|
The Punisher: No Mercy
Publisher: Zen Studios
Developer: Zen Studios
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Release Date: July 2, 2009
Platform: Playstation 3
Rating: M - Mature
Reviewer: Eric
The Playstation Network exclusive first-person shooter The Punisher: No Mercy
is nothing more than an Unreal Tournament mod. The game uses the Unreal Engine.
There are a ton of games that use this engine for their game but The Punisher:
No Mercy takes this engine and pretty much ruin everything that is stands for.
I really wanted to like this game a lot, mainly since I am a huge comic book fan
and an overall big Punisher fan. When I started to play this game I started to
find so many problems with it. For starters it looks like an early version of
Unreal Tournament. For a game that is on such a powerful system you would expect
more. Another reason you would expect more is the fact that The Punisher: No
Mercy had way too many delays. What in the world was Zen Studios doing with all
that extra time?
Everything in the game is just half-assed. The story is decent but would it have
killed them to add in a little more? The character dialogue as well. Would it
have killed them to add in some more dialogue? All that is The Punisher: No
Mercy is just a game that could have used more time.
The story really fails to explain who or what anything is. You pretty much know
who the Punisher is and from there you will figure out who is on your side and
who isn’t. Even that isn’t enough since some stages will have you facing
everyone. If you know nothing about the Punisher then you might be bugging a
Punisher fan-boy a lot or you might be doing a lot of Google searching.
All the game really is shooting. It is a first-person shooter but there really
isn’t a whole lot more when you unlock new characters. Gamers just looking for
another cheap shooter will just see these faces and that’s all. No Mercy is a
real headache if you know nothing about Punisher.
There are power-ups in the game that will have old and new school Unreal fans
happy. Speed-up, armor, attack…typical power-ups really. It does help with the
online play since matches can change right away. The different weapon scheme is
a nice addition too.
Online play is really fun, even though the game feels like it was made a few
years ago. It really does not help though in order to get people to join your
game you have to manually invite them. This is a huge punch to the face but it
does go with the game nicely since it obviously was made years ago. Just join
random games, ok?
Final Verdict
The Punisher: No Mercy is not the worst first-person shooter out there, but
there are definitely a ton of better ones. If you are a fan of the Punisher then
spending ten dollars on this game is worth it. When it comes down to it you have
to look at your wallet and think if ten dollars is better kept safe or spent on
the PSN.
Rating Breakdown
Gameplay: 6 out of 10
+ Fast paced arcade style first-person shooter gameplay.
- No Mercy feels outdated.
Graphics: 5 out of 10
+ Piles of gibs and headshots! Neat-O.
- Where was the Unreal Engine used in this game? Poor
animations.
Audio: 7 out of 10
+ Pretty good soundtrack with an interesting choice in voice
work.
- Those one liners from characters sometimes never stop!
Replay Value: 6 out of 10
+ Online play is fun and intense during key times of gameplay.
- Trying to play this game with friends is way too hard.
Overall
6 out of 10
More reviews:
MetaCritic: 4.7/10
TestFreaks: no score yet
|
