The Punisher

I have not read an awful lot of the comics, really only a little of the Ennis run. Since this, just like the movie that it is connected to(if the relationship is a tad inconsistent... this happens after it, but also sort of during it), is based upon one of his runs, that being the series 'Welcome Back, Frank', I can tell you that it gets a ton out of the source material, and hits the tone for that version of Mr. Castle spot-on. Thomas Jane does the voice, and won't let down anyone who liked how he did in the film. The acting tends to be great, almost exclusively, and only one or two characters are miscast. Lines and dialog is somewhat mixed, with the majority being good, there being a bunch of juvenile ones, and several utterly *golden* ones. In general, audio is a high point, and everything sounds the way it should. This is impeccably well-scored, the music being a balanced mix between epic instrumental pieces and bad-ass tracks. All of the design is well-done. Nearly everything looks exactly right. The graphics are excellent. Most of the cut-scenes are in-engine, and the NPC's in these scripted sequences are immensely detailed and expressive. The rest are fully animated cinematics, and like the action, they are pure awesomeness. That brings me to the game-play. One of the problems with adapting something that's existed and been altered over decades is that one cannot include all of the different variants. Stealth is pretty much out of the question in this VG. Instead, this goes for an arcade-like style, with linear(albeit well-done, interesting, at times memorable and with reasonably varied objectives; also, while you can't save, it does so automatically every time you complete a section) levels(a dozen or one and a half total), and you taking on the role of a one-man army(I don't know if that's how he is usually portrayed). It's non-stop entertainment, that's for sure. The arsenal is really cool, and no two guns are overly alike, plus, you can dual-wield next to all of them, by picking up another one. You can only carry one set of primary, and one of secondary, firearms at a time, so you have to be strategic about what you use. For example, consider, can you keep finding ammo for what you have or not? You rack up points by switching around how you kill, as well as not getting hit yourself. There is freedom in how you take opponents out, including Quick Kills, that arguably take a little too long(since they prevent you from doing anything else during, and you are extremely vulnerable), if they do only last seconds. You can also activate Slaughter mode(its gauge determines how long you can use it, and you fill that by wasting enough baddies), where you're temporarily invincible, can throw knives and earn some health back. Then there is the possibility of taking a human shield, that makes you harder to hit as a target. In extension of that, you can Interrogate anyone you grab, and the system for it is well-done. You have to pressure the person, without pushing too hard, since you risk them dying as a result. There is a bar that you can fill, and you have to keep it in the orange portion for three full seconds, while it goes up while you are threatening them, and down when you stop. There are four kinds that you can do anywhere, and numerous location-specific ones, and it is very fun. You may get a Flashback from it, too, and there are clearly marked guys that you'll definitely want to get to spill the beans. After beating a mission, you can try its Challenge(if it has one, and close to all of them do). You replay part of what you've already finished, with a rule or similar that you have to live up to, and they are unique from each other, with few exceptions. Finally, there is Punishment, that can be compared to the Dead Man Walking bit of Max Payne 2, and same as it is in that game, it is in place of multi-player(really, how would you do MP in either of them?). Essentially, foes continually spawn, and you are to stay alive and going for a high score. You do have a set goal, and reaching it will unlock nifty stuff, namely covers and concept art. Replayability value is limited. It is, however, worthwhile to go back to earlier spots and try out later-gotten weapons. The plot isn't bad, it's well-told, it allows for guests and cameos from the Marvel universe as well as references to it, and you get to fight groups and enemies(in the form of bosses, though they are typically defeated simply by repeated blasting and/or head-shots) that are familiar and yet not dull. They are all well-chosen, and fit the fairly realistic approach this takes. The story does maybe overreach, in order to tie everything together, and it might have benefited from splitting it up in chapters that didn't relate to one another. AI is magnificent, taking cover, running away when reloading and the like. On a couple of occasions, you have allies/people to protect, and they seldom get in your way or annoy you. The bullet dynamics and rag-doll physics are well-done. Now, it's well-known, I hope, that licensed games suck. They do. It's rare that they don't. Apart from that, this was rushed, to come out when the flick did. You can tell; they took shortcuts. There are bugs and glitches(not big ones). With that said, this is a solid production, and it delivers all that it promises. There is strong language in this, and it's largely gratuitous. This also has disturbing content, and brutal, bloody violence and gore. There is no sexuality or nudity, apart from a tiny amount of spoken. I recommend this to any fan of the vigilante, this kind of gaming experience and of dark, bleak, gritty criminal-murdering. 7/10

The Punisher movie was incredible, and the game stands by the film perfectly with Great Graphics, Great Storyline, Insane Gameplay, Fantastic Music, and content that expands from the movie making this game a must play in general.

The game starts off showing the punisher doing what he does best, killing lots and lots of people in some pretty cruel ways, but that's what makes him so awesome. If you don't already know this, the punisher is a BAD ASS, he goes around and kills people that break the law, yeah! He is caught and then put in jail and interviewed by a man and a woman, they make him explain all the events that led up to that night, and as he explains, you play the missions he is talking about.

Lets start off with the Gameplay, the most important part of any video game, ITS INCREDIBLE!, and very very addicting. You have a wide arsenal of weapons, and i mean a very wide arsenal, ranging from pistols to automatics, to flamethrowers to grenade launchers. You can duel wield most of your weapons as well. The Best part of the gameplay in this game, is the interrogations, there are soooo many ways you can interrogate your foes to make them tell you what you want to know. It can range from drilling their heads, to feeding them to sharks and snakes, or to just shooting them in the head. You can also run up to any foes and make a quick kill, using your knife or guns to kill them in some pretty awesome ways, and making quick kills NEVER gets boring.

The Graphics are flat outstanding for a 2004 video game, if this game came out today, the graphics wouldn't be nagged on too much.

The voice acting rocks and it's especially great having Thomas Jane doing the Punisher voice. The Rest of the sound is pretty smooth.

A lot of music is from the movie but that is just great, i love the music in the movie, and using that same music in the game made the game more entertaining for me.

The Storyline is based off of the movie, having Joan and Dave, and The Russian in it as well. It was a blast being able to play the Russian fight that is so awesome in the movie. And Besides from the movie's plot, the game expands and has ATON of extras, from going into the jungle, to an aquarium, and you get to play side by side with black widow, and Nick fury from S.H.E.I.L.D.

This is a great game that any action fan would definitely need to play

This video game presents the real Punisher, the one that should have been in the 2004 film, instead of Thomas Jane, and instead of bunch of other characters and developers who made that pu**yass film. In the film, we got Punisher who did less killing and more talking and blackmail on the villains and mafia. While, here voiced by Jane himself (he was great as a voice, dark and violent) Punisher is one mean, sick, cold blooded animal who will kill anyone who stands on his path, except of course innocent people. The plot is like a comic book, which is cool, characters... well most of them are not quite developed, except Punisher himself, Det Soap and Det. Molly, they were great. Previous characters, mostly villains are good, the evil dialogue makes them badass and somewhat irritating. Graphics are solid, not that great, action is pretty sick, there are more than 50, 60 ways to kill a guy, you can interrogate them, make them pi!! their pants if you like, that's cool. Everybody is afraid of Punisher here and I like it. The music is one bright spot here, it is great, composed by Timothy Wynn. This game is a perfect cure for all of those who loves good old violent Punisher, compared to the 2004 film. Thanks to this game, we got the good old vision of Punisher again. If you ask me... this game is better than other films as well.

I have the movie for this and that was a great film, and now the game came out and that was good. To all of the Punisher fans that are out there, you should get this game that has a lot of punishment and lots of bad guys to kill. Thomas Jane is once again the punisher/Frank Castle who going to do his punishment on the next set of bad guys and he'll stop at nothing. You can do interrogations for lots of stuff and they are cool. This game should be known for the fans out there and should buy this game. It is too bad that I rented this game instead of buying it but I will try my best to get the game for good as I am one of the punisher fan and I want to do some punishment on the bad guys and become a hero in the game.

I give this a 9/10

Never happen. But I loved this game. The addition of other Marvel characters. Kind of annoying that you couldn't jump. And kind of funny that you couldn't open a locked door with a shotgun. But this game was great.