The Punisher

This game was great, one of the better Marvel Comic book games I have ever played. The storyline is very good and surprising as there are other Marvel characters in this one that make appearances throughout. You also have an array of super villains scattered throughout too. The story has the Punisher doing what he does best, taking out the criminals in New York city. You also have some fun along the way as you get to interrogate the scum one person at a time. They have your basic torture methods, then along the way you have special ways to torture people such as using piranha and other very disturbing and fun means. You have the option of just killing them, getting the information you need and letting them go, or getting the information you need and then killing them which is what I did cause I just had to see the violent deaths. There are also many memorable scenes such as the opening as the Punisher throws a dude out the window and another scene where he crashes a funeral in very humorous fashion. The weapon selection is rather good as you would expect with the Punisher and once again I love the inclusion of heroes like Iron Man, and villains like Bullseye and even the Kingpin. The ending made it seem like there would be a sequel, but none has ever materialized as of yet, not even when the newest Punisher movie came out. Which I do not understand, because from what I understand this game was fairly popular.

This is one of my favorate video games but also one of my favorate comic book video games. I'm a fan of the comic book series "The Punisher" and I love the fact that finally we have another game based on the Punisher franchise which never seems to be focused much in the video game department (along with several other figures in Marvel). From the 2004 film that came out (which I personally like) and with some of the video games and content in the PS2 era it was the perfect time for this game to surffice. Though you could also say in a way this game is a spiritual sequel/continuum of the 2004 Punisher film which sadly never had a sequel, so if you want you could count this game.

The graphics are soild, their nothing really spectacular but they serve their purpose well as they bring to life the dark grity world Frank inhabits where evil comes in all walks of life and are at every turn. I even like the character models mainly the character Frank Castle/The Punisher whom looks just right a little from the past run to the recent version.

Voice acting is great there is a pretty good voice acting cast like Steve Blum one of my favorate voice actors he does "Bullseye", "Daredevil", etc. And of course Thomas Jane from the 2004 film, Thomas Jane for the record is my second favorate version of Frank Castle/The Punisher his voice just fits like a glove for the character in this game it really feels like that what Frank would sound like in the comics. Thomas plays the usual cool intensity but in the game you can hear his voice has became more grit and hardness which makes sense as the character has been doing this for a long time which can weight down on a person.

But of course what really makes the game for me is in the gameplay and story. The story is well done it's simplistic Punisher fare but I wouldn't want it any other way, and takes a little from some of the past runs of the series but also some from the Garth Ennis run which is my favorate run and how I really got into the series. I really like as one thing leads to another the story intriguing develops and even like some of the dialog which has some memorable lines; this really gives the feeling of the comic book. What also inhaunces the feeling is some of the characters in Marvel that are involved in the story line like "Daredevil", "Black Widow", "Nick Fury" etc. which I thought was cool showing that Frank/The Punisher is part of the Marvel universe.

The gameplay is soild, it's some run and gun fare similar to "Max Payne" (well kinda) you have an assortment of weapons which you can only carry a limited amount so chose carefully and use them well. There is the RPG element where you get to purchise weapons to increase and upgrade your arsenal.

Each of the levels are well done and designed; the boss battles are soild despite only a few; one of the boss battles that stand out are the fight with "Bullseye" whom like in the comics is crazy as hell but is true to his name, I'll admit the fight against him is a bit tricky but fun all the same because your taking on a well known comic book villain, whom wouldn't want that.

And of course there are the interigation scenes which are in a twisted sense fun as you are putting the preasure on villans to make them spill their guts figuratively and literally. Your given the choice whether to kill them after the interigation or not, to me this is a matter of whether the punishment fits the crime. Though of course I pick the kill most of the time just to see the creative kills which this game has as much as a "Friday the 13th" film, I won't say what they are you have to see them for yourself.

Overall, if your a Punisher fan or even a fan of comic book video games then this is one to check out. The Punisher game hits the target or should I say several targets.

Rating: 3 and a half stars

When I first rented this game, I found it so fun that after renting it about 30 times, I bought it. So you all can understand I'll list the pros and cons. Pros: Addictive, good aiming system, awesome weapons, simple learning curve, plays well, decent graphics, cool voice over, nice and gory, fun interrogation, good voice work by Thomas Jane. Cons: Repetitive after awhile(a loooong while), Terrible AI(kinda what causes repetition), Too linear, bad head shot response, not a lot of variety, no real punishment if you just fight your way through without thinking(kind of a pro though.) While this game has plenty of flaws but nothing beats walking into the Yakuza building and then jamming a knife in the first guy who says" leave now" and then drawing twin pistols and mowing the place down. And hey, if you get bored with it, use cheats, either beat the game and get them or make your profile name V Pirate(try it different ways if it don't work.) I'd give this game a 9 out of 10 because it rocks and never gets boring to me. I hope they make a sequel some day. (though personally I'd like to make it because I have some great ideas.) *********/10 :] Yeaaah!

OK we have all seen the movie, we have all read the comic books...now we all can step into the army of one that is Frank Castle AKA The Punisher. And what a punisher he is. The Game gives you a third person view of the carnival of carnage. Between tossing a crack-head out a window and feeding a Merc to a giant anaconda the delightful ways to dispatch an enemy is limitless. And with a vast arsenal of boner stiffing weapons at your disposal you'll spend hours dishing out the pain with dual weapons of your choice. The interrogation modes are priceless, between hovering a baddie above a shark to pulling your own Vinnie Jones by slamming a thug's head in a jeeps car door...my personal fav. The storyline is wonderful pitting you against enemies old and new. The Russian, Ma Gnucci, Bull's-eye...and a handful of superheroes alike...Iron man and Daredevil being a wonderful topping on the bloody sundae. Not to mention the special kills you encounter on various levels, one being sacrificing a poor old mobster on a Indian pillar, to throwing an enemy on a couple of power lines. And the interrogations modes give you something no other game offers...torturing of ones enemies. The white skulls indicate which enemy has something to spill, drag his happy ass over to a meat grinder and he'll give you his grandmother. Need to find extra ammo, why just dangle a baddies head over a piranha tank...after which you can give him a break...or well option b feed him to the piranhas...you know you wanna... so go ahead dunk his head in alllllllllll the way. Another layer of the cake is the environment, you can stab a criminal in the face with a crow bar, you can shoot a speaker loose and have it come tumbling on top of an unsuspecting baddies head, smash a TV over a bastards skull, drop a car on em...and of course toss the bastard off a high rise building. The challenge modes are impossible, from making your way through a level full of trigger happy Yakuzas with out taking damage...which took me eight painful hours and two controllers to do, To dispatching enemies in a section with out them firing one shot...oh that'll keep you in brute rages. But no good game is without its flaws. The enemy AI is that of a blind idiot. The levels are much like old side scrollers.... point A to Point B and try not to get killed. You'll find yourself touting a baddie around as a shield more than running around and enjoying the sights. All the really good killings are painted in a grainy black and white that takes away from the joy of killing. Not only that but your points are taken away if you decide to kill a scumbag after you have interrogated him...thats just wrong. And the one thing I really hate is the lack of hand to hand...sure killing a bunch of losers with shotguns and knifes is fun, but I want to kick a bastard when he's down, I wanna beat his brains into the floor with my fist, and please answer me why are the crowbars and bats and large wrenches a one time use thing, they should let you run around and have all the enemies enjoy a baseball bat to the temple, or a wrench to a spinal column. But nonetheless flaws aside...The Punisher is the big gulp for you blood-lust hounds out there. So gear up, ship out and let your road to punishment begin.

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