The Punisher: No Mercy Review (PS3)

The game is a multiplayer focused release, providing a single player story and co-op mode tied together with some comic-book style plot where the crux gameplay is still based around arena shoot-outs. There are a range of characters from The Punisher universe available to unlock by completing certain tasks in single player and multiplayer.

The Punisher's single player component will take approximately one hour to complete. The replay value lies in the game's multiplayer.

Although rather dull in colour and originality, The Punisher: No Mercy does have its fair share of decent visual effects. The maps look sharp and are reasonably well detailed. Some of the fire/water effects look rather pretty too.

Loads to unlock.  Time spent with the game is rewarded by multiple unlocks. At first you'll pretty much unlock something every round. From there on out all of the game's unlocks will take work and patience, rewarding your endeavours with worthwhile costume and weaponry upgrades.

Say what you will about The Punisher: No Mercy, it's hard to ignore the fact that you're essentially getting  a full online multiplayer shooter for just £6. The mechanics may not be perfect but the degree of stat tracking and content is admirable for such a cheap release.

Perhaps The Punisher: No Mercy's biggest undoing is that the actual gameplay isn't great. Shooting enemies doesn't feel particularly rewarding. Movement and aiming is just about as clunky as it can get. Heck, it just doesn't feel fun shooting things. Which is kinda imperative in a first person shooter. While the mechanics are certainly competent - the game is playable after all - it could have been so much more with a few tweaks.

To give the effect of characters talking during a shoot-out, there are a fair few voice loops that will contextually play based on the action in a particular match. While it's a neat idea it ultimately falls short due to a lack of samples.