While the gameplay may lose some of its luster after a while, The Punisher offers plenty of bloody mayhem and gory fun.
The game itself is written by long time Punisher writers Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti. It borrows from both the comics and the motion picture released in 2004, incorporating such familiar villains as the Russian, Jigsaw, Kingpin, Bushwhacker and Bullseye. With such a formidable cast of baddies, Frank needs to be sufficiently armed to be able to handle the situation. And armed he is! The game features a nice selection of firearms, ranging from assault rifles (M16, AK-103, XM29), SMGs (MP5, P90), machine guns (M60) and shotguns (Remington 870, USAS-12) to sniper rifles (M95), bazookas, flamethrowers and grenade launchers. The game also features a variety of environmental weapons, like bottles, knives, meat cleavers, baseball bats, nightsticks and wrenches. The best part is, each weapon has a unique instant-kill that can be performed with the press of a button. Often times they are extremely brutal, extremely bloody and extremely fun. I was tempted to go through the entire game using nothing but instant-kills and the occasional interrogation/torture. Speaking of torture, the game also has a revolutionary interrogation mini game. It works like this. In each level, you have a certain amount of interrogation hot spots, highlighted by a glowing white halo with a skull hovering on top. Every time you find a goon with a similarly white skull hovering on top of their heads, you need to grab him, take him to the hot spot and press the A button. This initiates the mini game, which has you twiddling with the left analog stick, trying to keep the unfortunate goons "fear meter" in the yellow area for a few seconds (it can get pretty hard later on in the game, especially with a few of the interrogation methods). If successful, the goon will reveal some valuable information (an escape route, hidden weapons or just a plot point). After this, you are free to either pull him back to safety or execute him in some of the goriest methods seen in any game. The only drawback to this is that the console versions have been edited somewhat, to ascertain an M rating. Each time you kill someone during an interrogation, the screen turns black and white and the camera pans to Frank, sparing (or excluding, whichever you like) the gamer from some truly gory moments. I hear the PC version doesn't have this problem, which might make it a bit more enticing to some people.
The rest of the action is fun, but at times can feel pretty basic. The inclusion of executions, instant-kills and special kills definitely helps to differentiate the game in it's favor. The Punisher also features some fun levels (many with ingenious interrogation hot spots) set in places like the New York Zoo, an island in the South Pacific and lots and lots of office buildings. Thankfully, the level design never got boring. Also a nice touch is the inclusion of flashbacks. When someone being interrogated mutters a word that has particular resonance with Frank (like Hell, massacre, grave, daddy and children), a flashback is activated. Flashbacks feature a voice over by the goon being interrogated and a frame from a Punisher comic that relates somehow to the triggering word. For example, when a baddie claims he is innocent, Frank has a flashback with the word innocent echoing in his head and a scene of him holding his dead children. To top it off, flashbacks have a cool punch line associated with them.
Graphically, while not ugly, the game is definitely a bit behind the times. It is actually pretty hard to pinpoint a certain point where The Punisher is lacking. Character models are good (especially for main characters), featuring good modeling, nice textures and a good polygon count. As is to be expected, the general baddies are not quite up to this level, but most are still very good. Levels on the other hand can be a bit dull and drab, with some indoor environments clearly in need of some better textures. Perhaps I have been spoiled by HD gaming, but the game also seems to have some serious jaggies.
The audio is mostly excellent. Even though some of the weapon sounds feel a bit underpowered and monotonous, the game features some unbelievably good voice work, especially from Tom Jane. He was great in the movie and he's great in the game. The Punisher really comes alive with his excellent interpretation, and you can really feel the anger and coldness in his voice. Thankfully the writers have supplied Mr. Jane with some great dialogue. Normally, action games feature very corny one-liners, but that isn't the case with The Punisher. After a brutal execution, Frank always has some witty line ready to go. The same goes for more emotional moments, like flashbacks. Sadly, the same expertise and emotion don't carry over to the other voice actors. While not necessarily bad, perhaps Tom Jane pulls of such a solid performance that everyone else is left in the shadow. Also worthy of notice is the soundtrack. It feels solid throughout, providing some great moments but never feeling overpowering.
When push comes to shove, The Punisher is a great game, that is very under appreciated by some gaming sites. It features great and gory action, a good storyline, terrific audio and an unforgettable gaming experience. It also manages to satisfy the very picky comic book fan community, staying true to the comics and movie, and overall feel of the Punisher. Fans of the game will be happy to hear that The Punisher enjoyed tremendous financial success, prompting both Marvel and THQ to promise a sequel sometime in 2007. Let's hope they stay true to their words...