The Punisher

"If you're guilty of not playing this game, you're dead!"

This is a port of the Punisher game released in arcades. It has you playing as one of 2 characters: Frank Castle (the Punisher) himself, or as Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first and only appearance of Nick Fury in a video game. Anyway, it's more fun to be the Punisher. After all, it's his video game!

Graphics: 10/10

This is good as it can get on the Genesis. The game has sort of a comic book look to it, and it works well. The characters look pretty good and enemies like the Kingpin and Bonebreaker are easily recognized (Well, if you read Punisher comics, that is.). I'm impressed that this looks as good as it does on the Genesis system.

Sound: 10/10

Eh, what can I say? The music's all right. I can't expect the Genesis to churn out top-notch tunes, it just won't and can't happen. They tried to make the music as moody as possible and I give Capcom credit up to wa-zoo for that. The music sets a nice pace during battle, and it speeds up when you battle a boss. It's nicely done and it's the best it can be. The sound effects are quite nice too, the guns sound pretty dang good and slicing enemies with knifes just makes you go ''oooh!!'' Punches sound good as well. There are some voices...though, I could take or leave them.

Story: 9/10

The story starts off great. It sets up the game with Frank's origin - He's in the park with his family, and some gangsters comes through and the Castle's see something they weren't meant to see, so the gangsters shoot down him and his family, but only Frank survives. On that day, Frank Castle's family died. On that day, Frank Castle died. There's only the Punisher, and if you're guilty, you're dead! The story kinda slows down during the end, but it did offer a good twist here and there during the final parts of the game.

Gameplay: 10/10

Hand to Hand combat NEVER gets old and the challenge of more, harder enemies like ninjas and thugs with guns is just plain fun. You can pick up any of the enemies weapons and use them against him. The weapons include Machine guns, Uzis, Knives, flame throwers, grenades, swords, baseball bats, leead pipes, throwing stars, rocks, hell...practically anything! You can pick up food to replenish your health as well. The Punisher attacks enemies with great accuracy so that it doesn't screw you over with a punch not connecting. The Punisher can punch, kick, jump kick, pick enemies up and throw them, pick them up and beat the everloving crap out of them, or just drop them on their head, all with the use of one button and maybe the jump button. When the going gets tough, and you don't have any weapons on you, the Punisher simply whips out his trusty handgun so you can bust some caps in those thugs!

Controls: 9/10

Responsiveness is absolutely perfect with this game! The controls don't feel overly awkward, though it MAY take some getting used to. A always attacks and B always jumps. You'll have no trouble making the Punisher move and beat down thugs with the greatest of ease. Lack of being able to completely customize the controls hurts this score.

Fun Factor: 10/10

Oh, it's fun. It's a beat-em-up and it offers you more ways to beat the hell out of the enemy and it's more responsive than I've ever seen in a beat-em-up. It'll offer you a great deal of entertainment if you enjoy these games.

Lasting Appeal: 6/10

It's a great game, but once you beat it, and unless you have a buddy to go 2 player with, you may not want to play this game again for a long time.

Rent or Buy? Buy! You can't rent Genesis anymore!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/03, Updated 03/09/03