When you’re out with your family one day and they happen to get killed by an unintentional mob hit, what is an ex- Vietnam veteran to do? Why you throw on a black t-shirt with a white skull on the front and a black leather trench coat and start kicking the ass of every criminal in sight. Well, at least you do if your name is Frank Castle. Marvel Comics long time running vigilante of the streets is back and this time he’s shown in his true form. The Punisher has also been known as a tough and gritty anti-super hero who uses violence and the lack of compassion for criminals as his motivation and strength although it was never truly conveyed just how brutal he was until now. The Punisher from THQ brings to you the true Punisher, from the comics, not the movies, in all his gutsy and gore filled glory.

The game starts out with you in an interrogation cell on Rykers Island, a familiar spot for Frank Castle, with you recalling the events of the past few days. As each day is recalled, you play through that memory to bring yourself up to speed as to why you find yourself sitting in the cell. The storyline does seem to go off on a tangent and doesn’t always seem to be following a straight and narrow course, but the pre-mission briefings and the comments the Punisher makes to himself keep you up to speed when it starts to go off in another direction. At the beginning of each mission you will be able to pick which mission you want to tackle next if there are more than on option as well as being able to customize and upgrade your weapons.

For any fan of the Punisher, they all know that he is all about the violence and scouring of crime. Have no fear; the Punisher delivers more than enough criminal killing to satisfy any nay sayers. The Punisher has more than an assortment of weapons to choose from, ranging from shotguns, machine guns, revolvers up to rocket launchers. Not only can he use these, but he can also use one in each hand. Walking through a warehouse full of enemies with a shotgun in each hand will make you smile like a little kid on Christmas day. He also has a technique called “Quick Kill” which allows him to walk up to any enemy and kill him in one hit. For some enemies it is actually a lot easier and faster to just run around the room performing quick kills instead of wasting all of your ammunition or trying to get headshots on armored foes. As well as the weapons, he can grab enemies and use them as human shields as he wades through the crowds of enemies. Grabbing enemies is just the beginning of what you can do to those lost souls though. When you grab an enemy, you have a couple of options of what you want to do to them. Use them as a shield and you can walk around shooting while the body takes the hurt. Also you can throw the body through a door instead of kicking it open to surprise the occupants in the next room.

The other option you have is to interrogate the enemies and that where the fun really comes in. When you interrogate an enemy, you have 4 choices of which type of interrogation you wish to perform on him. These are then done by keeping the meter that appears in the specified range for 3 seconds. If you keep it within the allowed space for the full time, then the enemy will be “broken” and will spill the beans about any and everything. More often then not, the regular enemies will repeat the same few lines over and over but there are special white marks above the heads of enemies that have the juicy info. This is usually info on where to find things, ambushes that are set up or they will help you if you let them go. As well there are also special interrogation spots which are also marked in the game. These are usually machines such as wood chippers, meat grinders, drill presses and other things like electrical panels and windows. The game developers really did keep the special interrogations different and unique through most of the game and you didn’t see too many repeated devices.

There are many things in The Punisher that make it stand out from other games, such as the interrogations, the superb voice acting, the appearance of other comic book heroes and villains (not going to say who to spoil it), but the repetitiveness of each level can start to wear you down. Each level definitely has its own unique feel and the beginning of the funeral mission is the best opening to a mission I have played in a long time, but each level is basically, kill everyone in sight and get to the end. There really isn’t much more to the game other than run and gun and stop once in a while to throw someone into a TV set. If you are fan of the Punisher and his ways, then you won’t find anything anywhere else that portrays how the Punisher should be as well as this game does. For non fans of the skull dressed vigilante, this game may just be another bump in the road while looking for something worth while.