The Punisher
We step into the boots and trench coat of one of Marvel's darkest comic book heroes to see how THQ and Volition's translation is coming along.
Published: December 17, 2004
Most of us around here will be the first to tell you that hearing about The Punisher being made into a game didn't exactly have us frothing at the mouth with anticipation (or, as it would turn out, rabies). The track record of licensed games has improved a bit as of late -- particularly comic book ones -- but it's still nothing that sends visions of a fully-realized interactive version of the ultra-violent comic books that sucked the collective staff's bank accounts dry as a kid whirling through these little ol' craniums o' ours.
Perhaps that's why we were all so surprised to find that the near-final build of The Punisher that graced our offices was as impressively tight, polished and most importantly as much of an unequivocal blast as it was. But hey, that's why we keep doing this (that and the girls and huge bags of money).
The game is more or less a juxtaposition of the mid-90's comic books and the more recent John Travolta and Tom Jane flick (itself not a bad measure of themes -- if not the actual storyline -- of the comics), and is absolutely unapologetically true to the tone of the comics. Frank Castle, a man pushed over the edge when his family is gunned down in a mob hit, becomes The Punisher and takes it upon himself to seek out and systematically destroy any and all people that would do wrong against the innocent.
"Destroy" a pretty all-encompassing word, we know, but in game terms, it means well over 100 different ways to send bad guys to meet their maker in some of the most gruesome (and, yes, we'll admit it, awesome) ends seen in games. Taking a drill press to someone's head, dangling them over a pirhana pit, dropping a car on them, tossing them off a roof, shoving them into a wood chipper, and so on are not only easily doable, they serve a purpose in the game. The material's obviously rife with mature themes, but then you didn't think the story of a one-man vigilante army was going to be candy canes and puppy dogs, did you?
The game itself has a passing resemblance to Max Payne, simply because both characters wear trench coats and go diving around tightly packed rooms while dual-wielding automatic weapons. After killing off enough baddies, it's also possible to launch into Slaughter Mode where the screen shifts to black-and-white, washed out view (though enemies still pop out clearly), making it easy to track down and waste huge masses of enemies with a pair of knives.
The main game plays like your traditional third-person shooter; the left analog stick guides Ol' Punny around forward and back, and strafes him left and right, while the right analog stick looks around. Punching the triangle button launches into the aforementioned Slaughter Mode (and exits it, though the process drains your meter), X reloads your weapons, L1 and R1 fire whatever weapons or projectiles are in your left and right hands (a massive treat when you dual-wield a pair of assault rifles), L2 lets you duck behind objects for cover (as does L3, while R3 pops you into a free aim move) and R2 initiates a dive (which is, from what we can tell, pretty pointless).
While the combat is not only intense and incredibly fun, the game's real draw is environmental interaction. Any enemy within range can either be killed instantly (usually with a really cool animation; our favorite so far is tossing a rifle or shotgun at and enemy and then shoving a knife into their face) or taken as a human shield. This also opens up one of four interrogation moves, including holding a pistol to their face, smashing that face into the ground, landing a couple good punches to the gut or a good old fashioned choke hold.
Scattered throughout most levels are a few unique ways to either kill or interrogate enemies; window sills, caskets, drills, saws and the like can all be used to squeeze info out of someone, or just make sure they never have a career in modeling ever again. The actual interrogation, be it in a special environmental hotspot (represented by a nifty glowing skull icon), plays out a bit like a mini-game, with the enemy's health at the top of a little gauge that pops up and a shaded area of a bar that you have to keep a stress meter filled and inside for a few seconds. If it maxes out, you kill the guy, and he won't talk unless you can keep the constantly-dropping line inside the shaded section.
Fans of the comics should find a bit of respite in knowing that series vets Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti penned the story, and it stays absolutely true to the original runs that garnered so much attention a few years back. Characters cuss like sailors, executions tiptoe the line between showing everything and pulling the camera in just enough to hide some of the rougher kills (which is fine by me, I see no need to actually show some guy's face clipping through the blades of a saw), and The Punisher's gravelly, somber voice serves as both narration, occasional hint and overall interaction with the events taking place in a level.
In fact, the overall presentation from what we've seen so far is top-notch. The basic menus from Frank's apartment have a Twisted Metal: Black feel to them, swooping around and zooming into sections with pre-rendered movie bits while a light scratchy film effect is applied to things. The game does tap the Havok physics engine, but the ragdoll effect is pretty basic at best, and (at least right now), doesn't come anywhere close to being as impressive as its implementation in Midway's Psi-Ops, but it's certainly not horrid.
The environmental interaction is also rather sparse aside from the stuff you'd normally expect to break like bottles or vases, which is a shame given that Havok would lend itself rather nicely to the occasional chair or easel tipping over from time to time.
Most of the levels we've played so far are more or less boxy, claustrophobic environments, but the camera seems well placed to handle the confines without getting in the way too much. Even the framerate manages to stay rather high most of the time, and the dips are usually because of quite a bit of graphical detail.
We still have plenty of game to play, and don't really want to spoil the storyline, but if the same level of creativity in making perps talk stays this high, and the storyline really takes off to the point where we really feel this is a digital complement to the comics that captivated us just a few years back, this could very well end up being one of the best comic book games ever made. We'll keep you posted with updates as we get closer to the game's release early next year.
Perhaps that's why we were all so surprised to find that the near-final build of The Punisher that graced our offices was as impressively tight, polished and most importantly as much of an unequivocal blast as it was. But hey, that's why we keep doing this (that and the girls and huge bags of money).
The game is more or less a juxtaposition of the mid-90's comic books and the more recent John Travolta and Tom Jane flick (itself not a bad measure of themes -- if not the actual storyline -- of the comics), and is absolutely unapologetically true to the tone of the comics. Frank Castle, a man pushed over the edge when his family is gunned down in a mob hit, becomes The Punisher and takes it upon himself to seek out and systematically destroy any and all people that would do wrong against the innocent.
"Destroy" a pretty all-encompassing word, we know, but in game terms, it means well over 100 different ways to send bad guys to meet their maker in some of the most gruesome (and, yes, we'll admit it, awesome) ends seen in games. Taking a drill press to someone's head, dangling them over a pirhana pit, dropping a car on them, tossing them off a roof, shoving them into a wood chipper, and so on are not only easily doable, they serve a purpose in the game. The material's obviously rife with mature themes, but then you didn't think the story of a one-man vigilante army was going to be candy canes and puppy dogs, did you?
The game itself has a passing resemblance to Max Payne, simply because both characters wear trench coats and go diving around tightly packed rooms while dual-wielding automatic weapons. After killing off enough baddies, it's also possible to launch into Slaughter Mode where the screen shifts to black-and-white, washed out view (though enemies still pop out clearly), making it easy to track down and waste huge masses of enemies with a pair of knives.
The main game plays like your traditional third-person shooter; the left analog stick guides Ol' Punny around forward and back, and strafes him left and right, while the right analog stick looks around. Punching the triangle button launches into the aforementioned Slaughter Mode (and exits it, though the process drains your meter), X reloads your weapons, L1 and R1 fire whatever weapons or projectiles are in your left and right hands (a massive treat when you dual-wield a pair of assault rifles), L2 lets you duck behind objects for cover (as does L3, while R3 pops you into a free aim move) and R2 initiates a dive (which is, from what we can tell, pretty pointless).
While the combat is not only intense and incredibly fun, the game's real draw is environmental interaction. Any enemy within range can either be killed instantly (usually with a really cool animation; our favorite so far is tossing a rifle or shotgun at and enemy and then shoving a knife into their face) or taken as a human shield. This also opens up one of four interrogation moves, including holding a pistol to their face, smashing that face into the ground, landing a couple good punches to the gut or a good old fashioned choke hold.
Scattered throughout most levels are a few unique ways to either kill or interrogate enemies; window sills, caskets, drills, saws and the like can all be used to squeeze info out of someone, or just make sure they never have a career in modeling ever again. The actual interrogation, be it in a special environmental hotspot (represented by a nifty glowing skull icon), plays out a bit like a mini-game, with the enemy's health at the top of a little gauge that pops up and a shaded area of a bar that you have to keep a stress meter filled and inside for a few seconds. If it maxes out, you kill the guy, and he won't talk unless you can keep the constantly-dropping line inside the shaded section.
Fans of the comics should find a bit of respite in knowing that series vets Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti penned the story, and it stays absolutely true to the original runs that garnered so much attention a few years back. Characters cuss like sailors, executions tiptoe the line between showing everything and pulling the camera in just enough to hide some of the rougher kills (which is fine by me, I see no need to actually show some guy's face clipping through the blades of a saw), and The Punisher's gravelly, somber voice serves as both narration, occasional hint and overall interaction with the events taking place in a level.
In fact, the overall presentation from what we've seen so far is top-notch. The basic menus from Frank's apartment have a Twisted Metal: Black feel to them, swooping around and zooming into sections with pre-rendered movie bits while a light scratchy film effect is applied to things. The game does tap the Havok physics engine, but the ragdoll effect is pretty basic at best, and (at least right now), doesn't come anywhere close to being as impressive as its implementation in Midway's Psi-Ops, but it's certainly not horrid.
The environmental interaction is also rather sparse aside from the stuff you'd normally expect to break like bottles or vases, which is a shame given that Havok would lend itself rather nicely to the occasional chair or easel tipping over from time to time.
Most of the levels we've played so far are more or less boxy, claustrophobic environments, but the camera seems well placed to handle the confines without getting in the way too much. Even the framerate manages to stay rather high most of the time, and the dips are usually because of quite a bit of graphical detail.
We still have plenty of game to play, and don't really want to spoil the storyline, but if the same level of creativity in making perps talk stays this high, and the storyline really takes off to the point where we really feel this is a digital complement to the comics that captivated us just a few years back, this could very well end up being one of the best comic book games ever made. We'll keep you posted with updates as we get closer to the game's release early next year.
