The Punisher

The Punisher is a game made by Volition Inc. The game was released by THQ. It was released in 2005. The game is a third-person shooter, featuring Frank Castle aka The Punisher.

For the people that don't know the storyline already, it's the same as the comic. Frank Castle's family gets slaughtered by the mob. Frank Castle goes on a revenge mission and turns himself into the Punisher, focused on tracking down and killing every criminal and people that were involved in the murders. He uses any method to do so.

In The Punisher you simply kill a lot of people, using various methods which gives you points, and by acquiring enough points you gain a medal ranging from bronze to gold. Each medal grants you various extras in the game, such as challenges, concept-art and images. You can also acquire several comic-book fragments, by interrogating your victims in a non-conventional way, for example by using an oven and many other things, since Frank Castle is quite creative with his methods. It's also possible to kill your enemies using "Special Kills" these are designated spots throughout the levels, marked by a golden skull (Special Interrogation Spots are marked with a silver skull). Some of the things you can do on these Special Kill Spots are throwing someone in a coffin and throw a grenade in it as well and other things as well. You can pick up various weapons throughout the levels such as bottles, crowbars and baseball-bats. The Punisher also carries various fire-arms which can be upgraded. The Punisher can also enter a rage mode in which he's practically immortal and can kill at a rapid rate using his two knives. The Punisher is an easy game, it can be picked up by anyone, through the upgrades it becomes even easier, by using the rage-mode you gain your health back giving you pretty much an endless supply of health.

The AI isn't particularly smart, it's easy to grab them and use them as shields since they won't try to get away from you. And their buddies will still shoot you even if their friend is in front of their target. Most of the enemies can be described as cannon-fodder, they'll even stand close to certain objects making killing even easier. And it's also easy to use quick kills on them, since they have no way of blocking that. Throughout this game, you'll encounter various bosses, each has its own method of being killed, but they're never really hard to deal with.

The levels are nicely done, they're quite big and the scenery changes every level. For example, there is a Zoo level, a Crack house level, a modern complex and a bar. Throughout these levels you can also encounter civilians, which you can't kill. Sometimes they'll give you something, but most of the time they don't, you are however required to save them.

The graphics in this game are rather nice, they hold up to the other games from that year, which can be expected since Volition always delivers quality products, unlike ValuSoft. There are many details in this game, from the design of weapons to the design of the characters. But the game isn't really a gorefest when it comes to killing, if you're looking for that, I recommend Dead Space.

So all-in-all, I recommend buying this game if you ever find it. I happened to buy it for €2.50, which was a bargain, but don't be afraid to pay a little more for it, since it's really worth your money.