If you just watched the above video of Shank 2 in action — or read our earlier preview — you have a good sense of what to expect: an ultraviolent slaughterfest with stylish cel-shaded visuals, much like its beloved predecessor. Our recent hands-on session didn’t involve pummeling goons with dead fish or bullet-juggling them the way the video shows, but it sure left us satisfied.

We jumped in at the start of the single-player campaign, where cutscenes depict Shank returning home after his adventures in the first game. Trouble’s waiting for him: his hometown’s been overrun by a ruthless militia, and it’s time to kick some more ass. Brutally. Within minutes of entering this first area, we’d slashed, shot, and chainsawed what felt like a couple of dozen foes. The controls feel super-smooth, whether you’re hacking someone in half with a machete or pouncing on them from across the screen, and the animations are wonderfully fluid. 

If you played the first Shank, you’ll notice that you can now fire weapons in more of a 360-degree arc, rather than a few fixed directions. In another change, we’re told that bosses (we didn’t actually fight one) are now beaten using standard game mechanics — e.g., shooting/stabbing/grenading — rather than gameplay-diverging methods (such as blocking) that annoyed some Shank fans. 

Unfortunately, there’s no separate co-op campaign this time around, but what’s replaced it — a co-op–able survival mode — seems like a fair tradeoff. We tried the first of three maps, “Down on the Farm,” where baddies rush you in increasingly large waves; your job is to kill them before they can set off bombs in different parts of the screen. With two of us playing, we divvied up duties: one of us disarmed any bombs enemies managed to set, while the other focused purely on massacring the opposition. Need help with that? You can call up an in-game store at any time with the Back button, letting you buy handy items like a health drink, a machinegun turret, or a boar that’ll ram people.

Our favorite part, though, was the grinder at the bottom-center of the map. Open the doors above it so enemies fall to their doom, or shotgun hapless foes into its hungry jaws — either way, the result is gleefully gory. It’s good, wholesome fun for everyone!

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PUBLISHER: EA  •  DEVELOPER: Klei Entertainment  •  MULTIPLAYER: Two-player local or Xbox Live (Survival mode only)  •  RELEASE DATE: February 8  •  FOR FANS OF: Carnage-riddle bloodbaths, fast action