Punisher

If you like over the top violence, or if you’re just not quite right
in the head you will enjoy The Punisher. With the two principal gore settings
being either “Off” or “Extreme”, that should clue you
in as to how violent the game is. And find a nice, cozy spot on the National
Institute on Media and the Family’s list as one of, if not the most violent
video game to date (eat your heart out Doom 3). Just in case you are wondering,
no, the game does not follow the movie of the same name that was released last
year, and instead follows its own storyline that adheres more to the gritty
comic series by including cameos of some of the heroes and villains within that
comic universe. With a storyline penned by Garth Ennis it is a game as authentic
as reading one of the comic’s itself.

You play as Frank Castle, your normal, everyday vigilante bad-*** who has a
score to settle with the people that killed his family. Not content to rest
on his laurels and wait for the law to serve justice, Castle takes it upon himself
to brandish his own form of “punishment” to those he deems necessary
or to those that just have the misfortune of getting in his way, and he has
his gun sights firmly set on the seedy underworld. You will have access to a
formidable arsenal to help you accomplish this goal. Everything from pistols
to flame throwers will be at your disposal throughout the game. Each weapon
has its own special kill that you can employ that earns you style points. Style
points are awarded for various reasons; pulling off special kills, using the
environment to kill enemies, or even conducting a successful interrogation that
yields valuable information earn you points. You can capture and interrogate
anyone, and depending on who that person is you may in the process unlock special
flashback sequences from the actual comic series that you can later browse and
view at your convenience. This should prove quite a challenge for the completionist
gamer who must have everything unlocked to consider the game “beat.”

Marked throughout the game with a white skull are special interrogation spots
that double as special “punishment” spots that use the environment
to potential kill your suspect. At these locations, after you successfully get
a bad guy to confess to you, you are faced with the decision of either letting
him live or executing him at that interrogation spot in whatever insidious way
the spot is set up to be (shoving him face first into a fireplace, shooting
him repeatedly in the head with a nail gun, you get the idea). It appears Frank
does not come without his morals since once a bad guy confesses and you decide
to “punish” said bad guy at that interrogation spot you take the
risk of sacrificing precious style points. Whereas if you let him live and simply
execute him in a quick kill fashion you actually gain points. It is a little
disappointing for a game that boasts being able to kill your enemies in the
most gruesome fashion possible that you end up getting penalized for actually
taking advantage of these special kill spots. While the quick kills are not
nearly as entertaining as the interrogation special kills they are diverse enough
(depending on which weapon you are currently holding) to take interest. Luckily
enough, sprinkled throughout the game as well there are certain spots in a level
marked with a gold skull (not often enough however) that will allow you to kill
your victim in a special way without interrogating him, and you will actually
earn bonus style points when you take advantage of these areas in the game.

I must admit it is fun to ram a drill press through a guy’s skull, or
shove some chump face first into an oven and watch him squirm, but after the
first time through these sadistic pleasures tend to get gimmicky and you will
find yourself playing instead to see how many style points you can earn. Style
points are important for two reasons: they enable you to purchase a number of
upgrades for Frank such as body armor, accuracy, ammo capacity, etc., as well
as determining what medal you are awarded at the end of a level. Depending on
the difficulty setting you will be awarded one of three medals ranging in order
from bronze, silver and gold. Being awarded a medal is dependent on how many
style points you were able to rack up through each level since each medal has
a certain amount of style points associated with it. Bronze being the easiest
to earn and gold being the toughest. So passing a level does not necessarily
mean you will earn a medal which is where the importance of style points again
comes in to play.

To make comparisons to another third person shooter out there this game plays
and controls a lot like Max Payne…but on steroids and with a hell of a
lot more attitude. Max Payne utilized the now almost ubiquitous-in-this-genre
bullet-time feature and the same is somewhat true with The Punisher. Aptly named
“Slaughter Mode” this is a mode where time slows down a bit and
Frank Castle becomes invincible for a short period of time and can rampage through
a level impervious to enemy gunfire. In this mode you cannot use a gun or rifle
but instead get up close and personal with your enemies with some devastating
and downright nasty knife executions. You really just have to witness them to
get the full effect. Words cannot fully convey the feeling of seeing two twelve
inch combat knives being shoved up through some guy’s neck and hear him
gurgle as you toss him aside like a limp noodle. I should mention at this point
that this is not a game the whole family should gather around the TV for. On
a final not so important note the game does support the Xbox Live Aware feature
only, enabling you to be signed in on Live and receive invites, as well as advertising
to all those on your friends list what game you are currently playing.

The world of The Punisher serves its purpose. The game uses a mix of CG and
in-game cut scenes to push the story and guide you along the Punisher’s
path relying more so on the latter form to retell his tale. The graphics are
not stellar, and you will rarely be in a state of awe, but what it does do it
does right. Heads explode, bullets leave individual holes and limbs are severed.
The game utilizes the Havok physics engine and to great effect (strictly speaking
for the character models). Bodies slump realistically after taking a bullet
to the head or fly backwards when taking a shot gun blast point blank to the
chest. Other objects can be moved or manipulated in the world but with little
or no effect on gameplay; more like if you bump into a chair it will fall, etc.
But it never gets old running through a level watching rag doll physics take
place.

The Punisher himself is very well rendered (as he should be being the main
character, right?), but most of the bad guys you run into throughout each level
will leave you feeling a sense of déjà vu (didn‘t I just
kill this guy two rooms back?), often relying on the same generic character
models and clothes as to make them feel like clones instead of individual baddies
who deserve hollow point justice, but then this game was never about individualism,
it’s about f—ing killing low life’s in the most violent way possible!

View
all Punisher Screenshots for Xbox in the Gallery

The aural atmosphere consists mostly of the staccato of gunfire interspersed
with the screams of dying men crying out in sheer agony. Each gun has its own
unique sound accompanying its outburst of hot lead. Tom Jane reprises his role
as the voice of the Punisher and lends that extra bit of believability and credence
to this dark character. The supporting voice actors provide a solid performance
with their characters mainly being the boss characters. And each thug you interrogate
will either whimper in fear or tell you to screw off convincingly enough. All
this takes place in beautiful 5.1 Dolby Digital® surround for those who
have a home theater system. The script is not for the faint of heart as it does
employ some rather colorful language throughout the entire game which definitely
earns it the “Mature” rating, if not for the ghastly ways in which
to kill people. Parents, you have been warned.

There are a ton of goodies to unlock such as concept art for the game and a
lot of cover art from the actual issues of the comic series, as well as movies
and cheats, not to mention there is the task of earning each of the three medals
for each level. And then there are specific special level challenges such as
getting through an entire level without picking up a weapon, or getting through
a level within a certain amount of time and killing a certain amount of enemies,
or not having an enemy fire a single shot for the entire level! These challenges
sound extraordinary and indeed they are given the nature of the game, so there
is a hefty dose of replay value here if you choose to accept the challenges
depending on your tolerance to go back through and play each level again.

There are sixteen levels in all and it should not take more than ten hours
to complete the game on “Easy.” Those interested in checking it
out can easily beat it with a weekend’s rental. The game is fun, don’t
get me wrong, but the core game play mechanic of just running around shooting
people coupled with the special kill moves that can start to feel gimmicky after
your second or third time through might ruin the appeal for most. But if you
are anal about completing the game with every mode then there is plenty of replay
value here for you.

Overall Score: 7.5/10 [not an average]

I honestly really had a lot of fun playing this game, and I am still playing
it now going back through trying to get each medal. Sure, it may appear to be
a Max Payne clone, and the violence is sure to make waves with your local senator
but damn, killing in a game was never so much fun!

• Official Punisher Site
• The
  Punisher Screenshots
• The Punisher Cheats
  and Hints
• Buy
  from EB Games
• Buy
  from Amazon.com

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