The Punisher is based on the movie of the same name, which in turn is based on the Marvel comic. The movie was released last year and was not as successful as many had hoped. The Punisher tells he story of Frank Castle. His entire family is murdered, he is the only one who survives and he promises to seek vengeance.
For a game to come out so late after the DVD release is extremely rare. One of the reasons for this delay is that the game was refused classification by the office of film and literature classification a few months ago. THQ have reworked the title and removed enough elements from the game to gain it an MA 15+ rating from the OFLC. To us though, it doesn't feel like the game has been watered down at all.
The game takes a 3rd person perspective and ties in with the events of the movie. It launches straight into the story mode with no main menu. There are seven options from Frank's apartment, War Zone (missions), Armory (weapons) , upgrades (where players can upgrade certain stats) criminal chart (which lists all the criminals Frank encounters) and three other options which are unimportant, extras, options and save.
Not the most action packed screenshot.
There are sixteen missions which range in length from being five minutes long to twenty minutes long. After completing a mission players unlock a challenge mode, which sets the player a challenge to complete. Completing the challenge unlocks goodies in the extras menu, such as concept art and comic book covers.
The game play is extremely rough. The weapon selection is diverse with flamethrowers, battle rifles, grenade launches and shotguns all making an appearance. We can tell why the game was banned at first, as there is a lot of swearing and some really grotesque ways of killing, such as stabbing, bashing, face smacking and interrogating while punching. All of this is done in a very serious tone, unlike Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The mission selection is varied but all of the missions seem very linear, with only one real way to progress through the levels. This is a shame, as once a level has been completed it is hard to see why anybody would go through the level again, except to do the challenge mode. At times, you will be unable to progress unless a certain enemy has been killed. Annoying.
The Punisher himself also runs quite slowly, which can often irritate as he seems very stiff. For some bizarre reason, he also cannot jump, so this restricts his movement even more. The game could have also been better if the environment were a little more destructive - we're used to firing a gun at a TV and watching it explode. Unfortunately, this isn't the case in The Punisher. Loading takes place in the middle of a level, but this also acts as a save point.
Whenever players pick up a weapon or ammo, a comic book icon appears in the right hand corner. This is a clever way of paying homage to the comic book origins of the movie and game. At one stage our game actually paused for a few seconds when the action got intense which interrupted the action of the game - we'd like to hope this doesn't happen to frequently. The kills are extremely brutal and the shock value of them takes a while to wear down, however, once it does players won't find the game nearly as entertaining.
The graphics in the game leave a lot to be desired. They just simply aren't as good as they could be. There are some neat little effects but overall, the graphics are surprisingly poor. There are some levels that look good and The Punisher himself is well modelled, but we really did expect the game to look better after more than two years development time.
The sound is one of the most impressive aspects of the game, with Frank Castle sounding great. The voice work is really good with some enemies and innocent by standers making some really clever (and sometimes explicit) remarks. The comments are quite varied, so they never become too repetitive.
Mind if we break? It's time to pray.
The missions won't take players too long to get through, but there is plenty to come back to if you can be motivated enough to go and replay the missions. There is unlockable concept art, comic book covers and cheats. Completing finishing this game would take a significant amount of time and there is plenty here for fans of The Punisher.
The Punisher is an okay game based on an okay movie. On the surface it looks like a really good game, but after about half an hour it becomes repetitive and a little dull. The game itself is presented really well with great voice work and a great soundtrack. It's just a real shame that The Punisher himself is really slow and clunky. This game is worth a rent, but we don't think it's worth a purchase unless you're a die-hard Punisher fan.
Loading...
