in this state, such as ramming a grenade in their mouth, or strangling them with chains.
The game is challenging enough, but the frequent checkpoints on the default difficulty makes it feel just right. You have to be mindful of different enemies attack behaviour, and use the dodge liberally since it's easy to get surrounded or gunned from range.
Platforming sections break up the action, and it looks way more stylish than it is fun. Shank can climb vertical walls using his knives, wall run along billboards, and swing across posts. Most of these sections feel pretty automatic, but there's times when you plummet to your death but are unsure why.
There's quite a few bosses scattered throughout the game. You can often deal a fair amount of damage by giving them a few slashes then carefully dodging their attacks. However, each boss has a weakness where Shank will deal a large amount of damage if you press the grab button when prompted. If the boss kills you, the game provides you with a hint; which is a nice feature.
There's a Co-Op mode which apparently has a different campaign, so if you only intend to play single-player like me, you can only experience half of the game. The single-player campaign will be over after around 3 hours, but you don't really expect more than that for this type of game.
Fans of the beat-'em-up genre are in for a real treat with Shank. The great art design and animation means it's fantastic to look at, and the combat is smooth and brutal.