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The Punisher: No Mercy Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

The Punisher: No Mercy Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Looking for Some Hardcore Punishment?

I typically find games like Zen Studio’s The Punisher: No Mercy tricky to review. On one hand, you have a brand new first-person shooter that has your mind consistently comparing it to the Call of Duty, Unreal, and Halo’s of the world. On the other hand, it sells for under ten dollars and should be compared to similarly priced games. Unfortunately for gamers, The Punisher: No Mercy doesn’t hold up well when compared to similar wallet-friendly games.

The Punisher: No Mercy screenshot

Presumably envisioned primarily as an online multiplayer experience, No Mercy offers a single-player campaign mode to familiarize yourself with the gameplay – albeit a shockingly short single-player experience. Each of the four (yes, four) levels are introduced by cutscenes visualized in comic panels and voiced over by some entertaining dialogue. Not to spoil the rest of the review, but the most entertaining aspect of the game were the cutscenes, even if you need to be familiar with The Punisher universe to follow the storyline or recognize the characters involved. The campaign itself lasts roughly an hour, which somehow manages to feel too long.

Single-player boils down to a giant deathmatch against endless enemy bots. This consists of running around the level while shooting as many enemies as possible with whichever weapons you currently have unlocked and gaining upgrades to your guns for stringing together kills. You’ll notice immediately that the enemy A.I. is exceptionally bad, as though they are following predetermined paths toward or away from you. One level gave me a time limit in which to kill a slew of enemies along with the level boss. After failing once and realizing I would have to attempt this all over again (nooo!), I had the bright idea to hang out on what I imagine was a giant pipe in the warehouse and shoot my enemies from above. It was from up here that I easily killed everyone required without coming into danger myself. The enemy pathfinding apparently couldn’t figure out how to threaten me while on the easily accessible pipe.

Controls are par for the course for any first-person shooter with your analogs controlling movement and viewing while the L and R buttons fire. It is a short learning curve, and in no time you’ll feel as though you understand everything there is to offer. Perhaps this could be tied into a positive for the game, most people marginally familiar with any FPS since Golden Eye should be comfortable with the controls in no time.

The Punisher: No Mercy screenshot

The graphics don’t do the game any favors either, lacking any distinct flavor or style to enhance a game that could use all the enhancement it could get. Characters and environments are bland and nothing overtly stands out. Particularly bad are character animations and movement which seems to be lacking a few extra character states. Enemy movement isn’t choppy per se, but characters don’t seem to have any weight and are more tacked into the environment rather than integrated within it.

Sound, at first listen, seems to be one of the bright spots. Early cutscenes quickly throw out several expletives serving as an early reminder that this is an M rated affair. Yet what at first seems like a strength is quickly revealed as a weakness. Characters seem to only have a small handful of phrases for any given situation and will repeat them over and over. “Time to punish The Punisher!” and “My… time has… come” loop with an alarming frequency. But it’s not all bad – the guns sound like you’d expect when you pull the trigger.

The Punisher: No Mercy screenshot

Playing online is more of the same, except now you’re playing with other people that you can only assume are gluttons for punishment much as you are – or game reviewers. Anyway, one nice feature is the Call of Duty 4-esque perk system. In-between spawns you are able to swap out weapons and perks to customize your character and abilities. It’s a nice system that adds some welcome depth.

The Punisher: No Mercy screenshot

Rounding out the multiplayer experience is the expected variety of game modes from standard deathmatches to last man standing. While noticeable in single-player, while playing online the lack of in-game feedback on shots fired is frustrating. You may be damaging the other player from across the map or entirely missing him, it’s nearly impossible to tell if you’re hitting him until he goes down.

In what is not likely to be a surprise, there is little lasting appeal. If you are a poor soul cursed with the need to unlock everything in a game, there are several unlockables attainable by playing the game online using the various characters. Getting these allows more appearance options and perk customizations. For those of us blessed to not have the obsessive-compulsive gene, The Punisher: No Mercy should have a shelf life of no more than four hours, if that.

Let me make this clear before I wrap this up. I am not the kind of guy who likes to berate games for kicks and giggles or an inflation of my ego. If anything, I like to look for the positive. But this game was about as close to “painful” as I’ve seen in recent memory. Between the tedious hour-long campaign mode and flighty game mechanics to the forgettable levels and repetitive dialogue, I am hard-pressed to find any reason to recommend this. There’s always the caveat in these types of games that “if you are a big fan of The Punisher, you may enjoy it,” but sadly I can’t even give that recommendation unless you are the hardest of core diehards and must see the single-player story. Beyond that there is no reason to load this game up over any of the plethora of other first-person titles on the market.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 2.0 Graphics
Comic book art during campaign mode serves as a redeeming quality. 2.5 Control
Uninspired, but the character moves where you want him to go. 2.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Repeated dialogue really brings this down. 1.5 Play Value
Unless you can’t ever get enough FPS action or need to “collect ’em all,” there is nothing you haven’t seen before… and seen done better. 2.2 Overall Rating – Poor
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • First-person shooter set in the Marvel Universe, available exclusively for the PlayStation Network on the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.
  • Powered by the latest version of the Unreal Engine, it offers frantic, arcade-style shooting action with a heavy focus on multiplayer modes, supporting up to 8 players online.
  • Eight unique characters, from the Punisher himself to his sworn archenemy, Jigsaw. Assemble your arsenal from a wide range of weaponry and almost superhuman abilities. Use cover and power-ups to your advantage. Seek out and destroy any opposition either on your own or with teammates.

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