by
Ted Kritsonis
Faze Video Game Editor

The most recent Punisher film showed what comic book fans already knew: Frank Castle isn’t a guy you want to mess with. The video game, which hit stores almost a year after the movie’s release last year, uses Castle’s bitterness and vengeance as the backbone for the atmosphere in the game. But just as the film was lacking in polish, THQ’s effort here comes up a little short too.

THQ hyped this game quite a bit, but wasn’t able to get it on store shelves in time for the holiday rush, so it was one of a few games that were highly anticipated in the immediate post-holiday period. The more I play the game, though, the more I wonder if a few more months might’ve made a real difference here. Even to make it a little less predictable.

There’s no shortage of action in The Punisher, and definitely no shortage of goons to cap. By the time you’re through with everyone standing in your way, New York City’s morgue will be more than filled to capacity. But aside from the gun-toting mayhem, which has been done many times over with other characters (see Max Payne or The Getaway), the fun here comes in squeezing information out of goons.

When you want to interrogate someone, a meter shows up with your objective being to use the analog sticks to keep the meter within a small area for three seconds. Once achieved, your “prisoner” will rat and tell you what you need to know, leaving you to put him out of business for good. Goons with skulls showing above their heads are the best sources of information, so try to avoid shooting first and asking questions later.

Where things start to go wrong and get frustrating are in the aiming and shooting physics. There were far too many times where I was using a beam for cover and though I was free to take a shot, it ended up ringing off the beam. Now, unless there was a phantom beam in there that I didn’t know about, this kind of defect is inexcusable. When five guys are shooting at you from behind cover, then it’s obviously prudent to pick your shots wisely. But a physics issue like this makes it difficult to do that, and compounded over the duration of the game, many firefights end up lasting a lot longer than they should.

This isn’t to say that The Punisher is a failure because it really isn’t. It’s just that the predictability goes hand in hand with the physics issues, and it has a visual and audio package that doesn’t offer anything new. The reason why it’s still a decent game is because it’s fairly easy to get the hang of and the action is relentless. Plus, those interrogation scenes, while sadistic, are equally humourous in a dark sort of way.

Publisher:
THQ
Developer:
Volition Inc.

Platform:
PS2

Rating: 7/10