Think back to your childhood years – when videogames were little more than pixellated two dimensional wonderlands. What is the worst punishment you’ve ever had to endure? Sent to your room without any dinner? Grounded for a week? No pocket money until you can behave yourself? All of these standard punishments set by our parents when we stepped out of line as youngsters certainly had an impact on us back then. Just be thankful, then, that The Punisher was not your nanny.
A comic book anti-hero, The Punisher’s methods of cutting down crime are, quite literally, to cut it down. Knives, bullets, drills, saws, sharks – there are numerous imaginative and gloriously gory ways in which the psychotic crime fighter can dispose of those who stand in his way. When a rifle won’t do, a forklift truck will suffice. While the videogame iteration of this comic book/movie franchise is essentially a run-and-gun splatterfest, these ‘special kills’ provide a macabre, yet morbidly entertaining alternative to just placing a bullet between the eyes of those who cross you. Therein lies the game’s USP – you are frequently given the opportunity to exercise the vindictive spirit that dwells within us all and torture captured criminals so as to extract useful information – or just for a few kicks.
If there are no potential death traps nearby, you always have the option to interrogate them anyway – a pistol to the head or the threat of having your face smashed into the floor always seems to loosen the tongue. If you don’t require any information from your foes (and to be honest, you rarely do), you can drag them around and use them as human shields in order to soak up unfriendly bullets, or just put a gun to their heads and end things there.
These factors are what lift Volition’s latest game just above mediocrity. Aside from these excellent touches, the game does little more to change the classic formula of ‘run into room, kill everyone, run into next room’ gameplay that has held back so many third person shooters from greatness in the past. Next to no strategy is required throughout – as long as you have your shotgun in one hand and a hostage in the other, you can easily take out entire battalions of mindless goons. Like the AI that hopelessly dives and rolls around in front of you, this game is pretty much brainless – all you need is cover and a weapon, and you can clear out entire rooms of enemies without any problems. Boss characters rarely require any forethought either – you just waste more bullets killing them. Oh, and yes – the token tank battle has been included, just in case you thought this game couldn’t be any more predictable.
However, the game is made more enjoyable thanks to a wonderfully dark, gritty atmosphere that suits the title really quite well. Behind the average visuals (after playing copious amounts of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, this game looks remarkably poor) and the (admittedly decent) voice acting lies a grim, blood soaked, shadowy world of gratuitous violence, crime and gore that makes Gotham City look like a children’s playground.
If the mindless slaughter of hundreds of people is your ‘thang’, then you’ll be pleased to hear that there is (ironically) plenty of life in this title. There are weapons, comic strips and other extras to unlock, as well as a couple of alternative modes for each level that will keep you playing until you can no longer see the floor through the mounds of fallen bodies. But at the end of it all, while The Punisher is a title that should (and will) be avoided by the more discerning gamer, there is enough mindless carnage to be had within this game to satisfy those with a lust for blood and a twitchy trigger finger. This game isn’t going to be picking up any Game of the Year titles, but if you would happily ditch intelligent games for thoughtless mayhem, you won’t be disappointed by this. Not brilliant, but certainly an enjoyable way to spend a weekend.
James Hamilton
