WARNING: This is an extra warning to parents and gamers unfamiliar with The Punisher. This is not similar to Spider-Man, the X-Men, or the Hulk. This game is rated Mature for Blood and Gore, Drug References, Intense Violence, and Strong Language. The Punisher is neither a “Hero” nor a “Role Model.” That having been said, we will move on to the review.

The graphical style of The Punisher is realistic and has a very gritty feel. Most of the game has a feel similar to Max Payne (which is no surprise, as Max Payne could very well have been Frank Castle’s drinking buddy -- oh, the stories they could share!). The biggest graphical difference between Max Payne and The Punisher would be the graphically violent interrogations and “Special Kills.” In the interrogations, you are allowed to threaten bad guys’ lives with a multitude of unique and lethal ways; from dropping them off the side of a cliff to giving them a really close view of a drill press. If you push too hard (or if you decide to do them in after you’ve gotten your information), you can kill these baddies. This is depicted in an animated-style with a graphic-novel flavor. Everything drops to black and white in a sort of horror-film-noir way. For the Special Kills, however, you don’t go into this black and white view, but rather see the execution in the same graphics as the game. These special kills are typically ironic in a dark way. Wonder what that means? You’ll have to try them out.

As for the sound in The Punisher, the sound effects do what they're supposed to: help to reinforce the believability of the game without standing out too much. The music is orchestral in nature, somewhat dark and foreboding - very cinematic. The voice work is very nice; Frank Castle's voice sounds believable, especially in the film-noir voice-overs, while the other characters' voices are well done and they often have some amusing lines - from tongue-in-cheek lines (due to irony of the situation) to cut-rate thugs that admire your T-shirt. They remembered to make full use of their Mature rating in the dialogue, mind you; the colorful language has all the colors of the spectrum.

For those of you who read “The Punisher,” you pretty much know what to expect. For those who don’t, the Punisher is a street vigilante who takes it on himself to protect the innocent by wiping out the scum of the streets. Typically, the “good guys” wind up chasing after the Punisher as he’s chasing after (and utterly wasting) the “bad guys.”

That having been said, The Punisher’s Modus Operandi is to use a wide assortment of firearms; he’s an arsenal on two legs with an itchy trigger finger. With that in mind, I was surprised to find that you are restricted in the number of weapons you can carry at a given time. On the upside, you can use two weapons at once, utilizing the L1 and R1 buttons to fire your left and right weapons, respectively. You can also keep a pair of guns in reserve, but you’re much more restricted than some other games such as Tomb Raider or Medal of Honor. Again, this was more surprising because of The Punisher’s known affinity for weapons.

The Punisher can interact with other characters in more ways than just shooting them, however. He can grab them and use them as a human shield, interrogate them in a handful of standard ways (and lots of unique location-based ways that utilize the surrounding environment), stab them in a blinding rage, or kill them in distinctive ways by either interrogating them too far or by simply killing them in special kill locations that, again, use the environment. These special kills primarily serve to provide the “flavor” of The Punisher with some dark irony that he’s been known to practice from time to time. Additionally, you can go into Slaughter Mode, which changes the graphics to graphic novel-style black and white imagery (think harsh and gritty) for a limited time, during which you can wail on the baddies with nuttin’ but a couple of survival knives. Although this mode is limited in time, you can regain some health and kick a lot of ass during that short bit of time.

Within the game, you’ll (eventually) get to play with such wonderful toys (Editor’s note: guns are not toys) as machine guns, 5.56mm Assault Rifles, 7.62mm Assault Rifles, Automatic Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, Anti-Tank Weapons, Flamethrowers, Battle Rifles, 5.7mm Submachine Guns, .40 cal Submachine Guns, Pump Shotguns, Grenade Launchers, Revolvers, Hand Cannons, .45 cal Machine Pistols, Machine Pistol 5.56mm, and .50 and .45 cal Semiautomatic Pistols. And those are just the guns. Throw in different types of grenades and various environmental dangers you can pose to your enemies and you’ve got a busy, busy night ahead of you.

The Punisher doesn’t vary a lot from its course; each level unfolds some more of the story, but you see a lot of the same thing as you go along. This doesn’t mean that there’s not a challenge, however. The levels tend to mix things up a little from one to another; one level makes sure that you’ve learned how to manage your health, while another requires you to have good accuracy to proceed. These are requirements that are intrinsic in the design of the level, rather than being random tyrannical requirements decreed by the level, making it easier to accept. In fact, part of the difficulty in getting past a level is to determine exactly what aspect it’s testing you on. Once you realize the level’s main focus (i.e., survival, accuracy, etc.), it’s considerably easier to get passed a level.

There are parts of this game that will be difficult to get past. At times like those, it’s a good idea to consider different approaches. There may be more than one path to consider. You also can get hints by interrogating some enemies along the way. Some of these hints are very valuable, so try to learn what you can.

Another aspect of The Punisher that can make things a bit easier is the upgrades system. As you complete levels, you’ll be awarded points. Use these points to purchase upgrades that improve your accuracy, reload time, the amount of weapons you can carry, etc. As you would expect, improving your character’s abilities will make everything a little bit easier to accomplish.

The controls in The Punisher leave something to be desired; I found it difficult to manage crouching and zooming in for accurate shots. It gets better with some practice, but it still felt somewhat clunky.

The part that really felt awkward, however, was the limited amount of weapons you can carry. I assume this was intended to be a more realistic way of handling weaponry, but given the nature of the game and the way other games (such as Max Payne) handle arsenal, it seems like a very restrictive limitation. I can’t begin to express my displeasure (and amazement) when I first switched weapons and watched Frank Castle actually toss away a perfectly good shotgun. I was like, “WTF!?” I did this several times to make sure I hadn’t hit some extraneous button by mistake.

One thing The Punisher does right is its save mechanism; you automatically save as you reach certain checkpoints in the levels, and can return to those checkpoints both when continuing your game or reloading your game. This helps to cut down a lot on frustration.

Fans of “The Punisher” will probably enjoy this game, and may find the unlockable collections of still images and comic book cover images interesting. Those who aren’t may want to rent The Punisher before purchasing to see if it’s something they’d enjoy. And if you’re afraid the game might be too graphic for you, it probably is.