The Punisher

Rating:
Summary: Save your money.
Review: Simply put: don't waste your money on this game. The quality of this game is much lower than many other similar titles.

Rating:
Summary: Very good, Fun, I love it.
Review: The Punisher in my opinion is the best game for 2005 so far, If you are into shooters then this is a game for you, I am normally a 1st person type myself (like doom3 or unreal tournament) but I found the 3rd person mode of the punisher very easy to control (almost like a resident evil/silent hill type), After only about 5 minutes of game play it was second nature to me in the 3rd person mode.. The game itself is pretty much true to the movies and comic books, just mindless killing of street scum, criminals, drug pushers, etc.. BUT the game does have some high point where you can interrogate victims for information or kill them using special items around you (like a wood chipper, coffin, sacrifice table, license plate tamper, etc..) .. The ability to take bad guys as human shields is always fun too. Between missions you return to your apartment where you can build up your levels by purchasing body armor, ammo, magazines, guns, etc.. Sort of cool.. You even have a wall of newspaper clippings and photos of the people you are stalking (I mean punishing). ALL and All I would say it is definitely worth the $40 bucks to drop for the PC version. I have gotten a few good hours of play out of it so far and have not finished it yet (still getting my butt kicked in rikers prison). And one nice thing, their is NO GOD MODE CHEAT! You really have to play the game, you cant just walk threw it. No unlimited ammo, No god mode, THANK YOU THQ for making people REALLY play... But an online feature would have been nice, [...]

Rating:
Summary: MILD, REDUNDANT, and WAY TOO EASY!!!
Review: There is no reason to purchase this game when so many other worthwhile games make better investments.

The graphics are dated. Not horrible but not exciting.

The gameplay is weak. Awkward control issues in 3rd person mode.

The game is TOO EASY! Enemy AI is barebones, plus your TOO STRONG!!! Your health bar barely drops unless you stand still and let enemies tear into you. You can get through the entire game barely taking a dent if you get good with head shots!

This game is so easy to defeat - that you can cruise through most of the game by running up to each enemy and pressing the "quick kill" button, you'll see a brief animation of the enemy in question being shot, being stabbed, or having his neck broken. Sure, you'll take a few shots while you run up to each bad guy, but since you can just interrogate a couple of guys to get that health back, you're rarely in need of health on the game's normal difficulty setting. The harder setting limits your ability to do this - but it is still too easy!

The Punisher can go into "slaughter mode," which slows the game down a bit(can anyone say BULLETTIME rip off?). While in it, you'll regain some of your health and drop your guns in favor of a never-ending supply of knives that you can throw into the faces of enemies with stunning accuracy. Again, too easy!!!

You can grab any enemy for use as a human shield. Though doing this slows down your movement so much that it's NOT very useful.


BOTTOMLINE: A sad attempt to put a new spin on an old concept. You have been here and you have done this!!! Some very good games are coming in late February to April. I would save my money and wait for them!