The Punisher (PC)

[JMR]

The Punisher is a sleeper hit. Sure, it has commercials, but there isn't as much talk as Halo 2 or San Andreas have had. Gamespot and others have given it puny scores such as a 6.6/10 (Gamespot) The Punisher deserves way more than a 6, and here's why.

Graphics: Pretty good, I have the PC version, and it's almost Half-Life 2-caliber and no slowdown at all, I can have Firefox with 6 tabs and Windows Media Player running and it still runs fast. 9/10.

Physics: Pretty good, Havok engine being a good choice on Volition's part. The ragdoll's are great, not at all exaggerated. The quick kills are great fun with the ragdoll effects, and objects are much like Half-Life 2's object physics. 9/10

Gameplay: This is the best part of the game. This game is so replayable. It's so much fun. Let me put it this way. I played the 5-minute demo for six hours. 10/10

Controls: The controls are good, very responsive, I haven't had one problem with them. 10/10

Pros:
- Very fun
- High replayability
- Lots of stuff to unlock
- Ragdoll effects
- Ability to customize weapons
- Quick kills and interrogations are great fun

Cons:
- No real jump, just dives.
- After a while, you want more quick kills, especially for the sidearms.
- AI could be better.

Overall: 9/10

[rappo]

i saw the commercials and magazine advertisements for this game and thought it looked pretty cool. i'll have to check it out sometime. are there any console version? although i'd probably want it for PC.

[JMR]

Yeah, it's also for PS2 and X-Box. The PC seems to be best, though, because of mods and mouse/keyboard control.

[rappo]

yeah i thought so. is it first person or third person?

[JMR]

'Tis Third Person.

[SimonS]

...Which makes corner shooting somewhat useless

i got the demo a few weeks ago and loved it on pc

[rappo]

...Which also most likely makes console controls a bit funky.

[TwistedArachnid]

Nah I have the PS2 version and I like it better than San Andreas. You use the analog sticks to move, R1 to shoot, the directional pad to change weapons, and square to quick kill. It all seems pretty natural, I can do it in my sleep. To interagate, you move the left analog stick gently up or down to put more stress on the guy or to take it off. The boss battles mix it up enough from the run and shoot thing. That last boss was hard and required some strategy to beat. Only thing is, JMR and I don't know where to find comic covers, but I'm guessing a gold medal on hard in a stage will unlock them. It's really fun to try and raise points, like take a human shield so you don't get hit racks them up easier. I also liked in the one stage where you're in a meat freezer, I ran around and took out the full room of guys using quick kills only, it was fun to see people throw their guns down and begging for mercy...I gaurentee you'll like it if you buy it, and I can't wait for the sequel when it comes out...