SEATTLE -- That one guy is totally about to shank the other guy. In the face. It's not going to be pretty. Well, actually, it's going to be very pretty.
Shank, the upcoming new game from Eets developer Klei Entertainment, is very early in development, but it has a pretty big presence here at PAX anyway. And why shouldn't it: It's a promising game that blends Saturday morning cartoon animation with gratuitous melee violence and classic gameplay. Perfect for this crowd: If you didn't know better, you'd think it was designed by the Penny Arcade crew themselves.
*Shank *takes some of its gameplay cues from the side-scrolling beat-em-ups of the past; you won't be surprised to hear that you walk to the right and pound on everything that's not part of the background. Or that all of these things have cute names that show up above their life bars. What you'll be surprised with is the smoothness of the gameplay. By pressing the various attack buttons in whichever sequence you dream up, the main character will begin a smooth, free-flowing combo attack that incorporates everything he's carrying, from knives to chainsaws to guns.
You can also grapple with enemies and certain objects. Pressing the L trigger will cause a situation like the above, where Shank leaps into the air and attempts to land on an enemy and stab him brutally in the eyeballs. (For the record, it's not going to work in this particular situation -- you've got to puzzle out another way to beat Toro here.)
Pressing the R trigger brings up one of those *Double Dragon *situations in which he'll grab an opponent's hair, holding them in place for another beatdown.
Your enemies aren't just punching bags, though. During my demo they attacked me pretty relentlessly, so you can't just mindlessly slam on buttons -- you have to watch out for them, and attack when the moment is right.
Shank's animation, both in the cut scenes and the game levels, is absolutely gorgeous. If the full game, which promises a more varied set of levels (it's not just set in the Old West as we saw in the demo), can keep up this level of excitement, this will be a treat for owners of the... of the...
...well, this is what the demo unit looked like. What could be in there? Klei hasn't announced a platform for the game yet, so you'll just have to wonder which of those three controllers I used to play the demo.
Screenshot courtesy Klei, photo: Chris Kohler/Wired.com
