The Punisher Hands-On Preview

What are the kinds of qualities do you think of when you hear the words “comic book hero?” Incredible powers? Fancy costumes? Crime fighting? Sure, those suffice. How about extremely graphic violence and no mercy? Today I got a chance to sit down with a preview build of THQ’s upcoming game The Punisher, a brutal take on the comic book franchise. Action and violence collide in a spectacle never before seen on home consoles and the result is explosive. While the violence does take center stage, don’t think that the entire game is centered on exploding heads and brutal beatings.

The Punisher follows the exploits of Frank Castle, a former Marine who’s got a serious bone to pick. Once the target of a mob hit, Castle manages to survive the attempt on his life but in the process witnesses the death of his wife and children. With no family to come home to and with a serious penchant for all things violent, Castle sets out to exact revenge for his murdered loved ones.

While the gunplay action of The Punisher is probably what you would expect from a third person action title, the game makes some serious strides in mixing up the on-screen action through the use of some up close and personal interaction. Pretty much ever enemy in the game can be grabbed by the Punisher. Once you’ve grabbed a hold of a bad guy you are then given the choice to perform a number of different commands as directed by a special on-screen diagram. If you simply want to put the thug on ice you can perform a quick kill, which takes them out almost instantaneously. If getting information is more your thing, you can also choose to interrogate a goon. My preview build featured four different interrogation methods including threatening an enemy with a gun to their head, choking them, punching them, and pushing them to the ground and smashing their face against the floor. Each interrogation is also mapped to the controller’s analog stick, so you have complete control over how intense you want your beatings to be. If you manage to dole out your punishment at a good pace, you may get some information. But if you wail on a bad guy too much, you just end up killing them.

Another aspect of the grabbing mechanism is the fact that you can use the enemies as cover. Once you’ve grabbed an enemy you can use him as bullet fodder for quite some time. After awhile they’ll eventually go down from too much damage, but for the most part they provide a great amount of protection, especially when you’re in a heated firefight. This really proves handy when you’re going up against enemies that are wearing body armor, since they can take even more damage than regular enemies and using them as cover and having your enemies kill them for you makes dealing with them a much easier affair.

The last feature of close combat is the special Punisher kills and interrogations. Scattered throughout the game’s 15 levels are special icons that indicate a Punisher kill can be executed there. You’ll run across these icons in some pretty unlikely spots, but each one dispatches an enemy in truly graphic and spectacular fashion. In the Mortuary level you can toss an enemy into an empty casket and then toss a grenade inside with them. One Punisher interrogation has you tossing an enemy into a cremation device, which reduces them to a smoldering pile of ash. These special kills, coupled with stringing together multiple regular kills, result in points which can then be used to purchase new upgrades for Castle as well as new weapons.

You see, while Castle is more than skilled when it comes to using his fists, his military background also grants him expert knowledge of firearms. As you fight through the game’s action packed levels you’ll be able to pick up any weapon that an enemy drops. You can also duel wield weapons, which significantly increases your ability to deal out hot death. While my preview build of the game only featured limited access to the game’s huge number of firearms, the ones that I did get to tote around were impressive in their ability to reduce enemies into meaty little chunks. Enemies take damage corresponding to where you shoot them, so you’ll be treated to a multitude of severed limbs and exploding heads.

Visually The Punisher is shaping up to be quite impressive, at once capturing the dark look of the comic while also maintaining a pretty high degree of realism. Enemy models seem varied enough so far and environments, while a bit tight and small thus far, are filled with enough detail to keep things interesting.

On the audio side of things The Punisher is also shaping up to be a pretty wild ride. Enemies feature their own unique voices, which they don’t hesitate to use at every possible moment. They’ll taunt you and try to lure you out into the open as well as scream and beg for mercy if you get the drop on them. The interrogation sessions are probably the most fun; since you get to hear first hand an enemy begin to change his attitude towards talking to you after he takes a few punches to the face.

Overall The Punisher is shaping up to be one of the most surprising comic book adaptations in quite awhile, mainly thanks to its dark and gritty storyline and intense violence. While the action is completely over the top and bound to anger anti-violence groups, it is admirable on THQ’s part that they’re not pulling any punches. After all, Frank Castle is one crazy SOB and it’s fitting that the violence that he’s known for shows through in the game.


-Chris Cook

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