The Punisher(2005) Game Review

The Volition Punisher game might have the best on screen version of the character ever. Tomas Jane's voice acting and Garth Ennis' writing is just a winning combo. This game is just as good as I remember it. It's a solid TPS and the Marvel fan service is just icing on top. Having it be Marvel fan service from the point of view of Garth Ennis makes it amusing in it's own way.

I'll start with the good, the story and writing are both pretty good and even better if you are a fan of the Punisher himself, the story is an amalgamation of everything Garth Ennis wrote with the Punisher up untill the game's release with elements of the 2004 movie. The writing and voice acting are all solid and the story does a good job at building up intrigue with it being a framing story of sorts. The dialogue and Frank's one liners are also very amusing. Punisher also has a lot of humorous moments that are more along the lines of dark humor and Tomas Jane's delivery really sells it. The music is also really good and enchances the shootouts. The shooting with the guns and and damage animations all work in tandem to make for a solid third person shooter. It's also a weird precursor to the shooting in the Saints Row games so this game is a must play if you are a fan of that series. I also like how the game isn't completely a mindless TPS either, you won't be dodge rolling around while firing from the hip a lot, you will need to grab human shields and aim for the head too. It feels oddly in character and does a decent job at making the player feel vunerable but not overly invincible when playing even if the human shield mechanic I argue could do with some balancing despite that I do think the has one of the best human shield and the best interrogation mechanics I have played in a game since they all do a good job at making you *feel* like the Punisher despite some problems which I will mention. On a side note I love how the interrogation system reveals narrative foreshadowing that feels natural within the story which is a nice touch. The bosses are also decent enough if nothing speical, not the worst bosses I have experienced in a hitscan shooter where you fight human enemies

The human shield mechanic while very good, has some problems in terms of balancing, first the throwing enemies barely has any uses since you will get shot at while it is happening and it's hard to to aim your throws. That and I argue, it's a bit too much of a dominant strategy. It's easy to rush into a gun fight, grab someone, and then human shield them and use over the shoulder aiming for headshots. I do wish I got to use the other mechanics like dodge rolling, slaughter, and even crouching more but the human shield just did the trick a lot of the time. I think it would be better if armoured enemies couldn't be grabbed and can only be killed effectively with head shots. The health system is also weird, you don't get health back with pickups, you get health back by interrogations and saving people which is weird since the story never really contextualizes it and it can get rather dull interrogating people for the 20th time listening to the same dialogue just to get health back. It's interesting in that you will never be in an unwinnable state because you can get health back by grabbing and interrogating enemies but this system could do with more refinement, like maybe have Frank have a few medkits like in FEAR where he can hold up to 3 or 4 but it brings back parts of his health.

Overall, this is one of the best superhero games ever made, and is a must play if you like the Punisher and Marvel comics, if you are looking for a solid TPS game, this game is still worth playing and if you are Saints Row fan it's also worth trying out.